WCW Mayhem
Reviewed by JAIC
WCW MAYHEM is Electronic Arts first venture into the wonderful world
of N64 wrestling games. With THQ dropping the license to produce WCW
wrestling games in favor of the now more popular WWF in addition to
tremendous success of WCW/NWO Revenge, it seemed like a good move
on their part to snatch up the license and make a little money. Considering
that this was EA's first attempt at making a wrestling title for the N64,
which at the time already had two hugely successful titles in Revenge and
Acclaim's WWF Attitude, I was not expecting a particularly stellar first
showing even though they were boasting of backstage action and pay-per
view codes that would allow the current WCW pay-per view card to be
played on the game itself. It is also worth noting that WCW was in the
early stages of huge roster changes and the current downward spiral
from which the company may never recover.
Graphics: 7.5 out of 10
The graphic presentation of WCW Mayhem has it's ups and downs. There
are occasions during game play when I am truly impressed the graphics
as well as the various camera angles that are provided. However, without
question, the only time that graphics are truly something to behold is during
close-ups of some of the extremely limited yet fairly impressive high impact
moves. During any kind of match that involves more than two participants,
the camera is always zoomed out pretty far away from the action. This is
where things really begin to get ugly. The ring, ringside areas, and the crowd
do not seem to suffer much when the camera zooms away; however, the
wrestlers themselves take a serious hit. They begin to move in a very stiff,
robotic fashion and they take on an extremely jagged and outright ugly
appearance. The backstage areas (which were something first introduced to
wrestling games here) look very well done with the exception of every thing
being totally flat. The security camera views that are often used to cover
matches once they spill into the backstage areas look very well and do not
hinder the action of the game at all. At some points during game play, the
physical interaction between the wrestlers can look a bit awkward due to
problems with contact detection. This basically means that sometimes
Goldberg can spear some one and take him down with out appearing to have
ever physically contacted him. For the most part the weapons are well
rendered and appear in the wrestlers hands in a fairly realistic fashion.
The actual use of the weapons on the other hand can be a problem as again
sometimes wrestlers are damaged by chair shots that do not seem to actually
make contact and other times wrestlers take no damage when a lead pipe
seems to pass right through his ribcage. The arenas and crowds look fairly
well rendered. Pyrotechnics used for wrestler entrances probably should have
been left out completely as the weak pyros that accompany Goldberg to the
ring are not even close to being on par with the real thing. However, the
lighting effect used for the tazer, which sends an electric shock to
unfortunate wrestlers, was well done and adds a degree of humor to
the game as well.
Music and Sound: 8 out of 10
The sound department in WCW Mayhem is one aspect of the game that
stands out in my opinion. Tony Schiavone's commentary though somewhat
repetitive and ill-timed is crystal clear and even changes tone depending
on the level of intensity in the match. Gene Okerlund is well represented
as the ring announcer and his spots are extremely well done. I was very
much impressed with the crowd noises (which seem to be missing from
many WCW shows nowadays) because they are extremely loud when the
action is hot or when the more popular wrestlers are in action and they are
virtually silent when the action is dull or when some jobber is in the ring
doing his thing. A few more chants would have been nice other than the
Goldberg chant, but overall the commentary, the ring announcing, and the
crowd noises make for a fairly realistic sounding wrestling game experience.
The absence of any audio from the wrestlers themselves aside from a few
muffled grunts when a submission hold is applied is a definite draw- back
as trash talk from the wrestlers is such an integral part of pro wrestling.
The ring sounds are done really well as bodies slamming into the mat really
sound loud and wrestlers bodies make different sounds depending on if
they are hitting the mat or the cold hard floor at ringside or in one of
the backstage areas. Weapon sounds are done fairly well also as 2x4's
and stop signs and kitchen sinks and lead pipes and tazer's all make
different sounds when being applied to a wrestlers body. WCW is not
know for its great wrestler theme songs as many of them are low budget
ripoffs of real songs. However, some of the themes represented are
Sting's theme at that time (not Seek and Destroy), NWO Wolfpac theme,
NWO Black and White theme, Konnan's old theme, Eddy Guerrero's theme,
The Four Horsemen theme, Goldberg's theme, and DDP's Self High Five.
For the most part these themes have been accurately reproduced with
only DDP's theme being noticeable altered. A few wrestler catch phrases
would have been really nice.
Game Challenge: 6 out of 10
The challenge of this game is not terribly difficult and once the game play
mechanics have been understood not necessarily mastered the game can be
completed in a fairly timely manner on any difficulty level. The game does
provide a challenge in that there are quite a few hidden backstage areas
and wrestlers/managers/announcers to be unlocked and in order to do this
it is necessary to complete the game with certain characters on certain
difficulty levels. This provides a challenge in that you have to become
familiar with the moves of many different characters. The major challenge
of this game has to do with the fact that there are no energy gauges or
health meters in this game this game employs the same spirt meter
type of system used in Revenge. Therefore in order to beat your opponent
inside the ring it is absolutely required that you be on special and hit your
finishing move on your opponent as many times as possible prior to going
for the pin. This game is not like WWF Attitude where you can use basic
moves to drain your opponents energy and then pin him at any time once
his energy is at a certain level. In theory you could win a match like this
by repeatedly body slamming your opponent and never using any high impact
moves or finishers. You may be saying to yourself,"no problem", but hold on
just a second. Getting on special is no easy task in Mayhem as there are not
a lot of moves to be performed in the game and many of those are not high
impact crowd pleasers. Through trial and error you have to figure out which
moves really get the crowd going and use them to build your spirit meter
also taunt when- ever possible. Unlike Revenge once you get on special you
do not stay on special for a certain amount of time so you must move quickly.
