I am going to admit something right away. Take my wrestling reviews with a grain of salt. I already know my opinions are not that of the masses. I have been a wrestling fan for a long time now and over the years I have gained an appreciation for all aspects of the business as well as watching matches from all over the world. Being from Philly, I was lucky to see some of the best in local indy leagues as well as being ringside for a lot of early ECW. Wrestling has a lot of different flavors around the globe and I've sampled wrestling games since Bop N' Wrestle on the Commodore 64 to Fire Pro D on the Sega Dreamcast.

Wrestlemania X8 is the latest and greatest (by default practically) game of grapple available on the Nintendo Gamecube. It is the first game to feature the combined rosters as well as the last game to feature the WWF label. (The schedule was tight enough as it is so they ran out of time to "Get the F out" in addition to forgetting to add in an actual wrestling game apparently.) Unfortunately, Wrestlemania X8 is not what I would call a great wrestling game and you could even argue that it is barely a wrestling game at all.

For me, a wrestling game is all about the gameplay first and foremost. Everything else can take a back seat for the most part. This is where Wrestlemania X8 fails the most. Instead of building on the respectible Aki-developed engine used in the N64 wrestling games from THQ, (most notably Wrestlemania 2000 and No Mercy), they decided to go with a Yuke's made engine that plays like a lobotomized Smackdown game. Yuke's can do better than this, and they should have. The gameplay is just too simple to warrant a purchase of this title. At best, the game is a rental, good for a little fun with friends for a night or so, but that is about it.

The gameplay relies more on the simple counter system rather than the grappling. I don't know how other people feel about this, but isn't a wrestling game supposed to be about the grappling? You know... the 'wrestling' stuff in a wrestling game? I suppose not anymore. You'll find yourself hitting very few moves due to the controls as well as the insanely low number of moves given to each wrestler. You only have five front grapples and five back grapples, that's it. Grant it, it's fine for slackers like Hulk Hogan and Kevin Nash, but people like Rob Van Dam are sorely lacking in moves. Reversals are a matter of timing a single button press (either the L or R button.) People who want an actual wrestling game are going to be frustrated by the simple nature of the game engine and fight fans will scoff at this title which makes DoA seem like it requires a college degree for it's depth.

There are some neat gameplay gimmicks in the game, such as the weapons that show damage like the trash cans as well as specialty matches like "Hell is the Cell" and "TLC" matches. However, some of these features need a lot of work since the weapons have some problems with collision detection. The ladders and tables face the most trouble with choppy animation and odd things like going through wrestlers and shifting out of the ring by walking into them. At least they give a little bit of fun in multiplayer matches.

The worst part about this game, especially in the single player mode when you have to start three and four way matches is the inability to lock onto different targets easily. This really shouldn't be an issue as far as I'm concerned. It isn't that hard to make it so that wrestler locks onto the closest opponent or even making an unused button a targeting control. This causes a lot of annoyances in the CPU 3-4 player matches making for not only a frustrating gameplay experience but also a boring as hell match since you won't have much time for anything other than simple punches and kicks to try and fight your way out. I'm sure it gets easier with extended play, but the game does little to encourage you to continue.

The gameplay options seem vast, but they are actually paper thin. You have access to the standard exhibition modes where you can sample all of the match types as well as modes that allow you to quest for belts. There is no story mode to speak of which a lot of WWE fans will surely miss, given that it is becoming a staple of their brand of wrestling games. There are fictional belts to win and customize, but the worth of doing so just isn't there.

It looks like the most work went into the ring entrances more than anything else in Wrestlemania X8. The graphics are decent enough, featuring the the real WWE sets as well as their Titantron movie intros and music... for the most part. Due to licensing, most of the WCW characters lost thier real music and now have to deal with generic music. The wrestlers themselves have a 'squat' look to them, for lack of a better word. It doesn't effect too much, but it makes the game seem a little less realistic, something that shouldn't happen given the level of graphics the next gen systems can handle. (Please note that Tazz looks perfect though.) The audience is typical of a wrestling game, a series of blurry, minimally animated sprites which is fine. The signs that the crowds flash are a nice touch at least.

Sound is surprisingly weak in this title. The wrestlers that have real music generally have some good tunes, however there are some really lame generic low quality songs that play during the whole match. Kicks, punches and moves also leave a lot to be deserves as the move sound effects tend to sound muted or compressed. The ring sounds and slams also seem far worse than they should be. Since sound in a wrestling game is usually such a small part of the package, I generally expect the sounds that are there to be good.

Overall, there just isn't much to say about this title. It was a little rushed, but I doubt it would have been much better with more time to cook the game longer. The general gameplay is where the title lacks the most and seriously makes this title a rental at best and only if you are going to involve some friends and alcohol. Both are required to look past the faults in this game.