Binding: Video Game Brand: Acclaim EAN: 0021481212041 ESRB Age Rating: Teen Label: Aklaim Manufacturer: Aklaim Platform: PlayStation Publisher: Aklaim Sales Rank: 16552 Studio: Aklaim
Amazon.com Review: Extreme Championship Wrestling is to other professional wrestling outfits what gangster rap is to mainstream rap: a much more hard-core permutation. Whereas the WWF and WCW are more like soap operas, ECW features in-your-face, high-impact maneuvers and, shall we say, more aggressive language.
Acclaim made an equity investment in the wrestling series, and Anarchy Rulz, their second PlayStation title in the Extreme series, is fully loaded with plenty of features and gameplay modes. Plus, you'll have 34 wrestlers that you can select from, including Tommy Dreamer and Super Crazy (note the easy-to-remember names!). Of course, knowledge of the franchise helps immensely.
ECW includes a Create-a-Wrestler option that lets the would-be manager have fun with creating fighters. You can even put together your own four-person wrestling posse, complete with theme songs, personality clashes, and a logo for your group. Anarchy Rulz also comes with the typical wrestling game modes: exhibition, career, and tournament.
In terms of the action in the ring, this is where Anarchy Rulz shows its true colors. The camera's flutter and movement is very irritating, and the gameplay seems an exact replica of Acclaim's previous WWF titles. The wrestling action relies too much on grappling and not enough on the over-the-top action that the ECW is famous for. There are very few throws and no high-risk leaps or takedowns.
Crazed ECW fanatics or wrestling lovers should enjoy this game, while all others might want to pass. --Todd Mowatt
Pros:
Tons of features
Gorgeous graphics and great environmental sound effects
Create-a-wrestler feature offers many hours of enjoyment for wrestling fans
Cons:
Not enough of ECW's over-the-top action
Poor wrestler AI
Camera flutter and bad camera angles
Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: - ECW Anarchy Rulz
WOW!!! what a great game. I loved this game a lot. Much better thatn any other ECW game ever made. Has many great ECW start who I will name later. There are many matches including a barbed wire match, cange,ladder. Its just EC F'N W. Great hardcore action.
SUPERSTARS:
Tommy Dreamer
Sandman
Rob Van Dam
Dudley Boys
Sabu
Taz
Mike Awsome
Rey Mysterio Jr
Eddie Guerrero
New Jack
Balls Mahony
Axl Rotten
Super Crazy
Lance Storm
Lionheart(Chris Jericho)
Psicosis
Rhino
Chris Beniot
Masato Tanaka
Plus Many More
Rating: - Hard, yet fun
This seemingly reminded me of WWF War Zone, a quite similar wrestling game as everyone is saying. I never played Hardcore Revolution, but if War Zone is as similar as it is, I'd probably be asking for the same game again. Though they did raise the bars discriptor(part of ESRB program) wise. Animated Violence has turned into Animated Blood(with lots of it). Mild Language has turned into Strong Language(from the last time I played, it could be the crowd). And Suggestive Themes into Mature Sexual Themes. Quite hard starting. There is I think 60 wrestlers. I didn't see any graphical changes either.
Oh, even though ESRB overrates games all the time, this one seemed to be worthy of Mature anyways.
