WWE Day of Reckoning 2 First Look

LOS ANGELES--The first Day of Reckoning game was, simply put, the best WWE wrestling game GameCube owners had ever seen, combining an impressive visual style with a familiar control system, as well as including new touches, such as a weight system and momentum shifts. THQ is back, less than a year later, to announce the sequel, the aptly titled Day of Reckoning 2, which is also being developed by Japanese grappling-game specialists, Yuke's. The game was unveiled at a press conference held today in Los Angeles, which let us get our hands on a work-in-progress demo version of the game.

While Day of Reckoning 2 is the second game in the series, it isn't just a sequel in name only. This is most obvious in the game's story mode, which acts as a direct continuation of some of the storylines found in the first DoR game. As the producers put it, both DoR and DoR2 take place in the same "universe," and, as such, some of the storyline threads that were woven in the first game will definitely have an effect on the action this go-around.

One interesting thing to note about DoR2's story mode is that unlike other titles, you won't be working your way up from the bottom. In DoR2, you start out with championship gold around your waist and will be forced to not only defend your title from all comers, but also safely navigate your champ through the finicky backstage relationships that make WWE programming so unique. Rivalries will be a centerpiece in DoR2's storylines, but other motivations will also creep into the drama, like greed, betrayal, revenge, and even lust; all these soap opera-like elements will find their ways into the game.

Graphically, DoR2 is looking sharp so far, with WWE superstar models that are more detailed than ever. By bumping up the amount of polygons per wrestler, the Yuke's crew has been able to build player models that move away from the slightly cartoony look of the grapplers in the previous game and move toward a more chiseled and realistic appearance. Many of these new polygons have been focused directly into the faces of the player models. No longer do ring entrance movies find a WWE superstar with a pat grimace as he lumbers down the entrance ramp. Player expressions are more varied to feature a wider palette of emotions required by the game's more complex storyline. During the Booker T introduction, for example, Booker talks to himself for practically his entire walk toward the ring, pausing only briefly to execute his trademark "look at the hand, shake the head" routine.

As far as other improvements go, Day of Reckoning 2's crowds will eventually be fully 3D (thought they weren't so in the version of the game we played), and the camera angles during dramatic slams and aerial maneuvers sport a nice upgrade. Luckily, this graphical detail doesn't seem to come at the expense of in-game speed. However, during our demo time with the game, only one-on-one matches between Kane and Booker T were playable. The in-ring animations were quick and felt true to the overall quick pace of the sport. Whether this has anything to do with the fact that all animations were 100 percent motion-captured this time around isn't clear, but the fact remains that the game runs at a speedy clip, and the action is always lively.

Of course, storylines and graphics can only take a wrestling game so far...especially if the actual gameplay isn't worth a darn. Luckily, the quick pace of the game is bolstered by a responsive control system that has a few tweaks thrown in for good measure. Of primary importance are the stamina system and the new submission controls, which often work hand in hand with each other. First of all, in addition to the standard health and location-specific damage indicator, your grappler will also have a stamina meter associated with him or her. As you might expect, this meter will have an overarching effect on how your wrestler performs in the ring, which will, in turn, affect the choices you make. The more tired your wrestler gets, the less effective he'll be at pulling off moves, counters, or even getting around the ring. Indeed, in one demo match, we intentionally wore down our Booker T character to minimum stamina and then watched as he slowly lumbered around the ring, shoulders slumped and chest heaving from exhaustion. At times, he was completely unresponsive to controller input.

When it comes to submissions, you'll have four different types to perform on your opponent, and all are executed with the C stick on the GameCube controller. Push the stick up to pull off a power submission move, which is one that inflicts maximum damage on your opponent; push the stick down for a rest hold, which lets you keep your opponent pinned to the mat but also lets you regain some much-needed stamina late in a match. To pull of a humiliation submission, press the C stick left; here you're looking to make your opponent look silly in front of the crowd by, in effect, reducing his ability to gain back momentum. Finally, the converse type of hold--the show-off--is designed to pump up the crowd in your favor by building up your momentum and allowing you to pull off special moves later in the match.

In practice, the onscreen interface for these four submission types is still undergoing some tweaking, and for good reason. It's not always clear, for example, what you need to do to break out of a submission...or if you can do so at all. Still, these two gameplay additions will have strategic consequences on your approach to the game. Do you try to beat your opponent early with high-risk stamina-draining moves (while risking a possible early burnout)? Do you conserve your strength, hoping your rival takes himself out of the game? These are the kinds of choices the developers at Yuke's are trying to ingrain into the gameplay. With a few more months to go before release, there are still some adjustments to be made. But what we've seen so far is promising.

While only the singles match style was available for play in our demo, a quick peek at the game menus revealed the kinds of match types (tag team, bra and panties, and hell in a cell, among others) and WWE venues (RAW, SmackDown!, and a host of pay-per-view events) you've come to expect from a WWE game. While there's still no definitive word on the roster yet, we have confirmed that new WWE Legends will be playable in the game, including Hulk Hogan, Mankind, and the Ultimate Warrior.

Day of Reckoning 2 finds itself in the enviable and difficult position of following up a well-received GameCube title that was a huge hit for many wrestling gamers. The game's attractive visuals, sequel-minded storyline, and gameplay features (that reward strategic thinking) all add up to a game that looks to be progressing on solid ground. Day of Reckoning 2 is currently scheduled for a late summer or early fall release. We'll have more coverage on the game in the coming months.