WWE Wrestlemania X8

WWE Wrestlemania X8 feels rushed. The Path of a Champion mode is in place of a story mode. You just fight in about eight matches until you get to the champion. You do this for each belt. Once you win you will unlock a playable character. The Battle of the Belts mode is a nice concept but poorly executed. In it you acquire belts and challenge friends for them in matches. The main problem with it is its only for two players. Why do the belts have to be unified when you win? The Exhibition mode features features several different matches all of which are four player. The best one is Battle Royal because you can get back in the ring if you lose (at least until the ref chases you out). One big problem with X8 is the collision detection. Its horrible. You try to do a simple move in the ring and anyone you hit will go flying. This can ruin matches especially TLC matches. The controls, however, are good. The counter system is the best part. L for grapple counters and R for punch/kick counters. It is the best counter system in any wrestling game to date. I had hoped the controls would have been more like WWF No Mercy (N64) but instead they turned out to be like Smackdown (PS2). There are loads of wrestlers to choose from. Most of them have been modeled accurately. Some of them don't even have their own entrance music. The graphics are good but not great. Lighting is well done especially on clothes such as Triple H's leather jacket. The entrance themes are the only decent music in the game. The background music during matches is absolutely horrible. It sounds like some kind of Japanese karaoke. WWE Wrestlemania X8 had potential but only turned out mediocre. Only recommended for wrestling fans.