WCW vs THE WORLD - THQ Inc.

Some early notes about this review.

Before reading too far into this, please note that as far as this
reviewer is concerned, names like 'Hulk Hogan', 'Ric Flair', 'Sting'
and others like them wouldn't be heard in my home if life was perfect. 
Unfortunately though, my youngster got hooked on this stuff (thanks to
my father), and now he just can't survive without a good wrestling game
in the house.

When the Playstation first came out there was WWF Wrestlemania, and my
son went nuts for it.  While it didn't have all of the wrestlers that
my son might have wanted, he still enjoyed the game, and had fun
playing it whenever he could push me away from the other games I had
gotten with the system.  I'd even have to admit to some playing time
with the first WWF game myself, and for that matter, you might even
catch me saying it wasn't a bad game as a good beat up the other guy
type game.


Now for the next generation....

After most of a year had gone by, my son had finally stopped playing
WWF every other day at a minimum, and he actually seemed to have
discovered 'real' sports like NHL Faceoff and NBA Live.  (Thank god!!). 
 At that point, WWF Wrestlemania finally got pushed out of the game
cabinet, and was traded in for some other title.  (Seeing
advertisements in magazines for the upcoming WWF In Your House helped
to seal that deal).

Unfortunately for my son, WWF Wrestlemania came and went from the local
stores around Christmas time, and we wound up missing the opportunity
to get a copy of it when it first came out  (oh, darn!).

Finally, a few weeks ago, we found a copy of WWF In Your House at a
local Best Buy, and after a quick 'are you sure you really want that
game' we picked it up.


I thought this review was about WCW vs. the World?

Well, yes, it is, and thanks for trying to keep me on track.  Sorry for
the diversion above, but I thought you might like the history of my
experience (and my son's experience) with the games to base this review
on.

My son did get to play WWF In Your House some, and his initial
impression, as with most of the games he starts playing, was that it
was too darned hard.  Of course that might be because I'm such a mean
dad that I won't let him play in 2 player mode with the second
controller unmanned so that he can just beat the heck out of an unarmed
character.   It might also be because my son isn't usually patient
enough to go through options screens and change the game settings to
make the game play at the easy level.   (It's hard for a third grader
to exercise patience).


WCW right?

We're getting to it.... (seriously).  After a short spring break
vacation, we got back in town in time for dad to drag son along and
take a short trip to the local Electronic's Boutique store, where dad
was interested in trading in some of the old games that had been
collecting dust on a copy of NCAA Basketball Final Four 1997.  (See
separate review of that product).

As we walked up to the EBX store, my son noticed a demo of WCW vs. The
World running on the screen in the front of the store.  From that point
on, there would be no escape for me without an ejection of funds in the
direction of this game.


Finally, we're talking about WCW!

Yes, finally, we are.  My son actually was patient enough for us to get
in the house before asking for the seal on the game to be broken  (a
new first!).   But once it was opened, it just had to be played.

My son was extremely happy to put the game in and start playing as his
favorites from the WCW.  (He only reminded me several times on the trip
home from the store that it included 15 of the WCW superstars, and 60
wrestlers from 6 different organizations).

After moving on to more important things  (like food for instance),  I
came back to get an over the shoulder view of my son playing the game. 
What follows are some impressions of the game based on those views, and
some game playing I did while trying to figure the game out some for my 
always impatient son  ('I can't get it to pin him!!!').


What's with the graphics?

Now you'll start to see why there was so much mention of that other
title back there.  This games' graphics just -- to me at least -- seem
to be that realistic.  The characters portraits in the match up screens
are all cartoons.  The wrestlers in the game are not really lifelike at
all, and instead are polygonal characters with some characteristics of
the wrestlers 'mapped' onto the figure on the screen.

On the other hand, if you play the WWF games you see characters that
are more realistic, and true to their real life counter parts.  It's
true that the WWF games let you use crazy special moves, and in the
first game for instance, if you put a hit on Yokozuna for instance,
you'd see ham bones fly off of him  (it was actually pretty funny!!!), 
but still, the characters there seem more realistic than in this game.

The graphics actually remind me of a picture that I saw on the box for
a Sega Saturn title 'Center Ring Boxing', and look more like the
figures you might see drawn in an art class where the teacher is trying
to get you to rough in the underlying shapes and patterns.

There are also several spots in the game play where the graphics seem
to place one player literally right over another player with no affect
on either player.  For instance you might try to make a kick move on
someone, and you sweep around and somehow totally miss the opponent
even though there was no way for your limbs to pass through the space
without hitting the opponent.


So there are some issues with game play?

In a word, yes.  As mentioned, you can make moves seemingly through the
same space that you opponent is standing in, and yet you don't have any
effect on them.

There are also places where you will have knocked down your opponent
for instance, and have him down on the mat, and if you try to take a
drop move down onto him, you can't because your wrestler won't go
straight ahead where you expect, and instead goes in some other space
away from the other wrestler.

To contrast, these aren't problems with the WWF games for instance,
where if you are close to an opposing wrestler, you do damage to them
with you moves, and unless your opposing player moves, you are about
guaranteed to hit them.


Does it include all of the moves in the 'real' thing?

According to my son, the wrestling fan, yes.  He observes the moves and
names every one.  To me it's a simple flip or kick, or hit, but to him,
they all have names, and these characters all seem to be able to do
them.   Of course, my son is still mad that he hasn't had time to
figure them out and that the cpu takes them out on him!


Do I need instructions to play it?

If your like me, then yes.  If you're like my son, then you just plug
it in, and try to figure it out.  Of course later, he comes crying to
me asking me to show him how to do it  (even though I have less
experience playing it than he does), and at that point I have to dig up
the manual.

The manual for this one is pretty good, though it doesn't detail all of
the wrestlers special moves, and actually doesn't include much
information about the wrestlers at all.  Basically you figure that info
out from the match up screen, so it really needn't be included in the
instruction manual.

On the other hand, the game designers are more than happy to let you
call up their 900 number (wresting and 900 numbers, who could think of
a more natural way to take money from the masses) and get hints for
game play.   (They also will supposedly offer hints via their web pages
for those wrestling fans with more technical expertise).


Who takes the belt?

Hey, I tried to tell you above, as far as I'm concerned, neither of
these games would really rate space in my cabinet if I could really
help it.  Admittedly though, I have played all some, and have found the
WWF games to be fun in a cheezy sort of way.

This one seems ok, but the glitches with the graphics and distances
between the characters is very frustrating.  Seeing your foot pass
through the opponents body without doing anything just ain't right.

The end result for this one:  if you are a wrestling fan, then this one
might be a good addition to your collection.  If you only have money
for one of them, look towards the WWF games, and if you are really on a
budget, look for the original Wrestlemania game, which many stores have
dropped in price to either $19.99 or $29.99.



Rating: 6/10   (downgraded for graphics/sprite collision issues).


Barry Dowell


Vital Statistics

Genre:  Wrestling
Game Format: 1 CD for Sony Playstation
Publisher: THQ Inc.
Audience: K-A (Kids to Adults)
Players: 1 or 2
Memory card: 1 blocks
Street price: $44.95