Whatcha gonna do brother?!  The WWE is hosting a stroll down memory lane with Legends of Wrestlemania on the Xbox 360 and PS3.  The game allows you to pick your favorite classic grappler in his prime and relive some of wrestling’s greatest matches.  If you have ever owned a Hulk Hogan foam finger or Bret Hart sunglasses, you will enjoy this game. 

    The Wrestlemania Tour mode is a great place to start.  You are given matches to Relive, Rewrite, and Redefine.  In each mode the player is treated to a highlight reel of back-story to set up the match.  The vintage clips end with some highlights of the hardest hits of the actual match.  It’s very similar to what you’d see on a modern WWE pay-per-view broadcast moments before a main event.    When playing Relive mode, your goal is to recreate specific moments from the real-life match.  In Rewrite, your goal is to change the ending of the match, and change WWE history.   In Redefine mode, you’ll find history altered with ladders or cages added to matches that didn’t originally have them.

    The character models are great.  They’re not 100% accurate because Jake the Snake was never as buff as he is in-game, and even Hulk Hogan has some extra hair.   They’re more like living action figures, with each wrestler recreated in their prime.  The Rock returns sans most his tattoos and sporting his well-kempt sideburns.  Their entrances are perfectly emulated, including the on-screen name graphics as the grapplers make their way to the ring.  Each Wrestlemania looks like its broadcast counterpart. 

    The roster is solid, but small.  After a few matches, you’ll be asking yourself questions like, “Hey, where’s Macho Man?”  There are some other natural criticisms, like the inclusion of someone like The Honky Tonk Man.  Memorable…yes, but a legend?  I’m not saying he doesn’t belong here, but to include him with glaring omissions like Mick Foley and Macho Man Randy Savage seems an injustice to the game’s title.  And of course there are plenty of legends who never wrestled at a Wrestlemania, so they’re left out as well.  There are also no women in the game, mostly because they played larger roles at more recent Wrestlemanias, but not so much at the early ones.  Even with its debatable roster, to see a superstars like Big John Studd or The Junkyard Dog recreated is a true treat for any classic wrestling fan.  The wrestlers who made the cut are all memorable in their own right, and fun to play as.

    The controls need to be noted.  They are functional, but very different from the Smackdown vs. Raw series.  If you remember the original Smackdown series on Playstation One, that is exactly what this game plays like.  The movesets have been severely limited compared to the abundance of moves available on the newer games.  It becomes very disappointing when playing with someone like Bret Hart, who has forgotten more moves than most wrestlers will ever know.  Seeing him use 4 or 5 moves repeatedly will frustrate loyal WWE fans.  For players who are familiar with the new wrestling games, the gameplay becomes repetitive as you spam the same moves over and over for what feels like a cheap win.  Although I did not enjoy the limited arsenal of moves, it does make the game more accessible for the average gamer, the casual gamer, and the gamer that hasn’t watched wrestling or played a wrestling game since 1995.

    Also worth noting are the few carry-overs from the Smackdown vs. Raw series.  The create-a-superstar mode is copied verbatim, which is a good thing considering it is robust and as in-depth as the player cares to get.  You can also import the roster from Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 game using the save file on your hard drive.  It seems like a weird feature, but there is something very cathartic about stomping the snot out of Rey Mysterio Jr. with Andre the Giant. 

    My final verdict is: rent this game.  If you’re a casual fan of wrestling or just a casual gamer, you can beat the game in a weekend, with a few of the more difficult goals remaining.  The nostalgia factor takes this game from mediocre to good, but it’s not great.  If you own any wrestling DVDs or have driven more than 100 miles to a WWE show, go ahead and buy this game.    For fans of the SvR series, the controls will take some getting used to, so a rental is in order to decide on a purchase.  I’ve had the pleasure of meeting two people in the game and another that should have been, so naturally I’m adding this game to my wish list.

    Legends of Wrestlemania is available on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, and is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB for Blood, Language, Use of Alcohol, and Violence.

Kevin “Mello Joe” Mercer is a former radio personality and a lifelong gamer. You can find him on Xbox Live and Playstation Network, Gamertag: Mellojoe. View the world as he sees it at www.youtube.com/user/mellojoe. www.myspace.com/charlesk