Power Move Pro Wrestling
    By Activision

3d Wrestling
1-2 Player(s) simultaneous.


Video game wrestling has always been a favorite genre for me. Nothing like
the excitement of professional wrestling in the midst of your living room,
and especially against a friend. Ever since Mat Mania, I have followed most
every wrestling game released domestically, from Nintendo Pro Wrestling to
Akklaim's Royal Rumble. Now wrestling has gone from the confines of 2d
sprites to the world of 3d gourad shaded polygons in the form of Power Move
Pro Wrestling. A title that has been translated from the Japanese market,
which was formerly known as New Japan Pro     Wrestling Toukon Retsuden.
How does this new entry fare? Not quite as well as I was hoping. As
gorgeous looking as this title is, it fails to deliver the excitement and
adrenaline pumped madness of what is professional wrestling. 

The graphics are intricate and well designed. Each of the twelve wrestlers
is composed of gourad shaded polygons, as is the referee. The wrestlers are
varied in physical appearance, although not drastically, ranging from bulky
to slim. They are also dressed in different outfits to accomodate their
respective background. Names like Area 51 to The Commandant grace each of
the wrestlers. The wrestler names are nothing impressive, although an
American wrestling license would have provided a bit more familiarity, but
it really isn't necessary. I prefer to play these games for the graphics
and gameplay rather than for the license. 

If there's a bit of a complaint, it would be about the face textures on
each of the wrestlers. They're practically devoid of facial features, as
the face is one flat surface. Very basic, unlike the full facial features
of characters in the Tekken series or VF2, but it is adequate. The only
time this is really noticable, however, is during the wrestler select
screen. During wrestling, your character's face isn't exactly visible
anyways, due to movement, zooming, etc. 
The wrestlers are not exactly overflowing with polygons, but are adequately
equipped with enough. They do appear a bit blocky upon first inspection,
the gourad shading helping to cover this up, but once you see them in
motion, you fail to notice. Both wrestlers animate smoothly inside and
outside the ring, along with the referee, no noticable chopiness. More
importantly they appear to  move realistically, as if motion captured. 

There are four different wrestling rings to choose from, along with four
different textures for the mat. The rings are all the same in size and
proportion, the textures assigned to them being the only noticable
difference. You can move your wrestler completely around the ring while
outside, the only boundary being the fence that separates your wrestler
from the crowd. The arenas appear realistic and true to their real life
counterparts, ropes, turnbuckles, and all. 

The crowd is the only downside to this game's otherwise smooth and polished
graphics, as are they the only 2d sprites in the game. They have an ample
amount of animation, and are varied, but are pixelated. Horribly so when
close up. The crowd is also placed within the arena in a neat and orderly
fashion, row by row. Looks like some sort of demented 2d flower garden.
Again, this complaint ends up being minor as the crowd is normally zoomed
out, covering up the pixelation. Plus, it's the appearance of the wrestlers
in a title such as this which is really important, not the appearance of
the crowd. 

The sound effects leave alot to be desired, as does the music. Standard
punch, hit and fall sounds for a fighting game, not much can be changed
here. The submission sound however, whenever a wrestler puts another
wrestler in a hold and applies pressure, reminds me of a monotonous Charlie
Brown parent - "womp womp womp". 

I wish more emphasis was put on the crowd noises, supplying that for
background music rather than the drawn out, non-exciting slow semi-rock
tunes that are playing. Yes the music is that bad. I found myself opening
the lid of my Playstation to keep it from playing. Doing that made me
recognize how silent the crowd is, as they only cheer the wrestlers upon
exchange of powerful blows. A nice touch, however, is that the crowd will
cheer on your wrestler, chanting his name, if he takes enough of a beating. 

The intro of the match is quite nice, although you will most likely only
listen to it once or twice, wanting to hit start to continue on to the
match. At the beginning of the match, the referee will announce, in a clear
voice, each wrestler's name, their corner, their weight, background, etc.
It's a nice added touch, and adds a bit of realism to the atmosphere, but
like an FMV sequence, it can get old fast. 

You move your wrestler around with the pad, pretty self-explanatory. There
are four buttons involved in wrestling. The action button, the punch/kick
button, the power button, the and the submission button. 

The action button is a useful button, and is implemented quite well. This
allows you to move the other wrestler around the ring as well as allowing
you to run or exit through the ropes. If you use this button on your
opponent while they are standing, you will whip them into the ropes or
turnbuckle. If your opponent on the mat, you will either drag him around(if
you're at his feet), pick him up(if you're at his head), kick him over(if
you're at his waist), or pin him(if you're at his chest). It really is an
ingenious way of manipulating your opponent and placing him in compromising
positions. 

The punch/kick button is standard fare in most any wrestling game This
button does exactly as it describes, and is a quick attack. Depending if
you're holding the direction pad in any direction will determine if a punch
or kick is thrown. 

The power button allows your wrestler to perform devastating moves on your
opponent. Pile drivers, body slams, suplex's, etc. The move performed on
your opponent is dependant upon his condition(whether he's groggy or not),
his position in relation to your wrestler, and whether or not you press the
control pad in any direction. 

