No Mercy Review (N64)

Retro wrestling games can be a strange thing to go back to. Most consist of simply picking wrestlers with identikit sets of moves and then hammering away at which ever button makes moves happen until the controller breaks or someone wins. There are of course exceptions to the rule such as Fire Pro and also some of the Playstation and N64 wrestlers such as No Mercy. As a newcomer to the game we dived in to see if it still holds up today.

The final game from Acclaim’s Nintendo series built on the excellent foundations laid down in Wrestlemania 2000 and pushed the concept just about as far it could go on the hardware at the time. There’s no button bashing in sight either as the unique grapple system is based on timing and single button presses. A simple system is in place with the A button being used for grapples and B for strikes. Holding down the buttons then allows for stronger but slower moves. Once you have grappled you can then press a direction with A or B to perform different moves.

As a system it works well with the left and right shoulder buttons being used to counter moves and block strikes respectively. Pulling off moves and taunts gradually fills your attitude meter which will eventually start to pulse. When this happens you need to perform a taunt which then turns the pulsing bar into the ‘Special’ bar for a short period of time. When ‘Special’ is flashing you then have access to your superstar’s trademark moves. This includes their finisher but also any other unique turnbuckle or grapple techniques as well.

Though each superstar can carry out a fairly wide range of moves many of them are repeated through the roster. This can make the game feel a little samey after long periods of play but certainly doesn’t derail the experience. The other issue the game has is that it moves at a much slower pace than many grapple fans will be used to. You’ll also have to get your timing right as superstars need to complete their animation cycles in order to do their next move. This means pressing grapple slightly too early will result in nothing happening. 

The biggest thing which shows up the game is when you need to take part in handicap matches. Slamming one opponent and then trying to focus on the next opponent will almost always be too slow and thus allow the remaining wrestler to grab you first. It was the only really frustrating match type we found with all the others (including Ladder Matches, Royal Rumble and Hardcore Matches) working excellently.

The main draw of the game is the excellent single player mode on offer. Each belt has its own set of storylines assigned to it for you to complete. Most belts have a set of around six to eight sections with different branches to take on depending how you get on in each match. Completing a belt storyline allows that belt to be defended in exhibition modes and can then also be defended as the champion’s storyline in the campaign. You also get to see how much of the belt’s storyline has been experienced with a single run through normally resulting in around fifteen to twenty-five percent completion.

There are also a whole host of things to unlock as you play. As well as new moves and costume parts you can also buy a few superstars in the Smackdown shop with the in game currency acquired while playing the single player mode. Most can be unlocked in the game as well and they range from Referee Earl Hebner and Jim Ross to Jerry Lawler and Legend Andre the Giant (though you’ll have to survive a very long and tough survival mode to have any chance of getting him). 

Another real strength of the game is the excellent roster of superstars available. As well as the high profile stars from the era such as The Rock, Steve Austin and HHH you also get pretty much all the rest of the roster at the time. This is important as there are storylines for the Light Heavy Weight, European and Hardcore titles so having a sizable roster of wrestlers who were active in those divisions adds an excellent level of authenticity. It also acts as a snap shot in time of the WWE as you can play as wrestlers such as Crash Holly and Essay Rios who only ever really worked on the lower card. It’s a great way of experiencing the ‘attitude’ era and matching up many peoples favourite wrestlers. The fact that a handful of the superstars have passed away (such as The Big Bossman, Crash Holly, Eddie Guerrero etc.) means this is likely the best way to remember your favourites.

Overall, No Mercy still holds up as an excellent wrestling game and we would recommend any grapple fan to seek it out. It’s a little slow and is obviously not going to look great on huge HD televisions but once you get used to it there is a fun and rewarding game here. The grapple system still works and the story mode is one of the best ever seen, it’s full of things to unlock and play with and it’ll keep you occupied for hours.

