WWE WrestleMania 21 Full Review
Console:  Microsoft Xbox
Reviewer:  Steven White

Greetings Wrestling Fans from the control room of ProWrestlingGames.com.  The past few months have been a little rocky with regards to the direction of the website, and my position within the website itself, but I am pleased to say that all problems have now been resolved and I can go back to what I do best.

WrestleMania 21 is the first wrestling game to be released on the Xbox for about a year and half, with the last game being WWE RAW 2.  The WrestleMania series was previously exclusive to the Nintendo GameCube however, with last years decision to bring Day of Reckoning to the GameCube, THQ decided to move the WrestleMania Franchise over to the Xbox console.

Anyway, enough background information, let’s get on to the game itself, and see how it compares against other wrestling games currently on the market.

Presentation

I am going to begin by looking at one of the fundamental features of any game, and that is the presentation.  From my first look at WrestleMania 21 I noticed the menu system that the game uses is similar to that used of WWF SmackDown: Shut Your Mouth back on the Playstation 2.  Whilst this is not always a bad thing, in this case it is.  The menus are too complex and sometimes difficult to navigate through.  However, once you have the hang of this it is not that much of a problem. 

Another noticeable problem with the presentation of the game is transitions between menus, and game play.  Unlike WWE SmackDown vs. RAW on the Playstation 2 console, the game seems to lag a lot more during loading.  This is particularly noticeable when playing through the career mode of the game.  This can be annoying, and at times made me think that my Xbox console had crashed, however it had not.

With regards to the actual game play itself, the game is extremely accurate.  Wrestler introductions are extremely well done and are as accurate as they can possible be when it comes to a game.  For example, Eugene comes out in the exact same way on this game, as he does on WWE Television.  The moves on the game are also extremely well presented and again are very accurate.  This especially applies to finishing moves, which again look exactly like their real life counterparts. 

Overall Presentation:  7/10

Graphics

The Graphics on this game are probably it’s strongest point, and are the point on which the game should be marketed.  I have played almost every wrestling game released on any console, and the graphics on the game easily outdo that of SmackDown vs. RAW and Day of Reckoning.  This is most probably due to how well the character models are displayed and how accurate they are.  Accuracy is again a very strong point of this game.

The graphics on the Wrestler introductions are again done well, however they do have their problems.  Whilst the wrestlers themselves and the set designs are extremely accurate, the name bars containing your wrestler’s names are not.  The same font is used throughout on all of the name bars.  This is different to that of SmackDown vs. RAW in which the proper fonts are used.  Also, the bars themselves sometimes do not look accurate compared to their on screen counterparts.

The graphics contain in the menu screens are nothing above average.  However, they serve their purpose well, and I find no problems with them.  It’s worthy remembering whilst graphics are a strong selling point in the game market, a good game does not always need amazing graphics.

Overall Graphics:  9/10

Sound

Whilst many reviewers of this game have been very negative about the sound, I for one think that it is very good.  Whilst the general music in the game is the same music as on WWE SmackDown vs. RAW, the music is still very good.  The music is SmackDown vs. RAW is great, so my philosophy is, why change something when it’s working.

Accuracy in this game plays a big part once again with sound.  This time it comes down to Wrestler themes, and how accurate these are.  I have yet to find a theme on this game that is incorrect, and is inaccurate to the themes used on WWE Television whilst the game was being produced. 

During the wrestler introductions, the ring announcing is done well.  The wrestlers are announced to the ring by the actual ring announcers used on WWE Television and it all seems very accurate.  My only problem with announcing on this game is down to the commentary from Jim Ross, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole and Tazz.  Whilst commentary is nice to have in the game it gets awfully repetitive awfully quickly.  Too many times was I told that I wrestling in a RAW Arena, when I was infact Wrestling on a PPV.  In some respects it may be an idea to remove the commentary from future games in an effort to offer an increased roster.  I for one would not miss this feature.

Finally we come down to a unique feature of WrestleMania 21.  A feature that has yet to be seen on a Playstation 2 or GameCube release, and that is the ability to use custom theme music for you CAW Wrestler.  No longer does your wrestler have to enter to music provided by other WWE Superstars.  You can now use music copied from Compact Discs onto your Xbox Hard drive.  This is a nice, unique feature, and helps the game immensely. 

Overall Sound: 7/10

Game Play

The game play on WrestleMania 21 is good, but it could be so much more.  The moves seem too slow compared to the Playstation 2 SmackDown games, and it seems far to easy to beat down your opponent quickly.  There is also the ongoing problem of sometimes experiencing lag during play, hopefully the game will run a lot smoother when a sequel is released.

The game however has plenty of match features and the best career mode I have ever seen on a wrestling game.  Also, online play is possible, and the online mode is so much better than the one on SmackDown vs. RAW.  This means that they game has a huge amount of lasting appeal.

Overall Game Play: 7/10

Final Overall Rating For This Game:  7.5/10

Whilst this game is a must own for all wrestling enthusiasts, the game could still be much further improved in certain areas.