WWE Legends of WrestleMania

Customer Ratings:
List Price: $19.99
Sale Price: $17.09
Today's Bonus: 15% Off

When you see the roster that this game offers, you immediately see the selling point of the game. Unfortunately, that's the only good thing about the entire game. Rather than take the Raw Vs. Smackdown 2009 control scheme, this game gives you a horrible tiered-fighting scale that only opens moves as you progress in attacking your opponent. Forget the hip-tosses or flipping off the top rope you could do before, you are allowed to punch and kick here...and that's pretty much it.

As a result almost every wrestler fights the same way to start out. As you begin to win a match, you get a few "custom" moves to the character open up, but it's nothing to write home about. If it wasn't for the fact that this game finally offered the dream roster of players (minus Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, and Dynamite Kid--all of whom were involved in key Wrestlemania matches). You also get actual video of some of the matches represented here and the chance to change the outcome of said matches. Again, a cool addition in theory, but very poorly executed.

This game will probably drop in price quickly since it has such a horrible control system. Why they didn't just take the existing controls of Raw vs. Smackdown I'll never know...especially considering the fact that you can import characters from that game if you wish.

A great roster with authentic entrances (for the most part) gets this game 3 stars. That's the only positive thing about it.

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Some are suggesting that this game suffers from having controls that differ from that of the Smackdown! vs Raw series. To be honest, that is one of the qualities i enjoy most about this game. It isn't trying to be SvR2009, nor should it. As great as the SvR controls are, they do come off as a bit stale. Legends offers a new and refreshing control scheme, and i for one welcome it.

I am not suggesting that the controls in Legends are better, in fact i do prefer SvR overall. Although, i like that the controls in Legends are different. Also, being of the 80's generation, i will take the Legends roster over anything SvR has to offer on their best day.

The control scheme in Legends of Wrestlemania relies more on timing, and less on learning complicated controls. So it is much easier to just pick up and play. Some SvR enthusiast's may consider these controls to be dumbed down for mass appeal. While i do see their point, i also believe that the timing based controls provide a better flow for the game, even better than SvR to some extent.

The roster is impressive, but not extensive. There are around 40 legends, with some very obvious ones left out. You can import your SvR2009 roster, but i think that only compromises the nostalgic experience. Hell in a Cell feels a little out of place here, since most of the wrestlers in the game were long retired when that match type came to be.

If anyone here remembers the extremely disappointing Legend's of Wrestling series, I would say you would certainly be better served playing this instead.

Buy WWE Legends of WrestleMania Now

I grew up watching the WWF in the late 80's and early 90's and then got back into it when I was in college with the dawn of the "Attitude Era". It's a product that I fall in and out of love with. When I heard about this game the love affair was back on!

I think the last time I purchased a WWE video game was the first installment of the `Raw VS. Smackdown' series but I went out and purchased the 2009 version to help get me ready for `Legends of Wrestlemania'. With the overhaul of the controls my preparation was rendered nearly useless but I did utilize the `roster port' feature which brings the majority of the superstars of `Smackdown VS Raw 2009'.

There have been many negative reviews about the roster and the control set up. Personally, I think the roster is about 95% dead on. The notable omissions of Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Tito Santana, Rick Martel, Demolition, Slick, Sensational Sherri and Earthquake among others are regrettable but not enough for me to dismiss this game as a failure.

The controls were a little weird at first but I found using the L stick exclusively for movement and using the D-Pad for executing holds made for a more intuitive and fluid experience.

The graphics are great and seeing the entrances and celebrations with the old school music brings a smile to my face almost every time.

Every Wrestlemania arena from 1-15 (including Caesar's Palace for Wrestlemania IX) are faithfully recreated aside from the extra long entrance aisles of Wrestlemania's III, IV, V, VI and VIII. A vintage Royal Rumble arena is also available.

Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler provide a good commentary although I though it would be more fun to have snippets of classic wrestler specific commentary as provided by the great voices of the past like Gorilla Monsoon, Bobby Heenan, Jesse Ventura, Vince McMahon. Also, finding a way to sneak in Mean Gene Okerlund and Lord Alfred Hayes would have been great as well.

The `Relive', `Rewrite', and `Redefine' modes are fun additions. I have played all three and they all have a more epic feel than the standard exhibition matches. You have the option of completing certain tasks during the match that re-create, move for move, these classic matches. Each of these matches is preceded by a video of WWE footage showing what led up to the confrontation and highlights from the match itself.

As an old-school WWF fan I think the game is a blast. The graphics are great, almost all of the old original entrance themes are here, and the game modes are very addictive and rewarding. Hopefully an expansion pack will be made available in the near future which will feature new wrestlers, managers and a new venue or two.

A great game for those who loved wrestling during the golden age of the WWF.

Read Best Reviews of WWE Legends of WrestleMania Here

I'm going to make this brief... I've bought every WWE video game that has ever been released going back to the original Wrestlemania game for the Nintendo. Some are much better than others, but this one has to be the most disappointing game in a long time.

Following the release of the Smackdown vs Raw 2009, I was really excited about this game. I thought it would operate a lot like those games. WOW!!! Not quite!

I just don't feel like this game really has any playability beyond unlocking all the wrestlers and arenas. Maybe I'm missing something, but I've played the game three times, fought in maybe 10 matches and I'm pretty sure I'm done with it.

