Showdown: Legends of Wrestling

Showdown: Legends of Wrestling

Developer(s) Acclaim Studios Austin
Publisher(s) Acclaim Entertainment
Series Legends of Wrestling
Platform(s) PlayStation 2, Xbox
Release date(s)
  • NA: June 22, 2004
  • PAL: July 2, 2004
Genre(s) Fighting, Wrestling, Sports
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer, online

Showdown: Legends of Wrestling is a professional wrestling video game and the sequel to Legends of Wrestling II released by Acclaim Entertainment for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 in 2004. A version of the game for the Nintendo GameCube was also planned but was canceled. Showdown is the third game in the Legends of Wrestling video game series. It was the last game published by Acclaim Entertainment before the company's bankruptcy on the 1st September 2004.

Roster

A significant coup for Showdown: LoW was the inclusion of Ultimate Warrior who had been in legal disputes with WWE and successfully had his likeness excluded from WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain the previous year. Also noteworthy is the absence of Von Erich brothers, Mike and David from Showdown: LoW, who were in the previous two Legends of Wrestling games.

New Legends

Returning Legends

Music

Features

Some minor new features included a tribute to deceased legendary wrestlers as well as a tutorial fully narrated by Bret Hart.

Arenas

Another major point in the game's favor was the inclusion of many famous arenas used for pro wrestling and many other sports. They included:

Trivia

Reaction

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
PS2Xbox
EGM3/10[1]3/10[1]
Game Informer6/10[2]6/10[2]
GamePro[3][3]
GameSpot6.5/10[4]6.5/10[4]
GameSpy[5][5]
GameZone5/10[6]6.5/10[7]
IGN5.9/10[8]5.9/10[8]
OPM (US)[9]N/A
OXM (US)N/A5.9/10[10]
X-Play[11]N/A
Aggregate scores
GameRankings56.48%[12]54.63%[13]
Metacritic55/100[14]57/100[15]

Showdown: Legends of Wrestling was met with very mixed reception upon release. GameRankings and Metacritic gave it a score of 57% and 55 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version,[12][14] and 55% and 57 out of 100 for the Xbox version.[13][15]

Xbox Nation called it "a steaming doodie. With extra stank on it."[16] Consumer reaction was negative too, though not excessively so, primarily tempered by the stellar roster available in the game. The inclusion of former WCW commentary team of Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Tony Schiavone, and "The Living Legend" Larry Zbyszko was welcomed. The commentary system turned out to be a failure, however, being unsophisticated and repetitive. It has arguably the best roster of popular 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s pro-wrestlers, including many 'legends' who didn't appear in the first two games.

The game was riddled with many serious bugs, glitches, crashes, and lock-ups. This suggested that Showdown: LoW was a rushed product with little attention to quality assurance on Acclaim's part. Other major negative aspects of the game are terribly lacking opponent AI, sluggish character movement, and clumsy game controls. Errors and omissions in the accompanying instruction booklet compounded this. The game's box also advertised commentary from Jerry "The King" Lawler which also was omitted from the game.[17]

References

  1. 1 2 EGM staff (September 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". Electronic Gaming Monthly (182): 99.
  2. 1 2 Zoss, Jeremy (August 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". Game Informer (136): 96. Archived from the original on March 27, 2005. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Tokyo Drifter (June 23, 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 9, 2005. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  4. 1 2 Navarro, Alex (June 22, 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling Review". GameSpot. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Leeper, Justin (June 24, 2004). "GameSpy: Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". GameSpy. Archived from the original on December 16, 2005. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  6. ↑ The Bearer (August 19, 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling – PS2 – Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on February 26, 2008. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  7. ↑ Bedigian, Louis (July 18, 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling – XB – Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on March 15, 2008. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  8. 1 2 Dunham, Jeremy (June 23, 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". IGN. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 93. August 2004.
  10. ↑ "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". Official Xbox Magazine: 83. August 2004.
  11. ↑ Speer, Justin (July 19, 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling Review (PS2)". X-Play. Archived from the original on August 10, 2004. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  12. 1 2 "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling for PlayStation 2". GameRankings. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  13. 1 2 "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling for Xbox". GameRankings. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  14. 1 2 "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  15. 1 2 "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  16. ↑ Orlando, Greg (September 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling – Wrestling for dummies". Xbox Nation (18): 89.
  17. ↑
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