WWF War Zone

Image Source: Game

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: Acclaim Sports
Developer: Iguana West and Probe Entertainment (GB)
Genre: Wrestling
Series: N/A
Released: August 11 1998 (US) and August 21 1998 (UK)
Certificate: 15+ (Nowadays 16)
Consoles: N64, PS1 and GB

The modern era of wrestling videogames truly began with WWF War Zone.

From the late 1980s onwards, the WWF, as well as WCW, had aimed to provide a videogame product for its fans. They were very limited and not exactly advanced when it came to top-level graphics or large-scale rosters; prior to 1998, WWF WrestleFest is arguably the only game that is still remembered fondly by fans. More to the point, WrestleMania: The Arcade Game, released in 1995, and In Your House from the following year only slightly resembled the WWF product at the time, and serious gamers must have wondered at the time if there would ever be a respectable WWF game. WCW/nWo World Tour in 1997 brought the genre to life, and WCW/nWo Revenge took things even further upon its late 1998 release. Still, despite the ratings perhaps suggesting otherwise, the WWF remained the most recognisable wrestling organisation in the world, and so it would take a landmark WWF game to truly kick the genre into high gear.

That finally came in 1998 with War Zone. Given the WWF's renewed popularity due to its recently-introduced Attitude, it was inevitable that there would be a videogame to accompany the new-look WWF, and since a new generation of gaming consoles had yet to receive a WWF title worthy of the platforms, the stars all aligned to give us War Zone, which would finally allow gamers to truly relive WWF action with better graphics and more options than ever before.

The roster consisted of sixteen wrestlers, but what a line-up it was. Clearly chosen in late 1997 (and by the way, how bizarre is it that there wasn't one WWF game released in 1997?), the crew included Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Kane, Mankind, The Rock, Triple H, Goldust, Ken Shamrock, Faarooq, The Headbangers, Owen Hart, Bret Hart, British Bulldog and Ahmed Johnson (the last three had departed the WWF by the time of its release). Also noteworthy were the first ever hidden characters in a WWF game, those being Dude Love and Cactus Jack, along with a few fictional characters. Each wrestler had two attires (Austin and Goldust had four), and just as exciting as the plethora of debuting performers (this was Austin's first WWF game, although he had previously appeared on a WCW game when he was Stunning Steve) were the fact that all wrestlers had full move sets, theme songs (which were midi versions on Nintendo 64) and even voices, occasionally blurting out their catch phrases or selling moves through grunts and groans. Considering what WWF fans had been receiving in previous games (Diesel wasn't on WrestleMania: The Arcade Game, and he had reigned as WWF Champion for most of the previous year), this was huge, and a big part of its appeal at the time. Revenge may have had more grapplers, but they didn't have Austin, Rock, Michaels, Undertaker etc.

The gameplay was hit-and-miss. The thought process was logical, as the intention was to make players earn the bigger moves through increasingly tough button combinations. But it only made matches harder than they needed to be; the button combo system was fun at the time, but it was only when future games opted for one button per move that people realised how awkward this could be. Still, it remained miles better than what the likes of In Your House had offered in the ring; and they certainly didn't offer moves such as the Stone Cold Stunner, the Mandible Claw or the weapon-based attacks using the likes of chairs and televisions.

Speaking of which: a Weapons match was amongst the options on offer. As well as standard bouts, we had a Steel Cage match, a Royal Rumble and a Gauntlet. This may all sound very simple, but this was 1998, when previous games had been based around one match type, so to have a small-scale version of WWF stipulation matches all in one place was pretty cool. The Acclaim team had planned to also provide a Ladder match, but they were unable to work the mechanics of the match into the game without compromising one's entertainment, so the decision was made to not include it. The only big downside was the inability to pick your opponents, meaning that you could only put on the match that you really wanted if you were playing against a friend.

The game's biggest draw was probably the Create A Wrestler feature. This wasn't the first game to boast the option, but it was definitely the game that popularised it, especially with 30 save slots for created characters and costume items relating to wrestlers not on the game, such as Taka Michinoku and Marc Mero. Again, it may sound very simple, but if you were a wrestling fan in 1998, this feature was the coolest thing ever. Every single wrestling game of value has included the Create A Wrestler feature since, which should demonstrate how influential this was.

There was a single-player mode named Challenge whereby you worked your way up the WWF ranks, defeating the top ten names with a wrestler of your choice until you won the Intercontinental Championship and finally the WWF Championship. Title wins were greeted with magazine front covers, and you would have to navigate through the occasional grudge match with a previously-defeated adversary, usually with a big stipulation attached. It was a basic premise, but it was effective, and each wrestler had a different unlockable item if you completed Challenge with him, so for instance, winning Challenge with Mankind unlocked Cactus and Dude, whilst winning with Shawn or HHH would provide items with which to create female wrestlers. The downside was that, due to save data issues, you had to immediately save the game after finishing the mode, otherwise your hard work was all for naught. That's 1998 gaming for you.

