WCW Mayhem
(Electronic Arts for PlayStation)
by Eric Johnson
Professional Wrestling: mix thirty-five percent simulated gladiatorial combat, thirty-five percent soap opera, and thirty percent television evangelism, and you get a recipe for television that leaves millions of Americans spellbound several days a week. Obscenely powerful, high-strung men lift 275 lb opponents over their heads and drop them head-first into a hard canvas mat. Staged? Yes, but a far more reliable entertainment dollar expenditure than heavyweight boxing. The inherent humor, excess, gaudiness, and athletic prowess of professional wrestling makes it an exceptionally good subject matter for translation into video game format.
WCW Mayhem is the latest attempt by a wrestling mega-corporations (WWF being the other) to compress the grand pageantry of that sport into a little cartridge or CD. Three outstanding features draw attention to this title. With an army of over fifty combatants, ranging from the legendary Hulk Hogan to the not-so-legendary La Parka, pure population density is an obvious advantage. In addition, several thousand lines of ringside commentary featuring the voice of long-time announcer Bobby “the Brain” Heenan are randomly sampled to amazing effect. Unlike the repetitive and annoying dialog found on most PlayStation titles, the argumentative and opinionated statements are precisely strung together and remain spontaneous and amusing even after hours of play.
In an interesting nod to the stranglehold of pay-per-view, a password found on the Electronic Arts website can be entered and the latest televised matches can be acted out within the game itself. For example, in October, a grudge match between Hulk Hogan and Sting was taking place on “Halloween Havoc” which could be viewed for $19.95. With the password, one can participate in all the matches of the event, along with the appropriate set pieces and introduction music, imitating the pay-per-view experience as precisely as possible. This is an insidious and brilliant way of keeping the game fresh, especially for fans of the sport.
Despite those excellent features, there are some rather serious faults. All wrestling games have overly complex controls and an unnecessarily steep learning curve. Mayhem is no exception. Once understood, the game is exceptionally easy, and is nowhere near as bad as some of its competition. The graphics need a boost, but the PlayStation has always had issues with three-dimensional graphics, so it’s not really a surprise. Infinitely more problematic is the inability of the game to deal effectively with multiple opponents. Wrestlers can only square off one at a time, and while the free-for-all matches are a great deal of fun, the inability of one wrestler to cause pain to multiple opponents in one move is an inexcusable oversight. This becomes a problem when, while winning an important match, the loser’s buddy decides to step in and take some of the wind out of your sails. It’s a very common event. In that scenario, it’d be convenient to throw one guy into another and clock their heads together, but this can not be done, and Mayhem loses a great number of recommendation points as a result. In addition, there are few rules and no referee. In televised wrestling, twenty seconds out of the ring loses the match, and being spotted using weapons results in disqualification. The designers probably thought it’d be cool to eliminate these rules, but I think it was a terrible mistake. One of the very best aspects of pro wrestling is the manipulation of audience opinion and the heightening of drama through the careful use of stupid and easily-distracted referees (to the rage of rabid fans who soak up the drama like spectators at the Circus Maximus). The ability to pull-off illegal and obnoxious moves behind the back of the referee would add a great deal of fun to the game. As it is, WCW Mayhem is a great waste of time, but falls shy of crossing outside its built-in audience and capturing the interest those not impressed by the inside joke that is professional wrestling.
