WrestleMania XIX.....

[Guest DarthLordOfWrestling]

I just opened the New EGM magazine. There was one commercial page for EB that showed you new upcoming games. It had WrestleMania XIX but it said only for GameCube. I usually don't believe these only for adds but Just to make sure I was wondering if any of you guys know if its coming out for the Playstation or X-box. I have a GameCube but I'm not paying 50 bucks for That. I have a mod chip for my PS2 so I can just buy the silvers or rent and copy. I'm getting an X-box for Knights of the old Republic. When I get that its coming with a mod chip. So I can get it for any of those two systems. If anyone knows if its coming out for the PS2 or X-box please tell me.

[Guest Kingpk]

Wrestlemania = GC's WWE game series

RAW = X-Box's WWE series

Smackdown = PS2's WWE series

 

Each console has their own wresting game. They won't crossover to other consoles.

[Guest razazteca]

Rent it now

Buy it used months later

Sell it on E-bay if it sucks

[Guest Insane Bump Machine]

Smackdown for PS2 looks to be the best new WWE game anyway.

[Guest Ripper]

Smackdown for PS2 looks to be the best new WWE game anyway.

If they keep the same wrestling engine then I will never call it the best. Raw won last year and from the hands on reports, it will be a toss up between Raw2 and Mania this year...IMO of course.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Smackdown for PS2 looks to be the best new WWE game anyway.

If they keep the same wrestling engine then I will never call it the best. Raw won last year and from the hands on reports, it will be a toss up between Raw2 and Mania this year...IMO of course.

RAW was by far the worst last year.

 

Sorry pal, SmackDown won last year, and it looks like two in a row.

[Guest Insane Bump Machine]

Smackdown for PS2 looks to be the best new WWE game anyway.

If they keep the same wrestling engine then I will never call it the best. Raw won last year and from the hands on reports, it will be a toss up between Raw2 and Mania this year...IMO of course.

Wow, that's an unusual viewpoint you have there. RAW was pretty much crapped on by most critics and fans alike and I was just sooo bored by that game. But alright, everybody's entitled to his opinion.

 

The Smackdown wrestling engine looks to be totally revamped, btw.

[Guest Ripper]

I think all of the games weren't good last year....just Raw sucked a little less than the Smackdown and Mania games.

 

Mostly with me it was the grappling engine. Mania took the same engine as smackdown basically and had worse graphics making it a load of crap to me. Raw, while it wasn't good by any means, at least had a grappling engine that I could get into. Smackdown still had the same engine that I have hated for years.

 

This year, the Smackdown game looks GREAT, followed by the GC game and then the Raw 2. But from what I have read about the fighting engines, the GC game has borrowed(stolen) the same basic grappling system as those great N64 games. That will edge it ahead to me....(although that Double Dragonish story mode does sound a little dumb.)

[Guest mach7]

(although that Double Dragonish story mode does sound a little dumb.)

For Mania, I remember a while back there were reports that there were a story mode [the one where you fight construction workers and blow up a yacht] and a career mode [similar to "Road to Wrestlemania"]. Now, I can't find any mention of the actual in-ring career mode. Anyone know if this feature is still going to be in the game? Or do we only get exhibition and "Double Dragon" mode?

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I played all three games and am ashamed to say I own them all.

 

Smackdown was clearly the best and I don't even like the engine.

 

It took a lot of work to make a game engine worse than SD...but somehow both MAnia and RAW suceeded in doing so.

 

Things are looking up for the control in Mania...but RAW seems to have a ways to go in that department..according to the previews of course.

[Guest The Mighty Damaramu]

Just as long as this WM isn't like the last one. The one where you fight 10 matches for no rhyme or reason on your way to the title. Oh by the way 10 very annoying gimmick matches where in Triple Threats the opponents usually only pay attention to YOU and not each other.

[Guest Ripper]

Just as long as this WM isn't like the last one. The one where you fight 10 matches for no rhyme or reason on your way to the title. Oh by the way 10 very annoying gimmick matches where in Triple Threats the opponents usually only pay attention to YOU and not each other.

Oh, the Ladder matches that the other opponet would hold you while the other guy won...damn them to hell.

 

 

The only redeemable quality about that game to me was my hot ass women's stable. They were all former stripper with some of the biggest hips and asses ever. And they had a 7' Blonde as their body guard. Put them in skimpy outfits and let em go.

 

Good times!!

[Guest MarvinisaLunatic]

The way I see it, I plan on getting WM 19, but Im not going to preorder it ahead of time. Im gonna wait for some hands on reviews. I definitely think it will be an improvement over WM 18, but I really don't want to get caught with a crappy game again.

[Guest RenegadeX28]

I won't be preordering the game this year. So far, it looks like WM XIX will be one of the best WWE games out there.....a HUGE IMPROVEMENT over WMX8. Like others have said....must wait for hands on previews.

[J. Hungerford Smith 0]

I was very disappointed with Wrestlemania X8, but I think they were just rushing to get a game out. I'm thinking X9 will be worth a buy.

