Perhaps the most annoying change to the game is the inclusion of many, many quick time events. These QTEs will pop up several times a match, and it really takes you out of it, especially with the game's presentation actually looking fairly realistic in terms of animation. Like any game with QTEs, pulling them off is sometimes tantamount to success; unfortunately they're even present in online play, and during my experiences I noticed that the host seemed to have a slight edge.
Simplistic gameplay also means a simplified move set. This is, without question, one of the weakest move sets (in terms of available moves per wrestler) in several generations. For a WWE title, that is; it still beats Backyard Wrestling.
Thankfully, the gameplay modes available to a single player help make up for the lack of fun at the controls – if you're an old-school wrestling fanatic. My favorite mode is the “relive” mode, which, as you may have guessed, has you relive classic Wrestlemania bouts. It starts off simple enough with “do this move, do this move, and win the match,” but toward the end you'll be practically recreating the exact match scenario. Sadly, there are only seven of these matches available, and beating them will take you an hour at the most if you know what you're doing.
Other modes include the “rewrite” and “redefine”, but compared to “relive” these are lackluster. Instead of following a nostalgia-filled match, you'll end up taking on the role of the loser and winning, or taking on the role of the winner and win in a different fashion. Good idea, but it doesn't have the same impact nostalgically or gameplay wise that relive offers.
WWE Legends of Wrestlemania should be a fantastic wrestling title. It has some of the biggest names in sports entertainment history, you get nice videos detailing classic matches and can even recreate them, and it's more in line with the 90s arcade titles than the later Smackdown vs Raw series. Unfortunately, the simplicity went a notch too far, and instead of a fun, arcade-like romp through memories of wrestling yesteryear, we're left with a wrestling game that has the best roster in 10 years, but some of the least challenging and least fun gameplay.
Questions or comments? We'd love to
hear from you
.