‘Legends of Wrestlemania’

‘Legends of Wrestlemania’

(THQ) for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Genre: Sports; Rating: T

Grade: C

Oh, how much I wanted this game to satisfy all my dreams of reliving the Ultimate Warrior/Hulk Hogan clash from my childhood. But to my bitter disappointment, “Legends of Wrestlemania” is too bland in action and the controls much too simple to make this the game I’d hoped it would be.

As a kid I found loads of entertainment in professional wrestling. My grade school friends and I would hold parties and wrangle our parents into ordering the pay-per-views so we could watch the drama unfold. Whether it was the Warrior, Hogan, Andre the Giant, Million Dollar Man, Jake the Snake or any number of the classics, we were hooked and I was eagerly anticipating a trip down memory lane with this game.

Reliving classic matches does have it advantages here. Video from the real-life thing sets up the matches, and it’s a fantastic way to ramp up the excitement before you take the ring. This quickly washes away, though, when you start actually playing.

The controls are way too simple, so after a few matches a repetitive button-mashing/timed-sequence dance is established and rarely leaves. This kills any momentum one should get when applying Bret Hart’s figure four or The Rock’s People’s Elbow. Plus, having all the wrestlers look ripped and glistening with oil gives me the creeps (King Bundy and Andre the Giant had none of the muscle on display here).

Whether playing online or off there are tons of match types if you want to match up legends from different eras, like Junkyard Dog and Stone Cold Steve Austin. This makes the game extremely accessible to newer and older fans, but disappointing to we older gamers who have a fond memory with the majority of wrestlers featured hurts this game’s ability for success.

Best to rent this one before deciding whether it’s worth a place on your shelf.

‘Wheelman’

(Ubisoft) for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

Genre: Driving; Rating: T

Grade: C

This game has been in development forever. And I mean ... forever. I saw demos of this at E3 back in 2006 and to wait three years for a game with as much hype as it had then only exacerbated the problems inherent throughout.

This is not a total knock on the game, however, because its main delivery of driving/action sequences is fantastic and entertaining. It’s repetitive, but luckily the story, which involves you guiding Vin Diesel through Barcelona as a driver with special skills, allows for some side missions to break up the monotony. The game’s visuals are strong, though the environment is a bit player unless the mission specifically calls for interacting with it.

Turning this game more into a clunker is the lack of gameplay options. The story mode clocks in at well under 10 hours, and there is no multiplayer whatsoever. Furthermore, the on-foot missions absolutely kill this game; they are monotonous, filled with glitches and play horribly.

Wheelman has some great aspects, but it plays more like a game with three years of development time with no real focus on the end product.

‘Wanted: Weapons of Fate’

(Warner Bros. Interactive) for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC

Genre: Shooter; Rating: M

Grade: C

While the movie “Wanted” was not much to get excited about other than some bizarrely entertaining CGI action sequences, the whole story and concept seems particularly apt for the video game world, where abandoning reality and physics-defying action are more readily acceptable.

Under that guise, “Weapons of Fate” is a decent effort at translating a movie into the video game realm. Once you learn how to bend bullets and slow down time, defeating enemies in a myriad of wickedly gruesome ways can be enjoyable. What hampers the game is the ease at which this is done; before long you discover that no one stands a chance against you.

The game primarily is a duck-and-cover experience. You move from one hiding spot to another, taking down opponents and moving along to the next firefight. There are some close-up, hand-to-hand combat sequences that are pretty brutal and bloody, but you see the various attacks all in short time, and after that are more annoying than thrilling. The set pieces, whether on a plummeting airliner or in a snow-capped resort, are exciting even if predictable and straightforward.

A lack of online play and poor replay value hurt the longevity of “Weapons of Fate,” so renting it and finishing it in a weekend will be easy and the best probable way to go.

—Chris Campbell, Scripps Howard