June 3, 2005 - As true as the Madden Curse is a reality, I believe that the Xbox is also cursed with the inability to simply produce a competent wrestling game. Adding fuel to the fire, why does THQ insist on allowing other companies to attempt making WWE games for the Xbox when Yuke’s has already perfected the art on the PS2? Just port them over! In fact, even when Yuke’s strays from the WWE formula as it did with Rumble Roses, it still manages to make a wrestling game to make others envious. Yes, the Xbox can make games that are pretty to look at, but when will Bill Gates and Company just sign Aki or Yuke’s to do the dirty work? As it stands, we have yet another game to puzzle over as we await a real grappler to sink our teeth into.

For the record, WrestleMania XXI is the best looking wrestling game ever made. The screenshots didn’t lie and the entrance movies we all watched told the real tale. This game looks the part. While Studio Gigante has yet to make a good fighter or grappler, it did make WM21 look as realistic as can be expected. The wrestlers look eerily like their human counterparts, they walk and wrestle like them and their physical personalities and tell-tale traits are dead on. Yes, die-hards will nit pick about a small detail here or there (Chris Jericho probably) but one look at Triple H’s entrance or Batista or Christian in action and you will be humbled by the sheer perfection of the graphics.

And while the graphics may look all that and then some, the game suffers from almost every other conceivable problem known to man. Upon booting up the game you will immediately notice the lag in the menus and long (and unpredictable) loading times. The other initial problem is that while the game auto-saves your progress, it doesn’t boot into any particular profile (you must choose it yourself). And so, it’s quite possible to play for hours and earn nothing since a profile wasn’t selected initially. This is a small irritation I’ve experienced a few times and one that you will at some point face as well. The menus, for the most part, look quite good if a little sparse. Your initial options are Exhibition, Career, Create, Profiles, Xbox Live and Options. The Exhibition mode offers up the bare minimum of modes expected in a wrestling game as of late: Single (Cage, Hell In A Cell, Ladder Match, Table Match, TLC), Bra & Panties (a mode onto itself!) and Tag (Handicap, Triple-Threat, Fatal Four-Way, Last Man Standing, Battle Royal and Royal Rumble). Don’t bother looking for the other gimmick type matches available in every other wrestling game (Elimination Chamber, Hardcore Fights, Backstage Brawls, etc) they are not in this one.

In the Create mode, you will be able to create-a-wrestler (male only; which can be used in career mode, exhibition and on Xbox Live) and create-a-championship. The title/belt creation works fairly well and is a novel idea that every wrestling game should have but the CAW mode suffers a lot when compared to the Xbox’s last grappler; RAW2. The barometer used to judge any CAW mode for me has always been the creation of Sting (both Original Sting and NWO/The Crow Sting). So far, RAW2 has set the bar very high. In fact, RAW2’s create-a-wrestler mode was so in-depth that it actually kept track of how much time you had spent using it. And unfortunately, while WM21’s pre-rendered wrestlers may look amazing, its user created wrestlers don’t fare too well. My Sting looked like he had come out of rehab! And not because he was cured, but because they just wouldn’t have him any longer. The menus in the CAW mode lag and it’s sometimes hard to see what a particular piece of equipment/body part will look like without completely throwing away your current design. Also, don’t expect to create too many past superstars either. While the game does contain a large palette of costumes and accessories (more of which can be unlocked) they all seem aimed at creating very specific characters (Mankind in particular and the other “faces” of Mick Foley). As it stands, the CAW mode is not the worst ever created, but it sadly pales in comparison to RAW2 and the two latest Smackdown titles on the PS2. Worse yet, you’ll never get your characters to look exactly like you want them to.

Once you have a CAW, the next place to visit is the Career mode. Why? Well, simply because WM21 will not allow you to progress through the story mode using real Superstars. Yes, this is a travesty. I’ve taken HHH through every career mode known to man in every wrestling game I’ve ever played. I was simply dumbfounded at this decision but I suppose I understand the reasons. The career mode offers up the story of your CAW over the course of one year. There are no branching paths, no face/heel mechanic, just one story that is enjoyable enough to actually play through more than once. While the story won’t win any Academy Awards (there is a redemption angle but the Academy is so beyond that nowadays) it’s good and the voice acting is truly enjoyable. Studio Gigante has recreated each personality perfectly and while you may not be a fan of Renee Dupree initially, you will come to respect the “person” when you realize how he can get his personality across with just his voice. In fact, all the voice acting is beyond reproach and it seems like every Superstar that contributed to the mix gave it their all. The announcers, while not always original and timely, are even fun to listen to once in a while. The only problem with the career mode is really your own wrestler’s personality. He’s just really an ass and it’s truly hard to want to play as him early on.