Fantastic camera shots and sound make 'WWE' a game to reckon with

WASHINGTON POST
A professional-wrestling game with a "story" mode seems somehow appropriate, but in "WWE Day of Reckoning" (THQ/Yuke), this option has nothing to do with staged fights. It's just another name for the usual career mode, in which you start out at the bottom and try to work your way up. This mode puts you on a fairly straightforward path from beginner to champ while offering a quick tutorial on wrestling that lets you add new moves to your repertoire.
This lesson is essential to beginners who might otherwise be perplexed by "Day of Reckoning's" complicated system of grapple and counter moves, including reversals and counter-reversals. Seasoned wrestling fans, however, will have no problem diving into any of the game's six modes (we weren't exactly surprised to see that in one, female wrestlers can rip off some of each other's clothes in a match). It features 40 World Wrestling Entertainment stars animated in close-up detail -- you can see sweat fly off their bodies as they get hit -- but who sometimes move too stiffly.
The in-game camera automatically zooms in on the action and pans around to give players a TV-like presentation. Superb sound effects help you feel every punch and kick, and a great multiplayer option adds to the challenge. Yes, it's professional wrestling, but sometimes you just have to put on the cheesy costume and get in the ring.
X"WWE Day of Reckoning" by THQ/Yuke; $50; GameCube.