Game Review: WWF Royal Rumble (2000)

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developers: Sega and Yuke's
Genre: Wrestling
Series: N/A
Released: August 1 2000 (US) and September 22 2000 (UK)
Certificate: 15+ (Nowadays 16)
Consoles: Dreamcast (also Arcade)

When wrestling fans reminisce about the golden age of wrestling videogames, the year 2000 is a vintage one to look back upon. We had the first two SmackDown! games as well as the incredible No Mercy. Sure, we also had WCW Backstage Assault which was, quite frankly, woeful, and two ECW games, but it's the WWF titles which first come to mind.

One WWF game which is easy to forget, however, is Royal Rumble. An arcade game which was later released on Sega Dreamcast, Royal Rumble is almost always overshadowed by the more famous WWF games on PS1 and N64. Mind you, there's a good reason why: Royal Rumble is nowhere near as good as any of its three counterparts from that year, but that isn't to say that it's a completely bad game.

Royal Rumble feels like a demo more than a full-on game. For starters, there are only two match options: a singles match and a Royal Rumble match (obviously). The traditional singles option provides you with a manager/partner, whether you want one or not, and who interferes upon your command (via a whistle which is more closely associated with a shepherd than a WWF wrestler). You can't leave the ring during matches, and at random points, the lights go out and you can find yourself within a steel cage (with which you can't interact) or one of a number of backstage areas (which fortunately allows for you to interact with weapons and props). It all sounds so random, but considering that this was primarily an arcade game, the rapid-fire pace to proceedings and the catering towards players with short attention spans does make sense.

Still, that's no excuse not to even have basic matches like tag team, nor does it explain why for a game based on the Royal Rumble - the classic 30-man annual tradition - there are only 19 characters, plus two hidden names (Vince and Shane McMahon), which inevitably means some notable omissions (including Billy Gunn, Christian and The Radicalz amongst others). There are WWF videogame debuts for Tazz and Kurt Angle, and Rikishi pops up too, but in order for a Rumble match to achieve the goal of 30 participants, characters have to re-enter the bout. No, there isn't an option to create a character, or anything else, so you'll have to accept that the likes of Edge or Matt Hardy will return even after you've eliminated them. You can have Rumbles of 60 or 90 entrants, but this obviously increases wrestler repetition. At least characters have alternate attires to make things a little bit different.

The gameplay and graphics were very similar to the SmackDown! games from around that time, but the 128-bit power of the Dreamcast means that things are taken a step further and so these visuals are the best yet (well, at least until the first WWF game on PS2 the following year). Speaking of graphics, this is the only WWF/WWE game to date which allows for nine on-screen characters, by far the most redeeming aspect of this title. The camera cuts are more akin to later SmackDown! titles like Just Bring It, making this game a little ahead of the curve in that regard, and moves are fairly easy to execute, even if the difficulty levels are unnecessarily challenging. The menu also had a countdown clock to pick your wrestlers which seemed to be arcade-focused; this could occasionally be frustrating, but the fact that it used a Rumble-style timer for this was pretty cool, I guess.

On the downside, there is only one arena (a strange hybrid of Royal Rumble 1999 and Raw), there are no real entrances besides a quick snap of a wrestler's arrival in a manner similar to a subliminal television advertisement, and the in-game audio is poor; with no commentary or ring announcements, the game strangely foregoes the decision to include music during matches nor does it include much in the way of crowd reactions. Also, when wrestlers enter the Rumble (and sometimes two or three enter at once), we aren't given the authentic countdown, the buzzer or their respective theme songs. The only time that we hear entrance themes is during post-match celebrations, and even they are short. (Between this, the wrestlers walking in front of their videos in the SD games and the abrupt ending to intros in No Mercy, what was THQ's problem with wrestler entrances in 2000?) Perhaps the oddest aspect of this game concerns the marketing: the game has an opening video with highlights from Rumble 2000 surrounded by a red hue, and the Rumble match option uses the 2000 version of the event logo, yet the box art, the title screen and the logos used within the arena all relate to the 1999 edition.

I mentioned earlier that Royal Rumble feels more like a demo than the finished product, and that remains the best way I can describe this game. As an arcade experience or as a quick way to fill 5-10 minutes, or for a nostalgic trip down memory lane, this works and will likely entertain. But for anyone seeking a proper wrestling title, a chance to relive authentic WWF action, or something which at least feels like it has full and proper attention paid to its development, Royal Rumble does not succeed, and in terms of how it compares to its competitors on the other consoles, it'd be like comparing a small, money-losing independent with the then-red hot WWF.

To be honest, the Sega Dreamcast and even Sega as a whole often felt doomed, and Royal Rumble is a perfect example of why the platform did not succeed. At a time when the WWF product was cool and hip, and a game bearing its initials was guaranteed to sell by the truckload, RR feels like a simple cash-in rather than a chance to really target fans of the product with a logical, innovative and exciting game. Even if Royal Rumble had received another six months of development, it wouldn't have mattered because the Dreamcast ceased production in 2001. Which means that because this was the only original WWF game produced for the console (a port of Attitude was released but it featured no changes, bar the strange decision to remove the Owen Hart tribute), Royal Rumble was the best option for Dreamcast owners because it was the only option for them.

Summing this up, if you played this in an arcade then you'd get a kick out of it. It's far from terrible from a gameplay or a graphical standpoint - I'd sooner play and look at this than the later Raw games on Xbox - and having nine characters on screen gives this some credibility even to this day. But that's as far as it goes when it comes to really putting Royal Rumble over. If you do have a Dreamcast, I'd suggest tracking this down and giving it a few plays for the sake of nostalgia or for curiosity purposes, but other than that, you're better off putting your money towards something else. Besides, if you really wanted to relive the Attitude Era that much, you could always just subscribe to the WWE Network! Or play either No Mercy or one of the early SmackDown! games. Or you could decide that you do want to play Royal Rumble, which is fine; just don't expect a lot from it.

Overall Rating: 5/10 - Average

WWE 2K18 - Roster Prediction

Image Source: WWE 2K18 News

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Doesn't a year fly by? It only feels like a few months since we were contemplating whether Goldberg's appearance in WWE 2K17 would lead to a proper return to the company (it did, and in grand fashion too), and it doesn't feel like it was that long ago when we were debating the decision to have Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator characters as the pre-order exclusives for WWE 2K16. Hell, even the meltdown regarding the purged WWE 2K15 roster is still fresh in mind.

Getting back to the point of this article: it is that time of year once again where the WWE/2K collaborative team are hard at work preparing this year's flagship game for its annual autumn release. The hype for WWE 2K18 began several weeks ago, and whilst we haven't seen any screenshots of the game yet, it's only a matter of time before we do. Around that time, we should start properly hearing about which wrestlers have made the grade for the nineteenth installment of this hugely-popular yet somewhat flawed series (I'll gripe about the shortcomings of recent WWE games another time).

Make no mistake about it: for WWE fans who have a passion for videogames, this is an exciting time. It's almost as exciting as WrestleMania Season. Seriously, it's a lot of fun to consider what the next game will deliver, where it may repair damage from past editions, and how it might provide innovations to make a massive and positive impact. Sure, there are always bumps in the road, and some would argue that there hasn't been a truly great WWE game in a long, long time. But if the series was truly dogs--t, then we wouldn't still be seeing annual WWE releases, and for all its faults, the WWE 2K series is incredibly important to WWE's financial revenue, as well as a yearly way for WWE fans the world over to create and recreate classic wrestling matches. Of course, this becomes easier when they have a generously large and star-studded roster to play with.

And so we come to the roster for WWE 2K18. Well, let's start with the 2K17 crew: last year's game included a record 177 playable characters, which as ever included a fair number of duplicates. It brought in plenty of new faces amongst the regular roster (AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, The Four Horsewomen, Asuka, Austin Aries etc), as well as returning legends like the aforementioned Goldberg, Brutus Beefcake, Eddie Guerrero and The New Age Outlaws, along with some long-awaited fresh legends via DLC such as Tatanka, Psycho Sid and Papa Shango. This was alongside the usual faces, both current and retro, ultimately resulting in a roster that was both large and varied, making for what was probably the strongest line-up ever in a wrestling game.