[Guest Aero]

I heard that if you preorder XIX at EB, you get X8 free. Any confirmation on this?

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

That doesn't sound like a plus...

[Guest DarthLordOfWrestling]

Smackdown for PS2 looks to be the best new WWE game anyway.

If they keep the same wrestling engine then I will never call it the best. Raw won last year and from the hands on reports, it will be a toss up between Raw2 and Mania this year...IMO of course.

Wow, that's an unusual viewpoint you have there. RAW was pretty much crapped on by most critics and fans alike and I was just sooo bored by that game. But alright, everybody's entitled to his opinion.

 

The Smackdown wrestling engine looks to be totally revamped, btw.

I agree. Raw was suppose to be a piece of shit compared to Smackdown. All it had over smackdown was graphics and PS2's graphics are good enough.

[Guest DarthLordOfWrestling]

I heard that if you preorder XIX at EB, you get X8 free. Any confirmation on this?

I highly dought this. But if your right I'm buying.*go's to see if he's right* *ends up he's wrong

[Guest cpac]

I think Wrestlemania 18 had the most returns and customers selling it back to the store compared to any other game. I remember going into EBX and seeing a ton of Wrestlemania 18 used games a week after it came out. Poor Diehards. Wrestlemania 19 does look promising. I dont care about the story mode just give me great gameplay.

[Guest Star Ocean 3]

Preordering XIX at EB gets you a WWE shirt.

[Guest DarthLordOfWrestling]

Smackdown for PS2 looks to be the best new WWE game anyway.

yeah, your right.When I posted this thread I diddn't know they were making a Smackdown 5.

[Guest DarthLordOfWrestling]

Preordering XIX at EB gets you a WWE shirt.

When I ordered some shit from shopzone I got a WWe t-shirt. But it sucks

[Guest DarthLordOfWrestling]

Preordering XIX at EB gets you a WWE shirt.

When I ordered some shit from shopzone I got a WWe t-shirt. But it sucks

[Guest ViciousFish]

My biggest complaint with Wrestlemania was how easy it was to counter finishers. My and a friend would trade finishers 6 or 7 times before someone fucked up or just didn't care anymore.

 

Raw sucked major ass but it had the greatest animation ever for the Gore

[Guest mach7]

Preordering XIX at EB gets you a WWE shirt.

Hooray, another rag to wash the car with.

[Jesse Badass 0]

My biggest complaint with Wrestlemania was how easy it was to counter finishers. My and a friend would trade finishers 6 or 7 times before someone fucked up or just didn't care anymore.

 

Raw sucked major ass but it had the greatest animation ever for the Gore

I have all three systems and had all three wrestling games. The only wrestling game I have left is SmackDown SYM. SmackDwon 5 was way better than raw and X-8. The only good thing about Raw was the gore and some of the entrances because they were full. WrestleMania X-8 was a messed up version of SmackDown3. They tried to make the entrances like smackdown, which was messed up. I was so mad when I played this game because I expected No Mercy 2.

 

I've been hearing that XIX is going to be like No Mercy, which is supposed to be anyways since it's for Nintendo. I saw some game play videos at IGN.com. I don't look nothing like No Mercy. The game play still looks like WrestleMania X-8.If they don't make the game play like No Mercy's, then XIX is going to suck just like X-8.

 

I don't now what's happening with Raw 2. The Game play on that looks the same. The only thing I'm looking forward to In Raw 2 are the entrances since the walking is better now.

 

I'm getting all three wrestling games, but SmackDown Here Comes The pain looks to be the best right now.

[Guest Anglesault]

I saw the XIX box today in Game Stop, an Angle has the top rope Angle Slam.

 

That's all I need

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Written: 08/11/2003

 

Impressions from the Final Build. Scroll down for my previous impressions ...

 

A word of warning: some of the things I'll go over are extremely nit-picky, and won't impact your gaming experience at all. But as a fan of both games and wrestling, they're things that caught my eye enough to mention.

 

The game gets off to a great start with an intro package similar to the "Desire" spots that WWE would run that serve to explain that this isn't just a "rigged sport", but that it's a lot of hard work and determination that leads up to a huge show like WrestleMania. The audio is taken from the promos for the WrestleMania XIX Pay-Per-View event, but the footage is from the live show. Anyway, it's a great intro that captures the atmosphere and electricity of the Super Bowl of professional wrestling.

 

There are several modes of play, including the standard Exhibition mode, "King of the Ring" which is a tournament to capture title belts, "Revenge" which is the heavily publicized (and somewhat controversial) story mode where you're kicked out of the WWE by Vince McMahon, and have to earn your way back into the company. Create-A-Wrestler is back and quite deep, ShopZone (hosted by Stacy Keibler) is where you purchase Create-A-Wrestler parts as well as moves and entrance animations with money earned in the Revenge mode, and a Tutorial Mode that plays out like MTV's Tough Enough, hosted by Al Snow and starring a couple of trainees that look suspiciously like a couple of the winners of Tough Enough. A note on the King of the Ring mode, expect things to be fairly silly in application, since the random bracketing (which can be changed around by the player) makes for some goofy matchups, and some even more unlikely outcomes. Imagine my laughter when Lita came out on top in a match against Triple H. Revenge mode is a bit campy as well, requiring you to throw guards off of buildings or destroy cars, but serves its purpose well. Expect to have a chuckle at the idea of having to destroy the construction site where they are building the arena for WrestleMania XIX, which was held at fairly well known Safeco Field in Seattle.