The one thing I that is neat about the game is it will link the SVR 2009 game so you can bring your favorite current superstar over to play against the legends.

My advice is that you download the demo before you buy the game. Had I done that.... I could have saved $50+.

Want WWE Legends of WrestleMania Discount?

I'm a huge wrestling fan. I watch every week, order the PPV's, check websites daily, and talk about it often with my friends and family. Needless to say, when I heard about Legends of Wrestlemania, I was psyched. I tuned in weekly to IGN's roster updates, which fed my hunger for more information on this game. I set aside extra cash from my budget to get it on the day it came out, and even planned on skipping my afternoon classes to spend all day with the game.

15 minutes into the game, I shut it off. You know that feeling when your parents tell you about the cute girl in church who's single, and when you meet her she looks like a hippopotamus burn victim and has the personality of a loose-leaf notebook? That's the feeling I had after playing this game for the first time.

Let's address some good decisions, and some bad decisions, on the part of THQ's development team in designing this game. I've always believed in ending on a positive note, so first, I'll address the bad.

THE BAD:

The control system is suspect at best. There are 3 "levels" in which you progress depending on the amount of offense you execute, with each level unlocking new moves (level 3 unlocks your finisher). You end up repetitively punching and performing the same grapples over and over again as you progress through the levels. So, while there are different moves for each level, you spend enough time on each level that just as soon as you're completely bored of bodyslamming your opponent, you go up a level and can now suplex him.

Certain moves are nearly impossible to pull off. Irish whipping is nearly impossible, and getting on the turnbuckle takes some time to get comfortable with. It's listed as an achievement in the cage match, with the biggest problem being that you can't climb the turnbuckle in a cage match without climbing the cage to win the match.

One HUGE misstep is that you CANNOT run towards your opponent without running backwards off the ropes first. This is an EXTREME annoyance.

The "chain moves" system is extremely limited, and while a good idea in theory, it just doesn't work. As you perform the chain, you end up being more distracted about which button to hit than actually watching what move you're performing. When you do pay attention, you see that many of the moves aren't really "chain" moves at all, but rather cut scenes of different moves. For instance, in one moment Hogan is giving you a big boot, and the very next moment, he's bouncing off the ropes and giving you a leg drop. There is no animation for him actually moving towards the ropes... you pick up the action mid-stride.

There are several bugs with the animation. In the ladder match, when you pull down the belt, it's always the WWE Championship, even if you're battling for the Intercontinental belt. This shows that the game was rushed. Additionally, when the Ultimate Warrior shakes the ropes, his hands are about 5 scaled inches above the actual ropes. This is a minor annoyance, but still enough to where it looks odd. Batista does it better in SvR 2009.

The game modes are limited. Steel Cage and Hell in a Cell matches can only be fought as 1 on 1 encounters. Thus, if you want LOD versus the Brothers of Destruction, it can't be in a Hell in a Cell. Additionally, in the HIAC match, you always begin the battle from the top of the cage. It was cool at first, but after awhile it gets annoying.

In the ladder match (which also limits to 1 on 1), you may not attack someone with the ladder if they are laying on the ground. All you can do is swipe at them with the ladder when both of you are standing. I know ladder matches were much more simple back in the day, but they were more involved than this.

The Royal Rumble match limits your moveset to mostly stomps and kicks, which means that, while exciting at first, it quickly becomes an annoyance. No Finishers are allowed in the Rumble either. It's nearly impossible to throw someone out of the ring unless they are highly damaged. Throwing someone out is much harder than in SvR2009, therefore broken controller buttons are foreseeable.

The create-a-moveset is a nightmare. The create-a-legend has the ability to create Savage and Razor Ramon, but their finishers aren't included on the move-sets. Why not? Obviously, the strict control system doesn't allow for them. Once again, this is a huge ball drop on the part of THQ.

The game flashes blue or red every time you get hit. I thought at first something was wrong with my tv, but apparently it's considered a "feature." It's quite annoying.

The entrance themes are nearly there, but the Big Bossman's familiar "hard time" theme has been replaced by his late-career theme. It was a big let down. I know I can change it by uploading the theme to my ps3, but I paid 60 bucks for this game, I shouldn't have to take extra steps to put in a wrestler's classic theme music in a game that depicts that wrestler from a classic era.

That's enough negativity. It's obviously a very flawed game.

THE GOOD:

The Roster is awesome. Many people hate on this game because there's no Savage or Razor Ramon, and Michael Hayes was included, but that doesn't bother me at all. It's perfect. The character models look great for the most part, and the arenas are perfectly recreated.

The interactive Cell and Cage match environments are great. You can do a lot of neat stuff, such as throwing people through the cell walls, and throwing them off the top a la Mick Foley.

The Commentary is wonderful, smooth, and much less repetitive than SvR2009.

The ability to upload characters from SvR2009 is amazing. I don't know how they do it, but it gives almost limitless opportunities for dream matches.

These are the only good things I can say.

The final verdict? Play at your own risk. Don't pay full price, and rent it if you absolutely MUST see this game for yourself. The only, and I mean, ONLY way I won't feel cheated out of my $60 is for THQ to make this roster available to upload into SvR 2010, and does away with this horrible control scheme. Otherwise, I feel that, as a fan of classic wrestling, and of wrestling today, I was scammed by THQ into buying this poorly planned, marginally executed game.