Day of Reckoning Is the Real "Reflection of Perfection."... well not quite but its pretty dang close for sure.
User Rating: 9.1 | WWE Day of Reckoning 2 GC
DOR2 (Day of Reckoning 2) is currently the best wrestling title for the game cube, only because it builds off of what DOR1 perfected, excellent controls and the best graphics in the business.. Well 2nd to Wrestlemania21, but if I had to compare, I’d DOR2 has more photo-realistic looks then WM21. And now including the new Stamina system, game play has never been more addicting. New legends such as Mankind, The Rock, Stone-Cold Steve Austin, Bret "The Hit man" Hart, and of course The Immortal Hulk Hogan! And there are now 45 wrestlers, with new faces like Carlito Caribbean Cool, Muhammad Hassan, Tajiri, William Regal, The Hurricane, Paul London and more. Game play: Game play wise this game is completely perfect, reversing and grappling is easy to do, and specific button combinations allows you to do tons of moves. The L button reverses Grapple holds, R reverses punches, kicks dropkicks, clotheslines etc. When pressed at the same time they will reverse your opponent’s finisher and reward you with your own. Tapping the A button allows for quick grapples that are used to wear down your opponent. But be weary it will run down your stamina as well as the opponents, but when you run out your going to have a hard time reversing and pulling off moves. Holding the A button allows your to grab onto your foe, and tapping A and a specific direction at the same time will do heavy grappled moves, these will big time bring down stamina on your opponent and a bit more on you then quick grapples. Grappled striking is when you grab your foe and hit B to strike, and holding the control stick in different directions allows you to do different strikes, like clotheslines. Pressing the B button allows you to strike, and hold a direction or not allows you to come up with specific punch combos. The C stick allows you to change targets, and X will pick up a fallen foe, or when ringside allows you to pull out weapons. Tap y to do a quick run or bounce off the ropes, or do a running strike. The D-pad does 4 different taunts. Climbing onto the turnbuckle and diving off onto somebody was a pain in the neck because it was so easily reversed, but the new stamina meter allows you to weaken your foe then may it more difficult to reverse. Stamina is effected on how bad you get hurt, how many moves you do. New submission systems allow you to choose to submit, taunt, drain etc. Draining allows you to gain some stamina back. The only problems with the Game play is that it is waaaaay to similar to DOR1's, I was expecting a bit more changes. And there is only one new type of game play match. Graphics: Good. Just superb graphics. Its silky smooth textures and realistic character models make this irresistible to the eye. The skin is so amazingly realistic that you would swear it was real. They have moles red spot and many other blemishes that give your created character a good different look. The new 3-d crowd gives the game a much needed improvement making the models and crowd look much closer related, making them less fuzzy and less noticeable. Otherwise nothing is much different. Sound: The game is played to a Metal-ish theme that is more like the wrestling world, but keep the aspirin near by, cus' these themes can get a tad annoying. Wrestlers environments and the ring have some new more realistic sounds, different from the DOR1 kind of cartoon-y sounds. Still not voice-overs, but we do receive announcers voices during entrances. And Now they can actually announce the name of your CAW from a pre-recorded list. They sound much more realistic then SD!vs.RAW, who’s were a bit late saying the actual name of the wrestler. Value: Worth 10 bucks? Hell yes. Worth 20? Still Hell yes. 30? Sure why not? 40? Just right. 50? Not overpriced but not under priced either. So I’d buy this one if you liked DOR1. Tilt: This game is incredibly addictive, giving us the same options as DOR1 and more! I’ve played this game for 34 hours I believe, and I have been playing with my friends almost everyday in the game. The game has those surprise moments when you’ve been hit by the finisher and you somehow kick out, or the finisher is reversed by you followed up by a submission and the opponent taps out. It’s an exciting game, and doesn’t get old until you’ve whooped the same persons but about 300+ times. Overall DOR2 is a great game, its excellent controls graphics and new stamina system should keep you playing for as long as you possibly can. 
