by Wyatt "JOEDOG" Elloitt
WCW Nitro is NOT the best wrestling game available on Playstation....Anymore. Acclaim's WWF War Zone is by far the best I have ever seen. In the past I might have said "The day Acclaim makes a good game is the first sign of the apocalypse." I would never say that now because Acclaim has totally redeemed themselves this year. With War Zone, All-Star Baseball 99, and more coming soon. Acclaim has earned itself sports maker of the year for N64.
WWF War Zone comes on both PSX and N64. Both titles are truly legends in their own time. Graphics are incredibly smooth. These polygons are tight, no break up will be found here. Acclaim has used the same gaming engine used in All-Star Baseball '99 to place the actual face of your favorite wrestler on to the polygon character. I find the faces do look a little cleaner on the PSX version. Which came as a surprise to me. Its so detailed you can read Stone Cold's shirt during the action.
I do enjoy the small details in the backgrounds. Such as the way the ropes bounce when your slammed on the mat. The neat little WWF logo in the corner of the screen on the N64 version is a nice added TV touch. The sounds are spectacular in this wrestle-fest. Two announcers for twice the witty commentary. The audience reacts to the action on stage like I've never seen before.
They cheer, chant, tell, scream, and even boo who's on stage. You really know where you stand in this game. If you let your wrestler just stand there, the audience starts to yell "constructive criticism" at you. Its just those little added features that make this game better than average. The control is good, but not great. if they need something to fix next year I would say the control could use some fine tuning.
The best part about this whole gaming experience is the create a player feature. This feature is so detailed. The options are almost endless. Its so vast that I've created such missing wrestlers as Rodzilla, Hollywood Hogan, and Iron Mike. I've even seen people trade wrestler formulas over the internet. This is the best idea I have ever seen in a video game to date. Both N64 and PSX versions are great, but if you can choose. PSX has more detailed graphics and sound.
PUBLISHER: ACCLIAM
(N64 / PSX)
GRAPHICS: 7 / 9
MUSIC / SOUND: 8 / 8
CONTROL: 5 / 6
ORIGINALITY: 8.5 / 8.5
REPLAY: 10 / 10
SECRETS: 9 / 9
OVERALL: 7 / 8.5