Elsewhere, a Training facility allowed you to practice moves in a gym environment, allowing you to improve your skills without having to take unnecessary chances in the likes of Challenge. Vince McMahon and Jim Ross provided commentary. The graphics were based on actual filming of the performers executing their moves in a specific setting, meaning that the graphics looked very realistic, for the performers at least (the arena, modelled on Raw Is War, was good but nothing to shout about; a WrestleMania ring would be unlocked as well, if you had the patience of a saint to win Challenge and then beat everyone on the roster again). Entrances consisted of quick poses at the top of the aisle, which was slightly disappointing. A Rankings system kept a note of wins and losses, and which wrestlers could boast the best records. The WWF Attitude logo watermark was present on the screen during singles matches. There were crowd chants and occasional hecklers, as well as widespread booing for those who kept repeating moves. Finally, the PlayStation version opened with a full video promoting the Attitude product, even if the content of the game then seemed outdated by comparison (the WWF of mid-1998 was very different to even the WWF of late 1997).

By 1998 standards, War Zone was fantastic fun. It must be said that Revenge, released the same year, totally outclassed it from a grappling standpoint, and also boasted a much larger roster. However, War Zone was a WWF product and, for that reason, it had the biggest impact in officially making wrestling videogames cool. Everything was fresh, from the line-up to the graphics to the Create A Wrestler option, and whilst it all seems very simple and limited in 2017, back in 1998 this was one fantastic package which completely blew away any WWF game which had come before it. Attitude would move things along even further, before THQ got the WWF licence in 1999 and things began to develop tenfold, eventually reaching unimaginable levels in terms of replicating the actual product. Nevertheless, it all had to start somewhere, and although wrestling games had been around for some time, War Zone was the first to take things seriously and treat the wrestling fan/videogamer crossover with respect, delivering a product that also happened to be very entertaining. The rating below is by the standards of the time, rather than by modern benchmarks, but if you can appreciate it for what it is, nearly 20 years later, War Zone remains one of the most fun wrestling games ever, and a vital chapter in the history of wrestling - and especially WWF/WWE - videogames.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10 - Excellent

WWF Attitude

Image Source: GameXchange

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: Acclaim Sports
Developer: Iguana West
Genre: Wrestling
Series: N/A
Released: July 31 1999 (US) and September 3 1999 (UK)
Certificate: 15+ (Nowadays 16)
Consoles: N64, PS1, Dreamcast and GBC

The sequel to the best-selling WWF War Zone game, WWF Attitude looked to improve upon virtually everything that was memorable in War Zone, as well as adding several new features. At the time, it received a lot of praise, and coming at the very peak of the iconic Attitude Era, it remains fondly remembered by fans who bought the game at the time. But does Attitude still hold up today, more than 17 years later?

Let's begin with the roster: with more than 30 characters when including hidden wrestlers, Attitude was the first WWF game to feature enough talent for a full-on, 30-man Royal Rumble. Along with the top WWF names like Steve Austin, The Rock, The Undertaker, Kane, Mankind, Triple H and others, the game provided the console debuts for many classic Attitude names such as The New Age Outlaws, X-Pac, Chyna, Sable, Edge, Christian, Val Venis, Faarooq, Bradshaw and more. Interesting characters included The Big Boss Man, Dr. Death (who had left the WWF long before Attitude was released) and Vince McMahon, who was hidden on the game. Since this was during the era when gamers relied on cheats sections in magazines to discover how to unlock content, and since said magazines at the time weren't averse to throwing in all sorts of potential unlockables regardless of whether or not they were actually true, there were several rumoured unlockable characters which ended up being red herrings, most notably Test and even Big Show, who was never scheduled to be on the game having arrived in the WWF too late to join the party, so to speak. So, although the game was released in the latter half of 1999, the roster was a fairer reflection of the (incredibly popular) crew of late 1998.

Create A Wrestler was back and more in-depth than ever, although it had a flaw that I will explain later when covering another aspect of the game. More notable was the debut of Create A PPV, whereby you could create a card of up to eight matches featuring those on the roster in a series of bouts similar to real-life supershows such as WrestleMania and SummerSlam. It might sound basic now, but this was innovative back in 1999. Even better was the unofficial Create An Arena option, a superb feature which allowed you to customise basic parts of an arena, using a limited yet relevant collection of logos for major WWF PPV events and television shows. It's amazing that no other WWF/WWE game would include the feature until WWE '12, more than a decade later, and that the mode has arguably only began reaching its true potential in the last few years, considering that it first made it onto a WWF/WWE title nearly two decades ago.

The game provided the debut for many match types, such as Last Man Standing, First Blood, I Quit (which was more like a Submission bout, admittedly), Finisher, Two Out Of Three Falls and format variations such as a huge four-way tag consisting of four teams. Even though four characters remained on-screen at one time, Attitude was able to include match types that haven't been seen even in modern titles, such as 4-on-4 Survivor Series bouts. It's strange in hindsight that nobody questioned how the likes of Hell In A Cell and Ladder matches weren't included, although Acclaim's decision to use actual video footage of the WWF stars, which was modified using computer technology to end up as a playable videogame, likely made such match types almost an impossibility to include in the game, at least at that point. Alongside Raw, there were arenas for House Show and a "PPV" venue, even though all were three were similar and, whilst realistic, didn't quite resemble their actual incarnations.