 

There are a lot of characters in the game, and the characters (save for Goldberg) were locked down as of the WrestleMania XIX broadcast in March. There is no sign of the brand split being in effect, so all wrestlers are available in all modes. At first blush, there seems to be a fairly RAW-heavy contingent of grapplers, with many up-and-coming SmackDown! stars missing (such as Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin). The entrances are fairly accurate, and while many of the wrestlers look pretty good, they have a somewhat cartoony appearance compared to their real-life counterparts. They move somewhat robotically, until they get to an animation that is unique to the wrestler, which looks more realistic. In fact, there are quite a few surprises in store, such as the classic "Flair Flop", which I was certainly not expecting. The reasoning for the rough animation is actually pretty simple. The animation in the game is all hand-tooled, not motion-captured. THQ tells me that the folks at Yuke's do an awful lot of studying videotapes and photographs to get things as close to accurate as possible. No, it's not perfect, but considering what they were working with, they've done an amazing job.

 

The moves are pretty deep, and the game plays very similar to EA's Def Jam Vendetta. I have no gripes about this, because it works and works well. One difference is some "controller cues" that pop-up to let the player know to waggle the stick to get out of a groggy state, or L and R buttons that let you know what to press to counter. (Yes, you absolutely CAN turn them off, but they are on by default.) A light press of the A button does a light grapple, holding it initiates a strong grapple. Likewise for the B button and your striking moves. Each wrestler has their standard finishers, and there are even a few thrown in that the wrestlers no longer use for various reasons. For example, the Hurricane can still use the "Vertebreaker" maneuver, although the move was banned from use in the WWE for safety reasons.

 

There is a locational damage model in the game, and not only can a wrestler be busted open (according to THQ, WrestleMania XIX will be the first current-generation WWE wrestling game released featuring blood), but as you wear down a body part, the wrestler will eventually begin to favor that injury, such as limping on an injured leg. Put on a finisher that restricts the use of that limb, and victory is assured.

 

One thing that's already starting to bug me is the tendency for things in the ring, like the ropes or a fallen wrestler, to "flicker" somewhat annoyingly. This is something I had noticed in earlier builds, and was assured would be fixed. I'm assuming this problem was pushed down the priority list as the ship date was approaching, and was considered not to be significant enough to warrant fixing. Still, it puts a blemish on an otherwise fine game. Less annoying but still noticeable is the tendency for some of the video packages to stutter during wrestler entrances, Kurt Angle's being the most obvious. Finally, I've noticed that the entrance ramp for the WrestleMania XIX set isn't quite accurate. The arena is pretty authentic, and is a pretty good model of Safeco Field, but the entrance ramp doesn't have a bend in it going to the ring as it did at the actual show, to accomodate the wrestlers coming in from center field. It's so small that most people wouldn't even notice, but I was at WrestleMania XIX, and it's something I remember quite clearly. I do have to mention that they included the part of the huge ad banner that was visible behind the video screens, as well as the parts of the park that are exposed to the outside. It would have been nice to hear a train going through the downtown Seattle area during matches, but that's a ridiculous expectation.

 

Long a problem in WWE games is the licensing of music. The WWE contracts a fair portion of wrestler's entrance themes, some borrowed from popular songs or up-and-coming artists, but THQ has to purchase the rights to each song individually in order to use it in the game. They've done a fine job, but sometimes there isn't time to get every song locked down. As such some SuperStars will have an instrumental version of their theme (notably Victoria's theme, licensed from T.A.T.U.), while others will have a previous theme song (such as The Dudley's theme). It's not a big deal, and it's better than we've had to deal with in the past, but it would be nice if THQ and WWE were able to include licensing that music as part of the deal for the games, relieving THQ of a needless burden.

 

Overall, I'm very impressed with WrestleMania XIX, as much as I have every other time I've been fortunate enough to play the game. THQ has taken large strides in bringing the series back from the brink, and the game should satisfy Cube owners looking to get their WWE wrestling fix. Look for a detailed review (and I mean DETAILED) as the game approaches its release date.

 

From PGC

 

Sounds uh..spiffy

 

Opening Movie (18.5 mb)

Edited August 14, 2003 by MarvinisaLunatic

[Rendclaw 0]

I am glad that I own a PS2 so I don;t have to deal with this crap. I applaud them for trying to do something different but basically people want to go through the story mode and rack up as many titles as they can, while going through feuds with wrestlers. That's it.

 

Early november is too far away.