E3 2008: WWE Legends of Wrestlemania Impressions

Admittedly, I completely forgot that THQ had another wrestling game up its sleeve with WWE Legends of Wrestlemania. Upon first glance at the game, you're instantly reminded of an older Acclaim game that went by a similar name, and even boasted a similar look: Legends of Wrestling. But Legends of Wrestling was rubbish, and THQ's game does not seem to be.

During a behind-closed-doors session, We sat down with the game and what we saw impressed us. The game runs on the SmackDown 2009 engine, but it has been tweaked considerably so that the action is arcade based, with a larger emphasis on pick-up-and-play mechanics. The rationale for that decision was done as a means of creating a stepping-stone for the franchise in order to accumulate a userbase; if you recall, the original SmackDown games also started out as arcade-based.

The visuals were fantastic. The wrestlers boast embellished details with their arms and chests, a similar design trait found in the Legends of Wrestling games. But despite the embellishments, the wrestlers still look fantastic, sporting very smooth texture work, and defined physiques. Unlike SmackDown 2009, WWE Legends boasted a beautiful, fully polygonal audience, even at this early stage of the game's development cycle.

The core mode of WWE Legends will be the Wrestlemania Tour mode, where you'll be able to relive some of the greatest Wrestlemania moments in WWF history (yes, I said WWF). You'll be able to relive in three different ways: Recreate, Rewrite, and Redefine. Recreating means that you win the match precisely as it had happened. Rewrite allows you to change the events, but still have the proper winner. Redefine means you can change the course of WWF history and have a different winner.

We loved the authenticity of the game, the action felt smooth, and the controls were easy to get used to, as they utilized the face buttons over the analog stick. A modifier button exists to grant you more moves during the match. In addition, the personalities of managers have been realistically pulled off, as certain managers are more prone to interfering in matches, such as placing their wrestler's leg on the ropes during pinfall, or distracting the referee, or even climbing onto the ring and whisper into their wrestler's ear. It's little stuff like that which really made WWE Legends of Wrestlemania really stand out.

The build we checked out was in very early stages, but it's certainly coming along extremely well. Look for it to launch next Spring, around March/April 2009.

Related Game(s): WWE Legends of Wrestlemania

7/21/2008 Arnold Katayev

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