Sounds good so far ... More simulation-style, and the wrestlers will look less cartoon-like than their predecessors in the GameCube's initial WWF game (which I bought the day it came out, played once, and haven't picked up since).
However, the proposed storyline mode sounds a little ... weird.
Last year's game included a 'Path of a Champion' mode as the main single-player option, but this time around the story mode is where it's at. Here players pick a superstar and then helplessly watch as Vince McMahon strips them of their status. One's wrestler is promptly kicked out of the WWE, and the goal of the game is to seek revenge and regain his or her dignity. Wrestlers will fight in many different backstage areas on a mission to destroy McMahon's commercial assets and bring honor back to their name.
There are five environments in all, and each is broken down into six missions. Players will fight in a McMahon's construction site (where they must destroy his operations), a shipping port (where they duke it out on his multi-million dollar yacht and eventually detonate it with a bomb), a shopping mall, a parking lot, and a fire station. Near the end of the story mode, gamers will work their way back into the ring and even participate in a few cage matches. In the final showdown, wrestlers must confront and defeat Vince McMahon himself in the ring.
Blowing up Vince's yacht with a bomb?!? I'm just waiting for the "WCW midget" jokes to start rolling in ...
(edited by Alessandro on 26.3.03 1352) Alessandro "Hercules" Boondy
Oh great. So Smackdown gets a storyline mode that everyone likes that has to do with wrestling... and we get WCW Backstage Assault? Way to be shitty. Yukes continues to be one of the worst game developers in my mind.
-Jag
I can't wait for Vendetta.
If they studied their paper money for clues as to what their country was all about, they found, among a lot of other baroque trash, a picture of a truncated pyramid with a radiant eye on top of it, like this:
Not even the President of the United States knew what that was all about. It was as though the country were saying to its citizens, "In nonsense is strength."
Wow, that's why I made the right choice and got a PS2. ;-)
I am very fond of Yukes' presentation, at least in the Smackdown series. Proud button-mashers like me would prefer the direction + one button moves. I played Attitude once and it was a match of irish whips and armbars. blah. People say they love No Mercy, but it still seems like it's combinations are too complex for me.
The WORST wrestling game I've ever played was WCW/nWo Thunder that I rented from my video studio solely because I had a code to play as Spice (sue me :-P ). It was one of the few times where I felt like I actually just set fire to my money instead of spending it, even if it just a few dollars.
A shark on whiskey is mighty risky, a shark on beer is a beer engineer.
As long as that crap is left "ONLY" in the story mode, then I'll be happy. If I can still challenge friends and what not in the actual ring itself, I won't complain. I don't believe I'll ever want to blow up a boat in a wrestling game however.
Heh heh... sounds like Yuke's is trying to capitalize on the success of the PS2-exclusive Grand Theft Auto series by turning their WrestleMania XIX game into a GTA rip-off.
I think I'll just get SmackDown 4 instead, and to hell with WrestleMania the game. That's one of the joys of having two systems.
(Edit: Although think of all the Cheetum possibilities if you should play as Crash Holly in the story mode. There, there's the Cheetum joke you were waiting for. You're welcome. LOL!)
(edited by ekedolphin on 28.3.03 0633) “I know what you're thinking, 'cause right now I'm thinking the same thing. Actually, I've been thinking it ever since I got here. ‘Why, oh, why, didn't I take the blue pill?’” --Cypher, The Matrix
Two-Time, Two-Time Randomly Selected Wiener of the Day, 5/27/02 and 7/3/02
Certified RFMC Member-- Ask To See My Credentials!
I'm a District Manager for a video game specialty retailer and what I will tell you is that believe it or not, DEF JAM VANDETTA has the best gameplay engine. It is the same engine last seen in WWF No Mercy on N64. AKI is the company that developed the engine.
Rumor has it that there will be no create-a-wrestler mode unfortunatly.
I really wish THQ would just use the AKI engine in all their wrestling games...
Originally posted by EddieBurkettIt'd have to be Jeff Hardy and he could call it his "Swanton Bomb".
I apologize now for that joke.
(edited by EddieBurkett on 28.3.03 1612)
Oh, you know very well that that's what THEY would call it too.
I'm not mixed up in all the Vendetta hype, I guess. The gameplay engine might be good, but everything I've heard says that the story and character structure is sketchy at best.
I mean, if I really wanted to, I could make rappers on SYM, and you don't even get to play as them during the story mode.
Satire 03/24/03 (wienerboard.com) <- No kidding, right? Buffy 7.17 gets a 7.87 So...Spike and Wood have Oedipus complexes...riiiiight...
I don't find games like Wrestlemania or Smackdown enjoyable. The only thing Smackdown has going for it (to me) is the latest iteration of the story mode. However, if they just re-released an updated No Mercy, I would be the happiest man in the wrestling video game world.
So while Vendetta isn't exactly my cup of tea, I'll definately rent it. And if it's fun enough for four players, I'll probably buy it.
