Cross-posted with my site gammatesting.com
Much like opera, I like professional wrestling in an abstract and
nostalgic way more than up close and in person. I used to go to opera a
lot actually. I used to watch wrestling every week too. Now I mostly
play video games it seems. And while I like an occasional aria, I love
the fact that opera's out there and appreciate its rich cultural
heritage. I don't think I would actually like watching wrestling any
more – Ultimate Fighting has stolen it's place in my heart – and
wrestling games have gotten more and more complex. It's great in theory
that men take steroids and shave their chests and slam each other
around for a few hours a week, but I can't be bothered to take it in.
All of which explains why WWE Legends of Wrestlemania is the perfect wrestling game for me.
Legends
is all about the nostalgia. It allows you to re-live key, dramatic
match-ups from the first decade and a half of Wresltmanias, spanning
the golden age of 80's and 90's wrestling. Hulk Hogan, Andre The Giant,
Stone Cold Steve Austin, Ric Flair, and scores of others – even Dusty
Rhodes, the American Dream! - all make appearances in the game. Each
match is preceded by an expertly crafted video montage of footage from
events leading up to the historic battle, giving context and hyping up
excitement for the ensuing mayhem. Once the action starts, game play is
simple: All you have to worry about are the four basic face buttons and
the analog stick to move around. Quick-time events guide you to press
the right button at the right time to pull off those killer combos. You
can jump from the turnbuckles and smack people with chairs pulled
magically from under the ring. There are steel cages. There are crooked
managers who distract you just as you're about to pin their man. It's
simple, pure, somewhat repetitive wrestling fun that tosses away the
complexity of modern wrestling games.
I especially love all the
background footage because I have no memories of any of these events. I
didn't watch wrestling during this period, and knew Andre the Giant
from The Princess Bride and Hulk Hogan from Rocky 3 more than I knew
their exploits in the square circle. But the montages are so well put
together, so expertly done, that I feel a strong, fun sense of
nostalgia anyway. For any real wrestling fan, I don't see how you could
avoid buying this game. Not that it's a great game. As I mentioned, the
action gets a little repetitive, but not horribly so. Once you've
played through those historic matches, the real fun comes when you get
to create your own Legend and fight two decades of muscle-bound
megastars (although can anyone be better than my own Sebastian “The Bad
Trip” St. Payne in his tie-dye top hat and red tiger striped tights?).
There's a fair amount of fun to be had with the game, although almost
all of it depends on your personal ability to draw pleasure from some
aspect of wrestling: true fan, ironic hipster, secret devotee – there's
something here for all of you. If you just think wrestling's stupid,
well, this WWE Legends of Wrestlemania won't change you mind.
