For Sony Playstation, Nintendo 64, and Sega Dreamcast
Videogames reviews are usually the domain of Tiptonium, but this game sucks so bad that it deservers a special place at Wrestlecrap. I am a huge videogame fan, and a game extolling the virtues of Extreme Championship Wrestling is LONG overdue.
So ECW: Hardcore Revolution is released, and guess what? We’re still left waiting for a game extolling the virtues of Extreme Championship Wrestling! This game is about as extreme as meatloaf night at the old folks’ home.
The problems begin and end with the limitations of the Warzone engine. Yep, Acclaim has once again rehashed the Warzone engine (which they’ve already used twice, in WWF Warzone and WWF Attitude), and while it was good in its day, it is way outdated now. The characters move like robots, some animations just look bizarre, and the limitations are really starting to show through.
More importantly, though, the engine doesn’t do ECW justice. ECW isn’t the WWF. It’s more violent, the moves are wilder. Wrestlers leap into the crowd. They dive off balconies. They throw a chair at a guy then dropkick the chair into the guy’s face. NONE of this is represented by Hardcore Revolution.
The entrances are so bad they are laughable. The music is pathetic, watered down versions of the standard ECW theme songs (which are done by REAL bands; apparently Acclaim was too cheap to shell out for the rights). Francine’s music, which I believe is supposed to be “The Stripper”, sounds like amateur night at the local redneck bar. It’s REALLY awful. Of course, the fact that the character looks nothing like Francine doesn’t help matters.
Yeah, there are a ton of modes, but what’s the point if the gameplay sucks (which it does). Warzone was great way back when, but times have changed. Unfortunately, Acclaim seems to be reverting back to its Ack-Lame! style of old. This game is simply Attitude with different texture maps and sounds.
Take a pass on this one, and pick up WWF Smackdown. Or if you just HAVE to play a game with ECW characters, pick up Attitude for $20, and make your own in the Create-A-Wrestler section.
That appears to be what Acclaim did.