Overall 8/10

Smackdown! VS Raw Review (PS2)

Another year on from Here Come the Pain and the annual offering from the world of sports entertainment lands on the door step once more. HCTP took the brave move of changing the control system to allow more flexibility and use of tactics during matches. Despite taking some Smackdown fans time to adjust, the change soon became the obviously superior setup. So after a significant leap forward for the genre last time around, can this title offer gamers anything more than simple roster updates and improved graphics?

In truth little has changed. Graphics have been improved with character models looking more solid and life like than before. The control system remains much the same, a good thing as the one put in place last year functions perfectly. There are small differences which streamline the controls (such as grapple moves with weapons being assigned to the same button as striking attacks) making matches flow that little bit better but nothing major was needed and the developers have taken a ‘if it ain’t broke don’t fix it approach’.

The game itself also remains very similar to the last version of the title. This time around the game came with online play and the rather entertaining new match mode of the ‘’parking lot brawl’ where players fight in a ring of cars using the vehicles to inflict damage in a number of different ways, apart from this comes the expected roster updates. However,  in this case the update serves as a major draw back as the WWE had lost a good half dozen top level super stars since the last game. More than once you may find yourself cycling through the available wrestlers only to find there is not actually anyone on the roster you really want to play as. Obviously this is not the fault of the development team but does point to the sharp turn around in fortunes and falling appeal that WWE had at the time.

Unfortunately, the new features do not really gel with the style of the game and feel far to tacked on. At the start of matches there is now a rhythm action style psyche out where the characters hit each other. There is also the wrestling equivalent of a mission mode with set tasks of varying difficulty being laid out in lists for players to complete at their leisure. However, this only serves as a minor distraction and is unlikely to keep players away from the main game modes.

One tweak that does help the gameplay is the improvement with submission moves- now as well as hammering the pad in order to keep a move locked in, the opponent in the submission move (move depending), can escape by stopping a moving cursor in a small square box on the Smackdown bar at the top of the screen. As characters become weaker the sense of panic missing the escape section of the bar for the second time really does begin to build as you become desperate to stop your wrestler from giving up.

The Royal Rumble has also been made a lot tougher to win with characters needing to be worn down before they can be thrown over the ropes- stopping the cheap tactics available to gain victory in all the previous version of the Smackdown franchise. Once a character is thrown over the ropes they hang on and players must knock down an energy bar to get them to finally hit the floor. This makes the Royal Rumble a far more tactical affair as while you are trying to knock someone’s bar down another superstar may come and attack you leaving you in a very vulnerable situation.

In the last Iteration of the title older wrestlers or ‘legends’ where introduced as unlockable characters. We say ‘Legends’ but in fairness only a few truly qualified as great superstars and thus did not merit much interest from players annoyed that Hulk Hogan was not available. This time while Hogan is still absent there can be no question regarding any of the characters on show (although putting ‘Classic’ Undertaker and ‘masked’ Kane in there is a bit cheap). Among the line up is the late, great Andre the Giant, The Legion of Doom, Brutus the Barber Beefcake and the all time great Bret ‘Hitman’ Hart. In fact the list of  legends are so strong in strength and personality it only serves to show up how weak WWE has become recently.

Smackdown VS Raw presents us with a very strange thing in the gaming world. The game itself is better than last year, everything has been improved and polished and made near perfect in the execution (gimmicky rhythm sections aside). But the simple fact is the current crop of WWE Superstars is dull and uninspiring. Last years version of the game had big names such as Goldberg , Steve Austin, Brock Lesnar etc, who are not present here. Meaning that while the game is improved technically from last year, there is not really anyone on the roster worth playing as- until the legends are unlocked that is.

Overall 7/10

Smackdown! Here Comes The Pain Review (PS2)

Wrestling is a strange beast – most people simply don’t understand the appeal; for the rest of the world it provides an entertaining spectacle that simply cannot be matched by your average episode of East Enders or Coronation Street. Imagine how much more entertaining an episode of the popular cockney soap would be if in one episode Phil Mitchell and Dot Cotton started hitting each other with steel chairs before both were power-bombed through a table by an angry Alfie Moon – now that’s entertainment! 

Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain is the fifth instalment in the (at the time), generally excellent Smackdown series and was where, instead of resting on its laurels, THQ have tried to develop the franchise through a number of changes to the core gameplay. A very brave move, considering Smackdown! already contained possibly the most flexible fighting system available in a wrestling title(aside from Fire Pro and No Mercy of Course), –this, along with a few new additions, means the revision bears less resemblance to its predecessors than many were expecting.

The first thing that grabs you upon booting the game is how much the graphics have improved. Characters are far more detailed than before and feel a lot more solid when moving and fighting. This is a good thing, although we feel this may have contributed to issues regarding the roster and some of the superstars’ entrance music at the time. 

However, THQ were always onto a loser in terms of inclusions this time round, because this is where the two brands of Smackdown! and RAW  split; meaning the roster is divided straight down the middle. This leads to ‘sub-par’ superstars being involved in minor storylines and, despite a roster of over fifty-five wrestlers, there are still a number of glaring omissions for the time such as then, women’s champion Molly Holly; ex-tag champions La Resistance; and the world’s strongest man Mark Henry, to name a few.

Problems also exist with music on the superstars’ entrances with some of it being very date and particularly suffering through loss of lyrical content – leading us to believe that corners were cut during development. Perhaps it would be unfair to lay these problems squarely at THQ’s feet, because it relates moreover to limitations placed upon the ageing PS2 hardware, which it must be said, delivers to the best of its abilities – once you have explored what is actually in the game.

Spurious and cosmetic concerns aside, almost everything that matters in the game has been improved; the grapple system has been updated and though it feels strange at first, soon proves more flexible than before – allowing players to have a greater idea of what sort of move they are going to pull off in the heat of battle. A further improvement is evident in the way superstars’ attributes are applied as now there is a huge difference between a lumbering big man and a nimble small man, and if a weaker character tries to lift a heavyweight it will physically be prevented – likely injuring their backs and ending in (animated) pain. A nice touch.

Other noticeable improvements with the physics engine see players prone to taking damage upon specific areas of the body. This helps with both submission-holds and also limits the movement range of your opponent. Injure someone’s head badly enough and a well-placed blow will see the superstar bleed – not massively, but enough to inspire organic belief that realism is flowing through the title’s gaming marrow. Additionally, we are delighted with the improvements made to the submission system; instead of characters just performing a move for mere seconds, now depending on your submission-rating the move can be held for long periods of time (and by hitting any button). Likewise, your opponent can try and escape the hold by doing the same – a small touch, but one that makes a huge difference to the feel of matches. 

After listening to fans’ grievances from previous titles, a number of bona fide legends have also been included in this version of Smackdown! Admittedly, you can’t please everyone, because over the years there have been thousands of WWE superstars, but it’s fair to say that most would be pleased with the inclusions; Superfly Jimmy Snukka, The Legion of Doom and Roddy Piper (along with others) deserve their place, but we raised an eyebrow at the inclusion of Hillbilly Jim, and a couple of others. 

Speaking of irregularities – Hulk Hogan was with the WWE when the game went into development and appears in early promotional shots of the title, yet when Hogan left he was removed from the title. Honestly, Hulk Hogan is possibly the most popular wrestler of all time, surely he could have been included as an unlockable legend? 

Notwithstanding, Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain features just about everything you could want from a wrestling title (presentational issues aside). New match types such as the elimination chamber, and a revised control system, mean that unlike other WWE titles appearing on other formats, this one can stand up in its own right as an accomplished game – and one that people outside of its hardcore fanbase should have some fun with. Technological barriers prevent Smackdown! from reaching its full potential, but nonetheless this is a great release that would even appeal to those who own the last instalment in the series. It’s probably the peak of the series as the games only seemed to get worse after this.

Overall 8/10