| OUR RATING:
7.2
VERY GOOD
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TANGIBLES:
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Why you should buy it: Great cast of over 40 wrestlers to choose from; the ability to change the outcome of past matches is a welcome addition.
Why you should rent it: Easier controls and difficulty might turn off veteran players. |
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UNIQUE RATING:
7.2
  SUGGESTION:
Rent It |
Written by: Joshua Schwartzman | Tags: WWE Legends of WrestleMania, Xbox 360
There is plenty here for any WWE fan to admire, and with over 40 wrestlers to choose ranging from over fifteen years of WrestleMania history, there will be at least one superstar you will recognize. From the early greats like Hulk Hogan, King Kong Bundy, Andre the Giant, and Jake “The Snake” Roberts to the later stars like The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, HHH, and The Undertaker there are plenty of popular stars to keep you entertained. The wide assortment of characters available leads to many memorable matches as well as the chance to control many of your favorite stars from the glory days of wrestling.
Legends of WrestleMania features a brand new mode called WrestleMania Tour which pits you in 19 matches that spans the highlights of the various WrestleMania years. In WrestleMania Tour you have the option to relive a match (fight as the match occurred complete with same winner), rewrite a match (change the outcome), or redefine a match (where you can turn regular one-on-one affairs into hardcore rules, etc). The options available make it so you will never have a dull time competing, and even if you have no idea who some of the older stars are, the ability to change the rules to your liking is a welcome addition. To top it off, players can also view a minute’s worth of footage before every match so you can see exactly how the match went and a brief history of the wrestlers as well.
Other modes in Legends of WrestleMania include exhibition (where you can arrange one-on-one matches between anyone on the roster) as well as multiplayer which lets you battle online or split-screen with up to four players. The Legend Killer Mode is sort of an Ironman match of sorts (for those of you tuned to WWE terms), where players must tackle ten consecutive wrestlers one after the other, without refilling your health or saving. Whatever your stance is at reliving the past, there is plenty in Legends of WrestleMania to please anyone.
The idea to please everyone seems to have rolled off onto the controls as well, which makes for a much easier and fine-tuned form of fighting. Commands such as grappling, running, and punching/kicking have been aligned completely to the buttons, meaning it really takes no skill to win a match. Rather than utilizing the analog stick in different forms like in Raw vs. Smackdown, Legends of WrestleMania just pulls you along as you fight; allowing you to access one of the preset buttons commands and then unload upon your enemy. After a while of brutally thrashing your opponent, a quick-time event will occur which will usually allow you to perform a super attack, high-flying move, or your finisher. While performing a finishing move is both satisfying and thrilling, the events arriving up to that moment seem to have been lost due in part to the streamlined controls and easier difficulty.
Of course there is plenty of extra nostalgic additions to give Legends of WrestleMania a slight edge over today’s wrestling games. Players can now also control moments in a wrestler’s entrance, pressing buttons to perform movements and special taunts. Create-a-wrestler has returned with even more options and the ability to take your created superstar online and compete in the Legend Killer Mode, however the omission of the Create-a-Finisher leaves much to be desired in terms of actually spending time creating your own star. You can also import the entire roster from Raw vs. Smackdown 2009 to the cast in Legends of WrestleMania, which beefs up the character total to over 70. Visually, the game looks just as good as its Raw vs. Smackdown brethrens, with great animations and character models as well as impressive lighting and fireworks displays set by the various wrestlers’ openings. The wrestlers’ entrance themes are also brilliantly recorded, with all of them including master tracks that will surely bring out the nostalgic flair in anyone.
While Legends of WrestleMania has plenty of fun matches to participate in and a worthy roster to choose from, the streamlined controls and all-together easier difficulty make recommending this to veteran fans a hard task. Newcomers will surely enjoy the lack of depth it takes to successfully pull off a finishing move on an opponent, but with Raw vs. Smackdown 2009 successfully mastering the controls that have plagued the series for years, it seems like a shame to leave it out of this game. Legends of WrestleMania still is a great game for any fan to enjoy just don’t expect to keep coming back after your tour has ended.
| The WWE continues to dominate cable television with an average of 3 million viewers a week. Already leading the competition, WrestleMania XXV which just aired, had more fans in attendance than any Super Bowl in history. |
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Gamer 2.0 Rating: 8.6 | User Rating: N/A
Gamer 2.0 Rating: 6.7 | Hype Rating: N/A
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