-Jag
If they studied their paper money for clues as to what their country was all about, they found, among a lot of other baroque trash, a picture of a truncated pyramid with a radiant eye on top of it, like this:
Not even the President of the United States knew what that was all about. It was as though the country were saying to its citizens, "In nonsense is strength."
Will there any actual wrestling in this game? And if we're going all the way on the Vince-as-Koopa analogy, will Stephanie, Shane and Triple H be the underbosses?
"I have no intention of uttering my last words on the stage. Room service and a couple of depraved young women will do me quite nicely for an exit."-- Peter O'Toole
"I'm gonna rip the eyes out of your head, and piss down your dead skull!" -- Jack Nicholson, in A Few Good Men
This is from THQ takes the wraps off of its next GameCube wrestling game.
Today at an event in Seattle, WA, THQ unveiled its next WWE-licensed wrestling game, WWE Wrestlemania XIX. The game is currently under development by Yuke's, the Japanese team responsible for last year's GameCube game as well as the SmackDown! series on the PlayStation 2.
The focus of this year's game is to respond to much of the criticism users had about last year's game, overhauling much of the game's engine and feature set in the process. The game will feature a single-player story mode called the revenge mode, which opens with WWE owner Vince McMahon stripping your superstar of the championship belt and banning you from wrestling. SmackDown! general manager Stephanie McMahon gives you a helping hand and sets you on your quest to get back at Vince in 30 different missions designed to get your WWE superstar back to the limelight of Wrestlemania.
As you progress through the single-player game, you'll earn cash that can be spent at the WWE ShopZone, which will sell a variety of unlockables, including more superstars, arenas, extra skills and attributes, and new parts, clothing, and moves for the game's create-a-wrestler mode.
The gameplay has changed quite a bit over last year's game. In a nod to the popular wrestling engine that powered all of THQ's Nintendo 64 games, Wrestlemania XIX will have strong and weak grapples that are executed by holding down the grapple button for different lengths of time. The game has a nicely intuitive counter system that uses the R trigger to counter incoming strikes and the L trigger to counter incoming grapple attempts. Finishers are executed by taunting when your finisher meter is full, which taunts your opponent and activates your finisher ability for a short period of time. Finishers and taunts are done by pressing the A and B buttons simultaneously.
While only one arena and two superstars are being shown in the pre-alpha build that THQ is displaying, the game is set to contain all of the standard WWE match types that you've come to expect to see, including Hell in a Cell, cage matches, and the like. Wrestlemania XIX will contain blood, so the game will also feature the first blood match type, in which matches are ended when one player begins bleeding. The game will be playable by four players and will also contain a new tutorial mode to help players become familiar with the gameplay.
The game's various wrestlers will have their own set of unique attributes, meaning a wrestler like the Undertaker will be slower, but more powerful than a cruiserweight like Rey Mysterio. When asked about how these various differences could effect the game's overall balance, THQ representatives stated that expert players will be able to take the smaller, less-powerful guys to victory over the larger, stronger guys, but that it would, at times, be a struggle.
Visually, the game's animation will be able to convey location-specific damage, which will allow you to soften up an opponent's arm, leg, or head, making it easier to score a victory by submission. The damage will be shown via the wrestlers' idle animations. The game is also striving to look more fluid than its predecessor. From an audio perspective, the game is shooting for an "in the ring" point of view, with over-the-top sound effects designed to give players a feeling for the impact of the stronger moves. There will be no commentary in the game. The final product may have support for progressive scan televisions, but that decision has not been made yet.
While no final count has been set, and no roster has been released, WWE Wrestlemania XIX is currently scheduled to feature somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 to 45 superstars. The version we were shown only contained the Undertaker and Rey Mysterio, but the game will also feature the standard roster of currently active WWE superstars, such as The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Scott Steiner, and more. Additionally, interviews with relatively new superstars such as Jamie Noble and John Cena revealed that they had been photographed and talked to about upcoming video game products, so it's reasonably safe to assume that they'll make the roster, as well. Finally, there is still room to include new wrestlers that may or may not be debuting in the WWE in the coming weeks, though THQ representatives wouldn't elaborate on who they may or may not have been referring to.
We'll have lots of new screens and video of the game on Monday. WWE Wrestlemania XIX is scheduled to ship to stores in August.
No yachts damn. I was looking forward to seeing Vince McMahon shaking his fist from Titan Towers saying, "I'll get you Crash Holly, if its the last thing I do!"
Damn! Waffleking beat me to it! Well, at least the No Mercy grappling engine is in there.
I can only hope it has No Mercy's edit-a-wrestler option. That's my favorite part of the game. Kurt Angle got his head shaved? No problem! Triple H has new red tights? Time to update! Big Show changed his ring attire? Okay!
Now if you can edit a Superstar's moves like you can in SmackDown, this could easily outdo No Mercy!
And finally, am I the only person who's looking forward to blowing up Vince's yacht? Am I?
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