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WWF Royal Rumble
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WWF? More like WTF... - Review By Mr. Domino
Chillin' in the parking lot. |
WWF Attitude sold volumes with its horrid gameplay system, so it
wouldn't take much for me to believe that WWF Royal Rumble will
sell on its license alone, despite its shortcomings. The gameplay and
control of Royal Rumble is adequate enough, but just can't compare
to the better wrestling games. The game just feels so slow, and it is
missing so many moves common in other wrasslin' titles. It annoys me
that I can't get them out of the ring. I hate that there are no team
moves that aren't tag assisted, and the tag team implementation and
moves stink on their own. I want to smash a chair over the designers for
the awkward and clumsy punch combos, which have a mind of their own and
continue into the air at their heart's content. Having a run button
double as the block button is just a poor design decision as well. The
control and fighting is tolerable on its own, but comparing it to a
truly excellent grappler only makes it look far worse.
If the fighting engine were that good, I could possibly overlook
the lack of options. Sadly, it's not. There's nothing in these matches
that stand up as a single player experience. Begin a match and watch as
people just pile up into the ring. The lack of intros really hurt the
heart of any WWF match. Play a bit more and you'll find that you're
doing the same slow and repetitive motions again and again against bad
AI.
Yep, for only $45 you too can stare at this guy's ample posterior. |
The reversal system is poorly implemented (you can only counter
grapples), and matches tend to end too quickly for the finishing move
meter to properly charge. After a minute or two, the lights dim and the
wrestlers find themselves in a parking lot or other environment. What
initially sounded exciting and fun comes across as lame and poorly done.
I'd rather a more realistic and fun ring match than hastily thrown
together gimmicks. The environments don't add all that much to the match
anyway, and if they were absent you'd probably never miss them. Jakks
Pacific programmed both the excellent Wrestlemania 2000 on
Nintendo 64 as well as this Dreamcast offering, so it's not as though
these people can't make a good wrestling game.
Speaking of the developer, Jakks was able to include about 60 wrestlers
on a cartridge, but they can't put more than 22 on a GD-ROM? Granted,
most of the popular superstars are included in this game, but the roster
is still lacking compared to other games. Of course, you can play as The
Rock or Stone Cold, but if you want to try your hand with the Dudley
Boyz you're out of luck. No girls in the game, so Chyna's out, and no
jobbers means no Blue Meanie. WWF Royal Rumble is also missing a
"create a wrestler" mode, any kind of tournament mode, good introductions
(Rumble's intros last like three seconds), and all the other
bells and whistles that players have come to expect.
The Final Word
WWF Royal Rumble is a mediocre effort and use of the license.
With only 22 wrestlers and subpar graphics and gameplay, the game should
only appeal to desperate Dreamcast owners. Yeah, this is still the best grappler
for the US Dreamcast, but that's not saying very much.
Developer: Jakks Pacific
Publisher: THQ
Genre: Wrestling
Highs: Good sound, lots of characters in ring without slowdown.
Lows: PlayStation dolls in hi-res, shallow gameplay, few characters, no options.
Other: 1-4 Players, VMU Compatible (3 Blocks).
Media:
Intro (MPEG) - The intro movie is rather uninspired. [Big (8.1M)] - [Med (4.4M)] - [Small (960K)]
Gameplay (MPEG) - The Royal Rumble. [Big (15.7M)] - [Med (7.6M)] - [Small (1.5M)]
Humor (MPEG) - Stupid AI Tricks. [Big (20M)] - [Med (10.5M)] - [Small (2.2M)]
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Final Score:
(out of a possible 10)
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