WWF Attitude is one of the more memorable wrestling games from the 1990s for me. My friends and I rented it a few times and spent a lot of time with it. I think it is an average game now, but at the time, it was awesome.
I like going back and seeing if these games match my memory of the game.
This is my first time playing the N64 version. I know what I’m getting into and feel pretty good about it. I liked the PS1 version of the game. This is also a case of if you like the game this is based on, then you’ll like this one.
TLDR: Was good at the time, but is Average now.
Narrative
Like many of these games, there is no story mode. The career mode comes close, but that requires a lot of imagination. If Acclaim had kept the license, we might have seen their take on the story modes in Smackdown or on the better WWF games on the N64.
Gameplay
The more I play the games that use the WWF Warzone engine, the less I like them. The controls get more awkward, which might be due to my lack of familiarity with the N64 controller. I felt like the controls in this game were less responsive than on the PS1.
The manual is available online if you need it. I didn’t find it as helpful as I could have. With games like this, I usually have problems pinning my opponents and tagging in my partner, so I didn’t find the manual particularly helpful with this.
Thankfully, this part of the control scheme is unchanged from WWF Warzone. It doesn’t make it any less annoying, but at least you can carry over what you learned from the previous game. That is one of the good things about the four Acclaim games.
If you don’t like the control scheme from Warzone, then you won’t like this game. The developer didn’t do anything to improve it. I found it awkward sometimes, and getting the right buttons pressed can be difficult.
I like the roster in WWF Attitude. There are a lot of wrestlers to choose from, and the create-a-wrestler option is very good. I tried to recreate the awesomeness of the tag team known as Head Cheese, and I nearly pulled it off before the controls made me want to quit.
The career mode is the big draw for me. If I had three friends who wanted to play a nearly 30-year-old wrestling game, then I might have had more fun with this. While the career mode was great at the time, I found it to be very tedious.
There are other modes. Many of them are what you should expect from a wrestling game released in the 1990s. This is a fun game, but the controls are hit-and-miss.
One of the criticisms I’ve seen for this game is the move menu. You can pause the game and bring up a menu of all the possible moves for a specific situation. This isn’t something you need to do, and I like that it is there.
My problem with the controls has to do with them sometimes being unresponsive. It isn’t all the time, but it is often enough to be annoying. It did make me think of something called rubber band AI.
In games like NBA Jam, and other sports games, the developers programmed the game so you can’t steamroll the CPU. Sometimes, it feels like Acclaim put something like this in the game. I’m unsure if they did this, but when the controls stopped working, it made me feel like something was up.
This is a game I used to like when it first came out. At the time, I loved the career mode and playing with my friends. All of those memories are tied to the PS1 version of the game, and I liked that version more than this one. The N64 version feels off for some reason, and the controls are a little awkward.
Visuals
If you liked how WWF Warzone looked, you’ll like this game. WWF Attitude has smoother textures than the games like WCW vs. NWO: World Tour. That is the only thing I thought WWF Attitude did better than that game.
The FMV from the PS1 version had to be removed. I won’t hold this against the game, but I thought it was worth mentioning. The same thing happened with all of the multi-console games.
The animations for the character models and the moves are great. I didn’t notice anything looking off. This is a great looking N64 game.
The ring entrances, ring, and audience look okay. These are little things that are nice to have in a game like this. They aren’t as good as WWF No Mercy, but at least they are in the game.
Overall, this is a very good looking game. The graphics aren’t as blocky as some of the WCW games. It doesn’t look too different from WWF Warzone, which is a little disappointing due to the amount of time between the releases of the two games.
Reviews at the time
This was very interesting! The lowest score of the four magazines I looked at was Nintendo Power (7.4/10). This has to do with the committee approach. The other scores were between eight and nine out of ten. The other three reviews were from IGN, GameSpot, and N64 Magazine.
I want to start with a question. Was N64 Magazine well thought of at the time? While I don’t know the answer to this question, I do know that they really love graphics, especially when it comes to wrestling games. They seemed to give more weight to how WWF Attitude looks than how the game plays. This seems backward to me, but I’m also not writing for a console-specific magazine. They game WWF Attitude 88/100 which feels way too high to me, but is close to what other reviews thought.
The GameSpot review, which was an 8/10, is closer to what I was thinking. WWF Attitude is an upgraded version of WWF Warzone. It has more wrestlers, game modes, and an improved create-a-wrestler. If you liked WWF Warzone, then you’ll like WWF Attitude.
Nintendo Power has the best system for coming up with a score for these games. Five people review the game; they take the average of those five scores. Each review says something about the game. The five of them praised the graphics but found the controls annoying.
IGN gave the game an 8.7/10. The reviewer praised the graphics and the sound. In a head-scratching move, they called out WCW Mayhem and WrestleMania 2000s, which had yet to be released. I’m not sure why. I can only assume the reviewer followed WWF Attitude’s development and was hyped for it. The controls aren’t discussed here.
Looking back at these reviews, several reviewers seemed blown away by the graphics and ignored the game’s flaws. I agree with GameSpot and Nintendo Power in their assessments of the game. If you like Warzone, then you’ll like WWF Attitude.
7.5/10. The developers improved the gameplay from WWF Warzone, but not much else was changed. This is an average wrestling game compared to the other games on the N64.
Pros
- Career Mode
- Good Graphics
- Decent Gameplay
- Create-a-wrestler
Cons
- Tedious
- Inconsistent Controls
Conclusion
This is one of the games I remember playing as a kid. I enjoyed it quite a bit, but I have to admit that it isn’t as good as the other games on the N64. WWF Attitude is a middle-of-the-road retro wrestling game.
While I don’t mind the control scheme or the engine the developers used, it isn’t for everyone. I like Warzone more than this game, as it is less of a slog to get through. WWF Attitude’s career mode is rather tedious.
The reviewers gushed over the graphics at the time. They did this to the point that the flaws in the gameplay were largely ignored. WWF Attitude was released before several of the great wrestling games on the PS1 and the N64, and at the time, this was probably the best available. It doesn’t mean it stayed that way, and in retrospect, it is an average game.
If you like this post, please check out my other reviews of N64 wrestling games, like WWF Warzone and WCW vs. NWO: World Tour.