There are a few wrestling legends available, but unlike this year's Showdown, Day of Reckoning focuses on current wrestlers. The WWE's best and brightest are available for play and you can jump right into the action of several modes – single, tag team, 3 and 4 man cut throat, handicap and royal rumble. There's even an option for a Bra & Panties match, with button-mashing-for-clothes-tearing as the goal.

You can also create your own wrestler and jump into story mode for a career-long challenge. There are choices for many different body shapes and sizes, costumes and faces. It's not limitless, but there's a very good selection of components for making up your character that can keep you busy as long as you're interested. There's nothing revolutionary about the process, but there will be plenty of variety between wrestlers if you use your imagination. You shouldn’t have trouble recreating most stars from past (and those not included in the game) if that's what you're after. The pieces fit well together graphically, too, regardless of your choices.

You'll start off in the gutter of professional wrestling and work your way up in a unique story that actually gives you a reason to keep playing. Along the way, you'll be challenged to learn certain moves and win matches without other moves – and those caveats make the matches more interesting than just one beatdown after another. There are also story scenes with industry stars that fill in some gaps between bouts. It's well done, and worth it.

Once you're inside the ropes, things get more interesting. You can choose among more than 40 wrestlers, including a few female headliners. The good news is that the wrestlers and the venue are all visually impressive. During introductions, you'll get a good look at the crowd and the arena. They may not be the deepest, most detailed views, but they do a superb job of putting you in the middle of a huge space with a lot of screaming fans – the atmosphere is there.

The wrestling is pulled off impressively, too. Movements are almost always fluid. There are a few times when you'll see an awkward animation, but it doesn’t happen often. Most of the time you'll enjoy lots of detail, even in the faces. The big moves have a weighty feel – even the average foot stomp has an air of pain about it.

Countering moves is very straightforward. If you time your trigger presses well, it's relatively easy to counter grapples. It's also common for the CPU to counter, so you'll get used to seeing your moves turned around. The average match in Day of Reckoning will have a lot more counters than those on TV, but it offers another level of surprise to the game and makes them far more interesting than they'd be if counters were more difficult.

One thing Day of Reckoning does very well is simulate the momentum shifts inherent in pro wrestling. Just when your meter gets into the danger zone from taking too many to the head, you'll have a brief opportunity to pull off a momentum shift if you can execute a sudden move. Your meter will shoot up and your opponent's will drop like a stone. The move won't put the other guy down and it's not a gimme. You can only do this once per match, and the fight is far from a done deal afterward – you still have a lot of work to do to win – so it's not as unfair as it sounds. It's a second chance; it adds a nice touch and makes the matches seem that much more genuine.

The system for simulating the effect of a wrestler's weight on the match also rings true. It's harder to pick up the big boys, but not impossible. If you try to lift a wrestler that's out of your league you'll have to tap the A button rapidly enough to fill a meter, otherwise it's a no-go.

The biggest drawback to the gameplay is a relatively spotty hit detection. There are too many times you'll run right by your opponent when you mean to hit them, and once in a while it's hard to line up the player just right to land a strike. These aren't exactly rare occurrences, but they don't pop up every match, either. The A.I. of CPU opponents, however, is very good, with the exception of Tag Team matches. It's far too easy to land a lick on the partner waiting outside the ring, then finish off the man inside the ring. Even if you concentrate on the active wrestler, he waits way too long to tag out.

This is a wrestling game that has lots of features and pulls them all off very well, there's just not a home run in any category. The gameplay is fun, but not flawless. The graphics are very good, and the story mode is engaging. WWE Day of Reckoning is a textbook example of very solid, fun game, it's just not the absolute best. Gamecube-centric fans of wrestling will enjoy it – a lot.