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DEVELOPER
Acclaim
PUBLISHER
Acclaim
AVAILABLE
Now
MEDIUM
Cartridge
PLAYERS
Four
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 irst, let me just say that I am a huge wrestling fan. However, I wasn't exactly awaiting WarZone's release like many wrestling fans. From what I had seen at E3, it just didn't seem like a worthy addition to the US wrestling library. Now that I've had a good deal of time with the game, my opinion has changed, slightly.
WarZone comes loaded with options and modes, more than enough to keep people playing forhours on end. There's the WWF Challenge mode, which is pretty much a league scenario. You start at the bottom and work your way up. At the same time though, you hear about results of matches from around the rest of the federation. Those results, of course, change the order in which you fight your opponents. Another pretty cool feature is the Grudge Match. Occasionally, after beating someone, maybe 3 matches down the road, you'll get a screen that shows him working out. Suddenly you're thrown into either a Cage Match or a Weapons Match. If you beat him, you move on, until finally you win the championship (you get the IC belt about 75% through, and then the heavyweight at the end). From there you have to defend your title against the number one contender. I'm sure this will keep diehard fans playing forever.
Also available, besides the aforementioned Cage and Weapons Matches, are Tag Team, Royal Rumble, Versus, and Gauntlet modes. Another great thing is the Training mode, which will really help you get a handle on the sloppy controls (read on).
Of course, you'll have the most fun in this game when playing the 3 and 4 player modes. War, Tornado, Tag Team, Cage, Weapons, and Royal Rumble will keep a quartet of friends playing all day long.
Perhaps the coolest feature in the game, though, is the Create-a-Wrestler mode. You can give your wrestler almost any look you can think of. You can even "break the rules" and throw Goldberg in the game. Although this mode isn't done as well as in the Fire Pro's (a Japanese Wrestling game series), it's still the best we have over here in the US. One other minor problem is that you can't assign your wrestler individual moves. You have to select whose move set you'd like to use from the pre-existing wrestlers. In any event, you'll have a total blast with this mode. Even non-wrestling fans will get a kick out of it.
Many of the Top WWF stars (along with some WCW ones) are selectable from the start, with hidden characters available after winning the championship. Each wrestler has their trademark setup moves along with their finisher. I could sit there and "Stunner" people all day long. It's too much fun.
The wrestlers look so much like their real life counterparts that it's scary. Luckily, the animation is dead on too. Just about every move is done with the smoothest animation I've seen in a wrestling game. The only thing that looks a tad awkward is the normal walking and running animations. The wrestlers just look goofy when they're not doing a move.
All of the grunts and groans of professional wrestling are included, and all were recorded by their respective real life counterparts. There's also a fairly decent commentary from Vince McMahon and Jim Ross, although it lacks the amount of phrases and comments of the PSX version. The Wrestlers' theme music is done with some very sad midis. It's a joke after hearing the perfect renditions on the PSX. This is to be expected though, when you're dealing with the cartridge format.
The only major problem with the game just happens to be the most important factor: Control. Moves for the individual characters are done by hitting, for example, right, down, and then kick. This isn't the easiest thing in the world to do if your opponent is trying the same thing. This clumsy way of attacking takes way too long to get used to, and will definitely leave non-gamers sitting at ring side watching the action, instead of joining in. That was a great thing about WCW/nWo World Tour. Players of all ages and skill levels could have the same amount of fun with the game.
There is a grapple system of sorts, which does cut out a lot of cheapness found in other wrestling games, by not allowing players to just constantly do weak moves to win the grapple. Problem is that most of the heavier moves are still done with an overly complicated combo.
Another pretty cool feature is the stun meter. After taking a beating, you'll notice that your life bar says STUN and now has a blue meter. Well, you're now at the disposal ofyour opponent until that meter runs out. This does away with the knockdown, leg hold, knock down, leg hold, (etc.) combo that plagues most new wrestling games. There's also not much button mashing. You'll only need quick fingers to break out of a pin.
Overall, I really have some mixed feelings about WarZone. The graphics are unmatched by wrestling game standards and the Create-a-Player mode is a welcome addition, however the control just keeps eating away at the game. In the end, if you're a wrestling fan looking for a change from WCW/nWo World Tour, or if you just despise the WCW, look no further than WWF: WarZone. However, I doubt this game will get a ton of playtime once WCW/nWo Revenge hits in late October.
-- Bob McTague
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