WWE Day of Reckoning 2: The Best GameCube Wrestling Game

WWE Day of Reckoning 2 is the last wrestling game that Yuke’s made for the GameCube. It was released in 2005, which was late in the system’s life cycle. Nintendo would be shifting focus to the Wii.

A part of me wants to look at the Wii to see what wrestling games are on that system, but at the same time, I don’t think that would be a good use of my time. From here, I’ll be switching to the PS2 games as I wait for a copy of WrestleMania XIX. There is some overlap, and it will be interesting to see what the difference between the two versions is.

After playing Day of Reckoning, I’ve been looking forward to this one. I really liked the first game, but it has some problems. Hopefully, the story mode in this game is better than in the first one.

TLDR: A good upgrade from the first game.

Narrative

The story mode was improved on from the first game. While I liked that the first game had one, it was fairly basic and linear. In the second game, there is more choice on what you want to do and the direction you want to go in.

The story picks up where the first game left off. The character from the first game has to regain the world championship. There are more options in this game, which means there are more options to get to your goal.

It is nice that they continued the story from the first game. It’s as if that storyline has concluded, and now you have another one. It is something that you’ve seen before in other professional wrestling storylines. I like this idea quite a bit.

Gameplay

The gameplay is largely unchanged from the previous game. Some things were tightened up a bit, and I think the AI is a little better than last time. It still isn’t great, but I’ve yet to come across a retro wrestling game with great AI.

The control scheme is quite good. I like how simplistic it is at first glance, and then it gets more complex as you get into it. The reversal and counter system is very good. The one thing that felt off was how quickly your stamina is drained in the story mode.

I know that this would be different when playing with one of the superstars. This is one of the things that I still wish were possible in the story mode. I would rather play as a member of the roster than use one of the premade characters or create-a-character.

This feels like a party game, which is something I said about all the other GameCube wrestling games. Day of Reckoning 2 feels a little different, as I’ve enjoyed playing the story mode more than the previous game. The exhibition matches were also a lot of fun.

I liked the hold counter system. It was like a little guessing game on what you and the opponent were going to select. The only thing I thought was a little awkward at first was the control system. You have to use the camera stick on the controller, and that took me a few times to adjust to it.

Overall, I think the gameplay is a little better than the first game. Yuke’s didn’t need to change much, and only a few things were tweaked to make the game better. I didn’t like all of the changes at first, but they grew on me as the game went on.

Visuals

This is the best looking wrestling game I’ve seen so far. Granted, I still have to play the PS2 games, and I’m assuming they’ll be as good, if not a little better looking. Day of Reckoning 2 features improved graphics compared to the first game.

The character models look better, animations are smoother, and the game’s presentation is better than the previous game. The graphics are the area that was significantly improved over the last game.

Yuke’s added more detail to the character models. Each wrestler looks very good, and I liked the little things that were added. There isn’t much more that I can say.

The graphics didn’t get in the way of the gameplay. This is something I always look for because I don’t want to see the camera mess up and screen me over. What is really cool is how the game gets a little cinematic on some moves.

WWE Day of Reckoning 2 still looks good today, which gives me some hope for the PS2 games. The GameCube games all looked wonderful, and while one or two had art styles I didn’t like as much, none of them looked bad.

Reviews at the Time

I was not expecting to see some of these scores. I was expecting to see review scores in the mid to high 8s, but there were several reviewers who hated the game. Because I was curious, I had to double check what some of the reviews for the first game were. This time, I looked at four publications: EGM, IGN, GameSpot, and GameRevolution.

EGM’s review was wild. Three people reviewed the game, and their aggregate score was 5.83/10. This was shocking. Two of the reviewers gave the game a 5/10, and the third gave it a 7.5/10.

The biggest complaint they had was the A.I. and trying to win a tag team match. Having played a lot of wrestling games over the last few years, I can say this has always been a problem. I really don’t get how this caused the score to be this low.

Wikipedia says that GameRevolution gave the game a C. In reality, I have no idea what score they gave the game. There is a 4 at the bottom of the review, but I don’t know if it is a 4/10 or a 4/5. The reviewer said that the gameplay received a minor upgrade and the graphics were significantly improved. They also said that the A.I. was better than the previous game.

GameSpot gave the game an 8.1/10. The reviewer highlighted the improvements over the first game. They brought up the improved graphics and story mode. It was also brought up that this game wasn’t a “huge leap” forward, which kept it from being a great game.

 IGN gave the game an 8.5/10. They called it the best wrestling game on the GameCube, and mostly praised the game. Some of the problems brought up were the inability to import your character from the previous game. They seemed to like everything else with Day of Reckoning 2.

It was surprising to see the different opinions on this game, and what Yuke’s did to improve it over the first. A few of the complaints, specifically those from the EGM reviewers, were a little confusing to me. It felt like everyone thought this was an upgrade from the first game, even if the scores didn’t reflect that.  

9/10. This is a better game than the first one. The gameplay and graphics were improved from the first game. The graphics got the biggest upgrade, and the gameplay was tweaked in a good way.

Pros

• Improves Storyline
• Great Graphics
• Wonderful Controls

Cons

• Can get a little repetitive
• I felt like I was missing something with the story mode

Conclusion

This is a better game than the first Day of Reckoning and the two WrestleMania games. I like that Yuke’s has improved with each game they’ve made for the GameCube. This was something that got brought up in the reviews as a negative, but I don’t see it that way.

The reviews for this game were strange. There were a few publications that hated the game, and I wondered why they assigned it to people who clearly didn’t like wrestling games. It was just a little strange to me.

This was the last wrestling game made for the GameCube, and I think it was a good one for Yuke’s to end on. They made a very good game. It would’ve been nice to see what they could’ve done in a hypothetical Day of Reckoning 3, but with the GameCube being wound down, that wasn’t going to happen.

If you liked this post, please check out my other posts on the GameCube wrestling games, such as WrestleMania X8 and WWE Day of Reckoning.