For far too long, fans of professional wrestling have been shortchanged on the videogame front, as each new game that comes out is a poor representation of their “sport.” Now, with the release of Wrestlemania XXI, THQ seemed to go back to the drawing board by signing on a brand new developer, Studio Gigante (the creators of Tao Feng: Enter the Fist), who were set to reinvent the failing genre. Things seemed to be a little more promising this time around, as the game would feature great Live support and tons of new modes that would make it compelling to gamers jaded by countless disappointing pro-wrestling titles. Unfortunately, Wrestlemania XXI doesn’t deliver the revolution in pro-wrestling that many hoped it would. In fact, the game almost seems to take a step backwards with the same kind of lousy controls seen in previous wrestling games as well as many, many bugs that ruin the already lukewarm experience. While the game does feature some great graphics, Wrestlemania XXI is a weak, unpolished wrestler that will more than likely let down those looking to feel something more than disappointment and frustration with the pro-wrestling genre.

Wrestlemania XXI gives you control of many different WWE Superstars, like Rey Mysterio Jr., Big Show, Triple H, Stacy Keibler and many more. If no one strikes your fancy, the game gives you a pretty comprehensive Create-A-Wrestler mode that allows you to create and customize a character and then beef him up through the game’s career mode. The Create-A-Wrestler mode is pretty cool because you can edit your character to a T, even importing a custom soundtrack to your XBox hard drive for your character’s entrance music.

However, the rest of the gameplay is very spotty. The controls are very poor and unresponsive, as the wrestlers will move very sluggishly around the ring and not perform moves when told. Also, the hit detection is really off, as punches and grabs that look dead on will often not connect, leaving you wide open. This is especially glaring when trying to perform a drop move on an opponent who is down on the ground, as you’ll try to body slam them, miss, and end up writhing around on the ground yourself for a few seconds, something that is hair-pullingly frustrating. 

The AI is also very lousy. The game basically has two different AI types, extremely easy and a huge pain in the butt to pin. The game pretty much decides at random which difficulty to throw at you, and the character’s stats that you are currently playing against when compared to your own don’t really matter in this regard. However, more often then not, the AI will simply do a lot of stupid things that lead to your victory, leading you to exploit them in order to win and not really have to exhibit any real skill. Tag Team AI is especially lame, as the computer-controlled characters will act very buggy and run around in circles most of the time.

The graphics are a bit of fresh air in this game however, as Wrestlemania XXI’s look shows a lot more polish than the lousy gameplay. The character models are realistic and sport a lot of details. Basically, aside from some strange unnatural shininess that their bodies seem to have, the wrestlers look very close to their real-life counterparts. The animations are also pretty nice, matching up to the moves that the characters perform nicely without looking fake.

The sound and music is pretty much recycled from other wrestling games. The hard-rock soundtrack is the same one found in Smackdown vs. Raw on the PS2, although XBox gamers have the benefit of importing some of their own tunes for the entrance themes. The sound is okay, although the announcing is very buggy, as the announcers will repeat the same phrase over and over again, even if they have no bearing to the onscreen action. 

Wrestlemania XXI could’ve been a good wrestling game, as it had a lot of initial potential. Unfortunately, it ended up being just another crappy wrestling game with more bugs than a Malaysian jungle on a hot day. Do yourself a favor and ignore this one.

Gameplay: 4.5
The gameplay in Wrestlemania XXI is lousy, with unresponsive controls, boneheaded AI, and frustrating hit-detection issues, making the game absolutely no fun to play.

Graphics: 8.5
The graphics are the one highlight in this game, as the character models are great representations of their real-life counterparts. Plus, the animations are smooth and don’t look forced or robotic.

Sound: 7.0
The hard-rock soundtrack is nothing new, as it has been pulled straight from existing wrestling games. The commentary is pretty buggy, as the announcers will repeat themselves often and say things that don’t pertain to what’s happening in the ring.

Difficulty:  Medium                                                                                                                      

Concept: 4.0 
Wrestlemania XXI looked like it was going to fix a lot of the problems with the pro-wrestling genre, but instead was an unpolished mess that actually took a step backwards.                                                                                                                               

Multiplayer: 3.0 
The online aspect of Wrestlemania XXI, which was one of its main selling points, is literally unplayable, as in you have to get a patch online or wait for the game to reship with the repaired online mode in order to play, which is pretty unforgivable for a game that is supposed to be in the bag and finished.

Overall: 4.0
If your looking for the saving grace of XBox wrestling games, just keep on waiting, because this isn’t it.