Sunday, April 26, 2009

THE ADDENDUM TO END ALL ADDENDUMS

Watchmen is easily one of the most influential comics to ever be published. This is a fact that cannot be disputed even by the staunchest of critics of the comics. One of the things that made it great were the addendums at the end of each chapter to flesh out the characters of this fictional Earth and their society's problems. It was also one of the reasons why many speculated it would be impossible to make it into a movie.

Well, here we are two months after the motion picture's release without any of the addendums included and many, myself included, thought it was spectacular.
However, many diehards of the franchise were furious that Zack Snyder couldn't find a way to fit in several of the addendums and many newcomers to the series couldn't understand every facet of the Watchmen reality without them.

In response to their fans and in a stroke of money-making genius, DC has released an animated feature of Tales of the Black Freighter with the DVD including a live-action feature representing the Under the Hood addendum.

This DVD addendum to the movie (that started as addendums to the novel) is a near-perfect representation of these stories within the story.

The first story, Tales of the Black Freighter, is the response to the comic's quandary: "If there are superheroes in real-life for these people, what would their comics be like?" Not a common thought when developing a plot, but that's part of the beauty of Watchmen. The answer to this question was pirates and the supernatural (ghouls, demons, etc.) would populate the pages of these fictional rags. Tales of the Black Freighter is a mirror for the story of Watchmen as it shows in a microcosm that sometimes the best of intentions don't always have the best of results and that sometimes one's focus on the worst aspects of life can blind them from everything good in the world.

The Black Freighter is a ship of ghoulish pirates who have committed so many heinous acts over their lifetimes that their souls are cursed to sail the seven seas on hell's personal sea vessel in search of more damned souls to hoist her rotten masts. A testament to just how hard it is to find good help these days.

The particular tale in Watchmen that we see is how the Black Freighter attacks and ransacks another pirate ship, and how all the crew is slaughtered except the captain. The captain washes up on a desolate shore with the carcasses of his crew and the sole intention of seeing his family again. He also fears that the Black Freighter will sail towards his home and the very threat of his family being in danger is enough to keep his resolve strong.

In desperation, he strings up the carcasses of his crew into a makeshift raft and sets off in the hopes of reaching his family before the Black Freighter. Alone, hungry, and left to drink seawater, he begins to go mad, talking to his slaughtered friends' dead bodies. Disgusting sights begin to drive him further into madness as gases trapped in his crews bodies begins to make them explode and leave a trail of blood in their wake that attracts the seas' most feared predator: the Great White Shark.

With pieces of sharpened parts of his makeshift raft, he stabs one of the sharks in the eye and jams the staff deep into the cranium of the shark, killing it, adding it to his raft of death and scaring off the remaining sharks.

After nearly losing all hope and preparing to succumb to the sea, the raft finds shore. Convinced that the Black Freighter has reached here before him, the captain believes with every fiber of his being that all the shapes draped by shadows by the night sky are actually pirates laughing at his futile efforts.

He skulks through the town, approaching his home, the longing to see his family all that is keeping him going. The night continues to play tricks on him as he beats to death what he believes to be a sentry positioned at his home, only to come to his senses after his daughters' shrill screams piece the night air and to realize he just beat his own wife to death. In his panic, he runs back to the sea where he sees the Black Freighter waiting for him, ready to finally claim its next soul.

The captain was so blind to his hate of the Freighter and that it would hurt his family, that in the end, the captain was the only one to do the harm as he condemns himself to an eternity of sailing the seven seas as a member of the Black Freighter's crew with one misguided act.

The animated version of this on the DVD perfectly depicted the gruesome fates of the captain and his crew from the original story and Gerard Butler (300) played the voice of the narrator/captain very well, but I couldn't help but want to hear him yell "THIS IS SPARTA!" or more appropriately "THIS IS THE BLACK FREIGHTER!" the entire time.

The other story is much simpler. Under the Hood is an autobiographical story revolving around the original Nite Owl and his driving motivations showing why he put on a mask and fought with the Minutemen. Not as deep a part of the universe's main plot, yet still critical nonetheless because it retells almost the entire back-story to the Watchmen's world and sets the stage for the events taking place in the novel itself.

