Hands-onWWE Crush Hour

THQ had a new build of WWE: Crush Hour at its recent press event. The game itself is similar in structure to the Twisted Metal series, with several cars engaging in combat via missiles, machine guns, and a variety of other weapons. The World Wrestling Entertainment aspect of the game comes in the form of drivers--each one is a WWE wrestler, so you can select the motorcycle driven by the Undertaker or the massive 4x4 driven by Stone Cold Steve Austin. Unfortunately, not all of the vehicles are really keyed to each wrestler's personality, and in some cases, it seems really arbitrary.

The WWE element extends beyond just the drivers. Some of the arenas in the game have been loosely modeled after the Smackdown and Raw arenas that are shown on TV. In addition, each driver will have a brief introduction sequence complete with his or her entrance video and music from the WWE TV shows. During the race, you'll see portraits of each wrestler on the left side of the screen, and whenever one driver successfully destroys another driver's car, the winner will shout a winning quote.

Gameplay consists of driving around an arena and picking up different types of power-ups, some of which are hidden in backstage areas and others of which are in the main portion of the arena. There are a variety of weapon power-ups in the game as well as shield power-ups and items that will regenerate your driver's health. WWE: Crush Hour is scheduled for release on the PlayStation 2 and the GameCube in March.