WWF Attitude, simply put, lays the smackdown on all other roody-poo candy-ass wrestling games out on the market. The other pretender wrestling games, have no chance in hell in standing up to this game, and that’s the bottom line because Ken Urben said so and I’m one bad Mamma Jamma.
If you understood all of the WWF wrestling references in the preceding paragraph, you’ll absolutely adore WWF Attitude. If you were left scratching your head in bewilderment, you’ll find yourself with an average game that you should think twice about buying.
I’ll admit right off the bat something that my new wife tries very hard to keep her family from knowing: I am a huge wrestling fan. That’s why I’m in the 4 1/2 GiN Gem category. However, on its face, Attitude is simply an upgrade from WWF War Zone, which came out last year, much like the Madden or MLB series of games, which as we all know are also released every year. There is a moderate amount of tweaking here and there, but when you boil it down, Madden 2000 is still at its core, a football game. The same goes for WWF Attitude in terms of wrestling.
That’s why non-wrestling fans won’t appreciate the nuances of the game quite as much as us self-professed Jerichoholics (If WWF Attitude had enough time to include Chris Jericho in the game, I would have given it 5 GiN Gems.) Hence the two different grades.
Graphically, WWF Attitude is first rate. The ring entrances of the wrestlers will make you swear you’re watching Raw Is War on Monday night. Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler’s ring entrance is absolutely hysterical, although no Hoes coming out with the Godfather was a glaring (if understandable) omission. While, I found the running commentary by Lawler and Shane McMahon a little lacking, the crowd reactions and phrases more than made up for it.
WWF Attitude boasts an amazing roster of 40 wrestlers, 30 immediately playable and 10 hidden. Of course, given the nature of wrestling some wrestlers are using old gimmicks by the time of the release of the game, but this is only a small bother. Actually it was kind of nostalgic to see HHH come out to the old D-X music, but I digress.
In WWF Attitude, not only do you have the now familiar Create-a-Wrestler feature, but you can actually create your own Pay-Per-View show and even design the arena. Also, creating your own Pay-Per-Views show is very easy given the millions…and millions (wrestling reference) of speciality matches you now have access to. Along with the always popular Cage match, you can have a Triple-Threat match, an I Quit match, a First Blood match, a Last Man Standing match, and an I Get a Date With Your Sister match. Okay I made that last one up, but you get my point.
The Career mode in WWF Attitude also stands out. You can take one of the established WWF superstars (I chose Mr. Ass) or even one of your created wrestlers and climb the ladder to try and win all three of the WWF’s singles titles. You can also pick a friend (if you have one) and go for the Tag Team titles as well. The interesting thing about it is that it takes place on an actual calendar of WWF programming. When you start off you wrestle on regular House shows, but as you progress you find yourself getting TV exposure. Mondays you wrestle on RAW, Saturdays on Shotgun, Sundays on Heat and if your good enough at the end of the month you get on a Pay-Per-View show. This is the prefect example of something that would fly over the head of a non-wrestling fan, but makes the game that much better for people like me.
As for the gameplay itself, being almost identical to WWF Warzone, it is quite lacking and is the major drawback the game has. When you miss the right combination for a good move, you’ll often find yourself using a basic move like an armbar or hammer-lock and that gets real boring real fast. Also, in any match with more than two participants, you find yourself constantly switched randomly and matched up against the wrong opponent, frequently leaving yourself open for an unexpected attack.
Acclaim decided to include options in the game to tone down the language and turn the blood off if wanted, which was probably a good idea given the furor that has erupted in recent months over the ever-increasing risque subject matter in the WWF.
While it may be un-PC to admit this, I thought the blood was the highlight of the game. While the wrestlers do bleed too easily and too much, nothing adds to a wrestling match like a pinch of blood (or red liquid as the case may be.) In a long hard-fought match, you are guaranteed to bleed in the game, and if you take the TKO and time limit options off and decide to go to town on your opponent, you can make him (or her) bleed on or out of virtually any part of their body. Very rarely am I such a fan of gore in games, but it was too much to resist. Nothing was as satisfying as seeing my bloody, but victorious face up on the TitanTron at the end of a match.
Wrestling fans will think they’ve died and gone to Heaven (or at least Debra’s bedroom) with this game, but I would advise non-wrestling fans against buying it. Fans of regular sports games just won’t appreciate the level of detail and will come away with nowhere near as good of a gaming experience.
Now hit my music!
Developers: Iguana Entertainment
Platforms: Dreamcast, GameBoy Color, Nintendo 64, PlayStation