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WCW Mayhem

WCW Mayhem WCW Mayhem
by Electronic Arts

Platform: PlayStation
ESRB Rating: Teen
ASIN: B00002R28O

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GameSpot Review: The companies in the business of making wrestling games recently played a high-stakes game of musical chairs. Longtime WCW collaborator THQ managed to get hold of the WWF license, leaving Acclaim to sit around and talk about its secret plans for a new wrestling game. Electronic Arts stepped in and grabbed the WCW license. The company is taking the same approach to the WCW license as it has taken with most of its sports titles. The development team aimed to be as faithful to the source material as it could. The resulting game, WCW Mayhem, is a great first effort, but it still feels like a first-year title.

Mayhem contains loads of different rings, all based on WCW television and pay-per-view events, ranging from your basic Monday Nitro set all the way up to Souled Out and Bash at the Beach. EA has provided an entire slew of WCW wrestlers to fight in these rings. Most of the popular wrestlers are featured, including Kevin Nash, Sting, and Goldberg. The game also features a slew of midcard wrestlers, like La Parka, Rey Mysterio Jr., and Disco Inferno. As in most other wrestling games, the roster isn't entirely accurate (Chris Jericho and Raven are still in the game, Hogan appears in his old NWO gear, etc.) but this doesn't really get in the way of the game at all.

The main emphasis of the game is the ability it gives you to get out of the ring and fight your way to the backstage area, which is filled with chairs, tables, tasers, and other objects that you can use to bash your opponent's skull in. As a result, the game defaults to no-count out, pin-anywhere matches.

WCW Mayhem's gameplay is much more arcade-like than most of the wrestling games that came before it. There's still plenty of strategy involved, but it's more of the "step out of the way of that drop kick" variety than of the "what move should I do next" type. Reversals are easy to perform, but very tough to master. If your opponent hits a button to execute a move, and you hit the same button shortly after, you'll reverse his attack. But reversals aside, the game really boils down to who can do a move first. There aren't any fancy fighting-game moves here, either. Each of the four main buttons is capable of three moves, depending on which direction you're pressing on the controller at the time.

The arcade-style gameplay is a nice change of pace from the other games on the market, but it's not without its flaws. Rather than focus too greatly on health, the game relies on a momentum meter that tells you how well you're doing at any point in the match. The meter moves back and forth, and it will move toward your side when you execute impressive moves or find the time to taunt. If all the wrestlers in the match are fairly inactive, the meter will center. The more momentum you get, the harder it will be for your opponent to stop you. When your momentum meter is full, you can perform your finishing move. This allows for some good back-and-forth swings, but in actual use, it really just makes coming back from a deficit much tougher. Also, the emphasis on momentum rather than health allows for some pretty unrealistic gameplay. For instance, I can't imagine that Stevie Ray would be able to kick out of a pin after receiving eight consecutive Diamond Cutters. Once you and your friends have all gotten good at dodging attacks, it becomes very hard to pull off a string of moves, and the result is a stalemate match that takes forever and ends on a lucky pin after a weak move.

The computer player doesn't fall prey to that problem, though, because it's got problems all its own: It lacks the ability to put together a decent offense. The computer will get off a few kicks and punches from time to time, and it may even reverse a move or two if you've got it set to the hardest difficulty setting. There's no one move you have to do - any move or hold will work. All you need to do is get off a few quick attacks at the beginning of the match. Then, after you've worn the enemy wrestler down a bit, just start grappling and pulling off moves at will. It's possible to hit a finisher within the first 30 seconds of the match, though you won't be able to complete a pin until much later. The difficulty setting has less to do with how aggressive the computer plays and more to do with how long it takes to damage the other wrestler enough to successfully pin him. The PlayStation version has slightly more aggressive AI than the N64 version, but it still can't put up a decent fight. The computer is also very shy about getting out of the ring. If the computer player doesn't think it's close enough to attack you once you're both outside the ring, it will simply climb back into the ring and taunt a few times. Since one of the main points of the game is getting out of the ring and wrestling in the backstage area, this is extremely annoying.

The create-a-wrestler feature is nice, but it doesn't really touch WWF Attitude in terms of depth and choice. The textures provided are a bit more realistic than some of Attitude's clothing, so most of the wrestlers you create will look as though they actually belong in a ring. There's even a set of clothes that look a bit like Kane's. --Jeff Gerstmann

From the Manufacturer: Out of hand. Out of the ring. Wrestle the biggest stars in sports entertainment in and out of the squared circle. Choose one of 60 WCW celebrity wrestlers (or create your own) and battle your way through the ranks to the Championship Belt. Fight in all WCW TV events including 12 PPV super-events. No rules apply as you break through secret areas and continue brawling backstage into locker room and garage areas. Feel the intensity with true to form entrances complete with pyrotechnics, theme music, crowd chants, wrestler taunts and play-by-play color commentary.

Customer Reviews:
Fun Game, October 29, 2002
Reviewer: Stuart
WCW Mayhem is overall a pretty good game.

Graphics: 9/10. I have played some PS2 Wrestling games, but this is pretty impressive for a PSX game. The crowd isn't that good though.

Gameplay: 7/10. U can go backstage but there aern't many matches (especially in 2 player) but there r alot of WCW stars on it.