DC knew that an autobiography with no pictures clearly wouldn't work on a DVD though. In order to counteract this problem, Under the Hood was turned into a magazine news program episode. Similar to 60 Minutes, The Culpeper Minute gets all the minor and past characters of Watchmen to come out and tell their story as if a Mike-Wallace-type was interviewing them.

All the actors who took the extra time to make this half hour mini-feature were great and showed how in-depth they got into their characters while explaining a lot of the key details that the main feature movie had to bypass to keep it less than three hours.

This supplemental DVD for the movie Watchmen is really high in quality and succeeds in filling in several of the gaps from the main feature's plot, but considering both mini-features combined barely mark an hour, it is tough to say this is worth $20 (even with the sneak peak at this summer's animated Green Lantern feature included).

Unless you are a die-hard fan of the Watchmen, then you can probably pass on this DVD and wait till it is included with the Director's Cut Special Edition of the Watchmen DVD for a much smaller price. Rumor has it that these features will be worked in at key parts of the movie's story just like in the book, which would make the Director's Cut a much smarter buy for the die-hard fan than this DVD if they can wait a couple more months.

Good quality for poor quantity at an even worse price makes the Tales of the Black Freighter DVD only worth 2 out of 5.

-Ray Carsillo

Friday, April 17, 2009

LOOKING LIKE A KNOCKOUT

It's getting close to summer and everyone wants to look their best. One of the recent big fads in gaming has been Nintendo's releases of fitness games to help you burn calories and shed pounds and to continue lasting the vein of last summer's sensation, Wii Fit. The best part of most of these games is they have proven that if you keep up the regimen dictated by the games, you will actually get into better shape and lose weight.

Of course, a lot of these exercises depend on the Wii's Balance Board so it is almost like a gym membership since you're dropping $90 for the board and Wii Fit and another $40-$50 on any supplemental games.

So, jumping on the fitness and working out at home bandwagons, a couple of recent releases for the Wii are trying their best to help you fit into that itsy-bitsy, teeny-weeny yellow polka-dot bikini for the ladies or, for the guys, to look good to pick up that lady in the yellow bikini. These two games are Ubisoft's Gold's Gym Cardio Workout and 2K Sports' Don King Boxing.

Don King's Boxing

Now, the Gold's Gym game is an obvious title for a workout game, but Don King Boxing? In order to appeal to a larger audience, yes. One of the key features of this game is a workout mode that has you jumping rope, hitting a speed bag, shadow boxing, doing squats, or hammering a punching bag and the exercises work, especially the jumping rope. My calves were on fire after that. The problem is that the game awards you "fitness points" as you workout instead of just telling you how many calories you're burning so you never know how effective your workout is going and what areas you need to work on more.

Another nice feature about the workout mode is that the Wii Balance Board also acts a scale before each workout so you can track your progress each day, but this feature comes standard with Wii Fit so it's nothing spectacular.

If you can't just get yourself up to working out, even with video games, the game has an interesting story mode to help you get moving and shedding pounds. The cinematic scenes for the story mode are great because they are live action and the story plays out like a documentary feature as you progress. The only problem with the story itself is it sounds like an adaptation of the first four Rocky movies.

You start off as a kid on the streets. You work your way up boxing in dilapidated gyms when the champion gives you a shot after he cannot find any decent competition. You beat the champion and become best friends with him. Then you beat some difficult heavyweight contenders coming after your belt. Then a behemoth boxer from overseas comes out of nowhere and challenges your friend in an exhibition. The behemoth knocks out your friend so hard that he dies in the ring. You then avenge your friend and retain your title by pummeling the behemoth in the ring for the entire world to see. All played out, of course, to "Eye of the Tiger" by Foreigner.

Add to the lack of originality, the fact that you can't even customize your boxer and he has to be known as "The Kid" for the entirety of the game is frustrating.
The only real interesting aspect of the story mode was when you got the chance to get into the shoes of Archie Moore, Rocky Marciano, Joe Louis, and many other legends and replay some of the great matches of all time in order to teach your boxer a cliché lesson like "it ain't over till it's over". Considering though the licensing rights that have already been snatched up by EA for Fight Night Round 4, the real legends you would want to see like Ali, Tyson, or Holyfield for the more casual fan, are nowhere to be seen.

