Since Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy came out for the N64, people have come to expect a lot from THQ. The grappling engine was proclaimed by some to be the most realistic and the most fun. Fans of the Smackdown series on the PS2 will be overjoyed that THQ has chosen to use an engine so much like the PS version. But fans of the Wrestlemania 2000 engine may be a little disappointed. Lets take a peek inside the world of Wrestlemania X8 for the Nintendo Gamecube. Does WMX8 have what it takes to live up to its hype; lets find out.

WMX8’s graphics are similar to the Smackdown graphics, but the Wrestlers in WMX8 have better lighting and even dirt mapping. Running at a smooth 60fps, WMX8’s visuals are good but not perfect. Sometimes the wrestler’s body parts appear to “go through” each other, it mostly happens when a big wrestler fights a little wrestler or vice versa. All the wrestlers walk like they have a stick up their butt. The faces are sometimes inaccurate (Scotty 2 Hotty and Edge, to name a few). The facial emotions were very well done though; when the wrestler is in pain he opens his mouth, as if to show pain. Hair moves and shakes when the wrestler is rattled.

WMX8 offers a variety of options to bump up the replay value of this game, but it falls short of games like Smackdown, which has huge numbers of match types and gimmick options to chose from. The “create a superstar” option has made its appearance in WMX8. Once again, fans of the Wrestlemania 2000 series and the Smackdown series will be disappointed in this effort, which falls short of what we have all come to expect. WMX8 only offers 13 faces and about 9 different upper and lower body items. Not what
We would expect from THQ.

WMX8 is a multiplayer based game, and is much more fun with more than one person. The gameplay is sometimes slow, and sometimes fast. By that I mean, the moves are executed quickly but it takes to long for your wrestler to get up. This leads to some frustrating gameplay overall. The gameplay isn’t all that bad though; the camera angles are very television like. The moves are very accurate and very realistic. The entrances are also very much like the real wrestlers entrances. One of the things that really gripes me about this game, is that Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler (the WWE commentators) sit at ringside but they don’t commentate. They just stand in like mindless drones with nothing to do.

One thing that I liked about Wrestlemania 2000 for N64 was that even if you weren’t a wrestling fan, you still enjoyed playing it. Unfortunately WMX8 is only a game for hardcore wrestling fans. If you are a hardcore wrestling fan, and a gamer, I recommend that you rent this game before you buy this game. If you are not a wrestling fan, I recommend you avoid Wrestlemania X8. I personally had a good time with this game, but it’s just not what I expected.