wrestling

WCW Mayhem seems like a pretty fun game at first. You have over 50 WCW wrestlers at your disposal, the ability to take the fight backstage to one of twelve different areas, ring entrances for each wrestler, a choice of six different types of match, a smattering of weapons lying about such as bats, chairs, and - my favorite - tasers, the ability to wrestle (in all of the historical rings from important WCW events) in exhibition and pay per view matches as well as go in quest of titles leading up to the coveted heavyweight championship belt, and the option to create your own wrestler. Another important aspect of the game is the color commentary provided by Tony Schiavone and Bobby the Brain Heenan. It doesn't take long for some of these plusses to start feeling like minuses, however.

I am not a big fan of the new manner of controlling your wrestler built into this game; it is much less intuitive than older WCW-based wrestling games, and I often find myself able to come up with only a very limited number of moves; still worse, I constantly find myself repeating moves I had no intention of repeating. The announcers do at least have fun with this, talking about move repetition in disparaging terms as it is going on. Their overall banter, though, while quite funny at times becomes repetitive itself after a short while. Even the overexcited shouts of Schiavone declaring a victory in the ring grow stale, as do his constant calls for someone to stop the bloodbath and call for help. I never get tired of the Brain, though; he is always hilarious.

I don't think the graphics here are much of an improvement over older games, either. There's really not a lot of difference in audio and visual between WCW Mayhem and earlier WCW games for the Playstation. You can fight backstage now, which is cool, but the graphics are largely unimproved and the gameplay is awkward and sometimes annoying. I would much rather play the older WCW/NOW Thunder than I would WCW Mayhem, when it comes right down to it.

Mayhem may be the worst wrestling game ever made. The graphics are good enough, although everyone looks disperportional, and the sound is good, although rather baren. What drags this game down is the gameplay. Quite simply, there is none. The one button moves and complete lack of strategy or challenge makes for a very boring game. The wrestlers move very well, there's just no fun in playing. The create your own wrestler should have been left out as it's very limited. Tho only redeeming quality of this game is the running commentary of Bobby Heenan and Tony Schiavone. Bottom line, it's not worth it.

WCW Mayhem is a relatively old game (the 'WCW' should give that away) it was initially released in 1999. Yet it still has enough entertainment value to be worth a play even today.

1. Sound. The best sound effects I've ever heard on a wrestling game. I've played many titles in this genre, including Wrestlemania XIX and Legends of Wrestling II, and Mayhem is superior to both. The crowds roars and jeers, the thuds and slams, go together to make a fantastic atmosphere. Even better is the two man commentary, and it's like you're watching it on TV.

2. The wrestlers. Coming from the late 90's WCW era, this has got some of the biggest superstars in wrestlin history gruped together. Hollywood Hogan (as he was then), Macho Man Randy Savage, Ric Flair, Sting, Bret Hart, Lex Luger, Goldberg, Curt Henning, Scott Steiner, Rick Steiner.....it's a great line-up. I'd say it's the best line-up in any wrestling game until this years Showdown: Legends of Wrestling. There's 50 wrestlers all together.

3. The wrestling itself. Don't expect super-fast gameplay. Don't even expect the pace of the latest wrestling games. Expect the methodical, paced action of late 80's wrestling. It's spot-on. I haven't seen such an accurate representation of the speed of wrestling in any other game.

4. It's for PS1, so it's incredibly cheap now. I picked up a secondhand copy from this very site for a mere £1.99. Two pounds, and to think it used to cost about £34.99 originally. As far as value for money goes, it's a five star purchase.

Now the negatives. The graphics are weird and not especially attractive - the crowd is just a flat block of coloured blobs. The weak collision detection means your punches will often miss at point blank range. There's no season mode, you just fight for titles and defend them. The Create A Wrestler mode is so basic you won't be able to make any of your favourite wrestlers not in the game already. You can, however, make a knight in armour...

To sum up, WCW Mayhem is not the greatest wrestling game on the market. No matter what console you have, there is atleast two better games avaliable. For the PSX/PS1, WWF Smackdown and Smackdown 2: Just Bring It. For the PS2, four Smackdown games, and three Legends of Wrestling games. For the XBox, WWE Raw & Raw 2, and three Legends of Wrestling games. And for the GameCube, Wrestlemania X8 and XIX, and two Legends of Wrestling games.

Nevertheless, I'm still playing Mayhem today and I have both Wrestlmania XIX and Legends of Wrestling II on my shelf. The commentary, the wrestlers avaliable and the accurate pace of real wrestling make this unique and enjoyable. Add to that the fact that it's ridiculously cheap (even if you only played it for one night, you'd still get value for money), and you're looking at a worthwile purchase.