WWE Legends of WrestleMania Review - Xbox Gaming in South Africa

The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) as it was known when it arrived in South Africa made its first appearance on local screens during the 90s and captivated a whole generation of youngsters who fell in love with the spectacle and showmanship that made up wrestling. Most of us knew it was all fake of course, but that didn't stop us rooting for wrestlers like the Undertaker or Bret "The Hitman" Hart when they entered the ring. Slowly we all grew out of that phase though and I haven't watched an actual wrestling match in years, but THQ and YUKE's are hoping that they can once again ignite the nostalgic passion most of us once had for wrestling in its heyday by releasing WWE Legends of Wrestlemania which gives us 42 of the sport's finest wrestlers, and tasks us with reliving or redefining the Wrestlemania matches that have stood out as some of the best ever fought.

Of course THQ is no stranger to the genre having released a wrestling game almost every year since 2000 when they brought out WWF Smackdown. Needless to say, Legends of Wrestlemania has the same polish and underlying gameplay that is prevalent throughout the rest of the series and gives you the option to choose from a huge selection of game types and wrestlers. Probably the first game mode you'll find yourself trying out is the WrestleMania Tour mode which lets you "Relive, Rewrite, and Redefine" the greatest matches in Wrestlemania history. Each of the matches is preceded by a montage of videos from the actual fight which sets the stage for the bout and shows the outcome of the fight. You can then choose to relive it by playing the part of the victor, rewrite it by changing the result, or redefine it by changing the fight to match your custom settings. Each of the matches tasks you with accomplishing certain goals to earn points which unlock medals. These usually consist of performing certain grapples or throws or breaking free from submission holds, and are relatively easy. Other game modes consist of the normal exhibition games which let you take your pick from the vast array of match types on offer and choose any of the wrestlers at your disposal. The final mode is called the Legend Killer mode and here you can take a custom created wrestler that you've made from scratch and fight against tiers of wrestlers with each fight you win giving you the ability to level up your custom wrestler's stats. It's a relatively fun mode and provides a good alternative to the Wrestlemania Tour mode.

The controls used in Legends of WrestleMania have taken a different direction from the other WWE games THQ has brought out, opting to go the arcade route whereas the Smackdown vs Raw games have slowly moved more towards the simulation side of things. Legends of WWE is therefore relatively easy and quick to pick up but provides some depth once you've managed to grasp the basics. At its simplest, the controls consist of the d-pad and the four face buttons with each of them catering for a specific move, so grapples are tied to the B button, punches and kicks to the X button and so on, with the d-pad performing as a modifier depending if you move it away or towards your opponent. Hot on the heels of my complaints regarding the abundance of quick time events (QTEs) in Ninja Blade, Legends of WWE has also implemented them for special moves. The QTE's here are usually well implemented and will take place as your wrestler is performing his signature move but on the odd occasion I was a bit confused as to their use such as in a Royal Rumble where I was prompted with an indicator which would randomly flash for me and my opponent. Perhaps with some extended play its something you could get used to but THQ could maybe have come up with a more elegant solution. The one annoying trait that Legends of WWE has inherited from its forebears is the poor collision detection and many will be the time that you'll find your wrestler unable to grapple or Irish whip an opponent because the character model won't get in the correct position to initialize the move.

Graphics wise Legends of Wrestlemania is a bit of a hit and miss affair with character models which consist of the good (The Undertaker), the bad (Bret Hart) and the ugly (Ric Flair). The arenas you fight in are also a bit underwhelming with the same crowd animations being used from the previous Smackdown games. The character animations are a bit jerky in their movement and can look strange to the eye when you first see your wrestler moving across the screen like some sort of robotic dancer. On the other hand, the entrance scenes are done really well and there's nothing better than watching Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Ultimate Warrior racing to the ring before a fight accompanied by multi-coloured pyrotechnic explosions.

The menu screens use the original wrestler music as the background soundtrack and it's great to hear the songs in their entirety but they soon begin to grate on your ears, leading to you turning them off sooner rather than later. One nice feature that's been included is the ability to import your saved Smackdown vs Raw characters, which will then allow you to play with those characters against the 42 legends in this game.

While it might sound as though I'm panning the game for being a bit underwhelming, it should be remembered that the Smackdown games' main strength has always been their fun factor when played with a group of friends and that holds true here once again. There's nothing more fun than taking part in a 30 man Royal Rumble with a group of friends and battling it out. It's here that you realize that perhaps the best way to play Legends of WWE is in short bursts; as extended play sessions bring out the the game's flaws. So if you're looking for a short burst of wrestling nostalgia that's not too taxing on the brain, then you can't go far wrong with Legends of Wrestlemania.

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