But even the 2K17 roster wasn't without its downsides. For starters, Roddy Piper, Batista, Sgt Slaughter and a fair few other legends were removed from 2K16. The game's new legends only came in the form of DLC; The Outlaws, Razor Ramon and Diesel were the only legends on the disc who weren't in 2K16, and they had been in previous games earlier this decade. Plus, managers were much smaller in number; there were only six, compared to more than 20 in the last title, which included Ted DiBiase not being a playable wrestler for the second year in a row. So, whilst it was undoubtedly a strong roster, and the biggest to date, it could have been so much better with a bit of tinkering and a greater sense of logic.

Fortunately, that was last year. This year is a whole new year, and 2K18 has the potential to blow 2K17 out of the water when it comes to the roster. For starters, we've already been told that this year's crew will be by far the largest yet, granted, this has become an annual trend, but it's always reassuring to know that we'll be treated to another record-breaking line-up. And whilst the decision to stop the series appearing on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 will be disappointing for those who still own those consoles, it's fair to say that keeping the game accessible for previous-gen probably held it back in a few areas, and the roster was likely one of them. Sure, the PS3 and 360 versions got the entire 177-strong line-ups, but who's to say that the power of the PS4 and Xbox One (and the new Nintendo Switch) couldn't allow the roster to expand well beyond 200? We're four years into the ninth console generation now, and with rumours that development for the next console generation has at least already been seriously discussed internally, now is as good a time as ever to start really capitalising on the consoles that we have currently.

We also already know a few names who are guaranteed to make it. Cover boy Seth Rollins is obviously in, but so is Kurt Angle. Making his first WWE videogame appearance in 11 years, Angle's inclusion - and his status as the pre-order exclusive - was guaranteed from the second his Hall Of Fame induction was announced, yet that doesn't change the fact that it will be a real treat to once again play as Angle in a WWE game; to underscore the significance of this, Angle's only appearance on a PS3 game was in TNA iMPACT! So, it's been a long time coming, to say the very least. Plus, we've just heard about the Deluxe and Collector's Editions providing pre-order exclusives in the form of John Cena circa 2006 and 2010, as well as Rob Van Dam and Batista. RVD hasn't been in a WWE game since 2K15; Batista missed last year's outing. So, we already have three popular stars from the not-so-distant past confirmed for the game, all of whom weren't in 2K17, so it's a great start to get fans buzzing about WWE 2K18.

But then what? Well, several dozen characters from today's WWE crew are virtually guaranteed to be in, and from the legends who we saw in 2K17, I would estimate that a good 70-75% are extremely likely to reappear in 2K18. Some have already basically been revealed as part of the teasers seen in the 2K18 trailers: items relating to Andre The Giant, Big Boss Man, Bret Hart, Brutus Beefcake, Cactus Jack, Chris Jericho, Diesel, Dusty Rhodes, Edge, Goldberg, Jake Roberts, John Bradshaw Layfield, Mankind, Papa Shango, Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Shawn Michaels, Steve Austin, Sting, Tatanka, Ted DiBiase (who will hopefully be playable again at last), Triple H, Ultimate Warrior and The Undertaker were seen in the trailers, which almost certainly guarantees that they will be back in the fold for 2K18.

So, since a large number of the characters from 2K17 are most probably going to appear in 2K18, I'll instead focus on those who will be debuting, returning and/or have question marks before jumping to my full predicted roster for the game. Let's start with the newbies: the NXT debutants over the last twelve months have included Bobby Roode, Andrade "Cien" Almas, No Way Jose, Ember Moon, the former members of DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciappa), The Authors Of Pain (Akam and Razar), TM-61 (Nick Miller and Shane Torne), Roderick Strong and Sanity. From Sanity, I only foresee Eric Young and Nikki Cross making it in, at least before DLC. We've also had some returnees to the brand, who I'll cover when I consider DLC.

Prior to the release of last year's game, WWE held the Cruiserweight Classic, which ultimately led to the revival of the Cruiserweight division and the introduction of 205 Live as a weekly show. Regardless of your opinions about all this, this has still led to several performers getting a chance that they may not have previously received, and this includes them potentially appearing in 2K18. Those who I believe will be included are TJP, Rich Swann, Akira Tozawa, Cedric Alexander, Noam Dar and Jack Gallagher. This doesn't comprise the entire division, but these are the names most pushed on Raw/205 Live between September and the spring who debuted via the Cruiserweight set-up.

Then there was the United Kingdom Championship tournament. Honestly, I only see Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne making it in, given that the UK Championship weekly programme has still yet to properly launch, and even then, I think that both will come as DLC. So, we'll come back to these two, and since the Mae Young Classic women's tournament won't be televised until the end of next month, I seriously doubt that anybody who will debut in that competition will be in 2K18 either.

Otherwise, there are only two other completely new faces who will appear on the current roster. One is Elias Samson, who had previously been on NXT but who has moonlighted on Raw for several months now. The other is James Ellsworth, who became the most unlikely hit with WWE fans in many years, perhaps since Eugene in 2004. Even though Ellsworth's role has reduced over time and his popularity is nowhere near what it was in the autumn of 2016, he'll definitely be in the game. As for Mike Kanellis, who recently debuted alongside the returning Maria Kanellis: I will cover those two when focusing on DLC.

We've talked about the new faces who will be on the roster, but let's consider those who won't be in the game that appeared in 2K17. Alberto Del Rio, Jack Swagger, Simon Gotch and Stardust all left WWE (Stardust actually left months before 2K17 was released, but he remained in the game), so they'll all be absent this year. Blake and Murphy remain under contract, but they've fallen so far down the radar that I can't see them re-appearing in 2K18. I would have said Tyson Kidd won't be included since his last WWE match occurred more than two years ago, but he has stated that he will be included, so there you go. As for The Dudley Boyz, this could go either way. They officially left WWE after SummerSlam, but D-Von still works for the company; however, Bubba Ray signed with Ring Of Honor in March, reducing his chances of appearing and, consequently, those of D-Von. But did his ROH debut occur too late to have him taken out of 2K18? I'm going to take the pessimistic route and suggest that 2K18 won't retain The Dudleyz, but I wouldn't be surprised whatsoever if they were included after all, especially with a certain extreme tag team having returned to WWE at Mania 33 (more on those two shortly). And I predict that Austin Aries will remain in the game despite him recently leaving the company, since A-Double will have been locked in before this news filtered out.

Now, then, the fun part: considering which wrestlers who have returned to WWE will be in 2K18. There's plenty to choose from. Jinder Mahal is the obvious one as things stand, which is fascinating considering his status just a few months ago (oh, by the way, I doubt that The Singh Brothers will be in 2K18 since they have only wrestled once on 205 Live, when they were still The Bollywood Boys). Then we have Rhyno, Brian Kendrick, Mickie James and Curt Hawkins. We also technically have Primo and Epico, formerly Diego and Fernando of Los Matadores. I'm inclined to believe that Tajiri may sneak in, since he appeared on 205 Live at the start of the year, and only recently confirmed that he was leaving WWE, so he might just make it on a technicality of sorts. Oh, and then there's the Hardyz, Matt and Jeff, the legendary tag team who are finally back in WWE, and who I believe will be part of the existing roster in 2K18 as a further incentive for fans to buy (as in, they won't be DLC). Finally, I don't envision that either The Spirit Squad or The Headbangers will be in, since they disappeared in late 2016 and are unlikely to return anytime soon.

I'll cover DLC at the end, but now let's talk about the most intriguing aspect of the roster: the legends. As noted, 2K17 was disappointing when it came to completely new legends prior to DLC. A big reason for that was the decision not to have a Showcase mode. At time of writing, 2K haven't yet confirmed whether or not there will be a Showcase mode but, since they've talked about the other modes already, it unfortunately seems more likely that they've chosen to bypass Showcase, aside from the Hall Of Fame DLC, for another year (which is a big mistake, but I'll wait until this information is confirmed before having a rant about it). In the event that Showcase IS back, then there is suddenly potential for a fair number of fresh legends to appear. If not, then this becomes less likely - but not impossible.

Therefore, I have to take the careful step of predicting legends who may or may not appear depending on a Showcase mode which may or may not be included, based on a character or a theme which could literally be anyone or anything. Phew!

