Showdown: Legends of Wrestling

Showdown: Legends of Wrestling is a sports video game and the sequel to Legends of Wrestling II. It was developed by Acclaim Studios Austin and published by Acclaim Entertainment for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox in 2004. A version of the game for the GameCube was also planned, but was cancelled. Showdown is the third game in the Legends of Wrestling video game series. It was the last game developed by the Austin studio prior to its closure later that year, and the last game released by Acclaim Entertainment in North America.

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

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 two Von Erich brothers, Mike and David, who were in both previous Legends of Wrestling games.

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

Music

The theme music in the last two games was composed by "The Mouth of The South" Jimmy Hart. Hart appears as a playable character in all three games. He also composed some of the theme music for World Championship Wrestling and World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment. The 1983 song "Metal Health" by Quiet Riot is used in promo videos for the game and is played at the main menu and Create-a-Legend screens.

Reception

Showdown: Legends of Wrestling was met with very mixed reception upon release. Metacritic gave it a score of 55 out of 100 for the PlayStation 2 version,[1] and 57 out of 100 for the Xbox version.[2]

Xbox Nation called it "a steaming doodie. With extra stank on it."[14] 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, "The Living Legend" Larry Zbyszko and ring announcer Gary Michael Cappetta 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.[15]

See also

References
  1. "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling for PlayStation 2 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  2. "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling for Xbox Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  3. EGM staff (September 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". Electronic Gaming Monthly (182): 99.
  4. Zoss, Jeremy (August 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". Game Informer (136): 96. Archived from the original on March 27, 2005. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  5. Tokyo Drifter (June 23, 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". GamePro. Archived from the original on February 9, 2005. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  6. Navarro, Alex (June 22, 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling Review". GameSpot. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  7. Leeper, Justin (June 24, 2004). "GameSpy: Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". GameSpy. Archived from the original on December 16, 2005. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  8. The Bearer (August 19, 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling – PS2 – Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on February 26, 2008. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  9. Bedigian, Louis (July 18, 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling – XB – Review". GameZone. Archived from the original on March 15, 2008. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  10. Dunham, Jeremy (June 23, 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". IGN. Retrieved February 24, 2015.
  11. "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine: 93. August 2004.
  12. "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling". Official Xbox Magazine: 83. August 2004.
  13. 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.
  14. Orlando, Greg (September 2004). "Showdown: Legends of Wrestling – Wrestling for dummies". Xbox Nation (18): 89.
  15. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-04-03. Retrieved 2008-10-08.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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