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WWF ROYAL RUMBLE (DC)
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Publisher: THQ.
Developer: Yuke's. Released: September 2000 (Europe). Genre: Wrestling. Posted 11th January 2023. By Shane Battams © 2023 |
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In the soap-opera world of wrestling, WWF Royal Rumble’s arcade approach isn’t too strange. Focusing on perhaps the most celebrated format of the sports entertainment enterprise, it seems like an easy win, with a frantic pace and exaggerated wrasslin’ action. Ported from the arcades to SEGA’s grey box in 2000, Royal Rumble’s use of the Smackdown! engine, together with a spirited attempt to capture the frantic nature of the format, ensures a solid amount of fun, especially with friends. Unfortunately, a lack of meaningful additions and poor longevity for solo players means it’s not the true wrestling game Dreamcast owners would have hoped for.
For those unfamiliar, the Royal Rumble is a 30-man contest that sees everyone trying to throw opponents out of the ring until only one is left standing. SEGA and Yuke’s take a frenzied approach to this stipulation, with matches typically lasting 20 minutes, seeing you striking, grappling and Irish-whipping opponents while wearing down other wrestlers, so you can eliminate them. Each match has a countdown, with time added for every elimination you perform. Once you eliminate 30 other opponents, you win, although if you succumb to elimination yourself, you can re-enter the match and carry on, albeit with your streak gone and a lower place on the leaderboards. It’s a much-loved idea and admittedly, Yuke’s capture the frantic nature of the match in a condensed, arcade-like fashion. It’s especially fun when 4 players are taking each other on.
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Yuke's reuse some of their Smackdown! assets, with the added benefit of lots more wrestlers in the ring at any one time
It plays the part too, with a modified version of the PlayStation’s Smackdown games powering it. Everything from animations to character models feel eerily similar, albeit with a newer gen sheen. The move list isn’t quite as complex, but it works well in the context of the mode type. During exhibition, which presents a more straightforward 1v1 match, the mechanics are altered slightly, as both you and your opponent are accompanied by a manager, and key button presses allow you to perform co-op moves, including double team finishers, distraction tactics and calling in your partner to hit a cheap shot. If that wasn’t crazy enough, matches sometimes feature a cavalcade of interference and even send you to the backstage area. Once worn down enough, opponents can be knocked out or pinned. It feels like it handles very well, and the pick-up-and-play nature suits the multiplayer especially.
Unfortunately, WWF Royal Rumble feels severely anaemic compared to the Arcade version. Despite how strong the roster was in 2000, there’s a meagre 21 wrestlers available here, with most of the big names like Stone Cold, Triple H and The Rock, but very little else. Bearing in mind that it’s a 30-man match type, this unfortunately leads to wrestlers re-entering the match multiple times, sometimes at once, making things feel stale fairly quickly. The exhibition puts you on a tour de force through these characters, feeling less repetitive as a result, but it too can be blown through and worn out quickly. Unlike dynamic ports like Crazy Taxi, the only additions from the arcade are unlockable versions of Shane and Mr. McMahon. It’s disappointing, to say the least.
Unfortunately, WWF Royal Rumble feels severely anaemic compared to the Arcade version. Despite how strong the roster was in 2000, there’s a meagre 21 wrestlers available here, with most of the big names like Stone Cold, Triple H and The Rock, but very little else. Bearing in mind that it’s a 30-man match type, this unfortunately leads to wrestlers re-entering the match multiple times, sometimes at once, making things feel stale fairly quickly. The exhibition puts you on a tour de force through these characters, feeling less repetitive as a result, but it too can be blown through and worn out quickly. Unlike dynamic ports like Crazy Taxi, the only additions from the arcade are unlockable versions of Shane and Mr. McMahon. It’s disappointing, to say the least.
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But with the Dreamcast powering this rumble, the presentation is admittedly rather good. Wrestling models look crisper than those in competing titles, appearing closer to their real-life counterparts, and while animations are clearly pilfered from Yuke’s PlayStation wrestlers, it looks great overall. The sound is a touch sparse, with a small selection of music tracks tending to repeat, canned sound effects and a distracting whistling noise when performing co-op moves. The real shame is how disconnected it feels from the product, missing a lot of the real-life dressings which made WWF special at the time, including a lack of entrances, music when wrestlers enter the rumble and distinctive animations which set wrestlers apart, outside of short, unsatisfying intros. The only thing that captures the feel of programming is the use of music during victory screens.
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WWF Royal Rumble is a weird one to grade. On the one hand, it plays well, with strong mechanics and it does a great job capturing the anarchic, exciting spectacle of the titular stipulation. But on the other, it feels as if Yuke’s made little effort translating it to best take advantage of the Dreamcast hardware. The addition of a meagre two extra characters doesn’t cut the mustard next to other arcade ports. That being said, those who happen to have four controllers and three mates spare might find this one worthwhile, as the game really comes alive during multiplayer scraps. However, those hoping for a compelling single-player wrestling game for their Dreamcast may want to look to the slew of Japanese-exclusive titles, as the west would never get that killer-app grappler.
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VERDICT
"WWF Royal Rumble plays well. It’s strong mechanics help capture the spectacle of its titular stipulation, but it feels like little effort was made porting it to the Dreamcast"
OVERALL: 6/10 |
MORE YUKE'S WRESTLING GAMES REVIEWED
WWE Smackdown! Shut Your Mouth (2002, PS2)
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WWE '13 (2012, Xbox 360)
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