Day of Reckoning is the best yet
Pros:
Awesome storymode, great graphics, easy gameplay
Cons:
Awesome storymode could be more in depth; lack of deep roster.
The Bottom Line:
This is the best wrestling game ON THE MARKET right now. There is plenty of room to go in the wrestling game market, but this is a worthy buy.
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Overall Rating:
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Author's Review
THQ just keeps getting better. After peaking out with WWE No Mercy for Nintendo 64, they've been a bit lagging in their Nintendo products. Their Playstation and Playstation 2 games have been solid, but Wrestlemania and Wrestlemania X8 were good games, but disappointing overall.
This time ... they got it right. I don't know if it is bettr than No Mercy. Yes, the graphics are great, the music is excellent, and the story mode is the best I have ever seen on any game system. The problem is ... No Mercy had such a big roster and the wrestlers were easy to maneuver ...the game never got old. You could play as the referee, have all kind of title matches with your friends and college buds.
Day of Reckoning has a lot of great features ... but they are not extensive.
Most disappointing is also the game's top feature. The story mode -- where you MUST create your own wrestler and work your way through Raw OR Smackdown. Problem is ... both storymodes are the SAME. I thought they would be different (after working your way up through house shows, you end up with a choice on the Raw or Smackdown brand, each run by different General Managers).
It was very disappointing to see Triple H AND The Undertaker with the same dialogue, as well as the same Tag Team champions (The Basham Brothers) in both divisions. What happened to The Dudley Boyz?!
And how come I can't wrestle the storyline with The Rock? That's right, you can't use the "real" WWE wrestlers to battle in storyline mode. While its fun to create a wrestler, it is time consuming.
The graphics are awesome. They are the best I've seen, and the entrances are great.
The music is a take from Acclaim's Legends of Wrestling, which featured rock and rap music from such artists as Linkin Park. Unfortunately, as with LOW, there are maybe 6 tracks which are repetitive after awhile.
Controls are easy ... but No Mercy had more moves. They had "weak" and "strong" moves for the A and B buttons; this has grappling moves on the A button, but just punching type moves for the B buttons.
I love this game ... but its time to take the best of No Mercy and throw it on top of this game. Sometimes its fun to play as the referee and give them an Earl Hebner-like screwjob.
The big plus ... I uncovered three "legends" of wrestling ... Brutus Beefcake, Greg Valentine, and Bret Hart!