You would hope from a boxing game for Wii that you would have better controls than Wii Sports' boxing that launched with the system, but the ones in Don King's Boxing might actually be worse. You never throw the punches you want to throw with your motions. Not that it matters since the A.I. is so sad that you can get away with just flailing your arms wildly and still walk away with a win. The entire story mode only takes a maximum of four hours to complete because of its simplicity. At least you'll break a sweat if you play it through enough.

Combine the lack of an original story, awful motion controls, lack of boxer choices, and horrible A.I. and this game is easily my worst game of 2009 so far. Don King is a spectacular promoter so I'm sure he'll find a way to sell a few copies of this, but he once said "You go for the quality of the performance, not the longevity of it." Well, this has no longevity and the quality is even worse. Another bomb from 2KSports.

Ratings are based on a system of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Graphics: 5.0: Visually this game is barely worth your time. There are no real-time effects to the face or body of your adversary as you pummel him. The only saving graces are the live cinematic scenes in-between each bout in story mode.

Audio: 6.5: The audio is barely up to par. Jim Lampley from HBO Boxing does a nice job with the commentary, but his script is ridiculously short and he starts repeating himself by your second or third bout. The music is only great if you are an "Eye of the Tiger" fanatic.

Plot/Plot Development: 5.0: When a game steals its plot from the first four Rocky movies, I can't even consider giving it a good score. There has to be a different plot out there for boxing fans.

Gameplay: 3.0: The controls never do what you want when you swing and the amount of haphazard punches is mind-boggling.

Replay Value: 6.0: The workout feature does help you break a sweat, but not being able to view how much you should work-out doesn't help if you're trying to use this as a workout tool, which is a shame considering Wii Fit has shown that, when properly applied, these games do work as a mild substitute for an actual gym. Add in a lack of boxing options from the lightweight, middleweight, and heavyweight divisions, and the limited "legends" roster and even the vs. mode is disgraceful.

Overall (not an average): 2.5: This is one of 2K's saddest attempts at a license in their, rather extensive, history of badly-licensed drivel. Considering it is out 4-6 months before Fight Night Round 4, 2K could have established a strong position in the boxing genre, however, this game just falls down flat on the mat. This game isn't even worth buying for the die-hard boxing fans. I would steer clear of this at all costs.

Gold's Gym Cardio Workout

Now at least Gold's Gym Cardio Workout doesn't try to pretend it is something it isn't. This is straight up a workout game. I played this game for only an hour and I ached for days after.

I'm going to get my two complaints about the game out of the way quickly. First, there is no feature that weighs you with the Wii Balance Board. This means you have to weigh yourself and enter it in for the game to calculate how many calories you burn off per exercise. It's a little inconvenient, but not a big deal.

The second issue is a bit more personal. For a lot of people it is more a mental struggle than a physical struggle to lose weight, and this aspect got under my skin a little. When you enter your height and weight, your avatar's body shape changes to accommodate what the game feels your BMI and general appearance should be. I admit that I am 5' 9" and 205 lbs, this is a little overweight, but I've kept myself in decent shape over the years so it's not like I'm rolling down the halls here at ESPN. If you looked at my avatar, you might say something different though.

For people who are using these games as the legitimate weight loss tools that they are, this could discourage them right off the bat. You know who else was 5'9" and between 200 and 205lbs.? Tiki Barber in his final year with the New York Giants (at least that's what he was listed as). Muscle weighs more than fat so maybe next time Gold's Gym should remember that, especially considering all the meatheads I'm sure they have in their employ.

Of course, one could argue the opposite: Some people could use this demeaning representation of themselves as a motivational tool; once they see the image the computer spits back out at them they will be more likely to work harder to rectify the insult. And if you're relying on video games to get back in shape then it might be a fairly accurate image for most people.

I digress. The game is a great game for its purpose. Like I said earlier, after just an hour of shape boxing, squats, push-ups, crunches, leg lifts, jogging, and jumping rope, I was ready to collapse and was in serious pain for three days afterwards.
To help motivate the regular gamer, the more you workout, the more you can unlock for your avatar as well. Every gamer loves unlockables.

This game has a purpose and it delivers. It helps you get in shape with a variety of exercises and makes an awesome compliment to Wii Fit's Yoga and Strength Training exercises to help you take that next step in your video game workout (I cannot believe I just typed that).

Ratings are based on a system of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Graphics: 7.0:
This is a visually average game. It's got that cartoony Mii look going for it, but at the end of the day, the visuals aren't going to sell you on this game if you're looking for a workout.