Rating: - Nothing but a Headache
That's precisely what this title was for me---literally---and I honestly and sincerely believe that it will be for other fans of Acclaim's line of wrestling games for the Sony PlayStation as well, mostly because of various elements in its gameplay. Whereas the gameplay found in three other PSX wrestling titles by Acclaim---namely, WWF Warzone, WWF Attitude, and ECW Hardcore Revolution---seemed complex at first with its multi-button commands for each move in a given athlete's arsenal, most players eventually got the hang of it after a few matches, which made it that much easier for them to win with preexisting grapplers. Creating their own characters with the games' Create-A-Wrestler feature also became a more enjoyable experience because of this system. Instead of keeping such a set-up, however, the company's development team tried to facilitate matters in Anarchy Rulz by simplifying the controls for certain moves to only one or two buttons apiece. Unfortunately, this complicated matters instead, as certain maneuvers only become available when a player's wrestler stands in front of a dizzied opponent or has two or three stripes in the little box besides his/her name that indicates his/her advantage in a tie-up. Likewise, reversing particular moves (e.g., a hip toss, a hammerlock, an Irish whip, or a hurricanrana) is still pretty tough to pull off---for human-controlled competitors, that is. CPU-operated wrestlers, on the other hand have a jolly time reversing such moves whenever they have the opportunity, regardless of the game's initial difficulty setting. This makes it all the more frustrating for beginners. Of course, how about trying to trap another wrestler within the turnbuckle? Though it was a breeze in HR and Attitude---and even in Warzone---trying to do the same in AR is almost impossible, as the other athlete flops out of the corner almost every single time. This consequently renders corner moves highly impractical for both preexisting and customized grapplers.
In examining the other features available in AR, I will admit that I did enjoy the inclusion of those ECW personalities that didn't appear before in Hardcore Revolution and hence made their debut in this game, from the legendary "American Dream" Dusty Rhodes to the lovable yet laughable "loser" named Mikey Whipwreck. I also liked the various "jobbers" that players can unlock---even the foul-mouthed Trainer, who (for some reason I as yet cannot ascertain) is now a heel (bad-guy wrestler) after being a babyface (good-guy wrestler) for three games straight since Warzone. The opportunity to create one's own stable (four-member team) is also pretty fun, but considering that it takes a whole block of memory to save a single custom-made stable, players will ask, "Why bother?" The same goes for the new types of matches that one can participate in---Dumpster, Table, Backlot Brawl, and Brimstone. Sure, they're all very innovative and quite fun to watch, but the aforementioned flaws in control take much of that fun away. Even the Create-a-Wrestler feature---a staple in this line of games from Warzone on---leaves much to be desired, for though players have far more options available to them in selecting the outfit, entrance music, voice, moves, and so forth for each character they make, the nature of AR's gameplay again messes things up by compromising the nature of the moves in use. For example, in the instance that a given CAW uses both a Torture Rack and a Beast Choker, that character can only use one of these two submission holds upon pressing the punch button when grasping an opponent from behind, which varies with the degree of tie-up advantage (s)he has at the moment and accordingly makes the selection of created characters' maneuvers rather useless. This especially holds true for players who might not know what some of the moves are supposed to be in the first place based on their names alone. Speaking of submission holds, I would like to bring up the fact that almost EVERY hold in Anarchy Rulz is now meant to force opponents to "tap out"---even such holds as the Side Headlock, the Leg Grapevine, and the run-of-the-mill Full Nelson.
Sorry to say, but only the most "hardcore" enthusiast (if you'll pardon the bad pun) of Extreme Championship Wrestling would want to purchase Acclaim's ECW Anarchy Rulz, and then only for its nostalgia value. Not only is its gameplay a chore to become accustomed to (as mentioned above), but with its ugly graphics and mediocre sound quality, Joel Gertner's obnoxiously self-serving "color" commentary, and an inappropriately large amount of bloodshed for ANY game with a rating of "T for Teen," this title is not one worth playing. My advice for PSX owners and ECW fans alike is simple: Save your money on both Aspirin and video games by sticking with Hardcore Revolution.
Rating: - DON'T BUY THIS GAME!
This game stinksIcan'teven do a grapple Move and when I Do It is Stupid.DO NOT BUY THIS GAME IT IS VERY HARD AND IT IS A WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY!
Rating: - blood
this game is much better than harcore revolution its got all new moves and wrestlers table mathes dumster matches brimstone matches and for the first time ever leave your opponent lying in a pool of his own blood
- ECW Anarchy Rulz
- Nothing but a Headache
- blood
