WWE Games Review Part 2: The 2D Years (1992-1996)

WWF licensed Mega Drive games took a step up from the 8 bit era in trying to recreate the atmosphere and feel of wrestling in a video game. Strangely all 5 games in this era were developed by the same company and had very few changes control and content wise. 

Game: WWF Super Wrestlemania

Console: Sega Mega Drive

Developer: Sculptured Software

Release Date: 1992

The first WWE game by Sculptured Software, WWF Super Wrestlemania features just 8 wrestlers; Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Randy Savage, Ted DiBiase, Shawn Michaels, Papa Shango, British Bulldog and Irwin R. Schyster. The minimalism continues in that there's only 2 main game modes; Survivor Series which is a 4 vs 4 tag team matchup between all the wrestlers featured in the game and WWF Championship which works its way through the roster 1 on 1. 

The controls are pretty simple with A for grappling, B for kicking and C for punching. Combinations of the 3 buttons are used for special moves, pins and tagging. Gameplay can be fairly slow, and players have to wait out the longer animations rather than being able to use any cancels. Matches are fairly short since the health bar featured is easy to deplete, and once it's empty pinfalls are certain reach a 3 count. 

Graphically the game is nothing special, particularly Shaun Michaels looks absolutely nothing like himself. The ring is decorated in light blue and not much else, there's no entrances or commentary and crowd noise is just a constant underlying bit of white noise. Some hits sound pretty impressive and pins have a sampled vocal count. The audiovisual presentation is generally basic though, as is standard for 1992.

Overall WWF Super Wrestlemania is easily controllable, simple to work out and not too difficult to have a bit of fun with. There's a few mode types, single and tag matches as well as multiplayer, but don't expect to be coming back to it in 2017 as any kind of classic.

Rating: 56/100

Grade: D

Game: WWF Royal Rumble
Console: Sega Mega Drive
Developer: Sculptured Software
Release Date: 1993

From the outset, WWF Royal Rumble is quite clearly running on the same basic game engine as Super Wrestlemania as it was developed by the same company and feels very familiar. This isn't always a bad thing but when you consider that the Survivor Series and WWF Championship modes have been removed in favour of a Royal Rumble and Three-Way Tag Team match options which are single events rather than a fully fledged mode.

The titular Royal Rumble itself is particularly difficult to enjoy, featuring 6 men in the ring at once whose animations must finish before they're vulnerable to be hit, so good luck waiting while everyone else is engaged in hitting someone else. It's basically a lot of chaos and grunting which doesn't really provide much in the way of excitement. Three Way Tag is somewhat similar as there's always a third wheel left out of the action.

There are twelve playable wrestlers and overall the action is faster and more responsive than before. In one-on-one matches, gameplay feels much improved from Super Wrestlemania, and the health bars deplete a little slower to give more drama and momentum during matches. Other than this though gameplay is very similar to the older game with a few more moves added and the controls switched around a little, including support for the 6 button controller. 

Graphically there have been some improvements with some of the wrestlers resembling their real life counterparts a little more, and slightly more cartoonish depictions and brighter colours helping the overall presentation. The crowd are still just white noise and there's no commentary, but it's a bearable game for multiplayer or one-on-one fights, though players will likely be disappointed with the Royal Rumble itself. 

Rating: 50/100

Grade: D

Game: WWF Raw

Console: Sega Mega Drive

Developer: Sculptured Software

Release Date: 1994

There comes a point as a software developer where you need to stop releasing the same game year in, year out and put some new ideas in. Clearly no-one told this to Sculptured Software, as except for a roster update and new Raw Endurance matches there's basically no change from the last two games featured. Sure, they've added in all the modes together now so you can play a Royal Rumble or a Survivor Series, but anyone with both previous games would have basically been able to do that anyway. 

The controls and gameplay feel a little bit faster and tweaked towards speed but it's hard to tell as most of the moves and gameplay features are the same. There's 12 playable wrestlers in this game also, with some change ups from the previous roster, and new MIDI versions of wrestler's themes on the selection screen.

