While Legends of WrestleMania is a good game in its own right, much like any other game it does have its obvious flaws.
For those who have yet to see WrestleMania 1 to 15, here's a short story of the game itself. Unlike Yukes' longest running series SmackDown Vs Raw, Legends of WrestleMania was geared to have more of an arcade-style gameplay to it rather than the simulation approach that the SmackDown games (mostly from 2007 to 2009) were delivering. Over 40 legends from the WW"F" (yes, "F" and not "E") square off against one another in various styles of matches suitably designed for the era that this game is being presented. In other words, no TLC matches or Elimination Chambers. Sorry, new age fans, that's the way wrestling was back then.
Other than the usual Exhibition mode, the real meat of this game would be the slogan given for it: Relive, Rewrite and Redefine. "WrestleMania Tour Mode" takes the player through various matches that took place during these events equipped with a well-made video package (with Jesse Ventura's voice ironically removed). Successfully winning the matches unlocks a new match to play. Now during the matches, they are a bunch of objectives required to earning a gold medal. These medals are not really necessary, though getting them all would earn them a trophy.
Now let's look at the slogans a bit carefully. .
"Relive" is pretty much what it is: relive one of several matches that took place during the long history of WrestleMania. For example: one of the biggest matches to take place at these events was Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant at the 3rd WrestleMania with Hogan winning. So pretty much you have to beat Andre in the same fashion that Hogan did back in 1987 (I.E: bodyslamming Andre and winning via legdrop being one of the objectives to clear).
"Rewrite" puts the gamer in the role of the loser in a WrestleMania match. For example: at WrestleMania 5, The Ultimate Warrior lost the Intercontinental title to "Ravishing" Rick Rude with his manager Bobby "The Brain" Heenan interfering on Rude's behalf. So basically, you have to avenge the Warrior's lost to Rude.
"Redefine" is somewhat of a combination with both "Relive" and "Rewrite" modes. You have the option to take control of whichever wrestler you want, but with a catch. There is always a stipulation added to the match thus the reasoning behind "Redefine." For example: Andre The Giant and Big John Studd were 2 of the biggest men in the history of wrestling when the 1st WrestleMania rolled through New York City and engaged in a bodyslam match. Now you get to choose if you want to have Andre win or Studd to avenge his loss, only this time they will be wrestling in a Hell In A Cell match. Other matches such as these await the gamer such as Big Bossman and Mr. Perfect (WrestleMania 7) in a ladder match.
With a game of this calibur (and the amount of big names that are not on good terms with Vince McMahon and the WWE), a lot of big names were omitted from the roster (Ricky Steamboat, Randy Savage, Razor Ramon and Demolition being the most obvious ones), there is "Create-a-Legend" mode for gamers to make the legends that are missing from this game. And with the mechanism very similar to SmackDown Vs Raw, making them would be a breeze.
Now with that out of the way, let's rate everything that needs to be known about Legends of WrestleMania:
THE GOOD (+)
+ The controls
I have no idea why some people complain about the control scheme. I mean, just because they sucked at the game does not mean that they have to blame the controls as usual. Just get used to them in a few minutes and you'd be set. The face buttons are all you need toplay Legends of WrestleMania and they work well. I truly believe if Yukes reused the SmackDown Vs Raw control schemes, people would STILL complain about how the game sucks because of the controls. You can never please everybody, whether it be wrestling fans or gamers alike. They're one in the same I swear..
+ Nostalgia
Not the best reasoning behind people liking a relatively new game, though anyone who grew up with the wrestlers on this game and were at either one of the events live to actually take control on a course of wrestling history that you experienced can have a really good feel to your mind.
+ Addictive gameplay
The one thing that differentiates LoW from SvR is the gameplay. For me, anything with an arcade-style appeal to it is always a good thing. With the amount of realistic stimulation-style games they are in the market right now, it's always nice to have something like out-of-the-ordinary from time to time.
+ Well designed presentation
Everything about this game from the title screen to the menu to WrestleMania Tour Mode gives this game a bit of a "legendary" appeal to it (no pun intended) including more of an archive approach to the whole thing as well. It's approaches like this is what makes or breaks a game nowadays. Legends of WrestleMania......did not break in this section.
THE BAD (-)
- Character models
By this I mean how distorted or "too BIG" they are in comparison to the way they looked in the past. Granted Yukes mentioned that they were going for a "larger than life" when it came to the graphical designs, that still doesn't prevent me from thinking that whole aspect was a bad idea from the start, especially with an extra gimmick added into it. For example: Bret Hart and Shawn Michaels' torsos were not so big during the mid-90s when they were the poster boys of the WWF. Andre was not that ripped in the game........but of all the legends, Hulk Hogan is the most guilty of this with a stereotypical "animated superhero" body (a massive torso, broad shoulders, bulging arms and a tiny set of legs). The game did need an arcade-style appeal to it, though it did not need this kind of graphical approach to make it sell either.
- Repetitiveness
This is one thing that video games suffer from. Usually on a more understanding scale such as beat-em-ups or platformers such as MegaMan would this not be a bad thing. Wrestling however, no. I've played through plenty of wrestling games to know how bad repetitiveness can be in them and Legends of WrestleMania is no different. It also does not help when there's not enough wrestling moves to give to created legends either.
- Inability to create your own chain finisher
That is a real sour note to me. Certain chain finishers do not work well with certain legends that you make nor can you find a way to make them work either. Improvising is your best bet to find a more suitable finisher, even if it doesn't work for them. Which is kind of bad in my view.
THE NOT THAT GOOD WHILE NOT SO BAD (+ -)
+ - SmackDown Vs Raw importation
This is the extra gimmick added to the game. If you have a copy of SmackDown Vs Raw 2009 saved onto your PS3 or Xbox 360 hard drive, you can import all the wrestlers there to Legends of WrestleMania. Well, all except the divas and the most recently released. So guys like Lance Cade, Trevor Murdoch, Paul London and Big Daddy V are gone. While the "gimmick" is good thus allowing others to see how well guys like Hulk Hogan in their prime can hang with his current counterpart John Cena, this could've been easily evaded by having MORE legends added to the roster as opposed to the small 40 that we originally get. Also, you can't have the same wrestlers going against each other. Meaning you can't have SvR's Shawn Michaels wrestling LoW's Shawn Michaels. A bit disappointed about that, though it's understandable.
+ - "Legend Killer Mode"
After making a new legend, you have to take them through "Legend Killer Mode" to give them the necessary stats to combat the other legends. It's reminiscence to Career Mode from SmackDown Vs Raw 2009. HOWEVER, unlike that mode, you can manually give your legends the stats that you want them to have as opposed to having everything automatically calculated. And limiting the amount of "creativity" you have.
At the end of the day, Legends of WrestleMania is by all means a good wrestling game recapturing "some" of wrestling's glory days of the 80s and 90s. Well-designed presentations and nostalgia drives this game to a degree yet the repetitive nature almost feels it flat. Unless you want to try another alternative to the SmackDown series, you may possibly like this. If not, keep on firing up Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for the PS2.