WWF: No Mercy Review

Let's waste no time with this one. Consider WWF No Mercy to be the successful sequel to Wrestlemania 2000. When I say successful I mean as in the tradition of creating a sequel that improves on the original and using it as a platform actually transcends it and takes you where you've never been before. We all know that in this day and age sequels are produced purely as cash grabs whether there is anything new to say or not. WWF No Mercy has lots to say and it says so with conviction.

Highs:

Best Wrestling Game Ever

Tons of Wrestlers

Tight Control, Easy to Learn

Many Modes of Play

Most Importantly: Fun!

Lows:

That's a Tough One

Do you like fighting? How about fighting for seven titles? How about utilizing 65 characters to do the dirty work, many which have to be discovered and unlocked including a number of veteran WWF legends? The plots for the matches are interactive and change according to the outcome. Cage matches and ladder matches are included as well as seven different locations from which to hold a hardcore match including the parking lot, the bar, boiler room and the backstage hall. You can also create your own pay-per-view event where you control all the details from time, place, date, number of matches and the bill. The arenas have all been overhauled and each features its own special entrance ramp; its the hip hop equivalent of having your own tube for you to dance in in your video.

It's now easier to access and control weapons in the hardcore areas. You can shoot a game of pool in the bar and put the stick to good use afterwards, preferably by running it through someone's skull. The hardcore environments look great and are easy to find and navigate beginning at the backstage area.

Lots of moves can be put to the announcers' table at ringside. You can jump on, leap into the ring from it, attack your opponent from it or put him through it. If you're feeling up to it, you can even take a plunge through it yourself. It's a good feeling on occasion to destroy such symbols of a structured society. It's part of the wrestler's persona. Hell you can even beat the tar out of the guest referee if you have a big problem with authority.

Wrestling is best against another player but if you can't drag your pal away from Final Fantasy then you can expect the same AI experience as in Wrestlemania. Every match that you win, the AI gets more difficult attempting to develop defensive moves based on your fighting style. Although you can play four players I would not advise it. The engine gets overloaded to easy with so much action on the screen. It's worse than playing in slow motion because there is no consistency to the framerate.

The controls are virtually identical to Wrestlemania and in my humble opinion, the best of any wrestling game on any console. Blocking, countering, punching, throwing and jumping are all easier than having to go through the trouble of coordinating your brain and your central nervous system to do it in real life.

The sounds are what you would come to expect with a cornucopia of grunts, smacks, slams and bells. Each wrestler's theme song is recreated here to great effect and is guaranteed to send shivers up your spine if you are an avid WWF watcher.

WWF No Mercy packs a lot of entertainment punch for the money. A variety of modes, features, events and characters will give you months of fist-fighting fun. Lots of replay value here. The gameplay and the graphics are so good I could have sworn I was playing on my PS2. Well, okay maybe not. If you don't have Wrestlemania then you have to get No Mercy. If you have Wrestlemania and you love it, then you will love No Mercy for the very same reasons but don't expect it to be drastically different. I said it was an improvement, not a metamorphosis.