For example you may hit a big move knocking your opponent down and
putting you on special at the same time, but by the time you pick up your
opponent and initiate a grapple, you may no longer be on special. This
makes the game somewhat tough to win inside the ring especially on
the harder difficulty levels and win your opponent has an ally run in
from the back to interfere on his behalf. However this guarantees that
matches will not be as short as some of Goldberg's matches have been.
Game Play-Fun: 7 out of 10
The game play of Mayhem is fairly good because it is an easy game
to learn with a limited amount of moves. The controls can be somewhat
sluggish and unresponsive at times especially when grappling, performing
irish whip moves, entering/leaving the ring and obtaining weapons.
Once a grapple has been initiated the moves execute fairly quickly and
ground attacks are very easy to pull off. Top rope attacks are easily
performed as well and Mayhem has the unique feature of allowing you
to aim your top rope attacks to increase your chances of success as
opposed to just pressing buttons and letting the computer control the
rest. Grappling from the rear is awkward at best and very rarely pulled
off with any consistency. Unlike Revenge and Attitude which allow you
to perform a few button presses to switch from a front grapple to a rear
grapple, no such option is available in Mayhem. The only way to perform a
rear grapple is to daze your opponent in the center of the ring, stand him
and physically walk around behind him and initiate the grapple. This can be
extremely tough to pull off because many of the moves that temporarily
daze your opponent close to the ropes therefore when you stand him up his
back will be close to if not completely up against the ropes, so either
there is no room to walk behind him or he will begin to physically turn
so that his back is against the ropes. This makes it extremely difficult
to perform moves such as Sting's scorpion death drop, Lex Lugar's torture
rack and German suplexes. Once all the hidden things have been unlocked
(they must be saved to memory card) the single player mode can be pretty
boring. There are 5 modes of play : singles, tag team, handi- cap, triangle,
and battle royal. There are no cage matches and no huge 30-40 man battle
royals only 4 players allowed. There is a create a wrestler mode, but you
would be hard pressed to create any- thing worthwhile. The easy game play
and fast-paced action in this game may make for a good multi player
experience once the single player mode has lost its luster.
Frustration
My number one frustration with this game is the sheer lack of moves.
The number of moves included in this game is pathetic. Many wrestlers
have the same identical moves many of which are not actually used
by these wrestlers in real life. Also a glaring number of moves that
are used by the wrestlers in real life have been left out like the buff
blockbuster, Rick Steiner's super bulldog, and Booker T's axe kick, also
Lash Leroux, who was one of the character models for the game, does
not have his finisher the Whip Lash and last but not least little Rey
does not perform the Bronco Buster!!! This poor attention to detail on
the part of EA is unacceptable. If wrestlers were going to be given so
few moves, they should have been given the proper ones. Several wrestler's
use Goldberg's spear, many also use Disco Inferno's Last Dance, and at least 3
other wrestler's use Wrath's meltdown as their finisher, all wrong!!!
Problems with the moves in addition to the problem with initiating a
rear grapple are constant sources of frustration.
Replayability: 5 out of 10
If you are a big fan of WCW wrestling you may play this game a lot and
it will take some time to unlock all of the hidden features in the game
as well. However unless you are a huge fan with a lot of friends to play
along with you, you will not be revisiting this title often. The shallow
nature of the wrestler move sets coupled with the equally shallow create
a wrestler mode do not provide this game with much replayability at all.
Game Value: 6 out of 10
As of right now I would not pay more than $15 for this game used. There
are too many better wrestling titles available for the N64 right now and
this is just not a top notch wrestling title.
Overall: 6.5 out of 10
Overall, I have to give credit where credit is due. EA tried some new
things with their first WCW wrestling game many of which were good.
Nice camera angles, backstage brawling, pay-per-view codes and the
ring announcer were all nice touches. However, small glitches in
game play, contact detection, and graphics were enough to begin to pull
this game down into the murky depths of mediocrity. When you combine
these flaws with the unfaithful representation of the wrestler's in- ring
moves, the poor create a wrestler mode, the lack of a cage, the limited 4
man battle royal, the lack of any wrestler voice samples and the horrible
rear grappling system and you end up with a game that flat out had the
potential to be a great game struggling to even be considered good. Had
this game been given more effort it could have easily been better than
Attitude, and with a few more voice samples and wrestler themes and a
few less flat surfaces in the back stage areas and this game could have
rivaled Wrestlemania 2000. Give this game a try. It is easy to play and
game play is swift. Please bring a friend and do not expect too much.