The submission button will throw your opponent into a wrestling move that
will put specific pressure on a part of his body. This button works much
like the power button, with more emphasis on your wrestler's position in
relation to your opponent if he is down on the mat. Moving to his legs and
pressing this button will put him in a figure four. Moving to his torso
will put him in a camel clutch or boston crab. 

Not all wrestlers share the same moves. Doing a certain move with one
wrestler may perform a suplex, while doing it with another in the same
exact circumstances will do an atomic knee drop. This applies to all of the
attack buttons. It is a bit dissappointing that not all wrestlers can do
the camel clutch or pile driver if they wanted, those being replaced with
the likes of a boston crab or bulldog instead. The inverse is true as well.
So in a sense, there is an enourmous selection of wrestling moves to
perform, but it is misleading, since some of them are assigned only to
particular wrestlers. 

Each of the wrestling moves has a priority over the other, for example: a
power move overrides a punch/kick; a submission move overrides a power
move; and a punch/kick overrides a submission move. So when going up
against your opponent, you always have an option that will override the
other's. 

Each wrestler has his own set of stats that determine his power, speed, and
stamina. These attributes will lessen as your wrestler gets pounded on, and
you will notice his speed lessening and/or the length of time it will take
him from snapping out of grogginess or rising from the mat. There are also
energy points assigned to each part of the wrestler's body. If a wrestler
takes too much damage to a certain section, like his legs for instance, he
will submit the next time his opponent throws him into a submission hold
that puts more pressure there. The referee will also call the match, if he
feels your wrestler has taken too much of a beating. 

A match lasts untils you or your opponent is pinned or submits, or if the
time runs out. There are options to allow or disallow draws and change the
time limit. 

There are different modes of play, 1p vs cpu, 1p vs 2p, 1p vs champion(1p
vs the reiging champ who is on the memory card), gauntelet(1p vs all cpu
players one at a time, no resting in between), league(1p or 2p can enter
and face off against all wrestlers) and tournament modes(1p or 2p can
enter, only winners advance). Sorely lacking is a tag team mode, something
which is pretty standard in most wrestling titles. The computer A/I is
selectable, from easy to hard, and seems appropriate for each setting. 

I consider myself a big fan of wrestling games, but I found myself watching
this game more than playing it, and as a result, not enjoying it. Be it
against a friend, or against the cpu in a tournament, the slow pace of the
game was nerve wracking. Watching and listening to submission hold after
submission hold, struggling to get to the ropes, to break free and engage
in yet another submission hold. 

Having any wrestler perform a power move(body slam, suplex) or submission
hold(camel clutch, figure four) is also unsatisfying as all it takes is
hitting one button. It feels like there's no effort involved. Sure your
wrestler can perform a body slam or a suplex, but since the only difference
between the two moves is the position of your wrestler in relation to your
opponent, it doesn't feel any different. The special moves for each
wrestler do little to liven this up. 

Average access times for a polygon fighting game, which is to say that it's
very good. From character select to the match takes about 3-4 seconds. This
would be great overall if the computer didn't insist on having to load the
matches for each non human player match in a tournament. Who wants to watch
the computer play against itself? Sure you can end each computer match
manually and go to the next scheduled match, but you can only do this after
the match has loaded. An option to bypass these loads was sorely needed. 

Great graphics, average sound effects, below average music, decent but slow
gameplay. That about sums up this title. If the speed of the game was
increased, so I was playing it more than watching it, I can see myself
possibly enjoying it. If you like simulations, you may like this title, but
if you're into arcade action wrestling, you're going to be dissappointed.
Yes, video wrestling has finally gone 3d, but the fun hasn't quite made the
transition just yet. 


Peter Bott 
faethor@ptd.net 


*** Overall: 5.5 ***


*** Graphics: 8 *** 

 +  Gourad shaded 3d polygon characters.
 -  Lack of facial features.
 +  Zooming and multiple camera angles.
 +  Realistic movement.
 +  No noticable slowdown.

 +  3d ring reacts realisically.

 -  2d pixelated crowd.


*** Sound: 5 ***

+/- Typical punch and kick sound effects.

 -  Lack of crowd noises.
 
 -  Drawn out and bland semi-rock background music.

 +  Ring announcer announces each match.
 -  No ringside commentator.
 

*** Gameplay: 5 *** 

 -  Successful moves are slow in execution.
 +  Action button is an ingenious way of manipulating your opponent's
position.
 +  Each move type has priority over another.
 +  Each wrestler has his own set of stats.
 +  Submission and power moves performed are dependant upon position of
opponent.
 -  All normal wrestling moves can not be performed by a single wrestler.
    (one wrestler's body slam is another's pile driver, neither move shared
between them)

 +  Adjustable difficulty.
 +  Multiple play modes.
 -  No tag team, cage or battle royale options.


*** Replayability: 4 ***

+/- No official or recognized wrestling license.  

 -  Power moves and submission moves feel unrewarding.
 -  Each wrestler only has a limited amount of offensive moves at your
disposal.
 -  Many gameplay mechanics cause you to watch more than play.

 +  Multiple play modes.
 -  Missing the all important tag team feature.

 +  May appeal to simulation fans.
 -  Definitely lacks an arcade feel.

 +  3-4 second access times.