WWE WrestleMania XIX

« While this might not be the most in-depth game out there, WWE WrestleMania XIX is one of the best wrestling games on the market right now. »

« One more thing and something I am sorely missing: backstage areas. There are none, and it is sad to see. Hopefully next year they will be included. »

« A very good multiplayer title, jam-packed with every wrestler currently seen on TV, as well as any character you can think of including yourself. »

« If customizing is your thing, the CAW is the single most amazing thing about XIX. You could get lost in the myriad options it offers to you. »

« The most extraordinary thing you'll find in this new game is a mode called Revenge. Revenge is the game's answer to story mode, and it is a story indeed. »

« It takes about 5 – 8 hours to beat Revenge mode, but Exhibition mode and King Of The Ring will keep you occupied for many more hours, not to mention the multiplayer possibilities. »

« It's as good as this type of wrestling gets and more importantly it's really fun. Keep in mind that this feels more like an arcade-style wrestler with a lot of options, counters and attacks and you'll have a good time, we did. »

« The game play and control are much-improved over last year's "WrestleMania X8," making the game easy to pick up and play, yet complex enough to keep you entertained for long stretches. [Nov 2003, p.148] »

« WrestleMania XIX delivers a solid wrestling experience with an impressive roster, fluid animations, and satisfying gameplay. The controls feel responsive, and the improved grappling system adds depth. While the Revenge Mode—where you fight security guards instead of actual wrestlers—is a strange choice, it’s still a fun distraction. The lack of a traditional career mode is a downside, but the overall presentation and multiplayer action make up for it. »

« [SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.] »

« A really good wrestling game. A major improvement over Wrestlemania 18. The graphics became more realistic and looked better than Wrestlemania 18. The realistic crowd and the ring design looked better. The wrestlers models looked good for the time but have not aged well. The animations and moves were improved as they looked really dodgy in Wrestlemania 18 and many new animations and moves were added. The BGMs fit much better and was a step up but would become very repetitive. The reversal system was fixed and made the game much easier to play. The gameplay was much better as well. It added the strong grapple system exactly like WWF No Mercy which gave the game more strategy. The customization mode was also greatly improved and more creative. The roster was great but was missing a lot of notable wrestlers. It was also missing many pay per view arenas. The Revenge Mode was a disappointment as you play through six stages and complete objectives that get very boring and difficult. You unlock the stages and stupid looking bosses that you defeat from the end of each stage on Revenge Mode based on real iconic wrestlers. Yuke's should have made a Career Mode similar to the WWE Smackdown games on the Playstation 2 instead of Revenge Mode. The main flaws overall are the disappointing roster, the lack of other noticeable pay per view arenas to brawl in, no backstage arenas and no career mode. Still a fun game. »

« A solid outing for a first wrestling on GameCube. The roster is star-studded and the story mode is pretty funny. Nothing better than throwing construction workers into a pit. »

« I am The Destroyer. I will break games, complain about the littlest detail, and tell you whether or not the game is worth buying. A lot of things to say here, but can't due to the 5000 character limit. If you're here only looking for small comments rather than a full review then here it is: WWE WrestleMania XIX is a disappointment. If you're looking for actual wrestling then you should move onto another WWE game. Now for full review.... 1. Story Sports games have never been a winner at telling stories, and that trend continues here. The story mode in this game is called "Revenge". In the beginning, you are fired by your boss, Vince McMahon, for absolutely no reason. Stephanie McMahon will then contact you and offer a chance at demolishing everything Vince has ever built by sabotaging props of Wrestlemania XIX. During the game you will throw WWE staff into traffic, vandalize cars, and reek the kind of havoc that would otherwise land you in prison. 2. Voice Acting There isn't much voice acting to work on, but what is there feels like it was **** together out of desperation. Stephanie McMahon sounds like a computerized speak-and-spell. There is really nothing worth listening to here. 3. Graphics and Visuals The graphics are as laughable as can be, even for a game made in year 2003. But these downgraded graphics allowed the developers to focus on other things, like advanced customization, and the street fighting in this game that they call wrestling. 4. Gameplay Gameplay refers to combat & matches, customization, and various areas you can explore within the game. Put it all together and it's above average! -Combat- The wrestling is solid, but is poorly implemented. Having a light and heavy grapple system opens up more opportunities for strategy and comboing, which you'll need during PvP. And the game gives you the control layout in the pause menu, which is pretty cool. You can slam or punch your opponent, or just get out a weapon and start wailing on them. You even do really cool moves at the turnbuckle or ring corner. But it feels like a lot of this game, when it was in development tried focussed on getting its ratings through PvP, because that is where the real fun is at. However, there is no multiplayer in Revenge mode, only Exhibition, and you cannot unlock anything for playing Exhibition, resulting in it being unbalanced. Revenge mode almost never takes place in a ring, so all these moves you have can never be utilized. -Customization- The customization is superb! You're given lots of variety, and can change your move-set at any time. But.... (yep, there's another "but") the character creation is something to be feared due to it's confusing menu scaling and lack of graphics. Perfectionists will wind up taking more time than needed, creating the character they want. 5. Soundtrack Are you a fan of techno club music? Because that is what you'll be hearing the entire game menu. Whether or not it's a good thing is for you to decide. During gameplay, it will repeat the same 5'ish tracks throughout any match or mission. 6. Bugs & Glitches All though the bugs are tiny and low priority; it still happened. After playing Revenge mode long enough, I would constantly hear a wind-blowing sound that wouldn't go away, even during loading screens. Had to fix it by resetting the game. This is the only bug that happened during my playthrough. 7. Personal Enjoyment The most fun I had with this game was playing as Stacy Keibler and giving a security guard a nosebleed for shaking booty. You know it's video game formula when you can play as a diva and beat up full-grown men. That is something I like. What I don't like is that 95% of the gameplay is spent outside the wrestling ring, and that Revenge mode is only 2 to 3 hours long. It uses the WWE name, the Wrestlemania name, and it's shiny*** roster of superstars to lure players in, and has them believe that this will be a great wrestling game, as evidence shown by the in-game intro. But in reality, turns out to be a bunch of street brawls. There is little-to-no replay value for those who don't have any friends. Putting in multiplayer is fine, but there needs to be something for the solo players in order to keep them hooked to the game. 8. Overall Verdict It has good ideas, but I just can't support WWE Wrestlemania XIX for gamecube as a full-fledged wrestling video game. Does it deserve to be destroyed? No, of course not. It isn't the worst wrestling game. But fans looking for the nostalgic retro feeling will notice how lacking it is. Originally rated this a 6, but am now rating it a 5 out of 10. THQ and Yukes can do better than this, and we know they can. »

