Nothing quite sums up a Monday or Thursday night like hearing  “Layeth the smacketh down” or “Wooooooo!!!!!!” flying through the house as various sports entertainment gladiators shout one liners and catch phrases at each other just before dishing out inhuman amounts of physical punishment to one another over a belt or due to a disrespectful comment that had been made here or there. Well, THQ has brought the WWE to the Gamecube in the form of Wrestlemania X8.

Just like past WWE titles to hit consoles, this game puts you in control of one of your favorite superstars ranging from The Rock to The Undertaker to Booker T to compete in various matches from the chart topping TV show or the Pay Per Views.  Each character has his or her own moves as well as their signature finishing moves, and each can be performed relatively easily at the press of a button … and everything from hits to counters are included. For example, the A button, whether pressed by itself or while pushing the control stick in any direction, will perform a grappling move like a suplex or Russian leg sweep. The B button is used for punches and kicks, and hitting both together after your wrestler’s “Adrenaline Meter” fills up by doing various moves on your opponent will unleash the damaging finisher and allow you to get the pin … most of the time. In addition, you can do pretty much anything you see on TV like bouncing off the ropes, high flying flips from the turnbuckle, or grabbing weapons from under the ring like chairs and cookie sheets and planting your unfortunate victim directly in the head. Each potential offensive move you or your opponent can pull off has a chance of being countered by a press of the L or R button, so nothing … no matter how powerful … is always a 100% guaranteed. This keeps it interesting and gives the player a chance to get out of a game ending situation here and there.

 So, sounds like they covered all of their bases with this one, right? Wrong. There are a couple of issues with the button pressing that tend to start getting aggravating as soon as you get into the action. For example, many moves require two buttons to be pressed at the same time which of course do two different things when hit separately. To do an Irish whip and throw your opponent into the ropes, you have to hit the A and Y buttons together. Well, since the A button grapples and the Y button will make you run, you sometimes find yourself either doing a grapple move which you didn’t plan on, or doing a little stagger step where your character is trying to run but bumps into your opponent. This of course gives then an opportunity to grab onto you and get the upper hand. In addition, some buttons are set up to do two different things. The X button is used to pick up your opponent while they’re on the mat, but it’s also used to climb in and out of the ring. So … if you are near the ropes, which you may be more times than not, you may accidentally climb out of the ring instead of picking up your opponent giving them a chance to get up and once again turn the tables on you. This isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever seen control wise in a video game, but it does get annoying while trying to move up through the ranks.

On the gameplay note, something which came across loud and clear in most cases is the opponent AI, or lack thereof for that matter. There were sometimes long moments of standing or nothing going on while I was waiting for an opponent to move towards me and attempt something, which improves a little if the difficulty is increased. Also, many times the high flying opponents like Jeff Hardy, the Hurricane, or Lita would just randomly keep dashing up to the top of the turnbuckle and executing flips or attempting flashy moves like Hurricanranas and such … but all while I was standing in the opposite corner of the ring. This seemed to happen regardless of difficulty, so I would just wait for them to do whatever high flying move it was, since they did it so often, then scrape them up off the mat and throw them around to get the advantage. Other issues popped up, like triple threat matches where my two opponents would turn on me the entire time and it was almost impossible to get a pinfall on one of them. Also, table matches where the computer seemed like it couldn’t figure out that it had to put someone through a table to win the match happened, and just made me sit and shake my head in disappointment. 

Another issue which I as well as many wrestling fans also had with past console titles like “WWF : Raw” for the Xbox is lack of career mode. Part of the fun of some past titles like “Smackdown” on PSX was being able to get involved in various storylines, rivalries, and plot twists. The career mode has been left out of Wrestlemania X8 as well, and instead relies on what is called “Path of a Champion” which allows you to compete in one of 6 different ladder style progressions to claim the various assortment of WWE gold. By winning one of the belts, you unlock one of 6 hidden characters to play with … but it still feels unfulfilling overall in the grand scheme of things. On a brighter note, they do a good job of mixing the matches up and ultimately you will probably get to throw down in just about any match that you can think of. Everything including the steel cage, hardcore matches, and the dreaded Hell in a Cell matchup with one of your favorite superstars has been included.

