Ever hear of recycling? Recycling glass and paper can help save the environment. But there are times when recycling ISN'T a good idea. For instance, Vanilla Ice recycled the Queen/David Bowie song "Under Pressure" to create the less timeless "Ice Ice Baby".
Jean Claude Van Damme recycled his wisecracking comic self for several movies, all of which bombed. And now we come to the worst kind of recycling of all: video games.
We looked with great dread as Acclaim had picked up the ECW license for video games several months ago, but they assured us that we'd see rewards from use of the license, instead of the insufficient action we saw in such games as WWF Attitude and WWF War Zone. Well, that assurance better hold for ECW Anarchy Rulz, because, right now, the differences between Acclaim's lacking past and their new Dreamcast wrestling game, ECW Hardcore Revolution, are very few.
The game features several ECW wrestling stars, including such heralded figures as Rob Van Dam, Sabu, and Raven, and even lets you create your own wrestler so you can re-input Tazz back into the mix if you choose. There's also female wrestlers as well, but- surprise- they're hardly that different from the men, except in looks. Let's break it down...
Visuals:: The same WWF Attitude engine means the same sort of graphical problems in this game. Although the wrestlers look pretty much like their real-life counterparts, they move like robots and perform their moves as if they had hemorrhoids. The outside-the-ring action is limited, with the crowd being very stiff and the background entrance hardly showing any lively lights or anything. In short, it almost looks plastered on. The in-ring entrances are OK, but could've been better. Now, there are minor exceptions to the original wrestling formula, such as hardcore items like weapons and barbwire ropes, but, otherwise, things look about the same as they did last year with that "other" game. Sigh...
Audio:: There are some better differences here. Instead of generic tunes and droll announcing, we get some decent rock tunes here and there, unique ring FX, and crowd chants of "ECW!" every few seconds. However, the wrestlers sound like they're reading dialogue from a book instead of speaking to the crowd, and, um, that's not ECW style, now is it? I admit, however, I chucked during Raven's "never get pinned" speech.
Gameplay/Control:: Yikes. Sadly, the gameplay is strugglesome and never really comes together for the player; a big no-no when all you want to do is powerbomb somebody through a table or hit 'em with a garbage can. There are moves to learn and maneuvers/holds to master, but the control is so sluggish you give up halfway through and just end up body slamming your opponent all over the ring instead. And if you don't have tactics and stylish moves in wrestling, again, is there a point? Acclaim seriously needs to clean this up before Anarchy Rulz makes an appearance. And I mean VERY seriously.
Extras:: The multiplayer mode can be kind of fun (if you don't mind just tapping buttons all over), and the Create-a-Wrestler mode is somewhat innovative (imagine creating Hulk Hogan and seeing him somehow survive in ECW- scary, huh?), but that's about it. Where's the damn Table Match?
Overall:: An extreme disappointment. ECW's first video game feels about as badly marketed as a WCW event. The graphics, the gameplay, the walking animation...we've seen it all before, literally. Let's hope Anarchy Rulz allows Acclaim to break away from this overused formula, because, if not, we might have to take some staple guns to Paul Heyman. Heh...
Score:: 3.0/10
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