Audio: 8.0: The audio is solid. It gives a variety of generic music choices and "Eye of the Tiger" because everyone loves working out to that cliché (I guess). A lot of the exercises rely on audio cues because it is hard to look at your TV and do push-ups and everything seems to work adequately.

Plot/Plot Development: N/A: It's a workout game...

Gameplay: 8.0: The controls are accurate and respond properly to your motions and it gives you solid feedback.Replay Value: 9.0: In the end, the replay value is really going to depend on your will to want to keep working out, but the game helps nudge you along by offering unlockable content and a variety of exercises to keep it interesting enough for you to come back a half hour a day or more.

Overall (not an average): 8.0: I still think Wii Fit is the premiere exercise game out right now, but this makes a great complement, especially since it is only $29.99 in most stores. If you're looking to get in shape quick before the weather really starts to warm up, pick up Gold's Gym Cardio Workout, out now for the Nintendo Wii.

-Ray Carsillo

Sunday, April 12, 2009

THE RETURN OF KING TUT?!

I usually like to use my column here as a chance to inform people and maybe entertain at the same time. I usually like to use my column as a force of good. I also usually don't have the clarity of mind when driven to such a rage by bonehead maneuvers by the powers-that-be to properly channel it into a semi-coherent comic book rant. This article goes against that norm, though.

The powers-that-be in this case happens to be DC Comics, which also happened to be the subject of my last semi-coherent comic book rant after they killed off Batman.

Even with the death of the Dark Knight well behind us and being about one-third of the way through the "Battle for the Cowl" story arc, DC still has several titles that deal with the Dark Knight by using the spin that these are simply excerpts from Batman's greatest case files (after all, Batman kept meticulous records). These titles are the Batman/Superman crossover and Batman: Confidential.

For the most part, I've enjoyed these titles as you see interesting spins on Batman's first team-up with Superman against Lex Luthor or a different take on the Joker's origin story. However, recently I've been noticing a trend becoming quite clear after the events of the recent 3-issue story arc in Batman: Confidential.

This trend is the integration of long-forgotten villains or villains introduced through non-comic book media into the comic canon.

The most recent example is the villain King Tut. For those who are not familiar with the many forms of Batman in the media through the years, King Tut is a villain who never appeared in the comics, but was a fabricated villain for Adam West's 1966 Batman series. Victor Goodman was an archeologist obsessed with the legends of King Tut. While moving part of his King Tut exhibit into the Gotham Museum of History, an Egyptian urn was dropped on his head and when he awakened, he imagined himself as the ancient Egyptian ruler (As was the motif for the show, the villain was always played by a celebrated actor or actress; in this case, the split personality archeologist Victor Goodman was played by Victor Buono). WHAM!

The obviously bad idea that, 43 years after King Tut's appearance in the campy TV show, the brass at DC felt it was a good idea to bring this character into the comic storyline is a clear sign of desperation in terms of writing. It symbolizes a lack of confidence in their planned re-launch (when they bring the Dark Knight back sometime within the next six months) that they are adding campy 60s villains to one of the most celebrated rouges' galleries in comics. ZZZAP!

The next thing you know, we'll be seeing Vincent Price's "Egghead" character (a man with an egg-shaped head, pale complexion, and an obsession with poultry embryos) or Roddy McDowell's "Bookworm" (a really ticked-off librarian and a Riddler knockoff) with his "Book-Mobile" causing Batman and Robin about as much difficulty as they did in the 60s (also, both never in the comics). BONK!

"What about characters that did appear in the comics and the TV show?" you ask. What? Like False-Face (master of disguise character), who only made one appearance in the comics (Batman #113, February, 1958; a bad year of villainy for the Dark Knight as it was also the year Calendar Man made his infamous debut) before people said he was nothing more than a toned-down Clayface? (False-Face would be re-imagined again when the animated series Batman Beyond used him as an international spy, but he failed there, too) He was used in the TV show only because he was a jewel-thief and not a murderer which played better for 1966's primetime audiences and his costumes were easier to construct using the technology for the time (he was played by Malachi Thorne of Star Trek fame and nearly sued the producers of Batman for refusing to put his name in the credits in order to sell the illusion that False-Face could be ANYONE; in the end they settled on his name appearing in the end credits of the last part of his two-part arc). BAM!

