Game Over Online ~ WCW Nitro

GameOver Game Reviews - WCW Nitro (c) THQ, Reviewed by - Prolix

Game & Publisher WCW Nitro (c) THQ
System Requirements 166mhz Pentium, 16 Megs, 150 Megs HD space, 4x CDROM
Overall Rating 38%
Date Published Sunday, December 6th, 1998 at 09:54 AM


Divider Left By: Prolix Divider Right

Let's face it, consoles have dominated PC's in terms of wrestling games. The only wrestling games ever to come to the PC was the line of arcade style WWF games with absolutely no real value. Anyone familiar with consoles knows the N64 arguably has the best wrestling game available "WCW Revenge", however one might argue "WWF Warzone" is better, but I like them both. A little less than a year ago THQ released its highly anticipated "WCW Nitro" on the Playstation, admittedly I hurried out and bought it. Shortly thereafter I returned it, praising my self for saving the receipt. The question is brothers, ooooh yeahhh, will this port from THQ live up to its console counterparts?

WCW Nitro features all the WCW players and the N-W-O crew. Compete in events such as; singles, tag team, battle royal, and multiplayer mode. Fight in all of WCW's arenas such as Souled Out, Monday Nitro, and Halloween Havoc. Over sixty wrestlers are included each with their own taunt, clothing, and special finisher move.

One would assume that porting a PSX game to the PC would improve the graphics. However the grainy, pixilated, hideous graphics in WCW Nitro prove that the platform jump is not always a smooth one. First off lets start with the backdrops, they are a textbook definition of pixilation. If you're ever wondering how jagged textures can be I suggest you take a look at Nitro. Hell, I had a hard time figuring out if those squarish shaking textures near the ring were actually Nitro girls.

Next on to character animation's, great use of 1995 technology THQ! Nitro's creators even opted to leave in the jagged edges all over the wrestlers skin to create that "un-polished" rough look. The only thing I actually enjoyed about Nitro's graphics was the occasional shot of a WCW wrestler in the menus.

Control is fairly basic, it consists of a few buttons that perform blocks, punches, kicks, and chops. Along with the typical foot and fist moves you can also perform devastating pro-wrestling moves. DDT's, pile drivers, suplexes, and maybe four or five others. The only moves worth a damn are the power moves like the ones I listed before, so basically that's all a match consists of is doing the most combinations you can. After playing the PSX version of this game I was fairly adapted to the controls and expected more of the same. However, I was mistaken and was constantly confused as to what the hell I was doing.

Sound effects are a mixed bag; in a few aspects they are decent and in others they lack severely. As the match begins you hear WCW's premiere announcer, "Mean" Gene Okerlund, announcing the match-up. Along with the commentating, each wrestler has one or two unique sound effects that vary from grunts to taunts and rants. For the most part they are muffled and don't seem to really do the job. I would have appreciated a lot more comments from the wrestlers themselves, like Hulk Hogan's N-W-O for life bit. For the standard wring effects like; the bell, the cheap noise the mat makes, and the grunts and groans from the wrestlers, the sound quality is mediocre at best and just doesn't compare in today's PC game market.

Gameplay consists of your basic "pro wrestling" havoc, that is beat the crap out of your opponent until you can pin him for three seconds. Fights consist of 1 on 1 or tag team matches with the occasional run in from a fellow N-W-O member or some guy you pissed off last week. Left out on the PSX version is the Battle Royal mode, which makes its appearance on the PC port, and honestly it's not worth a damn either. Most of the time I felt as though the match was moving in slow motion and really didn't capture the whole atmosphere of wrestling. It felt like I plopped down twenty-five cents for another cheap arcade experience. Another annoying quirk of the game is the lack or depth or moves for the bonus characters. Most of the "secret" characters are nothing more than the initial wrestlers but with different costumes on. True there are a lot of characters, but they all have the almost the same moves, which adds nothing to replay value. At least most of WCW's top superstars are included, like Hollywood Hogan, Macho Man, and the Stone Cold rip off Gold Berg.

Before I talk about fun factor I must admit I'm a WWF fan and I think WCW is for white trash and rednecks, but that still won't prevent me from fairly reviewing a WCW video game. Fun Factor really should be called the fed up with crap game factor, I absolutely hated playing this game, and it should be avoided by all.

Multiplayer consists of TCP/IP, Modem, and IPX Support. With a cable modem host the game papered to be free of lag, but after the match we noticed a lot of inconsistencies in what happened.

The worst part of this game is the fact that I know what THQ is capable of, WCW Revenge on the Nintendo 64 is one of my favorite games and I know just how well THQ pulled that one off. Here is my advice for THQ: fire whoever is responsible for this monstrosity. Die hard fans are the only group of people I could see actually getting a thrill out of this game if you can overcome the bad control, wretched graphics, and cheap sound effects.

 

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Rating
38%
 

 

 
 

 

 

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