Legends of WrestleMania Hands-On

In front of a crowd of 93,173 screaming fans, Hulk Hogan enters the ring, looking even more hulking and muscular than you might remember. His opponent is the gargantuan Frenchman, Andre the Giant. If you're a long-time wrestling fan, you might remember this match-up like it was yesterday, and surely you remember the finisher: After several attempts, the Hulkster manages to pick the big man up and slam him to the mat. After dropping the leg on him, it's 1-2-3, and Hulkamania runs wild as Hogan defends his WWF Championship belt. Only this time around, when Hulk tries to get the big man up, he falters, Andre's feet won't leave the ground, and the Hulkster grabs his back in agony. Then Andre balls up his mighty fist and strikes him down, lays down for the pin, and wrestling history is rewritten. Welcome to Legends of WrestleMania.

Developed by Yuke's (the same folks behind THQ's WWE SmackDown Vs. Raw series), Legends of WrestleMania is a different spin on the sometimes plodding, complicated wrestling action in SVR. With Legends, the goal seems to be creating a wrestling game that even nongamers can enjoy, with simplistic controls and bigger-than-life characters that hearken back to each wrestler's prime.

The limited demo of Legends that we played featured an exhibition match with four wrestlers to try out: The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Andre the Giant, and Hulk Hogan (along with the choice to have a manager--Bobby "The Brain" Heenan--accompany you to the ring). More compelling was the "Relive" game mode, which looks to be a series of matches based on classic WrestleManias from the past. Only one was available in the demo: the aforementioned WM3 matchup between Andre and Hogan.

Before the match began, a video intro gave a nice setup for the classic match, showing interviews and clips with Hogan and Andre that set up the rivalry (and brought back a lot of nostalgic memories in the process). The video then moved to the actual match, with the Hulkster pumping himself up before slamming Andre and getting the pin. From there, we were taken to a list of objectives for the upcoming match. These include everything from winning a "counter chain battle" at the start of the match, to repeating history and body-slamming Andre onto the mat.

Many of the objectives on the list can be accomplished only once your wrestler has built up his chain level, indicated by an onscreen meter that builds up as you pull off successful moves in the ring. There are three levels you can attain, and you can only pull off your finisher once you've built up your chain level to its maximum.

After brief entrances by both wrestlers (including the ring-shaped cart that brought Andre and Heenan to the ring), Hulk and Andre start jawing at one another in the middle of the squared circle. Soon, Andre takes a swing at Hogan and, if you time it right, you can earn the first objective by simply pressing the A button and blocking the big man's punch.

The in-ring controls are easy to learn in Legends: the X button is for punches; A is used to grapple your opponent (sometimes resulting in back-and-forth reversals guided by onscreen button prompts); the B button is used for special attacks and for climbing in and out of the ring; and Y is used for reversals. Although the move set doesn't seem to be as deep as that found in the SVR series, you can pull off more specialized moves such as Irish whips and certain submission holds.

Of course, the real draw for Legends' Relive mode will be in rewriting the history of the WWE's most famous bouts. During one match we played between Hogan and Andre, we immediately took the action outside the ring and began bashing on Bobby Heenan, only to have Andre come outside, grab a steel chair from under the ring, and blast Hogan in the face. Afterward, Hogan picked up the chair and returned the favor on Andre's dome, twice, cutting open the big man's forehead and eventually earning Hogan a disqualification, all of which is about as far removed from the original match as can be imagined.

Managers look to play a pretty big role in Legends' action. When we weren't beating on Heenan outside the ring, he was finding a way to interfere in the match, either by grabbing Hogan's foot when he approached the edge of the ring, or by climbing up on the ring apron and causing a diversion. Although it didn't have a huge effect on the outcome of the match, we never shied away from another opportunity to beat up on "The Weasel."

The game's cartoonish character models are a far cry from the more realistic characters seen in the SVR series; for example, Hulk Hogan's huge back muscles make him look like a balding, overly tanned turtle. Likewise, the game's simplistic wrestling style is obviously geared for the button-mashing crowd. The game's audio is turning out to be strangely anachronistic, too. Though long-time WWE announcer Howard Finkel handles wrestler introductions, the modern-day team of Jerry "The King" Lawler and Jim Ross call the action, which is especially strange when playing the classic Andre vs. Hogan match. Regardless, long-time WWE fans with a bent toward nostalgia will probably get a kick out of the game's roster, which should feature a mixture of classic and modern stars. Legends of WrestleMania is scheduled for release in late March.