Overall good game

So cool, May 27, 2002
Reviewer: A 10-year old gamer
The game iz great I have codes to get all the stars the ringz r so cool I luv the classic Nitro Arena I got wiht a code the sets r lifelike I give it 5*s

I love IT!

Electronic Arts takes the series in the right direction, March 7, 2002
Reviewer: ironman6662 from Carmel, IN USA
The second to last WCW game proved that it had what it took to compete with the WWF (if only the TV show did as well). Teh controls are very fluent, the matches (although needed variety) are fun. This also holds a huge amount of wrestlers, and an ok create a wrestler. The best part is that you can actually for the first time (in the WCW games) listen to the theme music before you made your guy (given up in WWF Smackdown) and they last longer than 5 seconds.

The only real problem here is the create a wrestler, it's preety shallow and the move list is that of where you must pick another guys moves (I generally used either Sting, Goldberg, Nash, or Chris Benoit) and stick with that.

I guess the real reason I love this game so much is the fact that it holds the best Theme Music to date. My favorite theme Music (even though I am not a WCW fan) is the four horsemen. That music is awsome.

Overall this gasme is worth checking into, just avoid Thunder and Backstage assault.

Mayhem Rocks!, May 16, 2001
Reviewer: An 11-year old gamer from Leeds, England
This is the absolute best Wrestling game in the entire world and I love it. No WCW fan with a playstation shouldn't have it.

The best thing about this game is the amount of Wrestlers. There is about 30 at the start of the game and there are loads more to win. When you have won them all there is about 60.

Mayhem offers 12 pay-per-view arenas, more than any other Wrestling game I can think of. There is Bash at the beach, The Great American Bash, Starrcade, Spring Stampede and loads more. The game also features Monday Nitro, Thursday Thunder and Saturday Night arenas. One thing I can't understand though is why they didn't put the Mayhem arena on, the game is called that isn't it?

Some people have complained about Mayhem's gameplay but I like it(yes!) because it is quite slow so you can figure out the controlls and get prepared for the next move.

The graphics are cool and the camera angles are really ace.

Mayhem's create a Wrestler mode is really good. You can create Zombies and Monsters as well as Human Wrestlers. When you have created a Wrestler put him into a match and see how he fares against WCW's Superstars!

In the game there is a Pay-Per-View password screen where you type in a password and it takes you to an already made Pay-Per-View.

Over all Mayhem is a fantastic game. The only bad thing about it is there are no cage matches and no hidden rants like on the WCW Thunder and WCW Nitro.

My final thing to say is this: Buy it if you're a WCW fan, don't if you're not. And if you've not a fan of Wrestling don't buy it either.

Happy Grappling!

WCW Mayhem is da bomb, August 28, 2000
Reviewer: Jay from Billerica,MA
WCW Mayhem rocks! You can go anywhere Backstage from the Boiler room to the Bathroom. The weapon list ranges from Tasers to Tables to Signs.Their are six matche types including four special rules you can add to singles matches. Plus you can do finishing moves with just one button{Your energy has to be blinking though}. ...

WCW Mayhem rocks!, August 28, 2000
Reviewer: Jay from North America
WCW Mayhem rules. You can go anywhere Backstage from The Bathroom to the Boiler Room. Their weapons range from Tasers to tables to signs Their are six match types and four special rules you can add to singles matches. Plus you can do a finishing move with only one button{ Your energy has to be blinking though}. I would pay $200 for WCW Mayhem!

wcw mayhem rocks, August 26, 2000
Reviewer: An 11-year old gamer from Billerica, MA
WCW Mayhem rocks. You can go anywhere backstage from Boiler Room to Bathroom. The graphics are awsome. You can pull of Finishing moves by hitting one button{Of course your energy has to be blinking}. You can chose from six match types and four special rules in singles matches. The amount of weapons are countless. Tasers,Tables,Signs,etc. If I were you i'd buy this game!

WCW Mayhem rocks!, August 1, 2000
Reviewer: A 12-year old gamer from Pineville, WV USA
WCW Mayhem is the king of wrestling games. It has fine graphics, real theme music <for some wrestlers> and great backstage areas. The wrestlers look real, the finishers are real, and the create-a-wrestler mode rules. This is the king of wrestling games!

Best WCW Game Made, but sub par, June 16, 2000
Reviewer: A gamer from WWF Kingdom
WCW Mayhem rocked the ring with many game modes and options. The only problem was the playability. The moves in WCW Mayhem were nearly the same for each wrestler, even the signature finishing moves looked awkward. The collision detection hurt the game in a big way, the wrestlers would punch each other, the punches would never land, it seemed as if the fist would go right through the body! The graphics were decent, detailed down to the very fatigues on Rey Mesterio Jr. The huge drawback was that the wrestlers moved stiffly on their way to the ring. The introductions were pretty flawed as well, some of the wrestler's theme music didn't even sound right, plus the wrestlers would walk so fast that they would be in the ring less than 5 seconds! The Pay-Per-View venues and sets were designed in a whacky way, this added a little flair to the game. The sound was okay until the commentators keep repeating the same lines, Tony Schvonie and Bobby "The Brain" Heenan need to stick with commentating in the broadcast booths. Overall this is the first wrestling game made by Electronic Arts, this was a good attempt but they should hit the mats to try to make their next title become the heavyweight champion.


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