WWE LEGENDS of WRESTLEMANIA Musings

WWE Legends is the game of the year so far.

Not only has it completely taken over my 360, but it's made me forget about getting achievements! I'm just playing exhibition matches for God's sake!

What the hell's going on!?! Lets have a look...

Well, first of all, it's been said that this game isn't really for current wrestling fans but is for lapsed fans. Guys who remember the awesome '80's era of the WWF- get the 'E' out. Honestly, I can't imagine any wrestling fan not being enamored with the presentation that has been put together here. Developer Yukes has done a great job.

The graphics are among the best from any sports or fighting title. The wrestlers are just cartooney enough to be fun and realistic enough to be, well, realistic. Not that that makes sense or anything but to put it simply- it's good looking.

Fans of the Smackdown series may not be overly fond of the control system right off of the bat as Legends doesn't have the depth of the modern themed games as far as repertoire's of moves go for each guy. The nice aspect though, is that all of the moves 'make sense' for the wrestler doing them. Hulk Hogan, for example, doesn't have a powerbomb. It would be strange if he did but I've played numerous games in the past that feel the need to fill in a move set even if the character never does some of the things in said set. The other bonus is in the create-a-player mode. Less slots to fill mean less hassle and time involved in making the perfect Razor Ramon. (not in the game but more on that later)

Okay, it's later. The roster is great. I'll say that first, but that doesn't mean it's complete. There are more than a few big timers missing here. Foremost are Razor, Diesel(Kevin Nash), Demolition, and Macho Man Randy Savage. Most of those guys have one or two ridiculous feuds going with Vince McMahon right now. That explains the omissions but it doesn't make it any better to the fan playing. The good news is that the CAW system is pretty nice and with 30 slots available it's relatively easy to make an army of classics, including that awesome Ax and Smash you're going to need in order to take those titles from Sheik and Volkoff.

The create-a-wrestler even allows you to add your own custom theme music for wrestler entrances. You can customize pyro, lighting effects, and just about everything else you could possibly want. Good stuff. Although it needs to be said that there is no way to create a manager and the managers in the game, while great, are way to few for my tastes.

So there are a few incidentals I should mention as well. Pretty much all the match types are here as well as title belts that you can put on the line as you so desire (even the million dollar belt!). But that said, there's still an inordinate amount of things missing from Legends (and every other Yukes game) that was featured and done exceedingly well in 'No Mercy' and 'Wrestlemania 2000' on the N64.

Those games had any manager you wanted, multiple outfits per character(why is this not in every game!?! Why!?!), a super deep CAW, TONS of moves, run-ins...Listen, I'm just going to stop there because crying about it isn't going to bring the single greatest wrestling franchise back from the dead.

Outside of those Nintendo 64 classics though, Legends of Wrestlemania is the most fun I've ever had with a wrestling game.

LOVE the presentation, graphics, controls and most importantly, the 'feel'.

HATE the fact that all of the little things from 'No Mercy' are still being excluded from Yukes games.

Buy it, Rent it, or Avoid it?

Buy it if you love the Hulkamania era. Rent it first if you're anyone else.