WWE Day Of Reckoning is "the" game for any wreslting fan to pick up on the Game Cube.....
WWE Day Of Reckoning starts you out as your created wrestler in a story mode that puts you in the position of a new wrestler coming up in the ranks and trying to become champion. The story mode is very linear. In fact throughout the entire story mode you only get one choice: If you want to be on Smackdown or Raw, and even then the story mode is pretty much the same thing just with different guys. You first start getting hired by Mr. MacMahon and having your first match in a house show. Eventually you get on Heat, which leads into you getting on Raw. During some of these matches there will be goals for you to accomplish, such as doing your finisher on your opponents twice or etc. The story mode is linear but refreshing. It’s not a bad story mode; I just wish it had more choices.
The gameplay is comparable to that of No Mercy, since there are strong grapples and weak grapples. Depending on how hard you press the button and what direction you move the analog stick in you will get a different move. The directional pad is for taunts, which build up your meter and your momentum. There are three letters that spell “WWE” and you fill them up. When one is filled up you get a special: which is where you can do your special move. You can steal your opponent’s special, which is done by pressing L+R+A+B simultaneously. There’s also the added Momentum Shift feature. The Momentum Shift is something that you do to save yourself when you’re getting beat up by the opponent. You can only do it in danger, and it can only be done once. What happens is you steal their momentum by doing this move (which is usually a low blow, but you can change it up for your CAW).
There are some bad elements to the gameplay. The AI can be bad at times. In story mode, when you’re in tag matches, you’re pretty much screwed since the AI isn’t smart enough to do things such as, coming in to save you, on its own. There are commands you can give it by using the Z button in the directional pad to make it come in to save you. That was very helpful. If you play this game on expert, it’s pretty hard to do anything. It’s more like a reversal fest, which is contrary to what’s actually on professional wrestling. Sure they may go back and forward with reversals for a while to get the fans more in to the match but it was never a main part of the match.
The CAW mode in this game is complicated to say the least. You really have to play around with it to start to understand it more. The CAWs do look like the in game wrestlers, which can’t be said for other games. You can take your picture for your CAW to be seen at the select screen. There are move templates that you can buy at the Shop Zone that you can equip to your CAW. You can see some familiar movesets for Jeff Hardy, Brock Lesnar, and Mick Foley. You can also buy weapons and arenas in the Shop Zone.
The graphics in this game are awesome. Better than Wrestle Mania XIX’s clunky, blocky, graphics. As I said earlier, the CAWs look like the actual wrestlers.
This game has some serious clipping issues. Like if you’re doing a running clothesline sometimes your arm will go right through the person’s neck, things like that. There’s a particular part in the tutorial where you have to do something like a running clothesline and it’s hard to accomplish because of the clipping issues.
In conclusion, WWE Day Of Reckoning is a must see game for anyone looking to pick up a good wrestling game for the Game Cube. It has problems and errors that just don’t quite make it as good as No Mercy, but it’s still a good game for wrestling fans to pick up.