MDickie Wrestling Encore

Alright. So, for the longest time, these brand of wrestling games have received little to no coverage. There isn't even anything related to it on GameFAQS for goodness sake!

Now, what is this game? Well, as I said, it's a wrestling game. It's also a PC-based game. Whoa though, wait a second, PC wrestling game? That can't be too good, can it? Actually, it IS! The game actually does an excellent job of giving a "real life" feeling to matches, despite the engine and graphics not being top-of-the-art. Speaking of which...a review of this game might help(small note, I considered putting this in the games you finished thread, but I felt this game needed to stand out some more with it's own thread):

Graphics:

Well, Encore is the latest of a series of MDickie games (okay, so Booker Encore is but in that game you focus more on setting up matches than competing in them). Nevertheless, the graphics are still fairly primitive compared to today's standards, both in wrestling games on other systems, and just as a whole.

Moreso, if you go out to the "crowd" in the game, all you really see is several 2-D "props" as I call them in a 3-D environment. This is probably done because of how many resources the game would require to run all of that.

However, there IS enough detail to see facial expressions, different costumes, different sizes, chairs, tables, television sets, boards, and so forth. Blood is definitely noticable, the moves are recognizable, and basically wherever the action is, you can easily make things out.

7/10

Sound

On one hand, sound is horrible. Entrance themes are mostly midi themes, although there is the option to use your own audio. Then again, aside from ring entrance themes and the "main themes" for making decisions, bad things happening, the main menu, etc, there aren't too many sounds needed.

Nevertheless, the sound effects are fairly good. The crowd cheers or boos accordingly, and will get behind a wrestler. I haven't heard all the crowd sounds (in the last game, they would chant boring), but it is done well. Grunts, weapons being broken over an opponent's head, tables breaking, televisions being smashed and so forth are fairly realistic. The game also has an updated sound for when someone gets injured and even some "double weapon" sounds (i.e. put your opponent on what was part of a television set, then nail him/her with a chair. You'll hear two sounds!).

8/10

Story

Um, okay, so you want to become a wrestler and want to be the best wherever you go. That's it. Well, the official story that is. The game itself lets you make a lot of choices, where, who, what, why, and so forth. You get choices of where you want to wrestle, who you want to associate yourself with, whether you'll listen to the booker, and so forth. There are, of course, consequences to your choices. Annoy the booker and he might put you in some handicap matches. Work out too hard adn you might get injured more.

Moreso, in this game, they did incorporate more of a "make or break" situation. I have already ran into the situation of having my wrestler getting canned after failing to up his strength (although he got injured which was why he couldn't train), and basically put out of the wrestling business because he stayed in Wrestling School too long. So, the game has more "motiviations" rather than just letting you go with the flow (as in the previous game).

The only flaws are that 1) eventually, you see or hear everything...multiple times and 2) there is no real ending to the game save for the aforementioned scenario above or just getting too old. This makes it that the game eventually just gets straight out boring. Furthermroe, there is only so much you can do to your opponent before you get tired of facing them...

9/10

Controls/Game Play

The worse and best of the game. First, the bad. Without a doubt, playing this game on the keyboard is HARD. If you get pinned, you have a 50/50 chance of kicking out because a keyboard simply isn't able to handle button mashing real well. You NEED a controller if you are going to play a game. \

Yet, now the best. You have a LOT of freedom. Want to grab a chair and smash it over your opponent's head? Go ahead! Want to nail them with a piledriver? Sure! Want to clothesline both your opponents down at once? Try it! Want to beat BOTH of them down with a board? No problemo! Yes, there is a LOT of freedom of doing what you want to do in the game. You can run where you want, and do whatever you want in your match (well, more or less). You can do top rope maneveurs, things off the ladder, things off the turnbuckle, pound your opponent down with power moves, or make him (or her) tap out. You can throw them over the top, knock them off the apron, power bomb them through a table, or just lay them on top of some guard rail while you smash them with a chair. The game allows you to me JUST THAT CREATIVE.

I think there are only two flaws. One is small, one is large. The small thing is, you can't place your opponents on tables, have BOTH of you climb the ladder and so forth. You can only put your opponent through them.

The big thing is, this game really could have used some online play. Yes, it would have been hard as heck to incorporate, but a game this good single player would be EXCELLENT multi-player.

9.5/10

Comments?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'll give it a shot, good work with the review..

There's nowhere I can't reach.