Aside from the sometimes annoying controls and the unforgivable lack of career mode issues, the sound really leaves a lot to be desired as well. On the plus side, almost all of the WWE superstar’s entrance themes are present and accounted for (With the exception of the Hardys, Booker T, and the N.W.O. to name a couple). Unfortunately, the tunes during the match are generic sounding and repetitive, and ultimately would end up getting muted out while I was playing it. The crowd is also apparently not impressed by much, since there is silence the majority of the time until a big move or taunt is performed, which only results in a small eruption of cheers for a couple of seconds and then … silence once again. There is also no commentary, which based on past wrestling titles may be a good thing, but it still tends to take away to an extent and makes it feel like something is missing overall.

Graphically, the character entrances look really good and accurate to the real thing, and the backdrops, ring, and lighting effects look really clean and very good. The create your own wrestler mode in this game is very good as well, and every possible body size, proportion, entrance, and move that I could think of was there. The weapons like cookie sheets and chairs will get damaged and dented as they are used or fallen on as well, which adds a nice touch to the experience. On the flipside, some of the actual wrestlers look really mis-proportioned and exaggerated, with upper bodies which are too big and arms which are too long, and some, like Triple H for example, don’t look much like themselves at all. There are also some collision detection problems here and there, such as body parts which merge with body parts of an opposing character here and there, or objects like ladders or chairs which slide around the ring as you walk near them. The biggest and most annoying one I found was the fact that I felt like I was wrestling on a slip and slide a lot, especially while pinning an opponent. I would cover for the 3 count, and we would just begin sliding towards one of the four sides which occasionally caused a “rope break” and caused me to lose the winning opportunity. During a couple of triple threat matches, the person I did not pin who was laying on the mat would just randomly slide to one direction if we were anywhere near where he was laying on the mat. While this didn’t cost me the match, it did once again cause me to shake my head in disappointment.  

Overall, I have to say that it wound up being another below average wrestling title for me which will probably wind up back on the shelf before too long. While I was happy to have a really good create your own wrestler mode in a WWE game, which is definitely the high point of this title, there were far too many issues during the gameplay to have the joy last too long. Whether or not you are a die hard WWE fan like me, I am still going to recommend this one for a rental before committing to a purchase.  

Gameplay: 6.7
While the characters are easy to move and basic grapple and hit moves are executed by one button, there are also moves which have to be done by two buttons being pressed at the same time which causes some problems. Toss in lackluster AI, collision detection, and lack of a career or story mode, and you have a below average performance and a game which becomes more annoying than fun as time goes on. The create your own wrestler mode is one of the better ones I have seen, and may be a little bit of a saving factor for some people. 

Graphics: 7.5
The lighting effects, entrances, damage to the weapons and items in the ring, and most wrestlers look really good. Some of the characters do appear a little squared off or mis-proportioned and a couple don’t look much like they do in real life. 

Sound: 6.5
95% of the original entrance themes are present, complete with the explosions and fireworks seen in the TV show, which is really good. The lack of crowd participation and commentary, along with cheesy and annoying in game music is the majority of what is present while you are playing, and really takes away from the overall feeling. 

Difficulty: Medium
Since you can do just about anything that you see the wrestlers do on TV, there are a lot of buttons and controls to get used to. The difficulty settings from easy to painful help out in learning what to do at what time and will keep you from getting destroyed and frustrated while learning all of the moves and counters.  

Concept: 7.9
There is definitely some improvements which have been made to the create your own wrestler mode in this title, and THQ made sure that every match you could think of (Except the bra and panties match) was included. Other than that, it still runs like most WWE titles on other consoles.

Multiplayer: 8.2
Up to four players can compete in various matches, like the Royal Rumble.There is also a “Belt Unification Match” included as well, where two players can use a wrestler who has won one of 40 belts listed and put him or her up against a friend to unify the titles.  

Overall: 6.1
As much of a wrestling and WWE fan as I am, there were far too many issues and frustrations while playing Wrestlemania X8 for me to enjoy the experience overall. Again, I would recommend heading down to your nearest Blockbuster and picking this one up first and trying it out before buying it.