The Attitude Era in the World Wrestling Federation, now the WWE, was in full swing by this time and beating World Championship Wrestling to the punch in 1999. Although WCW had two superior games developed by AKI, that does not mean that WWF Attitude and its predecessors WWF Warzone weren't slouches either. Both games were really good in 1998 and 1999 respectively, but Father time has taken a toll on both games due to the changes made
For starters, WWF Attitude was the sequel to WWF Warzone a year before, developed by Acclaim; the same company responsible for the first 2 Mortal Kombat arcade games being ported to video game consoles and handhelds in the early 90s. What followed were, well, a rather complex system to execute even the most simplest of wrestling moves (to execute a 'bulldog' for example would be a combination of up-down-forward+attack or some other complex combo). But then again, being the one behind Mortal Kombat ascent to video game consoles one would expect that. The gameplay back then was groundbreaking for its time but now, not so much. The wrestlers moved sluggish, the animations were pretty bad and the complex grappling system only complicated things more.
WWF Attitude did have some good things about it in the long run. The roster was much bigger than Warzone (and more accurate at the time), more match types were added (with the exception of Buried Alive and Hell In A Cell) and past game modes were brought back, improved audio, much better commentary thanks to Shane McMahon and Jerry "The King" Lawler and full entrances as opposed to the small entrances you got from Warzone. Another key part of all wrestling games is the creation suite and needless to say it has almost improved from Warzone. More options to create the guy or girl of your desire as well as a prototype for 'Create An Arena' and 'Create-a-PPV.' Granted, the options were extremely limited (house show set, Raw set and PPV set) though it had its moments. Change rope colors? You got it. Change the ring apron to fit either an Attitude Era setting or a Hulkamania setting? No problem. You want to wrestle with the entire arena covered in a red glow or golden glow? BOOM, done. As stated, this was a prototype of what was to come 16 years later down the road with WWE '12 bringing 'Create-An-Arena' back to the fray and WWE 2K16 vastly improving on it on the PlayStation 4.
Suffice to say, WWF Attitude was a step above WWF Warzone. Acclaim saw the flaws in the predecessor and fixed them to make WWF Attitude a good game......back in 1999. In 2016 (and without the nostalgia glasses), WWF Attitude is several steps below the rest. It does deserve credit for paving the way for certain elements to be added to future titles down the road, but the less talk about the bad gameplay the better.