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WWE Day of Reckoning Review - Gamecube

WWE games are plentiful these days, with one released on average about every three months. WWE Day of Reckoning is a new look, an attempt at creating a system that hasn't been delved in to before. The long Story mode allows you to actually believe you are making it in the WWE, but something about Day of Reckoning just doesn't feel right. Could it be the models looking rather edgy (no pun intended, it's simply the fact that there's significant aliasing), or possibly the fact that you can't go backstage? Let's find out.

Gameplay

Not much has changed when it comes to comparing the differences of WWE Wrestlemania XIX to Day of Reckoning. The combat system has been slightly modified to include new ways to twist and turn the match around. The most noticeable change just happens to be called the 'momentum change' move, where you can all of a sudden steam your opponent's heart-beat, and they can receive yours. It doesn't however affect how many specials you can perform and how injured you are, and it happens more or less after you've beaten the hell out of your opponent or vice versa, so the momentum really doesn't make much difference.

For those unfamiliar with wrestling games, the basic moves are A to grapple, B to punch and Y to run. With those three buttons in mind, there are tones of different types of moves you can perform. Day of Reckoning doesn't offer anything different when it comes to the control system. The only big difference about the game is the fairly elaborate story mode. It may not seem like much to the average WWE gamer, but when you experience the rather shortened story mode in Wrestlemania 21 on Xbox, nearly any game can seem to have great longevity.

In the Day of Reckoning story mode, you battle your way from the training mode all the way through to the prime time main events. For most of the story you have no options - you have to win to progress, however occasionally there are matches where it doesn't matter if you win or lose, and the occasional decision towards what you want to do next. This includes things like joining Raw or Smackdown, or joining Evolution. All up, the story mode is still very linear, however there is some slight diversity compared to other wrestling games on the market today.

All the other modes are in Exhibition Mode as usual, they include all the standards, including a Bra and Panties match for the blokes, Cage Match, Hell in a Cell, and much more. We've just found out that Day of Reckoning 2 will indeed feature a casket match, so we're hanging out to get our hands on that later on in 2005. Multiplayer is all included within the Exhibition mode, as there's no room for a co-op story mode ... (continued next page)