Their first ECW-based title was revealed in November, and now the game has arrived into stores on the PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and, soon, the Dreamcast. What we have with ECW Hardcore Revolution, however, is Acclaim's other efforts, WWF Attitude and WWF WarZone, combined together under a new mask with different characters.

The main problem with ECW Hardcore Revolution is that whatever faults were in Attitude and WarZone (and there were quite a few, in fact) can also be found here. No changes whatsoever have occurred with the visuals, though that isn't the worst of this game's problems. The wrestler introductions are incredibly lackluster compared to what else is on the market, and what is coming soon. THQ's WWF Wrestlemania 2000 on the Nintendo 64 doesn't have bundles of flashy full motion video to accompany the people walking in, but what it does accomplish is much more entertaining that what Acclaim put together with ECW Hardcore Revolution. All they do in ECW is walk in with their trademark music playing and enter into the center ring. It's bland, it's boring and it's only one of the many aspects overlooked during the game's development.

Beyond the mere introductions, the graphics are nothing special, but also aren't that bad. The textures applied to the characters do a fine job of portraying each of the characters, and there's a nice amount of detail on all of them so that they're all instantly recognizable. For some odd reason, though, all of the models seem to always fall back into a position when walking around where their arms are stiffed out to the side and slightly raised. It looks completely bizarre on some characters (i.e. the women, in particular), and it continued to bug me through my playing sessions.

Looking at both ECW Hardcore Revolution and WWF Wrestlemania 2000, if nothing else, there is one significant area where Wrestlemania clearly has the upper hand: the moves. Though in Wrestlemania depth is lost because of the fact that moves consist of only the A and B buttons, it makes the game much easier to get into and more enjoyable. In ECW, however, there are various button combinations that have to memorized and pulled off during the action. Moves are more plentiful in ECW, but pulling off more than a couple of them during a match without a full move list sitting in front of you is clearly impractical thinking. Wouldn't you rather pull off a finishing move by holding down one button and wiggling the joystick (Wrestlemania) instead of stringing together five or six presses?

As with WWF Attitude, there are enough features in ECW Hardcore Revolution that if you happen to (unfortunately) take a liking to the game, there will be so much there to keep you satisfied that you will be playing for months. From the basic one on one versus battles, players can turn toward cage matches, three on one matches, barbed wire, tag team and a whole lot more. And even after picking those, there are many match variables that can be tweaked and changed so that there can be an almost entirely new experience each time you set foot inside the ring. While there are numerous modes, more than a couple of them are quite similar to each other, so it isn't as if all of them are radically unique.

The most attractive and publicized feature of Acclaim's wrestling titles has been the create-a-player section. The rest of the game isn't quite up to snuff, but thankfully, for the most part, this mode has stayed relatively intact. From the person's nose, to what is placed on their legs, to what their theme music and even various skin types, an almost infinite amount of combinations can be created with what is available in ECW's create-a-player mode. It is possible to create a serious wrestler who you want to take to the top, but the most fun from the create-a-player comes from creating wacky wrestlers who have no business actually being in the ring. Pair an obese, hairy, bald man with tight spandex and country theme music, and you have the workings for hours of hilarity. The one quirk I had with this pertains to the particular fact that it is on the PlayStation: the loading. Constantly the PlayStation will have to load up the different parts to be placed on the character being created, and after the 15th time you'll be whacking your machine around hoping it will go faster.

ECW Hardcore Revolution even goes as far as letting the player create their own pay-per-view, but the options are so limited in what can be created that it's almost useless. There are only a few variables that can actually be shifted around, and what ends up with most of the created pay-per-views is that they're far similar to each other, and it's just as well that one would use the events already created by the developers themselves.

More indications that the game was pushed out the door as a rushed product to cash in on the ECW license as quickly as humanly possible, are the small areas that were obviously missed. During matches where there are two real ECW wrestlers fighting it out, the announcers will refer to them as "Player 1" and "Player 2". In WWF Attitude, the announcers actually called them by their names, but it looks as if this was forgotten when ECW Hardcore Revolution was being put together. There were also times, when fighting, that the characters would seemingly "walk through" each other. The poor collision detection makes for some frustrating situations where every hit given counts. Moreover, the artificial intelligence can be as dumb as a rock or far too difficult, depending from situation to situation. One time, I was able to spend literally five minutes alternating slamming on the punch and kick buttons without the other wrestler being able to pull of anything to stop me.