If Louie the Lilac (played by Milton Berle, a gangster obsessed with lilacs and the color purple; basically a cheap Joker knock-off because Berle refused to wear any heavy make-up for a different character) makes an appearance, I may have to swear off Batman comics like I did with Spider-Man after his most recent re-launch. OOF!

To prove my point, with the "Battle for the Cowl" re-launch effort underway, old one-shot villains are re-emerging for no reason whatsoever. Jane Doe, Adam Bomb, Anarchy...do any of these names ring a bell? No? Of course not! They are being dragged out of obscurity and into the limelight for no reason except for DC to show you how much they've screwed up over the past 70 years and that maybe you can hope they'll just kill them off in one fell swoop and promise to do better in the next 70. KER-SPLASH!

And let's not forget Composite Superman who only appeared in a two-part arc in June and July of 1964 before his recent return in Batman/Superman a couple of months ago (basically a Bizarro rip-off that is one-half Batman and one-half Superman). One of the worst concepts ever, but DC brought him back for a one-shot story. THWOCK!

I love the history of comics. I love where comics have come from to where they are today. I understand why the characters in the 60s, no matter what the medium, no matter the level of success or failure, are important. That is why I am so furious that it seems that DC feels the need to try to re-justify a time period long since past by re-introducing these characters and re-working them for modern audiences into a canon they no longer fit into. POW!

The Joker has lasted 70 years for a reason. Clayface wasn't an original villain, but he has proved to be one of the most popular even 50 years later. There are reasons why some characters fail and some succeed and these reasons usually translate over time so there is no reason to believe that a character that failed in the 50s and 60s will translate to today even with some re-tooling. When DC makes major plot decisions like this, all I see is the tarnishing of my memories of the 1960s Batman and the watering down of modern Batman stories. It is unnecessary and, as tacky and campy as the 1960s Batman was, moves like these are even more so.

-Ray Carsillo

Thursday, April 9, 2009

HOW SWEET IT IS

After two months of waiting through a sports drought, baseball season is finally starting. With it comes the smell of freshly cut green grass, warmer weather, and the feeling of rebirth that accompanies the game and the changing of the seasons. I recently had the opportunity to screen a movie that played on this theme of rebirth through baseball: Sugar.

Sugar was a 2008 Official Selection of both the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals. It is the fictional story about Miguel "Sugar" Santos. Miguel is a Dominican league pitcher who gets signed by a fictional major league team and the struggles he faces in the minor league farm system as he chases after his dreams.

The movie opens up on a baseball field where Sugar is pitching in the Dominican League where he is dominating. After the game, we follow Sugar to his home in a small village in the Dominican Republic where we find out that Sugar lost his father at an early age and is the main provider now for his mother, grandmother, younger sister and brother, and helps maintain the two room shack they survive in.

As the movie unfolds, Sugar ends up being signed to a small contract for the Kansas City Monarchs after a grueling tryout session. He is soon on his way to Iowa to join the Class-A affiliate of the Monarchs as a highly touted pitching prospect. He meets his teammates and quickly learns they are also his competition. He realizes, after speaking with older friends on the team, that not many prospects ever make it out of the minor leagues. Thus, the stage of self-discovery is set for Sugar to find out what sacrifice will truly mean if his dreams are to become reality and for him to find happiness.

What many people misunderstand about this movie is that this is not a movie about the process of how major league teams scout foreign players or how they can be treated once they arrive to the states. It is a story about one man's unique struggles; the game of baseball is simply the vehicle for his journey.

What I loved about this movie is that it did not have the typical Hollywood ending-in-a-can that you all too often see with these fictional accounts. It had a sense of realism to see this man struggle, fail, pick himself up, and, in his mind, still succeed and find a semblance of happiness.

Sugar is a well-told story about the maturation of a young man and the pursuit of his dreams which forces him to leave everything he knows behind. It then chronicles his journey as the trials he face change his dream into something he wouldn't have recognized at the start of his travels. It shows how time can change a person's course in life and that in the end, being happy and satisfied with one's self is all the matters.

This movie shows that not everyone who comes from the Dominican Republic ends up as Sammy Sosa or Pedro Martinez. For several scenes in the movie, real people who came from Latin America to chase a dream of playing baseball were introduced and it was revealed towards the end of the movie that many of them ended up doing something else, but they all cherished their memories playing for the minor league affiliates of the Padres, Mariners, Yankees, and many other baseball teams. It was a touching scene that gave credibility to this fictional account and reminds us that even though they may have failed at baseball, they are still people.

