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Legends of Wrestling 2 Review - PS2

Wrestling has been a huge sport/pastime for people around the world as of late. Whether it's the rock and his sideburns or the Undertaker changing his image to a biker, there's always been trivial changes to keep the fans interested. However, it all started with Legends like Hulk Hogan, Rowdy Roddy Piper and Jimmy Superfly. Acclaim has acknowledged this with their second game, Legends of Wrestling 2.

There is a lot to get through in Legends of Wrestling 2, but the main issue is will I want to see all of it? The career mode is the games longevity in single player where you choose a wrestler and fight through 5 different regions, eventually aiming to have the champion belt in each region. In each fight an excitement bar is included, basically you are rewarded for executing new moves and punished for performing moves you have already done. The higher the excitement of a fight, the higher the popular bar is at the end of a fight and when this becomes higher, your manager/promoter will have a chat and give you fights closer to that title shot. Another nice feature is that each storyline is different so it's not always the same. The presentation is a lilttle shoddy, the subtitles go way slower than the guy speaking but the setting is usually well thought of even if it's stereotypical i.e. in the southwest division a promoter I had was a cowboy, southern accent with rifles hanging on the wall.

There are different fights to keep it entertaining somewhat with single, last man standing, ladder fights and the cage mage. Ladder fights is where a belt hovers at the top of the ring and you have to get a ladder and climb up it and reach the belt. Cage matches involve a cage surrounding the ring and a door, which has to be broken down and escape from the ring. While there is enough diversion, the game unfortunately is a little easy. The grapple mode is solid and after some practice you can get some nice combos happening. At times though, the controls feel a little clunky such as when performing finisher moves and picking up weapons. A real nice feature is that the game has interviews with most of the wrestlers that last about 10 minutes each and give you an insight to how it began. Some of the wrestlers are real characters. The main problem with the game however, is that it begins to feel the same after a while.

Legends of Wrestling 2 is a solid game with some nice but disappointing features. Ultimately, the game is too easy which overshadows some of the effort that has gone into the game. Old school wrestling buffs will like the interviews and performing moves with their old school wrestlers. Others will be better off with Def Jam Vendetta or await the new Smackdown game at the end of the year.

Graphics

Graphically legends of wrestling ... (continued next page)