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Video Games--- I don't think there has ever been a worse time to be a fan of wrestling games. Everything seemed nice and peachy when THQ, World Wrestling Entertainment, and Japanese developer Aki teamed up to produce such wrestling classes as WrestleMania 2000 and No Mercy. Then THQ and Aki split up, and THQ planted its nose firmly into the buttocks of another Japanese developer named Yuke's, a company that has done nothing but develop one disappointing, over-hyped Smackdown game after another.

Things only got worse earlier this year when THQ and former UFC game developer Anchor released the god-awful WWE Raw for the Xbox, which sucks in so many different ways that it's rather puzzling. It's almost like it's all a joke and a THQ representative is going to jump out from behind a corner any minute now and say, "We got you! Here's the real game!" Alas, this has yet to happen, but what did happen is that THQ and Yuke's released the equally disappointing WWE WrestleMania X8 for the GameCube. This game was hyped up by numerous video game publications as the ultimate wrestling game despite the dubious reputation of its developer. Well, it turns out that common sense and logic were right, and the hype was wrong, because WrestleMania X8 is a crap wrestling game if there ever was one.

Worse yet, there's nothing on the horizon to indicate that things will be looking up anytime soon. What is there to look forward to? Yet another Smackdown game disappointment from the masters of clusterf--k gameplay at Yuke's? I don't think so. Legends of Wrestling 2 from Acclaim? Yeah, Acclaim will release a good wrestling game right around the same time that Sony releases a good football game. The upcoming "Backyard Wrestling" game from Eidos Interactive? That's just what we need, Eidos stinking up yet another game genre and legitimizing/glorifying idiotic backyard wrestling in the process. Ironically, the best-playing wrestling game of the near future might be EA's Def Jam Wrestling since it's being developed by Aki, but how much fun can it be to wrestle with a bunch of rappers and comedians?

Labels: Video Games, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

posted by Ivan Trembow at 3:06 PM

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