The only problem I really had with the movie was that it seemed difficult to follow Sugar's thought patterns at times. The movie had a habit of showing Sugar doing things, but not always showing his reasons until well after he made his decisions and acted out on them. This made it a bit difficult to follow his character development and since the story revolves solely around that, I have to dock points from it.

When all is said and done, Sugar is the compelling coming-of-age story of a young Dominican man as he deals with problems many of us in the United States do not have to worry about (a language barrier, extreme poverty) through the game of baseball and how he finds himself in the end after being lost in this foreign land.

Sugar is out now in New York and L.A. and runs at 1 hour and 54 minutes.

Sugar gets 3.5 out of 5.

-Ray Carsillo

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

A SLOBBERKNOCKER TO REMEMBER

It's that time of year again: Flowers are blooming, birds are chirping, 250-pound men are hitting each other with steel chairs and baseball bats covered in barbed-wire...That's right, it's time for Wrestlemania! Wrestlemania has grown over the years into an event that encompasses an entire weekend and the days leading up to the event, almost like the Super Bowl. The WWE Hall of Fame ceremonies are always the night before and with Friday Night Smackdown, ECW on Tuesdays, and Monday Night Raw, the buildup is almost as big as the Pay-Per-View itself.

This year is extra special because it is the 25th Anniversary and in that vein the WWE has released a new video game titled Legends of Wrestlemania. This game takes 38 of the greatest WWE wrestlers to ever grace the squared-circle and allows you to pick your favorites as you re-enact the greatest matches of all-time.

Before we even get into how great this game is, though, I had a chance to catch up with the voice of the WWE, "Good Ol' J.R.", Jim Ross, and talk to him about this year's Wrestlemania matches, Hall of Fame class, and the video game itself.

CLICK HERE - to listen to my interview with the voice of the WWE, Jim Ross.

Now, like I said above, Legends of Wrestlemania is amazing. Unlike other wrestling games that struggle to find a storyline or to immerse you in the action, this one is all set in that regard because the storylines were used 10-25 years ago and show they stand the test of time in terms of immersion because everyone remembers where they were when Hogan body slammed Andre at Wrestlemania III, when Bret Hart won back the WWE Championship against Yokozuna at Wrestlemania X, or when Stone Cold stunned the Rock twice at Wrestlemania XV. And if you forgot (shame on you!), there is a short 2-3 minute montage highlighting the development of the rivalry between the opponents before each match which can be reviewed anytime you like in the movie gallery. The opportunity to play through "Relive" mode for these great matches is one of the key selling points of the game and if you are a fan of wrestling then you don't need much more than that.

But wait! There's more! Along with the "Relive" mode for all those great matches, there are also "Rewrite", "Redefine", and "Legend Killer" modes. "Rewrite" mode has you take on the role of the loser of some of the greatest matches in Wrestlemania history and has you complete objectives to "rewrite" history like Junkyard Dog vs. Greg "The Hammer" Valentine in Wrestlemania I for the Intercontinental Championship.

"Redefine" mode adds new stipulations to classic matches from Wrestlemania lore like turning the Undertaker vs. King Kong Bundy in Wrestlemania XI into a No Disqualification Match or Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka vs. Rick "Ravishing" Rude at Wrestlemania VI into a Steel Cage Match. It's a great way for the game to introduce different match dynamics, from climbing ladders and steel cages to throwing your opponent around the arena for some hardcore action, without forcing you to sit through a tedious tutorial; or reading what should be an instruction booklet, but what looks more like an instruction novel.

Then there is the "Legend Killer" mode, which has you use the expansive "Create a Wrestler" feature and put your fictional wrestler up to the test as he takes on a random stable of legends in 10-man gauntlet matches. If you win all the 10-man gauntlet matches, you can also test your mettle by taking on the ultimate gauntlet match, a 38-man gauntlet comprised of the entire roster of Legends of Wrestlemania.

There were only a couple of things I found this game lacking. Some really great legends were excluded and the fact that there are no special unlockable wrestlers also takes away from the time you can spend playing the game. No "Macho Man" Randy Savage, "Mankind" Mick Foley, or George "The Animal" Steele is a real disappointment.

