This game runs on a versatile new engine developed from the ground up.
The gameplay doesn’t stop with the transitions, oh no, there’s a host of other gameplay facets in the game. This gameplay engine allows you to have matches in a variety of styles. You can have a mat-based wrestling match, or a bloody brawl. You can also mix-and-match these styles into anything you want. The versatility of the game engine shines when you, the player, put it to the test.
The game’s “coup de grace” is the revolutionary career mode. This mode takes wrestling back to the days before Vince McMahon Jr. made professional wrestling a national pastime; back to the days when regional organizations ruled the roost. Each region, just like in the game, was separated into separated territories. The promoters in the territories would agree to unify championships, so a wrestler could make a name for himself, and so they could make a ton of money. The career mode does an amazing job at replicating the scope of regional wrestling. It not only encompasses the United States regional wrestling scene, but the international wrestling scene as well. There’s the Northeast region, with its territories being New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia, the home of Extreme Championship Wrestling. The Southwest region is made up of: Dallas, Texas; the stomping grounds of the legendary Von Erichs, Las Vegas, and Phoenix, Arizona. The Midwest region is home to: Minneapolis, Minnesota, the home of “Ravishing” Rick Rude, Larry “The Ax” Hennig, his son, “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, “Double A” Arn Anderson, and Jesse “The Body” Ventura; Chicago, Illinois; the home of the legendary Road Warriors, and St. Louis, Missouri. The Pacific region is made up of: Seattle, Washington; home of Greg “The Hammer” Valentine, San Fransisco, and Portland. The Southeast region is made up of:: Jacksonville, Florida, Memphis, Tennessee, the home of Jerry “The King” Lawler, and the birthplace of some of wrestling’s most memorable feuds, and Atlanta, Georgia; the former home of World Championship Wrestling. The United States region encompasses all of the previous regional cities. Finally, there’s the World region. This region is made up of: Tokyo, Japan, the home of some of Japan’s most legendary matches, Montreal, Canada, where some of wrestling biggest legends made their names, and Mexico City, Mexico, where Mexico’s greatest legend, Mil Mascaras, ruled the roost for decades. Now that the historical aspect of this mode is out of the way, it’s time to tell you how the mode works. In this mode, you will go from territory to territory and, when you conquer each territory, you will have a match for that region’s championship. After you win the championship in one region, you move to another region, unify that region’s championship, and then do it again, until you unify all of the regional championships to crown the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.