Graphically the game features very slight improvements over WWF Royal Rumble, but nothing that's immediately noticeable. Sounds too have stayed pretty much the same, and so there's not a lot more that can be said about WWF Raw. Overall it would have been better to take a risk and change up the damage system to a momentum meter of some kind, or added a big match type or main mode which would give the game replayability over its predecessors. Instead we got an amalgamation of the game modes from the previous 2 games, a few new wrestlers and nothing else.

Rating: 59/100

Grade: D

Game: WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game

Console: Sega Mega Drive

Developer: Sculptured Software

Release Date: 1995

The final Mega Drive game I'll be looking at in this review was also available on the Playstation and in arcades, but due to the nature of gameplay and the graphics, I don't think it'll make too much difference to play the fourth generation version rather than the fifth. With new publishers Midway at the helm, the core gameplay of Wrestlemania resembles Mortal Kombat far more closely than any of the 2D games before it, even going so far as to have weapons appear out of nowhere and have Bam Bieglow's fists catch fire when attacking. 

With 8 wrestlers to choose from, there was less selection than in the previous game, and the new digitised sprites are stylistically less pleasing than the cartoon versions of wrestlers from WWF Raw. There are just two game modes, both very similar tournament fighter style competitions for WWE belts. All movesets are pretty similar and lack many conventional wrestling moves, and overall the game plays the worst of the Mega Drive titles.

Graphically the game is a step back from the cartoonish sprites used before, and considering that Mortal Kombat was first released in 1992, the digitised sprites seem somewhat dated in this 1995 release. The same goes for the Playstation version, and although that version had more commentary and voice clips than the Mega Drive version, the sound effects and musical clips that play during matches don't really suit the action onscreen.

Overall Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game is one of the least impressive early WWE games, due to its similarities to Mortal Kombat and disregard for many nuances of actual wrestling. Graphically and sonically inferior to other games, and with a smaller roster of characters than the last instalment, this home version of an arcade game doesn't have any appeal to fans of wrestling or fighting games.

Rating: 44/100

Grade: E

Game: WWF: In Your House
Console: Sony Playstation
Developer: Sculptured Software
Release Date: 31st October 1996

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the first WWF title in this review to feature on the Playstation would attempt to break out of the tournament fighter clone style in which the Mega Drive saw itself entrenched. This was not the case as WWF: In Your House follows closely in the Mortal Kombat mould of Midway developed wrestling games, though some nice touches were made in attempting to emulate the general moves used in wrestling compared to the usual fighting game moves.

There are 10 playable wrestlers in the game, which isn't a lot but there are just enough for a variety of heels and faces, selected from the forefront of '96 WWF talent. It's just a shame that the movesets featured in the game aren't more distinct, since punching, kicking and lifting other wrestlers up uses the same animations for all 10 playable characters. Each wrestler instead gets their own stage, much like a fighting game, themed around their gimmicks.

Gameplay occurs in tournament fighter style for the most part; all wrestlers have a life bar which empties as they are successfully attacked. Once a wrestler's life bar reaches zero and they are on the floor, they can easily be pinned by their opponent, provided there are no other wrestlers in the ring. Other wrestlers may provide interference or otherwise tamper with the three count for a pinfall. Powerups can be turned on or off, and are spread around the ring during gameplay as both hazards and bonuses.

Season mode is somewhat of a disappointment as there's literally no story whatsoever; it plays just like the arcade mode of a tournament fighter as players work their way through the cast of playable wrestlers. Besides this though the option to have 4-wrestler matches is pretty appealing, though there's little else in terms of content and modes.

Graphically the game takes a similar route to Mortal Kombat, using digitized sprites of wrestlers for some realism at the cost of pixellation. The animations used are passable though similar for each wrestler, and the crowd and arenas simulate a wrestling environment for the most part. The in-game commentary is provided by Vince McMahon and Mr. Perfect, and there's an impressive amount of it for such an early game. The music however lets the experience down with only guitar licks which play after moves are landed; either nothing or a constant soundtrack would have been preferable.

Overall WWF: In Your House isn't the triumphant Playstation debut title it could have been. Instead it's more likely to be lumped in with the earlier titles which tried to pull off similar tournament fighter style gameplay rather than trying to mimic the story and drama of the WWF and its wrestlers from the time. Even back in the day, the more effort put into making a game a true reflection of what it could be, the better it will be.

Rating: 53/100
Grade: D