WWE Day Of Reckoning

May 07, 2004 - Publisher THQ was gracious enough to this week 
give IGNcube an early sneak-peek at the E3 2004 build of WWE Day 
of Reckoning. The Yuke's developed wrestler, which is exclusive to 
GameCube, is still far from finished -- roughly halfway through -- 
but it's already showing massive promise and could very well be the 
best wrestling title on one of Nintendo's platforms since the Aki-
developed N64 games of old. 

IGNcube in March wrote an initial preview and a hands-on update of 
the title, both of which can be found here and here respectively. 
The version THQ showed off this week is considerably improved, 
with more playable wrestlers, new modes, polished controls and a 
far better understanding of what the company hopes the Day of 
Reckoning brand will mean to GameCube owners. 
This is not a WrestleMania branded title. It's not a sequel to 
WrestleMania XIX. It is, rather, an entirely new beast that THQ 
hopes will appease the wrestling hardcore and draw in those simply 
in search of a solid multiplayer experience. Day of Reckoning has all 
of the bells and whistles. That means a full cast of superstars -- 
some 40-plus. It means an enhanced grapple fight system with 
different strengths of grapples and strikes. It means a wide 
selection of venues to fight in and a number of different match 
types to choose from so that the brawls never grow stale. But the 
features don't stop there. Yuke's has also included a full-blown story 
mode in which players will use the game's detailed create-a-
superstar to feature to build their aspiring pro and then take him or 
her from the small time to the big show. On top of that, Day of 
Reckoning features a Bra & Panties mode in which the female 
wrestlers attempt to steal the clothes off each other as they fight. 
And naturally the title's graphics have seen dramatic improvements, 
especially where player models are concerned.

Day of Reckoning's main menu features six possibilities including 
the Exhibition (standard matches which are fully configurable and 
can be played alone or with up to three friends); Story Mode (which 
starts players off as an amateur and challenges them to beat down 
opponents until they can advance to the WWE); Shop Zone (for 
purchases); a Tutorial; a Create-a-Superstar mode and, of course, 
Options. The only mode available in the E3 build is Exhibition. In 
Exhibition, players can choose to fight in Single matches, or Tag 
Team, Triple Threat, Fatal Four Way, Handicap or Royal Rumble. On 
top of that, gamers can then set the sub-match type from a list that 
includes Normal, Hardcore, TLC, Cage, Hell in a Cell, Bra & Panties, 
and Ironman. The selection is commendable. 

The E3 build features 11 playable venues, but only two of them are 
unlocked: Raw and Summerslam. The rest of the list includes 
Smackdown, Unforgiven, No Mercy, Survivor Series, Armageddon, 
Royal Rumble, No Way Out, WrestleMania and Heat. THQ tells 
IGNcube that there may be a couple more entries added before the 
game is finished later this year. 

In Exhibition, players will be able to configure everything from 
match length to whether or not they want to turn pins, submits, 
DQs, first blood, knock-outs, rope breaks, interference, entrances, 
or tornadoes on or off. It'll even be possible to set the ring out 
count limit. 

The E3 version of Day of Reckoning features 10 of the 40 superstars 
in the game. The current lineup includes everyone from Chris Benoit 
to John Cena, Batista, Booker T, Randy Orton, Christian, Triple H, 
Stacy Keibler, Trish Stratus, and the mighty Kane himself. Each 
wrestler boasts different percentages for variables such as strength, 
speed, stamina, counter, charisma, submission, and over all ability 
and these do actually weigh in on the matches. For instance, it 
wouldn't be wise to pit Keibler against Kane in a battle of pure 
power, but the female superstar, whose speed is far greater than 
Kane's, would be able to run away from the giant if the situation 
called for it. 

One of the upgrades players will not be able to ignore is the 
overhauled graphic presentation the game has been given. Yuke's 
took a look at the rounded, bubbly character models in WWE 
WrestleMania XIX and decided to start fresh. The result is high-
polygon models complete with crisp texture skinning, facial 
animation systems, cloth physics, and even specular lighting. When 
the camera pans up close on Kane's face, gamers will be able to see 
the shadow of hair on his scalp, the crinkles in his forehead, the 
purple bags under his eyes and even some of the blemishes in his 
skin -- the texture application is that good. And due to specular 
highlights, every wrestler's skin looks as if it's glistening with sweat, 
which helps to capture the look of the real entertainment. (Yes, we 
realize that last sentence is a little disturbing and somehow not 
quite right, but it's true nonetheless.) Animation has seen some 
improvements over last year's game, too. Character move more 
smoothly, but there are still a few kinks to be worked out in the 
admittedly unfinished E3 build. 

Day of Reckoning is far more cinematic than its predecessor. From 
the pyrotechnic-filled wrestler entrances which feature the true-to-
life music of the superstars to the cinematic special moves that can 
be executed in the ring, the game is flat out more polished. The 
camera is zoomed slightly closer to the wrestlers as they brawl, 
which shows off the detail of the models, and whenever there's a 
noteworthy development the angle pans forward and around to 
shoot the action from dramatic angles. Some moves activate replay 
cameras that spotlight the motion in slow motion and with 
television-styled filters. It looks good. 
Meanwhile the wrestlers move quickly and with some agility around 
the ring. A pint-sized silhouette of a body positioned in the corner of 
each wrestler's name represents the inflicted damage upon that 
superstar. If the silhouette remains black, he or she is in perfect 
health. If, on the other hand, the silhouette is shaded red on the 
head area, that means that the wrestler has taken a serious 
pounding to the old noggin' by an opponent and that the particular 
area has been weakened. It's up to players to wear down specific 
areas of their foe, thus decreasing their stamina in that area and 
opening them to attack. Meanwhile a lifeline meter glows red, 
yellow or blue to indicate whether a wrestler's spirit is high, regular 
or in danger respectively. The more damage a character takes, the 
bigger chance his or her lifeline will drop from red to yellow and 
then blue, opening them for submission. 

Control is straightforward and intuitive. The analog stick moves the 
superstars around the arena. A button is used for grapples, B 
strikes, Y for running, X to lift, and the D-pad for taunts. In 
addition, L button is utilized to counter grapples and R button to 
counter strikes. Special moves are trigged by pressing A+B 
simultaneously. Finally, A button and down on the analog stick will 
cause a wrestler to try and pin his or her opponent. Seems simple 
enough and it is, but the action moves quickly and there are varying 
degrees of grapples to exercise. The brawls can be taken outside of 
the ring and a wide assortments of weapons used depending on the 
match type. One of the enhancements Yuke's has made to the 
weapons matches arrives in the form of attempting to be more 
realistic. Weapons will shatter and break upon impact and they may 
be unusable after that, but there will also be times when chair and 
tables will simply snap into another piece that can itself be utilized 
as a powerful weapon. 

WWE Day of Reckoning is set for release this September on 
GameCube and IGNcube will have much more on the game post-E3.
