Do Ya Smell What Acclaim Is Cookin? Review

Do Ya Smell What Acclaim Is Cookin?

As one of the earliest forms of unarmed combat, wrestling is endowed with a

rich and glorious tradition. Ancient artwork and sculptures can be found throughout

Europe depicting early wrestling matches. These artifacts suggest a great significance

of wrestling to ancient cultures. It is obvious that ancient man was just as

willing to open up a can of whoop-ass as we are today. Enter the World Wrestling

Federation, in all its splendor. The muscles, the madness, and the mayhem. Do

ya smell what Acclaim is cookin? Well, here’s the main course.

WWF

Attitude made its original appearance on the Playstation and N64 consoles

before making its way to our beloved Dreamcast. As the first wrestling title

for Sega’s ubermachine, Attitude promises to give WWF fans the smackdown

that they’ve been waiting for. The Dreamcast version was a direct translation

of the other two platforms, so nothing big has changed. The good news is that

Attitude is THE best wrestling title to date. With its endless list of

options, you’ll be wrestling with this one for some time.

The intro sequence is the best you’ll ever witness this side of your cable

box and does a great job of setting the tone in the game. Attitude… get it.

The main menu sets you up with TONS of options. You get your standard Exhibition

match, Career, King of the Ring, Pay-Per-View, and Create a Wrestler options.

On top of that, you get to select from Hardcore, Cage, Last Man Standing, Falls

Anywhere, and Toughman Man matches. Too bad there’s no Hell in a Cell option.

I’d love to see Mankind’s tooth up his own nose again. The options still don’t

stop here as both win conditions and the actual arena can be changed.

Believe it or not, the Create a Wrestler option is one the most fun parts of

the game, as you can spend hours creating and competing with your own custom

brawler. As the list of wrestlers is slightly dated, you can also attempt to

create anyone

that was not included in the original roster.

WWF Attitude is your basic fighting game set in the squared circle.

Familiar moves are performed with button and controller combinations just like

any other fighter. As wrestling games go, control of the characters is pretty

good, a definite improvement over Warzone

(its predecessor). Unfortunately, when compared to other fighters like Soul

Calibur, Attitude’s controls seems to be a bit sluggish. Even some of the

most simple moves require many button pushes and controller movements. This

often leads to a massive round of button mashing and frustration, especially

when you first get started. Without a strategy guide and lots of practice, don’t

expect to see yourself performing the Rock Bottom or Mandible Claw on a fighting

opponent anytime soon.

As

the match begins, you get to see your wrestler make his or her (Whoo Hoo!!!,

Chyna, baby!!) trademark entrance. Very cool, but kinda slow. Next, the wrestlers

throw some trash talk toward their opponent. Here we get to see a close-up of

the wrestlers and by god, it’s downright ugly. No really, I mean whoever you

choose, it’s gonna be ugly. Makes me shiver every time. I mean, some of the

characters look like their faces were mashed in. The rest of the game’s graphics

are just plain average. Unfortunately, Attitude is a quick port from

the other systems and does not take full advantage of the Dreamcast’s power.

The sound in the game has its ups and downs. The wrestler entrance songs are

the best part of the game’s sound… just like the real thing. The match sound

effects are also pretty good, but the announcer’s lines get repetitive really

fast.

As with all other wrestling titles, WWF Attitude is at its best when

played with a group of friends. If you can get three pals together, you’ll see

that four player madness brings out the best attributes of the game. Needless

to say, I love being able to slam my next door neighbor with a DDT and watch

my pet monkey throw a standing suplex on my sister.

I must admit that when I first played this game, I wasn’t impressed. Moves

other than punch, kick, and grapple were foreign to me and I couldn’t pin anyone

if the universe depended on it. But given some time, determination, and a moves

list (Now available in the Game Revolution cheats

section!) I began to enjoy this game a little more. If you’re a hard-core

WWF fan, you should have no qualms about getting this game (other than its slightly

dated roster). If you’re not really into the wrestling gig, I’d suggest sticking

to other forms of fighting (Dead or Alive 2 will be here before ya know

it). For all you others out there, I’ve got just two words for ya… SUCK IT!!!!