Let's think about the legends who weren't in 2K17 or in any recent games, as this may provide the answers. Funny that I should use that expression because it isn't too dissimilar to a phrase used by Roddy Piper, a man who returned in 2K16, only to be taken out for 2K17. I am predicting that he will be in 2K18 regardless, and we already have a teaser that Ted DiBiase is a playable wrestler once more. Otherwise, it becomes more tricky, partly because of the concussion lawsuit against WWE which is supported by many former stars (on the bright side, this is apparently going to be finally settled next month). Therefore, the safest bet may be to focus on legends whose character data could still be used, but who weren't in 2K17: Sgt Slaughter, X-Pac and Ken Shamrock, along with Faarooq and D'Lo Brown. The other Triangle Of Terror members frankly probably won't be included, and there's no need for Kama Mustafa if we have The Godfather and Papa Shango again, right? (Charles Wright played all three in case you're confused.)

I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that the final legend who will reappear in 2K18 will be Hulk Hogan. Yes, the Hulkster, who hasn't been seen in WWE, or in a WWE game, since the racism scandal of 2015 led to his abrupt WWE termination. But WWE has been slowly weaving him back into certain things, such as a WWE Network commercial and the intro for this year's WrestleMania. Let's face it: Hogan's WWE return is inevitable, and if it hasn't happened by this time next year, I will be very surprised. The best way for Hulk to resurface in a WWE game is for it to happen quietly, without much attention, thus reducing the likelihood of a major backlash. If that is the case, then his 1980s, nWo and 2000s personas are all likely to be in. This would round off the updated legends crew prior to DLC nicely, at least if we assume that there won't be a Showcase mode again. If there is, well that changed. As for any completely new legends? Without Showcase, 2K will likely save this for DLC (which I will get to, I promise).

As for legends who won't make it into another game? It's a matter of opinion, of course, but those who aren't particular popular amongst current fans and/or who aren't crying out to be featured in another game are likely to be cut. That means that Bam Bam Bigelow, Tatsumi Fujinami, Larry Zbyszko, The Bushwhackers, Rikishi and The Natural Disasters will probably all disappear this time around, along with Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Stunning Steve Austin. All of the other duplicate versions of legends should remain in, though, including all three Faces Of Foley (incidentally, I predict that Mick Foley is playable as Mick Foley, given his run as Raw General Manager in the preceding twelve months). And all of the 2K17 DLC characters should be back, all of which means that 2K18 should have a weighty line-up, which of course will be even better if we're treated to the return of Showcase.

So, now let's think about DLC, aside from the pre-order exclusives which have now been confirmed. One DLC pack could be NXT-themed, with appearances for Drew McIntyre, Kassius Ohno, Killian Dain, Peyton Royce, Billie Kay and possibly William Regal. Another DLC pack could have the Future Stars theme for the aforementioned UK names Tyler Bate and Pete Dunne, along with Tony Nese, Mustafa Ali and Gran Metallik for the Cruiserweight division, and maybe Mike and Maria Kanellis too. This year's Legends pack will be most intriguing, as it could potentially offer series debuts and/or returns to some truly classic names. I'd personally love to see Tito Santana and Rick Martel finally join the series, and a series debut for Hacksaw Jim Duggan is long overdue. I would love to see Doink make another appearance; the colourful character has only appeared once, and that was eight years ago, so a return would be very welcome. I don't get why IRS has never been in as a legend since Mike Rotunda a.k.a. Irwin R. Schyster has worked for WWE as a road agent for years, and two of his kids (Bray Wyatt and Bo Dallas) have worked for WWE for years as well; maybe this year, Irwin finally gets in. Finally, perhaps this DLC pack could include Chyna, the ground-breaking female competitor who shone during the Attitude Era, but who had a major falling out with WWE and tragically passed away last year. This would at least serve as a tribute to Chyna, and it would also be her first videogame appearance in an astonishing 17 years, making this DLC pack a must-own.

Finally, we come to the Hall Of Fame 2017 DLC Showcase. Angle will already be involved, but he could have an additional attire from 2005 if this Showcase mode were to cover his classic WrestleMania 21 battle with Shawn Michaels (who would have a 2000s-era character slot as a result). The Rock 'N' Roll Express would be included, and it would be a shame if The Midnight Express, backed up by Jim Cornette, were not also involved. In fact, both main versions of Midnight (Bobby Eaton and Dennis Condrey, and Eaton and Stan Lane) could be included, since The Fabulous Freebirds received two matches in the previous HOF Showcase. Elsewhere, Beth Phoenix will be in, and her logical opponent would be Candice Michelle, since Beth beat Candice for her first Women's Championship at No Mercy 2007. Adding to that DDP vs. Christian from WM X8 (since the WCW version of Page is already in) and Rick Rude vs. Ultimate Warrior from WrestleMania V (giving both men additional attires) makes sense too.

The other inductee, besides Warrior Award winner Eric LeGrande (who probably won't be included), is Teddy Long. As a non-wrestler, do you pick one of his gimmicky matches? How about we go down a different route, and choose the one thing he's most famous for with modern fans, so "let's have a TAG TEAM MATCH, PLAYA!" It would be from SmackDown circa 2006, and it could see, say, King Booker and Finlay team up against Batista (Ruthless Aggression era) "AND THE UNDERTAKER! HOLLA HOLLA HOLLA!" Seriously, even though Finlay would be the only different character from those already present, this would be a perfect option, and preferable to playing out a gimmick match involving Long. If it included a pre-match scene of Teddy announcing the format, and he was available as a manager after the match, even better!

Though he wouldn't be wrestling, he could still become a manager in the game, as would Cornette and possibly Queen Sharmell, if we're including King Booker. They would join the managers already in the game, which would include Bobby Heenan, Paul Heyman and Lana from 2K17, as well as (hopefully) returns for Jimmy Hart and Paul Bearer, and also a series debut for Paul Ellering. Maryse will no doubt be a manager this year as well (she wrestled at WM 33, but I don't see her being a playable wrestler this time around), as could Bob Backlund, since he was Darren Young's "life coach" prior to his injury. Elsewhere, we already know that Michael Cole, Corey Graves and Byron Saxton will be the announce team, and JoJo will be the ring announcer. Rounding things off, expect the usual referee characters, though it'd be cool to have authentic officials to choose from, since we could pick referee shirts (which is basically what it was) in the last game.

Before I conclude, I haven't mentioned Owen Hart and CM Punk for the obvious reason: neither will be included for vastly different reasons. It's a real shame in Owen's case, since fans and even fellow Harts would love his memory to be celebrated in a manner such as the annual videogame. As for Punk, while I do believe that he will eventually return to WWE, it won't be for many years, ruling him out of 2K18 and the next couple of games in the series, at the very least.

As you can see, there are tons of characters who could find their way into 2K18, and bear in mind that there's many not included here, such as The Legion Of Doom and Demolition (who aren't likely to make it into a game so long as the aforementioned concussion lawsuit against WWE is active). We're bound to have a line-up which represents the roster split, as well as the NXT newbies, Cruiserweight competitors and the main UK faces, along with the usual generous supply of Legends. Crucially, the roster has to really blow last year's away if fans are to truly invest in 2K18, but fortunately the early signs are promising. Hopefully, it'll break the 200 barrier for the first time, and with this being the fourth game into the current videogame console generation, there's really no reason why this shouldn't happen. Other elements will determine if this game is truly epic, but at least the line-up has a strong chance of being incredible.

Summarising, then, this is my predicted roster for WWE 2K18, and I have provided the list in its entirety below. It won't be long before we start getting more news on the game, so in a few weeks' time, we will find out how similar the actual line-up is. If it is anything like the roster below, we're in for a real treat with WWE 2K18!

Leave your comments below if you agree or disagree with the choices, and give your feedback about who you would like to see in WWE 2K18!

