Wrestlemania X8 was billed in some circles as being the spiritual successor to AKI's No Mercy for the Nintendo 64, probably the best and most complete wrestling game made by the popular Japanese developer to date. What players get is not anything like that game, but it is certainly closer to it than game developer Yukes' other popular wrestling series, WWE SmackDown. X8 offers SmackDown style gameplay with a dash of AKI flavor by adding the ability to reverse every kind of move including special attacks. But let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I'll give a brief rundown of the game and why it does or doesn't work compared to THQ's other wrestling game series.

X8 is similar to SmackDown in that grappling, strikes and other moves are more arcade than tactical. The quicker the player is at executing them, the easier his or her chances are in performing them. Players have access to about 8 grapple moves, a handful of kicks and punches, and the usual assortment of high flying moves, mat maneuvers, Irish whip strikes and grapples, corner moves and special moves. The game uses an adrenaline system similar to SmackDown - players punch, kick and grapple to raise their cache of energy until they can get a special. Take a beating and you'll get pinned pretty easily, be the one to hand out that beating and you'll soon be able to initiate a special move that should (at least sometimes) put your opponent to bed. The adrenaline meter in X8 is not consistent and players will find that cheering and doing grapples has less affect than simply kicking and punching an opponent mercilessly. Using five choke slams in a row won't drive the meter as quickly as handing out several big boots, as an example. Adjusting your play style to that realization is certainly a step in the right direction if you enjoy winning matches.

The move sets in the game are also a lot smaller than those you might find in RAW or SmackDown; there are about 8 grapples (front and back) and about six mat submission moves (facing up, facing down, - head, mid-section, legs) you can perform. The controls that make these grapples work (and to handle other simple functions in the game) can take some getting used to, but once you do it's not that difficult to pull off just about every move.

X8 is probably the second hardest game to master (even on easy) right behind WWE RAW because the AI seems to be way more tenacious and unrelenting. No Mercy players know full well that an AI controlled player is very slow to attack on an easy difficulty setting - but in X8, AI players will be all over you like funk on a monkey. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's one of the few games that I can't imagine playing on higher difficulty levels (and this coming from someone who can play SmackDown: Shut Your Mouth on SmackDown difficulty level). The AI is overly aggressive and almost always after the player character even in matches where there are more than two or three players thrown into the mix. Playing a three way match sometimes feels like a handicap match as the computer pounds viciously on you instead of being equally keen to pound on other AI controlled players. If you're looking for a real challenge then this is the game for you, but it may feel like the deck is stacked against you from the get go. X8 isn't impossible to play and win but it's a lot harder than most games on the market.

X8 offers 40 or so WWE super stars to play against including Stone Cold, The Rock Triple HHH, Rob Van Dam and many more. Most are available from the start and a handful are locked away waiting to be unlocked by taking on the Championship mode (various title matches). If your favorite character isn't there or you want to play a character that's a bit different, then you can use the "Create A Wrestler" mode to make your own. X8's CAW mode isn't as robust as it should be; the game offers very limited numbers of styles, outfits, and moves. Similarly, the intros and music is very limited - some themes like NWO's classic music are even omitted from the game (why we're not sure, because WWE owns the rights and THQ has the right to use them under the license). Beyond building a character of your own, X8 offers a number of game modes including TLC, Ladder, Table, Hardcore, Cage, Tag (regular and Tornado) and (as we mentioned earlier) Championship mode. There's no story mode in the game, so you're stuck with whatever modes are available as your main focus for playing. Multiplayer is by far the best reason to pick up this game, as it supports up to four players. If you cut out the AI players, the gameplay becomes more reasonable and easier to handle.

X8 is a good start on THQ's part to replace the vacuum left by AKI no longer working with them in the wrestling game space. Their first endeavor is palatable but really needs more work, additional features and a refined gameplay system to be accepted more widely. With the next iteration of this title already in the works, let's hope that THQ has learned a valuable lesson on X8's level of acceptance in the wrestling game community (which hasn't been very widespread). X8 is a decent game that is great if you play multiplayer frequently and is okay as a single player game. Grab it if you're a hardcore wrestling fan, otherwise rent it and see if this game is right for you.