« Wrestlemania XIX is a game with a surprising amount of depth, even more than current games like WWE 2K14. Story: 7/10 - The story mode is great, but could use some improvements. You start as a wrestler of your choice, and your goal is to ruin Vince McMahon's Wrestlemania XIX event. This starts off kind of fun, but then quickly degenerates into "Beat and bloody X amount of guards". The missions get repetitive, but the reward is worth it. If you manage to beat a section of the story, you unlock that part of the story's setting as a minigame for exhibition play. Gameplay: 9/10 - While the game may seem tacky at first, it's a lot of fun to play. You can select an arena, match type, and a variety of wrestlers (20-30, I can't remember for sure). Matches are a blast: it's a battle of who can press A or B first and then who can reverse moves the best. Your health bar (indicated by a glowing bar at the top of your name) works really well. It accurately conveys the condition wrestlers are in when they've been beaten to a pulp; health actually makes it difficult to make a comeback, unlike current wrestling games. The Create A Wrestler (CAW) mode is AMAZING. There's so much depth and variety to be found: It you want to make a knight, go on ahead. Spider-Man? There you go. An android? The option is there if you want it! Graphics: 8/10 - Wrestlers look a heck of a lot like their real-life counterparts. Tattoos, hair, attires - all perfectly translated to video game form. Animations look amazing, even if they are sometimes a bit stiff looking. Music: 9/10 - There's nothing really memorable here, just some forgettable instrumental tracks. On the plus side, hits sound great and wrestler music is just as it is on TV. Overall: 8/10 - Wrestlemania XIX boasts addicting gameplay and a large variety of wrestlers to choose from. I would definitely recommend this game to anyone who loves wrestling games. It's MILES better than the repetitive wrestling games of nowadays. »

« Since the Gamecube never reached the highs of the N64 before it, it is understandable how WWE WMXIX gets lost in the shuffle when people look back nostalgically at wrestling games from the past. XIX was the best of a seriously underrated series of games, and with the ability to play it on the Wii, it is a must have today to experience. The best thing about the early 2000s is that since there was a different WWE game on each console they all played differently and had their own strengths and weaknesses. The game play in XIX is almost perfect, arguably the best thing for it's generation at the time. Grapples and strikes are easy to pull off and seem to really pack a punch animation wise. Whether your having a classic tug of war kind of match between a friend, or destroying the CPU on easy mode, XIX is still fun to this day, and something a bit different. Content wise XIX shines, not only is there a packed roster with alternative outfits, but XIX has maybe the best array of weapons in a wrestling game ever. From glass bottles to steel chairs, this was the game to have if you want a varied assortment of tools to bloody up your opponent. Also XIX took a huge risk and added a cool beat em up story mode where you go from construction sites to shopping malls destroying all in your way to your main objective. it's the only wrestling game where you can throw someone off a construction site, and the only game where you can pull out a glass bottle from under the ring. Some WWE games can feel the same from year to year, but some are unique enough that they are worth playing just as much as WWE2k14 this year »

« There are some improvements with WWE Wrestlemania 19. The graphics, controls, music and the create-a-superstar are better than WWE Wrestlemania 18. The way the stages for the Revenge Mode is laid out works better for a game like Final Fight, not a WWE game, and it has less WWE arenas in Wrestlemania 19 than Wrestlemania 18. »