Playable Characters:

Aiden English
AJ Styles
Akam
Akira Tozawa
Alexa Bliss
Alicia Fox
Alundra Blayze
Andrade "Cien" Almas
Andre The Giant
Apollo Crews
Arn Anderson
Asuka
Austin Aries
Baron Corbin
Batista (2006) (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Batista (2010) (Pre-Order DLC)
Bayley
Becky Lynch
Beth Phoenix (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Big Boss Man (1990, 1999)
Big Cass
Big E
Big Show
Big Show (1999, 2000)
Billie Kay (NXT DLC)
Billy Gunn
Bo Dallas
Bobby Eaton (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Bobby Roode
Booker T
Bray Wyatt
Braun Strowman
Brian Kendrick
Brian Pillman (1993, 1997)
Brie Bella
Bret Hart (1997, 1998)
British Bulldog
Brock Lesnar
Brutus Beefcake
Buddy Roberts
Cactus Jack (1992, 1998)
Candice Michelle (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Carmella
Cedric Alexander
Cesaro
Chad Gable
Charlotte
Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho (2001)
Christian (2014)
Christian (2002) (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Chyna (Legends DLC)
Curt Hawkins
Curtis Axel
Dana Brooke
Daniel Bryan
Darren Young
Dash Wilder
Dean Ambrose
Dennis Condrey (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Diamond Dallas Page (1992, 1997)
Diamond Dallas Page (2002) (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Diesel
D'Lo Brown
Doink (Legends DLC)
Dolph Ziggler
Drew McIntyre (NXT DLC)
Dude Love
Dusty Rhodes
Eddie Guerrero
Edge
Elias Samson
Ember Moon
Emma
Enzo Amore
Epico
Eric Young
Erick Rowan
Eva Marie
Faarooq
Fandango
Finlay (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Finn Balor
The Godfather
Goldberg
Goldberg (1998, 2004)
Goldust
Gran Metallik (Future Stars DLC)
Greg Valentine
Hacksaw Jim Duggan (Legends DLC)
Heath Slater
Hideo Itami
Hollywood Hulk Hogan (2000s)
Hollywood Hulk Hogan (nWo)
Hulk Hogan (1980s)
IRS (Legends DLC)
Ivory
Jack Gallagher
Jacqueline
Jake Roberts (1991, 1996)
James Ellsworth
Jason Jordan
Jeff Hardy
Jey Uso
Jim Neidhart
Jimmy Garvin
Jimmy Uso
Jinder Mahal
John Bradshaw Layfield
John Cena
John Cena (2006) (Pre-Order DLC)
John Cena (2010) (Pre-Order DLC)
Johnny Gargano
Kalisto
Kane
Kane (1998)
Karl Anderson
Kassius Ohno (NXT DLC)
Ken Shamrock
Kerry Von Erich
Kevin Nash
Kevin Owens
Kevin Von Erich
Killian Dain (NXT DLC)
King Booker (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Kofi Kingston
Konnor
Kurt Angle (2001) (Pre-Order DLC)
Kurt Angle (2005) (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Kurt Angle (2006) (Pre-Order DLC)
Lex Luger
Lita
Luke Gallows
Luke Harper
Mankind
Maria Kanellis (Future Stars DLC)
Mark Henry
Matt Hardy
Michael Hayes
Mick Foley
Mickie James
Mike Kanellis (Future Stars DLC)
The Miz
Mojo Rawley
Mr. Perfect
Mustafa Ali (Future Stars DLC)
Naomi
Natalya
Neville
Nia Jax
Nick Miller
Nikki Bella
Nikki Cross
No Way Jose
Noam Dar
Paige
Papa Shango
Pete Dunne (Future Stars DLC)
Peyton Royce (NXT DLC)
Primo
Psycho Sid
Randy Orton
Randy Savage
Razar
Razor Ramon
Rhyno
Ric Flair (1988, 1991, 2003)
Rich Swann
Rick Martel (Legends DLC)
Ricky Morton (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Rick Rude (1989) (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Rick Rude (1990)
Ricky Steamboat (1991, 1994)
Road Dogg
Rob Van Dam (DLC)
Robert Gibson (Hall Of Fame DLC)
The Rock
The Rock (1997, 2001)
Roddy Piper
Roman Reigns
R-Truth
Rusev
Sami Zayn
Samoa Joe
Sasha Banks
Scott Dawson
Scott Hall
Seth Rollins
Sgt Slaughter
Shane McMahon
Shane Thorne
Shawn Michaels (1997, 1998)
Shawn Michaels (2005) (Hall Of Dame DLC)
Sheamus
Shinsuke Nakamura
Sin Cara
Stan Lane (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Stephanie McMahon
Steve Austin
Sting
Sting (1988, 1991)
Sting (1998, 1999)
Summer Rae
Tajiri
Tamina
Tatanka
Ted DiBiase
Tito Santana (Legends DLC)
Titus O'Neil
TJP
Tomasso Ciappa
Tony Nese (Future Stars DLC)
Triple H
Triple H (1998, 2001)
Trish Stratus
Tye Dillinger
Tyler Bate (Future Stars DLC)
Tyler Breeze
Tyson Kidd
Ultimate Warrior (1989) (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Ultimate Warrior (1990, 1991)
The Undertaker
The Undertaker (1991, 1995, 1998, 1999)
The Undertaker (2006) (Hall Of Fame DLC)
The Undertaker (Biker)
Vader
Viktor
Vince McMahon
William Regal (NXT DLC)
Xavier Woods
X-Pac
Zack Ryder

Managers:

Bob Backlund
Bobby Heenan (1989) (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Bobby Heenan (1990)
Jim Cornette (Hall Of Fame DLC)
Jimmy Hart
Lana
Maryse
Paul Bearer
Paul Ellering
Paul Heyman
Queen Sharmell (DLC)
Theodore Long (Hall Of Fame DLC)

Commentators:

Byron Saxton
Corey Graves
Michael Cole

Ring Announcer:

JoJo

Referees:

TBC

A Wishlist For WWE 2K18

Image Source: WWE 2K18 News

Written By: Mark Armstrong

WrestleMania is well in the rear-view mirror now, the ratings have entered their usual spring slump, and Brock Lesnar is resting on a farm somewhere in Suplex City. All of which means that it must be time for the official announcement of the annual WWE videogame!

In all seriousness, late May/early June is usually the point where WWE and 2K begin to hype up their next videogame. Of course, it's hyped up to be the best game of all-time, even if its new features and innovations (and, more notably, its flaws) prevent it from meeting high expectations. Case in point: 2K17 was billed as a beast of a game, only for fans to discover that Showcase was removed, MyCareer remained a slog, the Promo Engine only reached part of its potential, much of the content was recycled from 2K16, and it was rife with glitches. So, whilst the most recent title delivered a lot of entertainment, it had too many limitations for it to be considered anything more than a really good game.

The good news, however, is that wrestling fans - or, at least, fans of wrestling videogames - never completely lose optimism that the next game will be better, and so anticipation has been building for a while concerning WWE 2K18, which is likely to hit stores in October. The development team has been hard at work for months already, and 2K even put out a series of forum topics earlier this year requesting fan feedback and ideas, so hopes are high that 2K18 might be a game to remember.

But what would make 2K18 an all-time great? How can WWE/2K improve upon recent games? Here's my wishlist for suggested changes, improvements and concepts which could make 2K18 stand out from the crowd.

Single-Player Modes

The first aspect of the game which requires the development team to don their thinking caps is the single-player feature set. The removal of 2K Showcase from 2K17 had a big, negative impact upon how much fans enjoyed the game, so Showcase (the ability to play through classic matches through a specific theme such as a wrestler, a feud or even an era) simply has to return. The Brock Lesnar Showcase mode which 2K had hoped to implement in 2K17 could be featured this time around now that Kurt Angle will be in the game (more on him shortly), but The Undertaker is another strong candidate, considering the recent end to his incredible career at WrestleMania 33; Taker has so many memorable moments to choose from that you could definitely build a game around that. Then there's the rise of The Shield and their singles careers, the NXT revolution, a vintage feud in Bret Hart vs. Shawn Michaels - there are tons of options, and no matter which ones 2K pick, there has to be at least one or two which the team could build the mode around. In a nutshell, 2K Showcase has to return.

