WWE WrestleMania XXI Hands-On

It's hard to believe that American wrestling's greatest spectacle, WrestleMania, has been around for 20 years. From a television standpoint, the WWE has certainly come a long way since the heady days of Mr. T, Hulk Hogan, and Roddy Piper. Just as the grappling broadcasts have evolved in both size and scope, so too have wrestling video games, which have become a staple on all major consoles. As wrestling fans prepare for the road to WrestleMania XXI, we had a chance to check out the latest THQ Xbox wrestling game of the same name.

The first thing most fans wonder about any new wrestling game is the roster. THQ assured us that the absence of fan-favorite Eugene from WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw's roster would be rectified with WrestleMania XXI. Indeed, in our first exhibition match we chose the bushy-haired, dim-witted teddy bear as our wrestler of choice. Other superstars on the roster include stars from both WWE broadcasting brands, including JBL, The Big Show, John Cena, Shelton Benjamin, Triple H, and many more. The WWE Divas are well-represented as well: Trish Stratus, Nidia, Miss Jackie, and Stacy Keibler, among others, all lend their considerable and unique talents to the game. THQ also said that WMXXI would include a smattering of WWE legends, but the full lineup was not yet available.

For the most part, each superstar's in-game model looks quite similar to his or her real-life counterpart. Faces in particular look excellent, with Batista, Triple H, and Shawn Michaels coming across especially good. Unlike THQ's WWE Day of Reckoning, however, the wrestlers' bodies have less of a sheeny texture effect on their skin, which makes for a less flashy, if slightly more realistic effect. More subtle details, such as veins bulging on a superstar's legs, add to the overall quality of each wrestler's appearance.

The biggest in-ring innovation in WMXXI is the game's pro-reversal controls. The basic premise is that nearly every move found in the game can be reversed with a simple flick of the trigger button. Each reversal "window" is highlighted by an animated exclamation point that briefly flashes onscreen. To execute a grapple reversal, pull the left trigger before the exclamation point disappears; to pull off a strike reversal, pull the right trigger. You'll need to be quick on the trigger to execute reversals, as the timing varies depending on the move. In general, strike reversals have a much narrower window than grapple reversals. Grapple controls are divided between specialty/submission and quick/strong (mapped to the A and B buttons, respectively). The type of grapple is determined by either tapping or holding down the appropriate button and combining that with the directional pad. To pull off a specialty grapple, for example, you quickly tap the B button and choose a D pad direction. To execute a submission hold, hold down the B button along with the D pad. If you fail to reverse a submission hold, you'll need to rapidly tap buttons to break the hold. The more fatigued your wrestler, the more difficult it will be for him to escape a hold.

While competing, each wrestler has a standard health bar, a location-specific damage indicator, as well as a heat meter, which will fill up throughout the match. Various actions can give your heat meter a boost, including pulling off strings of moves, taunting your opponent (by using the right analog stick), or kicking out of pinfall attempts. Build up your heat meter to its max and you'll be able to pull off your special move by pressing the A and B buttons together. During your finishing move, the animation will slow down to super slow motion to dramatically illustrate the punishment suffered by your opponent.

WrestleMania will feature a large variety of match types, including single, bra and panty, tag, handicap, triple threat, fatal four-way, last man standing, four-man battle royal, and Royal Rumble, as well a number of different ring options, such as cage match, Hell in a Cell, tables, ladders, and TLC matches. Throw in a number of actual WWE broadcast and pay-per-view locale options, including Raw, SmackDown!, Backlash, Judgment Day, and (obviously) WrestleMania, and you won't be short on match options with WMXXI.

Though sound wasn't fully implemented in our build of WMXXI, the game will feature 50 percent more voice-over work than found in THQ's SmackDown! vs. Raw. A career mode, Xbox Live support, as well as a create-a-belt and create-a-wrestler mode, none of which were ready to be played during our time with the game, will round out this wrestling title. We'll have more coverage of the game as we approach its March release date, just in time for the real WrestleMania XXI PPV event.