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We review THQ's latest effort with WWE: Day of Reckoning!
September 19, 2004 | 10:00 PM PSTby: Sam Sauber
THQ and Yukes are back with their third WWE grappler for the Nintendo GameCube. Over the last two years, they’ve given us WWE Wrestlemania X8 and WWE Wrestlemania XIX. This year, they’ve given us WWE Day of Reckoning. They’ve dropped the Wrestlemania title, but they’ve also made many more important changes. Day of Reckoning features sharper looking graphics, a similar but better grappling system, a better create-a-wrestler option, a story mode, and much more. Continue reading for a full review of WWE Day of Reckoning.
For the most part, Day of Reckoning and XIX have the same grappling system. You still have to tap A for the weak grapple moves and hold A for the strong grapple moves. You’re given a set of directional pad moves that go along with the weak and the strong. It’s pretty standard for a wrestling game. The pacing of the matches in Day of Reckoning though, has been changed. Matches now seem a lot slower, which makes it seem more like a televised match. Even though the pacing has been slowed, the matches can still be over quickly, depending on how you play your cards.
One thing that made the GameCube WWE titles shine is the counter system. This year’s GameCube WWE title is no different. You can counter every single move in the game, including finishing maneuvers. By pressing the L trigger, you can counter any grappling maneuver. Pressing the R trigger counters any striking move. To counter a finishing move, you press the L and R triggers at the same time. Although I did find that countering finishing moves is much harder than it was last year. The counter system is really based on good timing.
One of the new additions to the gameplay this year is a new feature called “momentum shift.” Basically, if your wrestler gets to a point of danger, you can perform a special “momentum shift” maneuver by pressing the A and B buttons at the same time. Although it doesn’t make that much of a difference, it’s still a welcome addition that wrestling fans will appreciate. It’s a really unique feature that makes Day of Reckoning matches seem even more like the televised WWE matches.
This time around, the AI seems much more intelligent. This makes them actually more difficult this time around. You may expect to whip through a match against an easy opponent, yet they keep countering your moves!Previously, the CPU would rarely counter your move. This time though, it occurs quite often. It should also be mentioned that the location specific damage from Wrestlemania XIX is back, and has been improved slightly. You now have a HUD of the wrestlers so you can tell which part of the body is being worked the most.
This year, we have finally been blessed with a true story mode. Wrestlemania XIX has a ‘revenge mode’, which was absolutely terrible. Read my review of Wrestlemania XIX if you wish to find out why. The story mode in Day of Reckoning is a great new addition. Basically, you take your created wrestler and you start at the bottom of the ranks in the WWE. Vince McMahon (WWE CEO) gives you a chance to start off fighting in un-televised matches. If you impress him enough, you’ll get to appear on WWE Heat. The more you impress Vince McMahon by doing various tasks in your matches, the higher up you’ll become in status. Eventually, you’ll be given the option to choose either the RAW or Smackdown! brand. Unfortunately, the stories are quite similar no matter which side you choose. You’ll just be given a different roster of wrestlers in which to continue the story. The story mode is not without its problems though. You can only use created wrestlers in the story mode and it’s also quite short.
Visually, Day of Reckoning is for the most part, quite similar to Wrestlemania XIX. Although improved, the graphics are not much better. The textures seem to be cleaned up, slightly. The models have a few more polygons. Unfortunately nothing drastic has changed in the graphics department. That’s not to say that visuals are bad, though. Day of Reckoning is still a great looking game.
The camera angles have been reworked in Day of Reckoning. They really get up close and right in the faces of the wrestlers (which by the way, look great). When a heavy-hitting or finishing move is pulled off, the camera shows replays of this. It can get repetitive, but fortunately, they allow you to turn off replays if they’re getting on your nerves.
Clipping still remains in Day of Reckoning. It’s much less noticeable this year than in Wrestlemania XIX, but it’s still there. Much like last year, it’s only really bad looking when you have a small wrestler grappling with a larger wrestler. There isn’t a 3D wrestling game out there that doesn’t have clipping, but it would be nice to see this fixed.
The sound in Day of Reckoning is superb. For the first time, the Wrestlemania series has been blessed with licensed music from real artists. There are tracks from artists like: Zebrahead, Tantric, and most notably, Anthrax & Public Enemy. It’s a wonderful new thing to finally have licensed music, but there should’ve been more tracks. These songs play during the matches, and since there are so little of them, they can become quite repetitive. The theme songs for the wrestlers are still here. There are a few wrestlers who do not have their licensed theme song though. This is a disappointment, but it’s nothing new to the wrestling-game genre.
The in game sounds are a somewhat mixed bag. The sound of the wrestlers hitting the mat is authentic and sounds great. On the other hand, the strikes sound a little phony. Overall though, the in-game sounds are almost unchanged from Wrestlemania XIX.
Much like in the previous games, the reason you’ll keep coming back is for the multiplayer and the create-a-wrestler feature. Playing a Royal Rumble match with three friends just never gets old. Multiplayer is one of the things that have always made the WWE games on the GameCube great, and this one is no different. The create-a-wrestler feature in Day of Reckoning has been improved to a great extent. It’s starting to feel more and more up to the caliber of the create-a-wrestler found in the Smackdown! series.
Closing Comments
WWE Day of Reckoning is an excellent addition to the GameCube’s library. If you are a wrestling fan and you own a GameCube, WWE Day of Reckoning is a must. The game truly feels like you’re getting all the bang for your buck. Don’t miss out on it, give this one a try!
-- Sam Sauber
November 20, 2009
