WWF EUROPEAN RAMPAGE REVIEW - January 1993
Off to a flying start, this one. Despite claiming on the box
that it supports 520STs, WWF European Rampage is in fact a 1 meg-only game. Then again,
though, that's actually something of a plus point. Why? Because the fact that un-upgraded
ST owners won't run the risk of being tempted to buy this lump of unmitigated trash is one
that might just help to keep the much-put-upon ST games market alive and kicking just that
little bit longer. Really, with a game like this it's difficult to know where to start. You can always take it apart on its merits as a game. Not a difficult one, this. WWF European Rampage plays like it was written with a Beat-Em-Up Construction Kit - the entirety of the gameplay consists of walking up to your opponent and hitting the fire button to punch him a few times until he falls down then stompimg on him a bit, continuing until his energy is sufficiently low for you to flop down on top of him and pin him down for three seconds, winning you the match. The tag-team aspect of the game serves only to drag each bout out for twice as long (if your opponent escapes to his corner, he can tag his partner, who then comes in with a full energy bar, forcing you to start the whole tedious process over again), and the more complicated moves are both awkward to execute and totally unnecessary. Well, alright, so the gameplay is pathetic.
Doesn't that usually mean that all the programming effort has been expended on making the
game a visual and aural feast? If anything, even worse. You get a strictly limited selection of WWF 'wrestlers' to
choose your characters from, many of whom are hopelessly out of date, and none of whom
boast any of their real-life trademark moves or characteristics. The atmosphere-building
insult-trading section of the first game has gone, and there's none of the showbiz
razzamatazz that's the real secret of WWF's success as a spectator event. The 'tour'
aspect of the game consists of repeating the same three bouts (you always have to fight
The Nasty Boys, The Natural Disasters and the Legion Of Doom) in 'different' European
venues which are actually exactly the same crude arena with different flags and banners
each time, which means the game totally lacks any compulsion to play on to the finish. |
||
By Ocean
If you've got less than a megabyte, you won't have to worry LOWS No gameplay, looks and sounds awful, no WWF feel, ridiculous price tag... need
I go on? STF RATING 7 PERCENT |