The history of professional wrestling is long, strange, surprising, and utterly beloved. A game like WWE Legends of WrestleMania, then, feels overdue — a glistening celebration of historic highlights of the sweaty male soap opera from the decade where we all thought it was actually real.
Legends spans the first 15 years of WrestleMania, from Hulk Hogan’s tag-team match in 1985 up through Stone Cold Steve Austin’s defeat of The Rock in 1999. THQ has confirmed only a handful of wrestlers and managers — Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels, and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan officially join everyone listed above — but history is history, and with a promised roster of around 80 “sports entertainers,” you can figure out a lot of the names on your own. (Though we do wonder if the real-life feud between WWE honcho Vince McMahon and “Macho Man” Randy Savage could put a damper on this reunion.)
Gameplay breaks down into three unique modes. In Relive, you’ll battle through historical matches as the victor, knowing you’ll need to hit specific match milestones along the way. All you really need to do to win is pin your opponent, but if you can re-create some of the notable moments, you’ll unlock more game content. Rewrite mode is similar, except you don’t play as the winner of the match — you play as the loser with the chance to change history. The third mode, Redefine, lets you change even more. What if the main event between Hulk Hogan and Andre the Giant at WrestleMania III took place in a steel cage? For longtime fans, opportunities like that may make this title irresistible.
Actually, it feels like Legends is being aimed at lapsed fans rather than current ones, and not just in terms of the historical angle. The controls are simplified — only the face buttons and the left analog stick are used — so as not to scare off anybody who hasn’t already mastered SmackDown’s more complicated controls. We thought replaying famous matches would rob the game of its excitement, but it was actually pretty tricky to make certain things happen at specific times. (Then again, we were told that the A.I. was set too high in our early build.) And of course, you can still take any two wrestlers and pit them against each other in Exhibition matches, so it’s not like you have to stick to the history books. After all, what fun would wrestling be if it was scripted?