But I don't think that would be enough. I believe that a return for the fondly-remembered Season mode is long overdue, and the 2016 revival of the Brand Extension makes it a great time to do so. You could play through a season on Raw and a season on SmackDown (and maybe even one on NXT?), working your way through simple yet exciting storylines. Perhaps you'll be cast as Randy Orton as he joins The Wyatt Family to destroy them from within. Maybe you'll be the focus of the United States Title Open Challenge. It's possible that you will simply look for the basic achievements like winning Money In The Bank, surviving the Elimination Chamber or winning the Royal Rumble and becoming WWE Champion at WrestleMania. Whatever the case, there's a load of storyline possibilities which, with convincing voiceovers from stars on both brands, creates a fun mode which writes itself. It has been so long since the glory days of Season mode on the SmackDown and SmackDown vs. Raw games that the return of this option would create massive anticipation for the game; it is a perfect companion to 2K Showcase, and those two modes alone would make 2K18 something special.

As for MyCareer: three games in, and the mode has only slightly evolved, with the prevailing emotion being one of boredom rather than excitement when playing through it. If 2K want this mode to remain in the game, it either needs to remove the filler content, especially from the early stages of the mode, or the interface and general experience needs to have a fresh coat of paint to make it interesting and worth the hours that a player needs to complete it. I think the general concept is good, but I don't see why it should take 10-12 hours or more when only a fraction of the content is actually entertaining. Personally, I wouldn't mind if MyCareer was scrapped altogether, but I would sooner see it revamped and/or streamlined so that this mode, which many players now avoid, becomes a highlight of the game.

A lot of fans want to see the return of General Manager mode. GM mode provided so much fun back in the day, and after the 2016 Draft brought back the roster split, there could be no better time to do this. However, Universe mode provides around 70% of the elements which GM mode used to have, along with innovations that the old option never did, such as renaming brands, changing shows, holding new PPV events and swopping titles. Therefore, I would like to see the elements of GM mode incorporated into Universe mode in 2K18. Give the player more control over the twists and turns, create a sense of competition between the brands, add the likes of TV ratings and PPV buy rates. In short, combine the Universe mode of 2K17 with the GM mode of the SvR era, and you have one fantastic mode which rounds off an incredible selection of single-player options for fans. It wouldn't take a lot of effort, and it would mostly be reviving old concepts rather than bringing about new ideas. I don't see why this can't be done, so hopefully this will actually happen.

The Roster

Now, we come to arguably the biggest draw of any WWE game, the roster. On the one hand, 2K17 had 177 playable characters in total, of which the DLC delivered quite a few new faces. On the other hand, many of the legends were recycled and, aside from DLC, none of the retro names were making their series debut. That being said, besides those who have left the company (Jack Swagger, Stardust, Simon Gotch etc), there are few wrestlers on the 2K17 line-up who fans would actually want to see taken out of the game. Problem is, WWE has added many new faces in the last 12 months, so for all of these (or even most of them) to make the grade, along with some new legends, a lot of wrestlers will seemingly have to fall by the wayside.

Or do they? After all, the FIFA series has hundreds of clubs with twenty-something players each, and has done since the PS2 era. Plus, the power of modern consoles provides tons more memory to potentially include loads more wrestlers; so is it really unreasonable to believe that 2K18 could have north of 200 wrestlers, or even a figure close to 250?

Let's consider the new faces who should make it in 2K18. Bobby Roode is an obvious one, and other strong contenders are TJ Perkins/TJP, Rich Swann, Kassius Ohno, The Authors Of Pain, No Way Jose, Ember Moon, Tyler Bate and others. Then there's the old faces who are likely to return to the series such as Rhyno, Curt Hawkins, Jinder Mahal and, of course, The Hardyz and Kurt Angle (who, incidentally, is the perfect candidate for the pre-order exclusive treatment; an America-themed promotional campaign for Kurt seems inevitable). Now consider legends who have never been in the series such as Tito Santana, Rick Martel (who was meant to be in 2K17 via the Hall Of Fame DLC), The Rock 'N' Roll Express (2017 Hall Of Famers), The Midnight Express (who could face Rock 'N' Roll in this year's HOF DLC), The Nasty Boys and Hacksaw Jim Duggan (who was in Legends Of WrestleMania, but hasn't ever been in the flagship series). I would love Owen Hart to debut in 2K18 but it seems incredibly unlikely. As for Hulk Hogan: his return to WWE is only a matter of time, so I would say that there's a good chance Hogan turns up in 2K18 (hey, he was featured during the opening video to WrestleMania again this year).

The main thing with the roster, though, is the sheer number. All of those names I have outlined and others would take the line-up to more than 200, and I really hope that 2K realises the roster should never decrease, especially at a time when so many wrestlers are vying for a spot in the game (they really are, if only for the royalty pay-checks). I'm hoping the roster size explodes this year, and that the 2K18 line-up really is the best roster ever in a WWE title.

Another thing that 2K should do is to freshen up the attires of the legends. The current roster will be fine, but we've had the same attire for the original Sting for three years now, we haven't had the modern-day version of Shawn Michaels for years, we haven't had the dreadlocks-wearing British Bulldog for ages, and so on. The thing with alternate costumes is that they can always be reused because fans will always want to use them over and over, but it shouldn't be at the expense of giving the characters new looks. In other words, give us HHH from SummerSlam 1998 (that cool-looking purple costume) instead of his boring costumes from earlier in his career. Give us old-school Brock Lesnar, old-school John Cena and even old-school Randy Orton. Give us Ricky Steamboat from WrestleMania III instead of WCW attires for the second game in a row. In a nutshell, the attires for most legends were lazy re-uses in 2K17, so I am hoping that the development team will freshen things up next time around. That goes for the roster too, obviously, although as I mentioned earlier, there are hardly any wrestlers who anyone would actively want to see taken out of the game (and on that note, Roddy Piper not being in 2K17 made no sense, so Hot Rod has to be back this year too).

Creation Suite, Arenas & Areas

Then there's the creation suite. I felt that this was the highlight of 2K17 due to the plethora of options and incredible depth to each mode. Therefore, I'll quickly summarise possible improvements in this department. We should get the return of Create A Finisher and possibly Create A Story (if Universe and GM mode are merged, as I suggested earlier). More slots for created wrestlers and arenas would be most appreciated since the totals haven't increased for a few years (it's been 100 for wrestlers since 2K14, with a dip for new-gen in 2K15, and it's been 50 for arenas since the mode's introduction back in WWE '12). Create An Entrance could benefit from the same advanced options being applied to stable entrances, and likewise for the new Create A Victory option. More authentic show themes for Create A Show would be nice (e.g. the Raw Attitude Era theme wasn't the real song). And let us create new attires for existing wrestlers in a manner which doesn't reduce the number of slots for completely new created wrestlers, otherwise this option is largely redundant. Oh, and allow users to go above the limit of downloading 20 created items per day, since the frequent loss of server signals already make the process longer than it needs to be for the otherwise superb Community Creations feature.

I mentioned earlier about how the development team were a bit lazy when it came to the roster and legends' attires, but they were even lazier when it came to retro arenas. Only a dozen were available prior to DLC, and basically all of them were rehashes from previous games. Some were logical, like Raw from 1998, but others were head-scratchers; why have the likes of Capitol Punishment 2011 and Fully Loaded 1999 over vintage WrestleManias or Royal Rumbles? The DLC added a couple of new/old venues, but overall the line-up of arenas (and their number, which was around a dozen or so smaller than that of 2K16) was a real let-down. It may not seem like a big deal, but entering classic settings from years gone by is one of the best parts of the game, and considering how WWE is now holding more PPV events and weekly shows (such as 205 Live) than ever before, the game will nearly be cracking the 30-arena mark before even getting to the old-school venues. So, I hope that this area of the game gets a lot more attention (perhaps via 2K Showcase) and that we'll get loads more vintage venues, and a few that we haven't enjoyed in a game before, either. Let's face it: how long have we had to wait for the old-school Survivor Series arena to make it into the flagship series?

Backstage areas and related weapon use formed a large part of 2K17's appeal, and the backstage and crowd-area chaos was a big positive for the game. In this department, the message is to simply build this up again to reach the heights of past games, along with environmental grapples and animations. Remember The Boogeyman hiding in the back of a hearse in the parking lot? Or the chance to tag-team with a stranger in a bar so that he would direct a pool ball towards your opponent's face? More of those ridiculous yet visually brilliant moments should be in 2K18, and if there are more cool backstage areas to battle in, then this becomes more likely to happen. It'd be nice to see the WWE 2K series follow the lead of Mario Kart by including some classic backstage areas from old games, such as the Kitchen from the original SmackDown or the Train Station from SmackDown Shut Your Mouth.

