It was the age of legends. The golden age, in the Eighties and Nineties, when wrestlers were ludicrously dressed, larger-than-life characters... and the fans loved them for it. A time when a man named Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake could walk out on stage and wave his shears with pride.

WWE Legends of WrestleMania honors that era in fine style, paying mountains of respect to the athletes of old and the folks who adored them. Focusing on the first 15 WrestleManias (this year marks XXV), its 42-man roster mixes big names that everyone knows — Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, The Rock — with goofier favorites like Honky Tonk Man, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, and Koko B. Ware.

To better serve Legends’ nostalgic draw, developer Yuke’s has ditched the story-based mini-campaigns in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009. The centerpiece here is a 19-match WrestleMania Tour that either lets you relive a famous match (play it as it happened), rewrite it (e.g., change it so the loser wins), or redefine it (e.g., make a regular match a steel-cage match). All three match types start with a two-minute clip of archival WWE video that conveys the wrestlers’ rivalry and shows you what happened in their real-life match.

It’s a terrific setup, immersing you perfectly in the soap-opera stories that fueled old-time WrestleMania (and still do). The bouts themselves share the SmackDown games’ stunning graphics — crisply rendered wrestlers, glistening with sweat and a little blood — but the controls have been simplified to appeal to more casual gamers: grappling is significantly streamlined, and some of your big moves and counters are accomplished via quick-time events. Consequently, the game has a more arcadey, button-mashy feel; we liked it less than SmackDown’s more fully featured controls — and found the QTEs distracting at times — but we adjusted to it pretty quickly.

Several other modes offer lots more gameplay. Besides the typical Exhibition mode — where you choose performers and arrange single- or multiplayer bouts of various types (tag team, submission, royal rumble) — you can create your own wrestler and take him into a six-stage Legend Killer mode. Each brutal stage pits you against 10 foes, one at a time, with persistent health and no saving, so be ready for a challenge!

Whether you still watch wrestling or just enjoyed it back in the day, Legends is entertaining to the end. Its pared-down controls may disappoint hardcore fans, but they do make it more playable for newcomers — and players of all stripes will appreciate the giant bearhug it gives to nostalgia.

On Xbox 360

+ WrestleMania Tour mode strokes our nostalgia just right.

+ Loads of gameplay; lets you import SmackDown 2009 wrestlers.

- Streamlined controls may sadden SmackDown fans.

? How about a special edition with wrestler commentaries?

8.5