WWF War Zone

RAW IS WAR IS HO EN YA HUH!

Developer: Iguana West Publisher: Acclaim Genre: Fighting/Wrestling Players: 1-4 Memory Blocks: 2 Discs: 1 Analog: No Dual Shock: No ESRB: Teen Difficulty: Adjustable

Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, children from ages 13 and up! Acclaim Sports proudly brings to you--it's the Sony Playstation's WRESTLING GAME OF THE YEEEAR... WWF Warzone!

And if you ain't down with that, I got one word for ya: Bucket!

Gameplay--Or something like that. Anyways, I'm here to tell you all about WWF Warzone, hands-down the best wrestling game released for any system so far. Warzone powerbombs you into the world of pro rasslin', where you'll find grunting, blind refs, and chairs galore. Choose from a large selection of game modes, like Training, Weapons, Tag Team, Cage, Challenge (a long tournament), and best of all, Create a Wrestler!

And while most of these sound intriguing, the Create a Wrestler mode truly stands out. It's by far the best and most in-depth create-a-player feature I've seen in any game. Choose your body type! Choose your face! Shirts! Pants! Boots! Armpads! Accessories! Tattoos! Move sets! More! With all the choices, I've even created Serpent (remember him?), myself, Jeff, and even an old timer called Haystack Calhoon! Great fun for all (my dad even got into it).

But anyways, Warzone gives you a choice of 18 superstars (although 3 have left the WWF, and one, well...you know...R.I.P, Owen Hart...) like Stone Cold Steve Austin, Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, Mankind, and many more (of course, I use my created wrestlers all the time, so I never have the time to use the real ones...oh, well). Then, you're thrown into the squared circle with another rassler, and in the words of Jim Ross, "it's time for a good old fashioned slobberknocker!"

Graphics--Compared to all the pro-wrestling games I've seen, Warzone has, by far, the most impressive graphics yet. Detailed player models include the real life faces of your favorite stars (although a few look kinda weird), tattoos, hair, and even the Austin 3:16 jacket. And even better, the moves are all motion captured! Piledrivers, Stone Cold Stunners, Superplexes, and Stomps all look like the real thing. Even the wrestlers' taunts look realistic! Warzone's graphics are going to stay king for a long time when compared to the next generation wrestling games.

Sound--There isn't much music in this game (it's about wrestling, for spum's sakes), except for the wrestlers' excellent entrance music, which sounds almost exactly like the real thing. In the Create a Wrestler mode, you'll hear Mankind's eerie music, the Undertaker's Graveyard Symphony, and Goldust's beautiful theme whenever you want. Of course, you can just go out and buy one of the WWF's Music Volume CD's if you want to hear the real thing, but the music given will do. Unfortunately, you can only hear it in the WWF Challenge Mode, and even so, it only plays for about 7 seconds. Oddly, the music doesn't play after you win a match. Oh, well.

As for the sound effects, they're the highlight of the entire game. Along with the usual grunts, groans, and taunts, Warzone has crowd members shout out funny, and sometimes hilarious taunts and pleads (hearing somebody yell "Rocky doesn't suck!......YOU suck!" after a "Rocky sucks!" chant is one of my favorites). And along with the chants and comments from the crowd, Warzone features the absolute best commentary team ever seen (yes, better than the "That was completely unnecessary, but a lot of fun to watch!" guy from NFL Blitz). Jim Ross and Vince McMahon cover the play-by-play with more sound bites than Gex could shake a stick at. Just about everything you do in the game is covered ("Against the ropes!", "All the way to the top!"), along with funny comparisons ("The British Bulldog is about as useful as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest!") and end of the match quotes ("The fat lady's singin' now!"), making for as realistic a wrestling match as you'd ever want.

Control--In his review of WWF Warzone, former Cosmo Canyon staff member (and now hater of everybody he knows) Travis Allen spoke for People Who Hold Their Controllers Upside Down Anonymous best when he said "When you press the control pad in one direction, your character walks in the opposite direction like an utter moron". Warzone is nothing like this. Your wrestlers actually walk in the right direction, take each others' heads to the STEEL ringposts (long live CRZ!), fight with chairs, bells, 2x4s, etc, climb cages, execute finishers, planchas, splashes, powerbombs, pescados, and more--all at a maximum of four button presses per move. Most require only two or three. Tagging your partner in tag team matches could have gone a little more smoothly, but as for faults in the controls, that's all I can think of.

Fun Factor--Layin' the smack down on your favorite stars has never been so much fun. Take the amount of things you can do in matches, 18 superstars, the best commentary team on the planet, smooth controls, a few different (and thoroughly enjoyable) modes, douse it heavily in a can of Whoop Ass, and cram that all into a CD. You've probably broken at least 8 city ordinances by now. Go to EB and spend around $30-40, however, and you now have WWF Warzone, the best wrestling game to date.

Overall Satisfaction--Gee, I've raved about every single category so far--am I satisfied with this game?

...

...?

...!

Oh, heck yes! Warzone pulls out all the stops, Moonsaulting it ages over the competition. In the words of Mankind, this game is "Mmm...BEEFY!". Don't be a jabroni, just go out and take the game out for a few matches if you're a wrestling fan, if ya smell what I'm cookin'!

Hanpan sez: And that's the bottom line, 'cause Hanpan said so!

Highs: Best commentating team on the planet, best Create a Player feature yet, just plain fun
Lows: Not much, but it could have used a few more single player modes
Score: 9