Match Types

A part of the game which needs serious improvement is the selection of matches. For PS4/Xbox One versions, the game has still yet to reintroduce match types which remain on the PS3/Xbox 360, such as Inferno, I Quit, First Blood, Championship Scramble and Special Guest Referee, not to mention format alterations like Tag Team Table, the Match Creator option (which, with a few minor tweaks, allowed you to stage Finisher and Flaming Table bouts, amongst others) and the simple ability to change the rules of basic bouts so that you could, say, make a match No Disqualification without it being billed as such.

However, even more annoyingly is the fact that no completely new match types have been added for years. You have to go all the way back to SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 for a completely new match type to be added in the series via the aforementioned Championship Scramble (although SvR 11 debuted Match Creator, and WWE '12 introduced the 40-man Royal Rumble which is no longer in the game). Some older stipulations were brought back in WWE '13 and 2K14, but there hasn't been one completely new match since the series went to new-gen, which for an annual franchise based on an industry which has dozens of potential stipulations to consider, that is awful, especially considering that the multitude of match options was once a trademark for the series.

2K should definitely make this a priority in 2K18. Firstly, all of the basic alternate formats (like Tag Team Table) should be in, since this wouldn't require much effort. Secondly, all of the stipulation bouts which remain on the PS3/Xbox 360 versions should make it to PS4/Xbox One, along with Match Creator and the ability to adjust simple rules. Lastly, there should be a couple of stipulation matches either debuting or returning. Casket has amazingly only ever been in one game, and that was 17 years ago! So, in the year that The Undertaker has retired, this particular bout really should be back in the game. The Asylum match (weapons on top of a steel cage) wasn't to everybody's liking when it happened last year, but it would be a lot of fun in a videogame, and as a recently-introduced stipulation, it would make sense to throw this one in. Finally, an Ambulance match has been rumoured for years but it has yet to materialise; given that its rules would be slightly similar to those of the Casket match, the emergency-themed match would be a good way to round things off, and even these additions would only scratch the surface of what fans would want to see. But it would be a big step forward, after years of steps backward or complete non-movement in this area.

Audio

Unusually, one of the issues when it comes to enjoying recent WWE games may be the fact that the audio during matches is more in line with real-life WWE television. By that, I mean that whilst it's great to have commentary, the standard of the announcing has always been lower than that of actual programming, partly due to the overly-scripted nature of their discussions, partly because they sound less energised than they do on TV, and partly because the announcing only occasionally reflects what is actually happening in the ring. In reality, great commentary can enhance the enjoyment of a match; in the 2K games, the opposite happens.

It's easy to suggest that the announcing could be better, and it should. However, perhaps an alternative option should be explored, whereby gamers can toggle between different options for audio during matches. The first option would be the standard announcing, though it'd be great to have the choice between different announce teams (since I'm assuming that both Raw and SmackDown announce teams will be in 2K18). The second option would be to have no commentary, giving the feel of actually being at a live event where the crowd chants provide the soundtrack.

The third option is more radical, though: how about the return of old-school background music (BGM), generic rock tracks or music of a different genre, which could play during matches instead of the normal announcing? Remember that in almost all of the classic WWF/WWE games (particularly No Mercy and Here Comes The Pain), we had BGM instead of commentary, so this hark to the past is not as mad as it may appear. The fourth and final option would be to have the game's actual soundtrack playing during bouts, a tactic which was used alongside commentary in the games around 2004-2005.

It may seem like a trivial thing, but let's face it: the announcing is one of the most criticised aspects of WWE games, and has been in almost every same title to date; however, it would be a step backwards to remove the commentary altogether. Therefore, it would be a wise move to provide these audio options, allowing gamers to choose the match soundtracks of their choice. If this happened, I guarantee that matches would suddenly become a lot more enjoyable, and those who do prefer the more realistic audio in recent games would still have that available to them. A win-win, in my opinion.

Gameplay

The biggest bug-bear I have with 2K17 is how slow the matches are. I like the idea of the games providing a sim-feel, ensuring that the bouts feel like real-life matches, but the action is just too slow. Even the more methodical performers in WWE, like Big Show and Braun Strowman, move quicker than wrestlers do in 2K17. What's more, the animations for longer moves (such as the People's Elbow) feel contrived and deliver less impact than the same moves did in games dating back just a couple of years, and the pacing of even minor things like referee counts and last-second kick-outs reduce what should be moments of high drama. Going back to my point about audio, the pace of matches was much quicker in past games, including all of the most fondly-remembered games.

To tackle this problem, I suggest a new Pacing option. Slow Pacing would deliver the speed and movement that we are seeing in the likes of 2K17. Medium Pacing would bring us a speed found in such games as SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 or WWE '13, where the matches aren't high-speed, but also aren't fought at a snail's pace. Finally, there's Fast Pacing, where all of the moves, animations and running techniques are sped up a tad, delivering the high-octane, arcade-esque experience found in the earlier SmackDown games, during the heyday of the series (which is not a coincidence). Those who prefer the modern slower pace would be accommodated, as would those who reminisce about the arcade days, and also those who want something between the two. We already have the Match Experience option, which ranges from quick-fire bouts to lengthier WrestleMania-type struggles, so why not the Pacing option?

Two suggested improvements for the price of one, now, which would both enhance the fun aspect of a match as well as making matches more realistic than ever before. I like the current control scheme used in the game, but it does have its detractors who, again, pine for the more simplified days of Circle and a direction pulling off a big move. So, how about having an alternative old-school control scheme, which is effectively an updated version of the controls from the pre-2007 SD games?

The other idea is harder to implement, and I'm not sure of the best way to do so, but it would make matches so much more authentic. Let's take the example of a typical match between a babyface and a heel; we'll cast John Cena as the face, and Dolph Ziggler as the heel. In recent games, it was generally a case of back-and-forth action, with the more skilled player triumphing in the end, regardless of the face/heel alignment or the tactics used by each wrestler. The Comeback option delivers potential late drama in a match, but otherwise that's the structure of a typical match in the game.

Now consider what could happen if this was the Basic Structure, and if we also had an Advanced Structure. In the Advanced Structure, the matches would follow a pattern much more suited to real life. In other words, the face and heel have an initial feeling-out period before the face takes control and builds momentum with a few nifty moves. With things going his way and the crowd behind him (well, supposedly if we're using Cena as an example), the face hits his first signature move and prepares to hit a finisher, only for the heel to use an illegal tactic (a poke to the eyes or a referee distraction) to swing things in his favour. The heel then controls the match, and locks the face in a wear-down submission hold which could slow the face down to the point where the heel, Ziggler, could prepare to hit his finisher and win.

At this point, though, the fans are trying to will the face - Cena - back into the match and, after he heroically escapes the submission hold, he builds momentum again (or perhaps he's cut off by another dastardly heel tactic). Either way, the match builds to the face pulling off his Comeback sequence (Cena's Five Moves Of Doom) leading to the first serious finisher attempt. The heel may block it with one last wicked villain tactic (say a roll-up with his feet on the ropes), before the face hits his secondary finisher (the STF?). This either sets up the heel to win with a finisher (albeit with a villainous use of the ropes again) or the face to hit his main finisher and win the match.

Of course, this doesn't include the other potential big moves and finisher kick-outs, and it is a very basic skeleton of a match. However, at least in a face vs. heel situation, this is what happens in 95% of regular-rules matches on WWE television and at house shows. If the development team can find a way to implement such a system into the game while making it fun and user-friendly (i.e. avoiding a situation where the player is sitting idly by for minutes while he waits for his player to regain control), this would truly replicate what happens in WWE. As stated, I'm not sure of the best method that 2K can use to make this a reality, but the matches would be so much more realistic if they could find a way, and for those who don't like it, the Basic Structure could allow them to play out matches in the usual fashion.

