Brett Hart Back In a WWE Ring

WWE's newest title for the game cube WWE Day of Reckoning finally came out. Would it live up to it's hype or be a disappointment.

Let's start with the controls. They seem fairly easy to master but I have played the previous to titles made on this system. It's your basic A button to grapple, B button to hit and kick. If you've played any wrestling games before you'll have no problems and if not then you should be able to pick it up within a few minutes after picking up the game.

This game comes with all the match options we've come to expect over the years from a WWE title. You have your ladder match (climb the ladder and grab a belt above the ring first), tables, ladders, and chairs (same as a ladder match but with tables and chairs), table match (put your adversary through a table first), Hardcore(use anything that's not tied down to beat your opponent), Iron Man Match (score the most falls in a set time limit) Cage Match (escape from the cage first), royal rumble (through all other wrestlers over the top rope and be the last int he ring), and Hell in a Cell (giant cage which can be jumped off or used to slam opponent into or through). Of course you have your standard one on one matches and your tag team matches. One new match to the game cube's WWE title is the bra and Panties match. It involves females only and you must rip off the clothing of the other "lady" in the ring. Once someone is down to there skivies, well you get it.

The arenas that you do battle in are for the most part very nice to look at. The arenas are the same setups they've used for the recent pay per views. Example being an event held not to long ago called Survivor Series. They held a buried alive match and an Ambulance match. The Ambulance was included in the arena design as well as the tombstone. One of the arenas left out a bit of a detail was with the Wrestlimanai were the floors or not screens or televisions. I've herd some complaints on this but it really has nothing to do with the game play and takes nothing away from it.

The roster of characters in this game I found somewhat of a disappointment. I mean I love the fact that they put in legends like Andre The Giant, Brett Hart, and Brutes The Barber Beefcake to name a few. There are some important people missing though. The most notable being Jon Bradshaw. When this game came out he was the champion on Smackdown. It's seems like and important character to include into the game.

Well, it wouldn't be a wrestling game unless it had a story mode. WWE Day of Reckoning has the School of Hard Knocks. With this mode you can only use a wrestler that you create. It kind of stinks that you can only use the created wrestler but the story mode is built for a new jobber so it fits in. With the story mode you pretty much just do what people tell you and try to fight your way to the top of the WWE. It's OK to play through once but after that it would be to predicable. You have no choice in what you do or who you want to be aligned with. I think that having a set in story with no choices at all kind of takes away from some of the lastabilty of this game.


Create a wrestler, one of my favorite parts of every wrestling game. WWE Day of Reckoning did not disappoint in this portion of the game. If you've got the time and a bit of imagination then you can make just about any body you put your mind to. Some examples of non-wrestlers I've made so far are characters like Spiderman, Hulk, Scorpion(from mortal combat), Jason Vorhees, and Gambit(x-men). It's just fun to see who you can come up with.


I'm happy to see a wrestling game that gives you better options with the music. Most wrestling games give you a few choices of music that sound like a forty year old tone deaf guy wrote or the music the other wrestler use for entrances. WWE day of reckoning includes songs such as Bonecracker, Bring the Noise, and Fire Fly to name a few.

The graphics in this game I would have to see a pretty good. Most of the wrestlers move like they are supposed to and look like there supposed to. Kane's face looks a little off but for the most part I'd say they are good.

Over all I'd say the game is pretty good. There are always a few things that could be better but that can be said for almost every game there is. I give it 4 out of 5 stars.