Hands-onLegends of Wrestling II

Acclaim recently showed off the Xbox version of its upcoming wrestling game, Legends of Wrestling II. The game expands upon the gameplay concepts found in the original and adds some new stuff along the way.

The most interesting thing about the game is its expanded roster. With the exception of Rob Van Dam, the entire roster from the original game is returning. There will be 22 new wrestlers in the game, including Rowdy Roddy Piper, Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Big John Studd, and, in an interesting twist, actor/comedian Andy Kaufman. All wrestlers will feature four different costumes. The game will feature music by longtime wrestling manager Jimmy "Mouth of the South" Hart, who also composed a lot of entrance music for the WCW. Hart retained the rights to much of that entrance music, and it will be used in Legends of Wrestling II where applicable. The custom entrance feature has been scrapped in favor of significantly better and more accurate ring entrances.

The game will include more match types this time around. You'll be able to set up cage matches, ladder matches, battle royal matches, and three- and four-way dances. The create-a-legend feature from the previous game will return and will be enhanced in currently unspecified ways. The intermediate start position setup that drove the first game's gameplay style returns in the new game, and it's been expanded to enable more multiple-move combos.

Graphically, the game has an all-new style that doesn't strive for too much realism, but the art style isn't nearly as exaggerated as it is the first game. The wrestlers look nice, and the animation seems pretty smooth so far.

Aside from the look and the obvious new features like the roster and match-style updates, the game felt a lot like its predecessor. We'll have more details on Acclaim's new wrestling game as they become available.