Miscellaneous

I've covered the main areas, so I'll conclude by providing a bunch of largely unrelated suggestions or areas which desperately need looking at. For starters, 2K17 was rife with glitches even after the patches, so 2K simply has to ensure the game is properly tested before its release and before new content is made available (Jerry Lawler flubbing his recording of a line about The Godfather's career, and then saying it again correctly, somehow made it into the game for the Hall Of Fame DLC). What's more, the installation process is unbelievably long; back in the PS2 days, games didn't require installation at all, and even on PS3/Xbox 360, it only takes a few minutes. It can literally take a full day, if not longer, to do the same on PS4 and Xbox One, and there's absolutely no need for it. When you have to open a game the day before you plan to play it just so that you actually can play it, that is ridiculous. This might be the thing that I hope 2K improves more than anything else, at least when it comes to playing the game for the first time.

Elsewhere, customised entrance tunes aren't going to happen while the consoles themselves prevent the ability to import music, so how about having an online WWE jukebox of all of the wrestler themes from the game, along with dozens of others for old names not in the game, and let gamers choose their favourite songs for created superstars from there? I still believe that a Cloud-like option, allowing you to save wrestlers, arenas and created items from past games with the chance to import them into future titles, would be a great idea, and it would allow 2K to include far more new content each year. Admittedly, the chance of this happening is low, but it's possible. I'd also like to see more minor options in 2K18 along the lines of those seen in 2K17, albeit with a little more logic. For instance, if we can pick a referee, let us pick from some real-life officials, and let us pick commentary teams and ring announcers.

In addition, online videos such as those produced by SmackTalks reveal that there are tons of hidden features and nuances in 2K17, so why not promote some of these beforehand, perhaps via an in-game challenge? Ask us to find the top rope RKO, or the secret Wyatt Family entrance, or Easter Eggs like vintage PPV posters in arena skyboxes. There are a lot of great things in the game which 99% of players (even those who devote hours to the franchise) would never discover, so 2K should make the most of this, otherwise their hard work is for naught. Also, the game no longer has a tutorial for new players, and the days of a hardback strategy guide are over, which means that first-time players may be blown away and would struggle to get to grips with a fairly complex game. Simple tutorial videos, perhaps narrated by a WWE personality, would go a long way.

I'll round things off with a few quick ideas: a chance to completely simulate the body of a match (big moves, interference, false finishes) would be cool, as would the chance to have actual arenas in the game such as Madison Square Garden, the All-State Arena and the Citrus Bowl/Camping World Stadium. Downloadable content should feel less like a chance to charge fans for the remaining content and more like an incentive to own bonus or fresh content, not to mention the ridiculous price for DLC overall when you consider that not all of it is included in the Season Pass. Some integration to the WWE Network would be logical, especially if Showcase mode returns (you could play a match in the game and then watch it on the Network). It is well overdue that we have eight (or preferably ten) on-screen characters during matches; anybody who has been playing WWE games since 2002 has never had the chance to stage full-on Survivor Series tag team elimination matches. Finally, bring back the old Locker Room feature because, as ultimately pointless as it was, it was still awesome, and lends itself to a ton of flexibility and creativity, especially nowadays on consoles with more storage space than ever before.

Actually, one more suggestion: make 2K18 the best wrestling game of all-time. Admittedly, the chances of this happening seem as likely as Roman Reigns becoming an universally popular babyface at this point, but really, there's no reason why this shouldn't be possible. The current games are certainly not bad (well, besides 2K15), and some of the games in recent years were the best in many years. The feature sets are much larger than they used to be for the most part, and the graphics blow away anything from the likes of No Mercy. The problem is that there hasn't been a "Best Wrestling Game Ever" contender for over a decade, and the common feeling shared by most is that the development team are happy to add bits and bobs while raking in the money rather than going all-out to truly deliver the absolute best wrestling game possible (the ton of glitches in 2K17 alone suggest that the latter wasn't their mindset with the most recent title). It's largely about making tweaks here and there, adding options here and there, and generally tightening things up while making the player experience as fun as possible. If 2K concentrated on that, and listening to the opinions shared by most longtime fans of the series, then 2K18 really could be an all-time great.

I've given my ideas - possibly too many! - so let's see if 2K use them. Even if they don't, let's hope that the concepts that they do use help to make WWE 2K18 a true wrestling classic.

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

WWF WrestleMania 2000

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developer: AKI Corporation, Asmik Ace Entertainment (Natsume for GBC)
Genre: Wrestling
Series: N/A
Released: October 31 1999 (US) and October 12 1999 (UK)
Certificate: 15+ (Nowadays 16)
Consoles: N64 and GBC

It's hard to imagine in the modern wrestling world where one WWE videogame is released each year, and has been published by 2K Sports since 2013 (and THQ for a long time before that), but in the autumn of 1999, two major WWF games were released by two different publishers. Acclaim released the much-anticipated WWF Attitude in August/September of 1999 but, by then, the WWF had already agreed a deal for THQ to become its new videogame developer. Wasting no time, WrestleMania 2000 would be their first game, and it would hit stores in time for the final Christmas season of the millennium (which makes it sound really grand, doesn't it?).

This would mark the end of an era and the beginning of a new one; the Acclaim period had seen the WWF grow and improve its videogame output, but even the latter titles like War Zone and Attitude, whilst fun at the time, were far from flawless games and were mostly acceptable due to the WWF branding (see the subsequent ECW Hardcore Revolution, which was essentially an ECW version of Attitude, which didn't get great reviews). THQ, on the other hand, had built up a great deal of goodwill with its WCW games World Tour and, in particular, Revenge, which was released in late 1998 and, from a gameplay standpoint, blew any of Acclaim's titles away. So, one can understand why the WWF would enter into a working relationship with THQ, and why fans were hyped when news came out that THQ would be developing a WWF game, WrestleMania 2000 as a Nintendo 64 exclusive, for the first time.

In the end, WM 2000 ended up being the strongest wrestling game to date at that point. The gameplay was almost exactly the same as that of Revenge, but a certain number of WWF elements, and features seen in previous WWF titles, were mixed in, along with some new innovations not seen in a WWF game before, all of which gave fans a pretty strong package, and a fine way to sign off the millennium.

The wrestling gameplay was simple but very effective: in contrast to Acclaim titles where they tried to use its wrestling control scheme in the context of a real fight by having the more important moves requiring more complicated and tougher controls (which is understandable, or at least it was at the time), in WM 2000 (and Revenge before that), moves almost entirely revolved around the "A" button. A quick press from a tie-up executed basic moves, and holding the button down for a few seconds while the opponent was stunned allowed you to execute more powerful moves. The HUDs were colour-based, with green representing 100% health and 50% momentum at the start of every match, and building up to the red level which would gradually increase in speed until the word SPECIAL covered the HUD, creating a short window of time when you could execute a finishing move by using the toggle stick (a smart gamer would hit the finisher twice or even three times during this period, depending how long it took to hit the move, for example, a Stone Cold Stunner was much quicker than a People's Elbow). In contrast, for the weakened opponent, their HUD would change colour to light blue and then dark blue, which eventually led to DANGER covering their HUD. If you were in the DANGER zone, chances are that you were about to lose, whereas SPECIAL suggested that you were one big move away from victory. It was all so simple, yet it worked perfectly, and although the system had already been used in Revenge, it had not been seen by hardcore WWF fans, meaning that Federation followers were wowed by the gameplay in WM 2000, making it very hard to return to the Acclaim control scheme.

Elsewhere, this was the first WWF game to feature a full Season-style mode, known as Road To WrestleMania. You played through a year of WWF action with the occasional storylines, with victories on TV leading to PPV title matches, and with a character's status determining their fate for the most part (so Steve Austin, The Rock and co were in the main events, the likes of Mideon and Viscera were further down the card etc). As with the control scheme, its success lied in its simplicity, especially compared to the Career mode in Attitude which was hit-and-miss on occasion (remember the unexpected and incredibly tough 3-on-1 Handicap matches in Attitude's Career mode?). Of course, it would be topped in future games, but the mode (which featured occasional cut-scenes and storylines, such as the Test-Stephanie McMahon partnership and Jim Ross calling WrestleMania with Jerry Lawler) was a lot of fun at the time, and was the best single-player mode on a wrestling game to date at that point.

