First of all, I am a HUGE wrestling fan.  I've been following the
pseudo-sport for over ten years, and have been working in the business
part time as a manager and TV commentator for the past four years or
so.  Therefore, anytime a wrestling game comes along, I immediately snap
it up.  I've seen almost all wrestling console games, which have ranged
from excellent (New Japan 2 Pro Wrestling, import PS) to to pretty good
(WWF Royal Rumble, SNES, Power Move Pro Wrestling, PS) to very bad (WCW,
SNES, WWF In Your House, PS) to somewhere inbetween (WCW on NES; WWF
Wrestlemania PS).

So where does the new WCW vs. the World fall?  Well, it's not as good as
the import New Japan Pro Wrestling 2.  In fact, it's not even close. 
That doesn't mean it's a bad game, however.  In fact, it's rather good.

WCWVW is a three dimensional wrestling game with polygonal figures. 
There are several different modes of play, including tournaments,
exhibition matches, league matches, and elimination matches.  Sadly,
there is no tag team mode or battle royal mode, although players can, of
course, take on a friend.

Each wrestler reportedly has over 50 moves and taunts, and there are a
whopping 60 wrestlers to choose from.  Sadly, only 12 or so are from
WCW.  Among the top names are Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Sting,
Dean Malenko, the Steiners, Chris Benoit, and Eddy Guerrero.  Therefore,
a good chunk of the WCW talent pool is NOT in the game, including
Diamond Dallas Page, The Outsiders of Scott (Razor Ramon) Hall and Kevin
(Diesel) Nash, Harlem Heat, Public Enemy, Randy Savage, etc..  

So who makes up the remaining 40+ wrestlers, you ask?  Well, the game
was originally made and marketed in Japan under the guise of Virtual Pro
Wrestling.  It featured characters based on wrestlers from all the
Japanese wrestling organizations, such as New Japan, All Japan, WAR,
RINGS, and several others, although it used none of their names. 
Therefore, the non-WCW wrestlers are from these same groups.  Among the
wrestlers American fans may know in the non-WCW groups are Road Warrior
Hawk, Sabu, Hakushi, Stan Hansen, Dan Severn, Dr. Death Steve Williams,
and the Great Muta.  The variety of wrestlers is very good, although a
lot of wrestlers share the same moves and execute them exactly the same
way (unlike New Japan 2, where the Great Muta's moonsault is different
from Jushin Lyger's, etc.).

Graphics:

This is WCWVW's main downfall.  The graphics are blocky and stiffly and
slowly animated.  When I first saw Eddy Guerrero (a lightweight), I
thought I had stumbled across the Michelin Man as a hidden character!
8)  Next to New Japan 2 or Power Move (or any decent 3D fighter,
actually), WCWVW doesn't hold up.  All the characters seem to be the
same polygon model, with different texture maps (although I could be
wrong here).  All the characters look alike.  No one is bigger or
smaller in terms of height and weight.  Some wrestlers have sculpted
chests via textures, but look just like the others.

On the plus side, each wrestler has two outfits, some radically
different.  For example, there is an "evil" version of Hulk Hogan (in
NWO outfit), and a "good" Hulk (in traditional yellow and red).  Same
for Sting, who wears his unhappy clown/Crow face paint in one version
and his bright blonde hair and red and white face paint in another.

Sound:

Not as bad as the graphics, but pretty weak.  There is no commentary
(ala WWF Wrestlemania), and the punches sound like a slap on the wrist. 
The moves just don't sound like they hurt.  The background music is
standard rock fare, nothing to get worked up over.

I was saddened there was no Stinger howl, Nature Boy "WOOO!" or even a
Hogan "Whatcha gonna do?" 8(

Gameplay:

Where WCWVW shines is where it really counts: in the ring play.  The
wrestlers have a ton of moves, and there are oodles of wrestlers to
choose from.  In addition, the moves are fairly easy to pull off,
although the method of choosing different moves via the old "how long
you hold down the button method" is weak, especially considering the
multitude of buttons on the PS control.

There is also the spirit meter, which gives a wrestler extra strentgth
(and added moves) which is acquired by doing fancy moves and
posing/taunting the crowd.  Once the meter is charged, KO your opponent
with a variety of different moves, plus more powerful version of regular
moves.  It's a neat concept, although not a new one, as Power Move and
New Japan 2 both use a similar concept.  

WCWVW does a good job of capturing the feel of a match via its taunts
and moves.  I nearly lost it when Hogan started his annoying posing
routine, and laughed aloud when Flair did the old "back off".  Sabu
points to the sky, and the Stinger howls (albeit with no audio).  Hulk
drops a leg, Sabu does an outside moonsault, Sting does the Scorpion
Death Drop and Lock, Eddy does his Frog Splash.  If they do it on Monday
Nitro, they do it in the game.

Overall:

Don't let my negative comments put you off.  If you are a wrestling fan
and you don't want to shell out $50 for the import chip and another $70
for New Japan 2, pick up WCWVW.  It's a good game.  Not the best, but
pretty good nonetheless.


-- Randy  --