There were also no female wrestlers in the game. Being a geek who watches wrestling, one of the major drawing factors is the divas in the WWE (sex, violence, and humor sells what can I say?). I understand that there weren't as many lady wrestlers as there were guys 25 years ago, it's just the way the business was, but a handful in their primes might've been a nice touch.

Another problem was that the A.I. is beyond simple. I would run through gauntlet matches with nary a punch being landed on me. Only a handful of the objective based "rewrite" matches gave me any difficulty and even then it only took the second or third try before victory was again within my grasp.

Aside from a lackluster A.I. and dearth of wrestler choices, this game delivers everywhere else. Gameplay was as solid as it can be for a wrestling game, with only a minimum of physics problems and glitches (wrestlers falling through one another when missing a clothesline, for example). The attack/counter system is easy to pick up and the new "chain" attack system for certain grapples is a true test of reflexes where you have to punch in button combos to execute moves or counters. When playing in the standard-equipped multiplayer mode, this is a great safety mechanism to prevent relentless friends or online opponents from bashing you into submission.

Graphics were solid for a wrestling game and the audio was as good as could be, with "Good Ol' J.R." and Jerry "the King" Lawler doing ringside commentary, and with original entrance themes as the soundtrack for the game. Authentic entrances are always nice to see and having ones like the movable mini-ring to escort the wrestlers through the crowd at Wrestlemania III with accurate character graphics introducing each wrestler was a great touch and shows the meticulous detail that went into this game to make it feel like you were watching the moments live all over again.

Another nice detail is that wrestlers who traditionally had managers, also have them in the game and they make certain matches even more difficult. It isn't easy trying to avoid Mr. Fuji's white powder AND wrestle Yokozuna; or how about Bobby "the Brain" Heenan jumping onto the ring apron, when you wrestle Greg "The Hammer" Valentine, distracting you just enough for Valentine to apply the Figure-Four Leg Lock. Jimmy Hart isn't a picnic when you wrestle Honky Tonk Man either and Paul Bearer wielding that damn golden urn is especially a nuisance when wrestling the Undertaker.

This game delivers for the most part on every front you would want from a game highlighting the greatest matches in wrestling history. The few minor complaints aside, if you are a fan of wrestling or are just getting into it and need a history lesson, then this is a must-have game.

Ratings are based on a system of 1 to 10 with 10 being the highest.

Graphics: 7.5: This has the standard graphics for a wrestling game on this generation of consoles. The only real unique effect is that when you make someone bleed, the blood will usually stain the mat like in real life, which has been a complaint for years. Still though, audience members look only good in the distance, for when you get close shots of them in an entrance or a match that ends up around different parts of the arena, they look like polygon zombies. That'll shock you back to reality.

Audio: 8.5: All the original entrance themes for the wrestling roster serve as the soundtrack (I forgot how much I loved "The American Dream" Dusty Rhodes' theme). Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler is a great touch as the legendary ringside commentators for the WWE, but their limited phrase track begins to get tiresome quickly and is a major factor for me taking points away.

Plot/Plot Development: 5.0: There isn't an original plot to the game, but that is also part of the appeal. If you picked this game up, it is because you most likely remember the storylines and matches when they happened live and you want to be a part of those historic moments. Still, the plots and development were great on weekly TV 20+ years ago, a 2-3 minute montage fills in the necessary gaps, but doesn't give all the details you would want as a wrestling fan, and for that the score has to suffer.

Gameplay: 8.0: A sub-par A.I. takes key points away from the greatness of the game. The physics system has a couple of glitches, but that is to be expected with most wrestling games considering the complexity of many maneuvers and this game is fairly smooth compared with those that have come before.

Replay Value: 6.5: After beating all the gauntlets and individual matches and their variations, this game doesn't have a real lasting appeal. It has a standard multiplayer mode with online capabilities that you can get in any wrestling game. It barely gets a passing score.

Overall (not an average): 7.5: This is a game devoted to the hardcore wrestling fan and that is all. It does not pull any punches by trying to deviate towards any other audience and it is that single-minded focus that makes it so great and yet so flawed. Only the lack of a broad appeal takes it down a notch. The bottom line is: If you're a wrestling fan, this is a must have.

Legends of Wrestlemania is out now for the PS3 and XBOX360.

-Ray Carsillo