The game revamped its single-player mode as Career, which saw you climb the WWF ranks and win the top titles on PPV events, whilst unlocking wrestlers and arena parts, as well as War Zone-style "bonuses", along the way. Overall, it was an improvement on Challenge mode in War Zone, featuring more matches and generally being a stronger experience (you competed on House Shows to begin with, then Heat, then Raw, and finally PPV events). However, some matches were ridiculously hard; in particular, three-on-one Falls Count Anywhere Handicap matches, with you as the lone wolf for lack of a better term, was basically a way for you to lose, so difficult was it to pull out a win in these situations.

Other notes: commentary was provided by Shane McMahon and Jerry Lawler; Shane filled in for Jim Ross, who was recovering from Bell's Palsy at the time, although it's interesting that JR's actual temporary replacement Michael Cole wasn't drafted in for the task (Shane's commentary was limited to Heat). The Nintendo 64 game had proper entrance themes for the first time, which was a vast improvement on the (admittedly funky) midi versions on the N64 version of War Zone. Wrestlers had full entrances for the first time, and Triple H even did his full pre-match promo which included calling out "that fat-ass sitting on the couch", referencing the player. Wrestlers had pre-match comments mostly consisting of catch phrases, many involving swearing or innuendo (Goldust's line of "On your knees, bitch!" and "Kiss my golden ass!" probably wouldn't be included in a modern-day WWE 2K game). An Everyone/Teen option allowed you to toggle between a family-friendly and an adult-orientated experience, which was a nice touch. All of the genuine characters had up to four attires, but they were much easier to access on the PS1 version (actually, they were almost impossible to access on the N64 version, now that I think about it).

Finally, the game was dedicated to Owen Hart, who sadly died a few months before Attitude was released, but after his character had been locked down for the game. Despite this dedication, Owen has never returned to a WWF/WWE game since, for understandable reasons. It's debatable as to whether we'll see Owen back in a game someday, but until then, Attitude marked the videogame farewell for Owen, and we get a nice reminder as to how much he meant to so many with his dedication as the game loads.

On the downside, the control scheme hadn't been changed to make it more user-friendly; if anything, it was less user-friendly this time around, and at a time when the WWF product consisted of many crazy bumps and big-time finishers, with a major reduction on the focus of actual wrestling, it was annoying to see two out of every three exchanges begin with a hammerlock or something similar which was hardly seen on Raw throughout the entire year, never mind a few times per match. Blood was in the game but was used almost comically, as characters would receive some amusingly deep cuts in strange areas such as their hands or their knees, despite wearing long tights. Career mode, as stated, could be pretty frustrating for a variety of reasons, most notably the difficulty of multiplayer bouts and the occasional bug whereby save data would be removed, after completing a lengthy and exhausting single-player mode. The memory of the game also hindered Create A Wrestler (I said I'd come back to it!), since the game took up so much data that you could barely save a handful of characters, despite there being a decent number of slots available. Weapons were difficult to handle, and despite some references to backstage brawling when the game was being hyped up, this ended up being a fantasy as backstage areas were nowhere to be seen, allowing WCW Mayhem to become the first game to offer this feature later in the year.

Perhaps the biggest flaw was the aforementioned lack of improvement with the control scheme, mostly due to the success of the wrestling engine in WCW/nWo Revenge. Revenge and its predecessor World Tour, produced for WCW by THQ, both provided a simple, logical and addictive gameplay experience, which included one- or two-button controls for virtually everything. It's understandable that War Zone would be outclassed in this area, because World Tour was only moderately successful upon its 1997 release and Revenge came out after War Zone did, but for Attitude not to adjust its approach to the in-ring product, almost a year after everyone was raving about the gameplay on Revenge, is pretty strange. This probably explains why the WWF chose not to renew its licence with Acclaim after Attitude was released, and chose to partner with none other than THQ. The change would be massively successful for the WWF and THQ, with WrestleMania 2000 and SmackDown! kicking off an incredible era which continues, albeit to less praise, to this very day. Acclaim, which had been producing WWF games for a decade prior to Attitude, would enter into an agreement with ECW and produce two games for that organisation, and they would provide three Legends Of Wrestling games in the early 2000s before the company would ultimately fold.

Still, despite the negatives, on the whole Attitude gave fans a strong end to the Acclaim era. Ignoring the (already) outdated control scheme, Attitude improved upon War Zone in almost every way possible, and don't forget the general sludge that WWF fans had to bear in the years before War Zone. Therefore, Attitude still seemed like the best wrestling game yet upon its release, even though it didn't meet many fans' expectations. Had the THQ era not begun immediately afterwards with WrestleMania 2000, Attitude might be remembered more fondly, but at the time it was treated like a true main eventer, and although it hasn't aged well, Attitude remains a milestone in the history of wrestling videogames, and a good climax to the final era before the THQ era for WWF/WWE videogames.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10 - Good