Not nearly what the original was.
Cons: Limited move list, No real single-player mode, Sound makes me want to go deaf, graphics are plain, some weird stoppages during the game, repetitive, terrible character balance.
Ultimate Muscle for the Gamecube was an awesome game, It had nice graphics, decent sound, but most of all, great gameplay. So when I found out that a PS2 Ultimate Muscle was coming, I was overjoyed. But then I got it, and couldn't believe what I was playing. What is this? Where is the style, cool, crazy gameplay? The PS2 Ultimate Muscle dissapoints on all fronts, and it isn't worth your time or money.
Gameplay: If you didn't know, this is a wrestling game. If you have played the original Def Jam Vendetta, picture that with unusual characters, and bad gameplay. Doesn't sound too good does it? Well, thats because it isn't.
Your main objective in a match is to either pin your opponent or just plain old knock their ass out. Well, knocking them out is pretty much the only logical option. If you try to pin them, you won't get the pin until they have barely any health left. In the end, it's easier to do one more move and just knock them out.
Speaking of moves, there are barely any. Each character has a basic attack, which varies between characters. Some examples of basic attacks are punches, kicks, uppercuts, etc. Each character also has a set of grapples. Heres where the main problem with movesets is. Each character only has about 4 grapple moves. If you have played just about any other wrestling game ever made, you would know that is barely any moves.
Your character can also dash and jump. In other games, you usually need to climb the turnbuckle to do a high-flying move. In this game, you simply jump. But usually jumping doesn't get you quite high enough to do a move. So what do you do? Why, jump off the ropes, of course. You have 2 main moves from in the air. Your basic attack, and a grapple. Whener you do an attack in mid-air, it usually homes in on your opponent, where ever they are.
Dashing is going to be your means of moving around. You can move normally, but you walk. And in a game this fast, you can't walk normally and not expect to get the crap beat out of you. Dashing is also good for dodging moves.
You can reverse moves, whether it be an attack or grapple. Attacks are easy to reverse, but grapples are pretty challenging. But thats the only challenge you are going to find. Once you learn how to play, (Which is after about one match) there isn't an ounce of challenge. The only thing you need to win is speed. Which is why the character balance is so terrible. The big guys can't compare to the smaller, faster guys. There might be 40 characters, but a lot of them are far too hard to play as. Some of them seem to have way too many disadvantages. For instace: If there is a big, strong guy, yo would expect him to do more damage than a little speedy guy right? Wrong. Almost every character does the same amount of damage. It makes some characters totally obsolete.
Each character has some very crazy special attacks. A lot of them are really cool. But some of them are downright stupid. Thankfully you can skip the animation if you want. Once you see a characters super move once, you won't want to see it again. A lot of them are long, and the ones that aren't cool are just really stupid. One characters special is screaming really loud to hurt the opponent. Doesn't sound so super, does it? To do your special, you have to build up your "special" meter. You do that by landing attacks on your opponent. But every time you get grappled, the meter goes down some. It builds fast though, and you will likely do 2 in one match.
Multi-player is maybe the sole high spot of playing Galctic Wrestling. If you have a multi-tap and 3 friends, you will have some fun. For a while. It's fun doing the super moves on your friends, but not for long.
Graphics: The graphics are okay, but nothing special. One of the coolest things about Ultimate Muscle for the Cube was how they used cel-shaded graphics for the characters. They haven't done that with this one, which sucks. The graphics in the Cube one gane it style. The grpahics in Galctic Wrestling are normal. the 3-D charcters look good, but there are definately problems with the graphics. There are major clipping problems. Especially when you have a really small character and a really huge character. Its really bad. There are some odd pauses. In the middle of the game, it will just stop for a second, and then go again. It doesn't happen a lot, when it does, it is really noticeable. Another thing that you will notice is the weird things in the backround. There is actually a lot of things. Blimps, balloons, people flying, and other odd things. There are many different arenas, and they are all kind of different. Some of the arenas are really original, but some of them are really normal. There are a lot of characters, and there are a lot of different designs for them. But a lot of them are nearly the same. There are some characters who are all part of a family. So, they look nearly the same. The animations are good, and smooth. The main problems with the graphics is the clipping. The game looks okay, but it can't compare to the Gamecube Ultimate Muscle.
Sound: Oh no. I don't know how anyone could survive this. There is some sound, but none of it is good. You have the commentators, which repeat their lines over and over. They have maybe 3 lines, so you will hear all of them maybe 5 times the first time you play. The characters have lines, but only one. Its usually right before a match when they say it. A lot of characters sound a lot alike, and their lines don't differ very much. There is a song that plays in the menus, but it is the same song over and over again. And the first time you hear it, it will get on your nerves. Now picture it everytime after that. It is terrible. You will end up turning off your TV, taking the game out of your PS2, and using it as a frisbee.
Value: The main single-player mode, which is the Tournament Mode. There are 40 characters. You have to unlock a good many of them, but you won't play that long. That is the only mode. There isn't a story mode, no online, nothing. No special matches either. The only other match you can do besides 1-on-1 are tag team matches, which are pretty cool, but are hard to play since you constantly have to switch who you are looking at in the middle of a match. And thats it. There isn't anything else.
I was a huge fan of Ultimate Muscle on Gamecube, so when I played this, I was shocked. There really isn't any reason to buy, reny, or even play this game. If you liked the original Ultimate Muscle, the I'm sorry to tell you that this game doesn't live up to any expectations.