I have played WWF/WWE games for over 10 years. With a new era beginning with the upcoming release of WWE ’12, I have decided to look back on the wrestling games I played to see how they have evolved over time. The journey starts in late 1998, with WWF War Zone.
Before War Zone, I had only played one WWF game, which was WrestleMania for the original Nintendo. Therefore, War Zone felt like the first ever proper WWF wrestling game. At the time, I didn’t know much about previous titles, or the (arguably superior) WCW games made by THQ. All I knew in mid-to-late 1998 was that, due to its new Attitude, the WWF was on fire, and that War Zone, for the Nintendo 64, looked like being an incredible game.
At the time, it was. Well, to me, anyway. If War Zone was released now as the flagship WWE game, chances are that it would get a 3 or a 4, maybe a 5, out of 10 by most game magazines and reviewers. In 1998, however, War Zone was something completely new. The producers, Acclaim, had created what I personally consider to be the first true WWF computer game.
If you think nowadays that a roster of 50-to-60 wrestlers is a bit stingy, consider this: War Zone had just 16 wrestlers on the main roster. Okay, so a handful were hidden, but for all intents and purposes, only sixteen WWF Superstars made it onto War Zone. Fortunately, it was a good selection of wrestlers: Stone Cold Steve Austin, The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Bret Hart, The Undertaker, Kane, Mankind, Goldust, British Bulldog, Owen Hart, Ahmed Johnson, Faarooq, Mosh, Thrasher, Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Ken Shamrock. Dude Love and Cactus Jack were hidden, as were made-up characters including the Trainer and a ring girl. Apparently, Turok the dinosaur was hidden via a cheat code, although I don’t know for sure.
Although there weren’t many, most were welcome: besides The Headbangers, virtually everyone was a big name in the WWF at one point or another. In addition, Bret, Bulldog and Ahmed had left the WWF long before its release, so having them in beefed up the star power (which makes a change from nowadays, with cries of “The roster is outdated” if a wrestler leaves weeks before the game is due out). And each had their own unique unlockable. Goldust and Austin had a few extra attires; Mankind had Dude and Cactus as bonus characters; and the DX members had more items for Create A Wrestler.
Speaking of which: it’s hard to believe now, but War Zone was the first wrestling game ever to have a Create A Wrestler feature. You could make around 30 wrestlers, with basic options for attire. And yet they looked fairly lifelike, and as the equipment for certain wrestlers who never made the game were in, it was easier to make good creations of quite a few Superstars.
The main feature was Challenge mode, wherein you went through the entire roster, beating each wrestler as one Superstar, with a few grudge matches along the way. As you progress, you became Intercontinental Champion (making the cover of Raw Magazine afterwards) and then WWF Champion (which saw you grace the cover of WWF Magazine). It was basic, but it was still enjoyable for its time, and as stated, since each wrestler had their own unlockable, it was worth going through it with each wrestler. The only problem was the small window of time you had to save whatever item you unlocked, which could easily make 15 matches and several hours of game time rather pointless if you were too late.
As for the matches: there was a regular single match, tag team, gauntlet, weapons (hardcore), steel cage and Royal Rumble. Some of these hadn’t been in a game before, or at least not all together, and since many memorable match types (Table, TLC etc) hadn’t yet debuted, the line-up was fairly good. A big setback, though, was not being able to choose your adversary if it were the computer. Okay, so you could just redo the process until you get the opponent you want, but it was still an avoidable problem.
Other notes: although I didn’t know it at the time, the PS1 version featured an opening video (and possibly another cutscene or two) and the proper theme songs for wrestlers, which the N64 console lacked; in retrospect, this was understandable, but still annoying. That said, the N64 had no loading times, so it kind of evened itself out. Apparently, the PS1 version also lacked the Royal Rumble match, although I don’t know that for sure. There was the Training mode; an underrated feature wherein you practiced specific moves for each wrestler. High Scores kept a note of who was the best in the game. Each wrestler had alternate attire or, if you unlocked them, three for Austin and Goldust. Entrances were very basic, showing a wrestler at the top of the ramp; sometimes, not even that. Commentary was provided (with real voice-overs) by Jim Ross and Vince McMahon. And all matches took place at Raw Is War, although (in another I-should-try-and-confirm-this moment) if you win the Challenge and beat everyone again, apparently a WrestleMania ring became available.
Oh, I forgot to mention the control scheme. Various button combinations were required for moves, with finishers available when a wrestler’s health bar turned red. It was okay at the time, although it seemed very complicated when compared to the SmackDown games of years to come.
The main pros and cons are listed below.
Best Bits:
- First WWF game for Austin
- Challenge mode was enjoyable
- Innovate Create A Wrestler feature
Let-Downs:
- Problems in saving unlockables
- Limitations of N64 compared to PS1
- Roster could have been a bit bigger
Overall, though, War Zone was a pretty good game. Even when looking back, whilst not the greatest game of all-time, it still stands up as a fairly enjoyable title. That said, it was only the beginning of bigger and better things to come, including games that offered features that in 1998 were unimaginable. But producers Acclaim would only be in control for one more game – which will be covered in the next post.
