WCW: Mayhem

WCW Mayhem, the 2nd to last WCW game before Vince McSatan bought the franchise, isn't quite as bad as most people make it out to be... but it's still not WrestleMania 2000 quality... not by a longshot. Mayhem's Create-a-Wrestler option is the first in a WCW game. The CAW is subpar in the N64 version. The PlayStation version's CAW is better (but not much). You basically choose from a limited amount of costumes, then pick theme music, faction, name (you can't use spaces or lower case letters), and a moveset (you don't get to select moves, you just select a wreslter for him to emulate). The gamplay isn't that bad, the controls are actually pretty easy to learn but way too basher friendly. The games career mode, "Quest for the Best", isn't advanced at all. It's basically just fight your way to a TV title match, fight your way to a US title match, fight your way to a World title match, and earn some hidden wrestlers along the way. EA was smart when they made this game in one respect: it has GREAT replay value, as about half the games wrestlers are hidden, and must be unlocked. And they aren't unlocked all the same way either. For instance, one might be "Win Quest for the Best with a crusierweight" or "wrestle in all 13 backstage areas", etc. Oh, yeah, the backstage areas. Mayhem was the first game to feature the option of wrestling backstage, although the backstage areas aren't nearly as interactive as SmackDown!'s, not by a long shot. A lot the cool codes ("Play in Classic Nitro", "Test Tube Wrestlers") don't work in the N64 version, only in the PlayStation version. All in all, this isn't a very bad wrestling game. If you're going to get it, try getting it for PlayStation.