The year is 1997 and the N64 gets WCW vs NWO World Tour.
For those of you who don't know, its a semi-sequel to WCW
vs The World for Playstation. This game started whats now
some of the best games of the N64. On to the review.
Graphics:
At the time that it was released, it was about on par with
what was out at the time. It did have blocky textures,
clipping, and overall most characters barely resembled their
actual wrestlers. The pictures used to represent them were
more cartoonish and while some were good, others were pretty
bad. The audience members were flat and only had a small amount
of movement. Due to limitations this would be the standard
for the N64 wrestling games but I will say that this one was
probably the worst about it. The rings were very basic with
just a little bit of difference in between them, just minor
words and color swaps.
Gameplay:
This set the standard of the best games that were to come.
Now having said that, being the first game out, it did have
some problems. Understanding how to actually play this game
was of course a bit different than what players were used to
at that time. We had games like WWF in Your House and WWF
Wrestlemania: the Arcade Game. These were more like Mortal
Kombat and used digitized sprites. So playing this required
weak and strong grapples, along with weak and strong attacks.
As you fight, you build up your spirit meter. This allows
you to utilize your signature move when you do a strong
grapple. Each wrestler had their own set of moves and had
their own special moves that could be done only in a front
and back grapple. Not very many style of matches to choose
from. Just basic tag team, singles, and handicap matches. It
did introduce easy to get weapons that could help turn the
tide of the match.
Audio:
The audio is very basic. Just a couple of random background
music, an announcer that says fight and counts, a crowd that
oohs and aahs, and the punches/kicks sound like someone skipped
a record and recorded it. Actually, the punches/kicks kind of
remind me of fight sounds from movies in the 50's and 60's. So
its not all that great. Once again though, I don't know if it
was due to limitations with the N64 or just inexperience. There
were no actual entrance music used either. To me it wasn't a big
deal but I knew some kids who had issues with it at that time.
Replayability:
It was good when it came out, but was quickly overshadowed
by its successor. Playing it now, there's so many better
options. With only a handful of actual WCW/NWO wrestlers and
the rest being "rebranded" characters from other countries
did hurt it in my opinion. There were no create a wrestler
options, the first one of those would be introduced in WWF
Warzone, so noone could make their new wrestlers.
Overall:
As it goes for now, I give it a 5 out of 10. There's better
games out there but it's still a game that should be played
at least once. If you can find it for cheap, pick it up. At
least you can see how the games had progressed up to No Mercy.
For those of you who don't know, its a semi-sequel to WCW
vs The World for Playstation. This game started whats now
some of the best games of the N64. On to the review.
Graphics:
At the time that it was released, it was about on par with
what was out at the time. It did have blocky textures,
clipping, and overall most characters barely resembled their
actual wrestlers. The pictures used to represent them were
more cartoonish and while some were good, others were pretty
bad. The audience members were flat and only had a small amount
of movement. Due to limitations this would be the standard
for the N64 wrestling games but I will say that this one was
probably the worst about it. The rings were very basic with
just a little bit of difference in between them, just minor
words and color swaps.
Gameplay:
This set the standard of the best games that were to come.
Now having said that, being the first game out, it did have
some problems. Understanding how to actually play this game
was of course a bit different than what players were used to
at that time. We had games like WWF in Your House and WWF
Wrestlemania: the Arcade Game. These were more like Mortal
Kombat and used digitized sprites. So playing this required
weak and strong grapples, along with weak and strong attacks.
As you fight, you build up your spirit meter. This allows
you to utilize your signature move when you do a strong
grapple. Each wrestler had their own set of moves and had
their own special moves that could be done only in a front
and back grapple. Not very many style of matches to choose
from. Just basic tag team, singles, and handicap matches. It
did introduce easy to get weapons that could help turn the
tide of the match.
Audio:
The audio is very basic. Just a couple of random background
music, an announcer that says fight and counts, a crowd that
oohs and aahs, and the punches/kicks sound like someone skipped
a record and recorded it. Actually, the punches/kicks kind of
remind me of fight sounds from movies in the 50's and 60's. So
its not all that great. Once again though, I don't know if it
was due to limitations with the N64 or just inexperience. There
were no actual entrance music used either. To me it wasn't a big
deal but I knew some kids who had issues with it at that time.
Replayability:
It was good when it came out, but was quickly overshadowed
by its successor. Playing it now, there's so many better
options. With only a handful of actual WCW/NWO wrestlers and
the rest being "rebranded" characters from other countries
did hurt it in my opinion. There were no create a wrestler
options, the first one of those would be introduced in WWF
Warzone, so noone could make their new wrestlers.
Overall:
As it goes for now, I give it a 5 out of 10. There's better
games out there but it's still a game that should be played
at least once. If you can find it for cheap, pick it up. At
least you can see how the games had progressed up to No Mercy.
Last edited by wiitendo84,
