THQ

Its no secret that developers dont have the best track record when it comes to producing videogame sequels. Some will attack the problems that plagued the original in a deliberate attempt to improve upon the playing experience. The rest will just add the prerequisite bells and whistles fans are demanding without giving much thought to how the entire package will fit together. That appears to be the case with Yukes sophomore WWF release, WWF Smackdown! 2: Know Your Role.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence, Mature Sexual Themes, Mild Language

Game Description: Licensed by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), this sequel to the popular WWF SmackDown has made several improvements upon its predecessor. There are now more than 50 wrestlers from which to choose, including the Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, and Chyna. New gameplay modes include Ladder Match, Hell in a Cell, Casket Match, and Tornado Tag-Team Match. To mimic the TV show's format even further, plots are developed through cutscenes that feature the voices of the superstars. You can create your own wrestler or even a new pay-per-view event. Season mode includes more matches, events, and pay-per-view events than did its predecessor. It all adds up to a fast and furious virtual version of the real thing.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence, Mild Language, Suggestive Themes

Like it or not, names like The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin are now part of the nation's lexicon, and it's hard to go a night without seeing some sort of WWF-related event on television. This sort of rampant popularity has spilled over into the videogame industry, which thanks to astute developers like Yukes and Aki, allows couch potatoes to pull on tights and get down and dirty with the WWF superstars. One of the more anticipated wrestling titles was THQ's WWF No Mercy, the follow up to the wildly popular WWF Wrestlemania 2000. Though not quite revolutionary, WWF No Mercy definitely delivers what wrestling fans have been begging for since the last release: more wrestling goodness.

Game Description: This game has been licensed by the World Wrestling Foundation (WWF) to bring all of the wrestlers, matches, and moves of the real thing to your Nintendo 64. Battle with the likes of the Rock and Triple H, or create your own wrestler. The Ladder Match has been added to other game modes, such as King of the Ring and Royal Rumble. Battle up the runway, and pull weapons, like the Singapore Cane, out of the crowd. Earn points to unlock wrestlers and costumes in the SmackDown Mall.

Despite having an identical rating, Dale and I arrived at the same destination rather differently. Dale notes in his review of WWF No Mercy that there are moderately remarkable improvements over its predecessors, but doesn't seem think these updates are anything ground-breaking. I disagree with that, but not entirely.

According to ESRB, this game contains: Animated Violence, Suggestive Themes

WWF Royal Rumble is the perfect game if you have a dollar to blow and half an hour left on your lunch break. Its entire design is such that it can be picked up quickly and mastered before it is over. It also features some great body crunching action that has been missing in the wrestling games of late. However, such a scarcity of features need to be balanced by a lot more than Royal Rumble has to offer when it comes to the home market.

WWF Royal Rumble is an underachiever, plain and simple. If there were ever a game that I thought would be a guarantee lock for ratings gold, it would have been this one. But like Dale, I was totally shocked at how the developers excluded so many standard home features and still thought they would have a serious market contender.