Long known as the company behind all the recent WCW-licensed games, THQ has pulled a Chris Jericho and jumped federations. The company officially takes control of the WWF license from Acclaim on November 15. Shortly after that, the company plans to release its first WWF game, which is currently titled WWF Wrestlemania 2000.
Based on an advanced version of the Toukon Retsuden 4 (a Japanese wrestling game from Yukes, the company also developing Smackdown) engine, the game looks surprisingly good. Our editors, on location in Las Vegas, claim it may be the best-looking and best-animated wrestling title ever.
WWF Smackdown will offer gamers more than 30 selectable wrestlers. So far, we've seen: Road Dogg, Mankind, Kane, Bradshaw, The Rock, Al Snow, Farooq, Big Show, Mr. Ass, D'lo Brown, Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Big Boss Man, Paul Bearer, Tori, X-Pac, Vince McMahon, Shane McMahon, The Undertaker, Chyna, Hardcore Holly, Christian, The Hardy Boys, and Jeff Jarrett.
WWF Smackdown will also feature a story mode that, as described, seems more advanced than similar modes in any other wrestling game we've seen. The story mode makes you feel as though you're watching the real WWF TV shows, using lots of backstage areas and recorded speech to tell an actual story. For example: Say you're standing backstage between matches when all of a sudden two rival wrestlers come out of nowhere and start brawling with you. Or you and your buddies can hang out backstage and plot your next move. Lots of speech will be captured for these segments, ensuring some authenticity. Speaking of speech, the game will also contain play-by-play commentary, a feature sorely missing from most of THQ's wrestling games.
Another neat feature we've found in Smackdown is that during a match you can go backstage by walking down the ramps and actually leave by going through the backstage doors. So, far we've seen a parking lot, a boiler room, and a locker room.
WWF Smackdown also includes the now-requisite create-a-wrestler mode. This lets you customize a wrestler's width and height with sliding control bars. Also, there is a bunch of standard preset sample graphics you can use to customize your wrestler's head, body, and legs. Want Mankind's head on your guy's body? Go for it. THQ has said that there will be at least a cage mode and royal rumble mode in the game. The graphics may look a little grainy in our screenshots, but the game runs at an ultra-smooth framerate.
This comes from IGN:
Acclaim Entertainment is in the works with a brand new wrestling game using a full license from Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), IGN learned today.
IGN was able to confirm the information with two strong sources. First, IGN called up ECW headquarters today, and an ECW official confirmed over the phone that Acclaim has purchased the ECW license with the intent to make a videogame. Second, Acclaim today made public the registration of a new domain name, Hardcore Revolution, which is part and parcel with the ECW's "Hardcore Wrestling" slogan.
"Yeah, Acclaim has the ECW license to make a videogame," said an ECW official when called this morning.
The game, most likely to be called "ECW Hardcore Revolution," is due out in March 2000. Given this time frame, the new wrestling game should appear on PlayStation, Nintendo 64, and Dreamcast. ECW Hardcore Revolution may also appear on PlayStation 2, given Acclaim's franchise-based strategy. The game should have all of the many excellent features, including the company's trademark Create-A-Player mode, found in WWF Attitude and WWF Warzone.
When called to confirm the game's existence, Acclaim officials flatly replied, "no comment." When asked in the past, Acclaim officials said the company would make a full announcement in November 1999 only after its WWF Attitude license runs out, and moves over to THQ.
The biggest ECW superstars are also surely to appear in Hardcore Revolution, including World Heavyweight Champion Mike Awesome, World Television Champion Rob Van Dam, Bill Alfanso, Chris Candido, Chris Chetti, Steve Corino, Justin Credible, Simon Diamond, Danny Doring, Tommy Dreamer, Spike Dudley, Francine, Joel Gertner, Jason, Jazz, Judge Jeff Jones, Little Guido, Vito Lograsso, Jerry Lynn, Balls Mahoney, Dawn Marie, New Jack, Nova, Raven, Rhino, Roadkill, Axl Rotten, Sabu, Johnny Smith, Lance Storm, Super Crazy, Tammy Lynn Sytch, Joey Styles, Yoshihiro Tajiri, Taz, and Jack Victory.
Given the time in which Acclaim wants to publish its next game (March 2000), Acclaim West (formerly Iguana Studios) is likely to revamp the WWF Attitude game engine instead of creating a brand new one. Acclaim is also sure to switch all of the ECW players in (and WWF character textures out), and use all real voiceovers and ECW wrestler trademark moves for each of the players. Expect the Create-A-Player mode to be as robust as ever, especially in regards to creating incredibly close similarities to wrestlers from its former two games, Attitude and Warzone.