WWF Warzone for Playstation...wow, I've been waiting for this game for months now, and now that it's here, I'm not disappointed. I'll admit it, I am a wrestling fan, and as such, this game lived up to my expectations, and then some. It's a 3D game, with 16 wrestlers, and tons of modes : WWF Challenge (a season mode where you work your way up the ladder...I'll talk about this more later), Tag Team, Versus, Tornado Matches, Coop Tag Team Matches, Cage, Weapons (and with the weapons, it brings blood!), and just a plain old slobberknocker War match. All of the matches include color commentary from Jim Ross and Vince McMahon, and unlike other wrestling games (WCW Nitro mainly), I don't feel the need to turn off the commentary after 3 minutes. It actually is enjoyable and makes it seem all the more realistic. It supports 1-4 players (through the use of the Multi-Taps), sadly with no Dual Shock support. One surprising note about the 4 player matches/tag teams...I've noticed little to NO slowdown in the game, even when all four guys (or possibly girls, if you play your cards right) are in there beating the tar out of each other. It also has hidden secrets and modes, but interestingly enough, you have to EARN them to use them. There is no code to access them. For instance, it has (as far as I’ve found) 4 hidden characters, the female body for the create-a-wrestler feature, and extra clothes/accessories also for create-a-wrestler.

If you've played other wrestling game for Playstation, Saturn, Super Nintendo, etc., you'll probably remember the calluses on your fingers from mashing buttons repeatedly to pull off moves, or possibly get out of one. This game is not like that, and it's more like a Tekken 3 / Street Fighter 2 type of game, or at least pulling off the moves. Don't get me wrong, there are a few places where you can mash to your heart's content, like if you're holding your opponent in a submission style move. The more you mash, the more pain it inflicts. You can do the plain old punch and kick routine, but to counter the cheese of beginner players (repeatedly doing the only move they know), the game put in something to counter it: The crowd. The more you do a move repeatedly, the more irate the crowd becomes, causing not only your move to do less damage, but also your opponent gets more spirited, I guess is the word. Each wrestler has around 60-90 moves in his repertoire, and each of the moves can be countered by your opponent if he/she knows how to do it. The controls on the game are amazingly responsive, or at least, a lot more than other wrestling type games that I've played in the past. A cool feature that seems to be cropping up a lot these days in fighting games is the training room. Don't know how to do all your wrestlers’ moves? Then hey, go train a while...it really does help.

The best thing about this game, almost a reason by itself to buy it, is the create your own wrestler feature. Everything about the wrestler you can customize, including sex, face, skin color, outfits, wrestling style, moves, intro music, and stats. Upset because your favorite wrestler from so-and-so federation isn't in the game? Make it yourself! So far I've only messed around in this a little bit, concentrating more on the included wrestlers, but I've made about 3 or 4 wrestlers, like Hulk Hogan, Mr. T, Vader, and Macho Man Randy Savage.

OK, let's talk about the Challenge Mode, or as I like to call it, the hour and a half spent to unlock hidden characters/modes. It's pretty simple...you make your way up through the ranks of the WWF to win the Intercontinental Title, and ultimately, the Heavyweight Championship. Along the way, you'll face 11 other WWF Superstars, and sometimes, after defeating one of them, a disgruntled wrestler or a sore loser will come back and challenge you to a rematch in one of two ways : a cage match or a weapons match. These challenges are made via Full Motion Video challenges of each wrestler...I think there are about 5 for each character, excluding maybe Kane, considering he doesn't talk. The cage match is pretty cool. You and your opponent are in a ring, surrounded by a 20 ft steel cage. The object is to beat up your opponent enough that you can scale up the side of the cage, and down the other, before your opponent can do the same. You can even do moves off the top of the cage, which, if landed , can cause a whole lot of damage, but on the other hand, if you miss them, you're screwed. The weapons match is just a regular ring, but scattered around the ring, and in the ring itself, are a multitude of weapons, ranging from ring bells, to TV cameras, and even TV Monitors. The rules are ECW style, where you can pin your opponent anywhere, even outside the ring. Be forewarned...in each of these types of matches, the computer AI's skill level is doubled, making for a very difficult match.

All in all, this is a very fun game, with only very small details that I, as a wrestling fan, notice. I've shown this game to some of my non-wrestling enthusiast friends, and they all enjoy it, so don't expect to be out of your element if you don't follow wrestling.

WWF Warzone Web Coverage:

Acclaim's Warzone Site
WWF's Website
*drumroll

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Copyright © 1998 Bert Harris

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