WWF: War Zone
Reviewed by Scott McCall
After the resounding success of WCW vs. NWO: World Tour that
took many by surprise, it's no shock that Acclaim has released
some squared-circle competition. With a long history of developing
WWF games since the NES days, Acclaim has easily made WWF: War
Zone the best WWF game ever. But is it better than the current
wrestling game king, WCW vs. NWO: World Tour?
From its inception, WWF: War Zone was positioned with decidedly
different play mechanics. As a matter of fact, your gameplay and
control preference will determine which wrestling game you think
is better. Basically, WWF: War Zone is set up even more like a
fighting game than WCW vs. NWO: World Tour. For instance, quick
attacks (punches and kicks) seem to be too readily available and
might be relied too heavily upon. Also, you'll find that you're
forced to memorize moves for all the wrestlers, much like in a
fighting game. There's no universal moves scheme like in WCW vs.
NWO: World Tour.
However, WWF: War Zone contains many more modes of play than
WCW vs. NWO: World Tour -- a definite advantage. Here are the
modes of play, some of which can only be played by a certain number
of people: Training, Challenge, Cage, Royal Rumble (sorry, only
four in the ring at once), Versus, Tag Team, Weapons, Gauntlet,
and War. WWF: War Zone's one-player mode is far better than the
one-player mode in WCW vs. NWO: World Tour because this one has
quite a few ways to play, including grudge matches, to keep the
game fresh. Speaking of which, the WWF's Cage matches have
always been cool, and this game got a great one, too. There's even
a special Weapons mode for all of you who wished you could take
weapons into the ring in WCW vs. NWO: World Tour. But quite
possibly the best asset of WWF: War Zone is the Create-A-Player
feature. Even the forthcoming WCW/NWO Revenge won't have
anything quite like this. This great feature lets you piecemeal
together an original creation with dozens of options for each
part of the body.
Graphically, WWF: War Zone has realistic-looking wrestlers
with texture-mapped faces and soft-skinned bodies. The photo
realism is certainly far beyond the varied but more dull approach
used in WCW vs. NWO: World Tour. Another big improvement over
that game is in the area of graphical glitches. While WCW vs.
NWO: World Tour had noticeable clipping errors and hit detection
flaws, WWF: War Zone is surprisingly almost glitch free. Most of
the motion-captured animation is well done, too, if a little on the
slow side. Even the crowd looks decent. But there are a few places
the graphics need tweaking. The wrestler entrances are cool at
first, but they need more variety and special effects. The ring and
its surroundings are nice, but there's basically only one setting.
How about some bouts in other places? And while the animation
looks nice, it's definitely not as varied or comprehensive as WCW
vs. NWO: World Tour. As a side note, I just have to mention that the
front end (i.e., navigating through the menus) is very cool.
Aurally, WWF: War Zone really excels. There's a short digitized
clip of some hard rock music when you first turn on the game
that sounds great, and the music during the menus and such is
good. The MIDI renditions of the wrestlers' theme music aren't
bad at all. And the two-man commentary is a big plus, even though
it can get repetitive. At first, you can tell the voice is compressed,
but it doesn't sound as unnatural as Acclaim's All-Star Baseball
'99. Finally, the sound effects are great. There's crowd interaction
during the match ("3:16!" or "Open a can!" or "Because Stone Cold
said so." or much more), the wrestlers have cool voice taunts, and
there are different yells, moans, etc., for the wrestlers.
There's no doubt about it: WWF: War Zone is not only a very good
wrestling game but a very good game overall. But is it better
than WCW vs. NWO: World Tour? In my humble opinion, no. I like
WCW vs. NWO: World Tour's more intuitive control and faster,
easier gameplay better. And I think WCW vs. NWO: World Tour
is just, well, more fun. The lack of wrestlers in WWF: War Zone,
not to mention that most of the roster is outdated, also hurts.
On the other hand, WWF: War Zone definitely has a lot more
personality and atmosphere than WCW vs. NWO: World Tour, plus
it's got a really great Create-A-Player feature. However, you
can't go wrong with either game. Besides, if you're a real die-hard
fan, you should have both games in your collection.
Graphics: 4.7 out of 5
Sound: 4.6 out of 5
Control: 3.9 out of 5
Gameplay: 4.2 out of 5
Lastability: 4.2 out of 5
Overall: 4.2 out of 5