The match types were a bit sparse: besides the usual singles and tag bouts, there was only Triple Threat, Hardcore and Steel Cage options, alongside Royal Rumble and King Of The Ring. Since this was in the days before the likes of Hell In A Cell and Ladder bouts were seen in WWF/WWE games, though, this can be forgiven slightly, and the gameplay made up for the lack of stipulation bouts on offer. This was the first WWF game to offer authentic arenas (War Zone and Attitude's versions of the WWF Raw venue looked similar to the real thing, but they didn't boast the small touches and banners that the same arena did in this game): Raw, Heat, Royal Rumble 1999, WrestleMania (a strange hybrid of the WM XV and WM 2000 sets), King Of The Ring 1998, SummerSlam 1998 and Survivor Series 1998 were all here, complete with pre-match background shots like those used on television (this was the first game to provide that feature). Inside the arenas, the fans had signs specific to the wrestlers for the first time (including multi-part "R-O-C-K" letters for you-know-who).

The roster featured all the big WWF names of the day, including Chris Jericho who had only debuted in the company a couple of months earlier (his character model from WCW/nWo Revenge was presumably reused here), so the final roster total of 57 was the highest ever in a WWF game at that time. Full entrances were here, from the motions to the music to the never-before-seen-in-a-game entrance videos (even if they did consist of a few highly pixelated screenshots; and the theme songs weren't of the highest quality either, although Revenge didn't have any actual entrance music). Although the character models looked almost cartoonish, it didn't make a difference presentation-wise, because everybody looked authentic, more so than in any wrestling game ever. And whilst Revenge lacked a true Create A Wrestler option (you could adapt wrestler attires which helped), the feature was prominent in WM 2000, if a little basic, so you could create the likes of Kurt Angle and The Dudley Boyz in no time, as well as being able to customise every aspect of an existing wrestler's attire, aside from their move sets.. A Create A PPV option (which allowed for a whopping 15 matches) and a mini Create A Championship option (you used one of the existing titles and gave it a new name) were the icing on the cake. Oh, and who remembers the cool five-minute opening video to the game which recreated scenes from actual television within the game, such as the Ministry "sacrificing" Stephanie only for Stone Cold to make the save?

(One last thing: there were five wrestlers on the cover of the game, but Steve Austin was not one of them; and he would only appear on the covers of a few more games in the future, despite still being massively popular in spite of his neck injury. Strange, eh?)

For all the hype that Attitude received and for the praise that Revenge rightly earned, WrestleMania 2000, with less hype and an almost-ignored level of promotion and feedback, blew both games out of the water: it outclassed Attitude greatly in the ring, it built upon the weaker areas in Revenge, and added its own unique touches and a star-studded roster from the apex of the Attitude Era to close out the millennium in grand fashion. WrestleMania 2000 was the best wrestling game ever at that time, but its own areas for improvement would be matched and then some by its highly-regarded successor No Mercy. Nevertheless, for what it's worth, WM 2000 was awesome, and a perfect snapshot of wrestling's greatest ever era.

Overall Rating: 9/10 - Outstanding

WWF No Mercy

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developer: AKI Corporation and Asmik Ace Entertainment
Genre: Wrestling
Series: N/A
Released: November 17 2000 (US) and December 15 2000 (UK)
Certificate: 15+ (Nowadays 16)
Consoles: N64

WWF No Mercy, the successor to WrestleMania 2000, was released in late 2000, on a console which didn't allow for character models with polygons greater than 64-bit and which didn't possess any level of video streaming. The roster has greatly changed and even the company name has been different for nearly 15 years. Plus, HD gaming was a long way off, and the feature set was basic compared to modern titles. So how is it that No Mercy remains so revered as possibly the greatest wrestling game ever? Well, I shall explain.

Firstly, its two main single-player modes were excellent for different reasons. Championship saw you pursue any one of seven titles as literally anybody on the game, and follow various story paths and lifelike plotlines (some of which directly mirrored reality, from the APA protecting you to a replica of the WWF Championship storyline heading into WrestleMania 2000). Crucially, whilst there were some matches that required you to win in order to continue, many offered alternate paths based on specific results. And to complete the mode in its entirety, you would have to lose matches in order to unlock these various endings. Sure, there were no voiceovers, but it was phenomenally entertaining and the use of on-screen text actually explained the mode's flexibility. It was a standard-bearer for such modes with literally tons of replay value.

The other main mode, Survival, was more simple but no less entertaining. It was basically one long Royal Rumble with everybody on the game entering, and with your goal being to stand tall as the winner. Even if you didn't win, you would be rewarded (as I will explain shortly), but it was a great feeling when you did manage to win the whole thing. Surprisingly simple yet incredibly addictive (and occasionally very frustrating too, to be fair), it's a wonder that no other game has included Survival since. These two modes alone would have made No Mercy a cracking game, but we're only just getting started.

The roster was a vintage collection of Attitude Era stars, which included all the top names (except Big Show), loads of newcomers (such as Kurt Angle) and almost every non-wrestling personality in the WWF at the time; even one of The Godfather's Hos was a playable character. It also had the first use of Legends in the form of Andre The Giant, and parts were available to create some faces not on the roster, like Gangrel and Mideon. With the largest roster to date in a wrestling game, and featuring almost everybody who could have been included at the time, the roster was a who's who of Attitude Era characters.

There were several new match types that its predecessor WM 2000 didn't boast, such as Special Referee, Iron Man and Ladder. Meanwhile, this was the first game to include full arenas for the B-level PPVs (No Mercy, Backlash and Armageddon), which with SmackDown! also being a new inclusion gave us ten full arenas in total. And it was the first WWF game on Nintendo 64 to include backstage brawling, with five simple yet very effective areas, all of which boasted room-specific props such as a pool table in the bar and the 18-wheeler truck in the parking lot.

The improvements didn't end there. A new SmackDown Mall shop option gave way to hundreds of unlockables (you earned cash for the shop in Championship and Survival, with you earning more money based on your performances in those modes). There were now 18 slots for Create A Wrestler, but as you could totally customise up to four attires, it essentially meant a whopping 72 characters to potentially make (plus you could assign different entrance themes to each attire, which you couldn't do in WM 2000). You could now put opponents through an announcer's table at ringside, even if the commentators themselves weren't present at ringside (although Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole were all unlockable characters to use during matches). There were new weapons, including a bazooka, a huge slab of cheese and Mick Foley's first book. The graphics looked cooler and darker, giving a real mood to areas like the bar which had some LED features. Create A Wrestler was more in-depth, and items were named to make them easier to find. Wrestler faces looked more lifelike, even if some (such as Triple H) were a bit iffy. All titles which were claimed in Championship mode could now be defended in Exhibition once a story had been completed. There were new post-match celebration scenes, such as Rikishi dancing with Too Cool. And whilst the gameplay didn't really change, it was tweaked slightly to make it a little more realistic than in the previous game; but since it was already outstanding, the wrestling engine completed one amazing videogame package.

There were some flaws, though. The promise of blood being included came true, but blood effects were then removed (presumably by mistake) when fixing a data error, meaning that wrestlers would react as if they were bleeding even though they weren't. There were more new matches in its friendly rival SmackDown! 2 Know Your Role such as Hell In A Cell, Table and TLC. The small-scale Create A Championship option was quietly removed, whilst Create A PPV remained but was not improved in any significant way. And entrances would inexplicably end when a wrestler went past the stage, despite initial screenshots suggesting that the game would have full entrances (so, for example, Steve Austin would use what he describes as the "BMF" walk when coming out, but we wouldn't see his turnbuckle poses), which wasn't helped by the entrance videos being more pixelated than they were in WM 2000. (Also, although it didn't affect the N64 title, a planned Game Boy Color port of the game was eventually cancelled prior to its scheduled release.) As you may have guessed, though, the downsides were absolutely overwhelmed by the positive aspects of the game.

The superb single-player modes, the incredible gameplay and fighting engine, the big-name roster and the other new features and improvements all created one fantastic wrestling game, one that has arguably only been reached or surpassed on one or two occasions by any game since, purely from the standpoint of a fun, exciting and entertaining title. Future wrestling games would offer larger rosters, greater feature sets and even more options from an in-ring standpoint, such as more strategic submission grappling and crowd brawls, but in terms of an overall package, WWF No Mercy remains an all-time classic title. It wasn't quite flawless, but it was as close to perfection as one would expect; if the modern WWE 2K titles were as good as No Mercy, no fans would ever be complaining. A phenomenal wrestling game that all diehard fans should play.

Overall Rating: 9.5/10 - Classic