History of WWF/E Games Part 18
WWF Attitude
Release
1999
Format
Sony Playstation
Nintendo 64
Nintendo Game Boy Colour
Sega Dreamcast
Time to look at the last WWF game to be released by Acclaim.
Background
WWF Attitude was a direct sequel to WWF Warzone. It was bigger, better, and more bad-ass in every way you could imagine. One of the most interesting facts about this game is that it was the last game in a ten year relationship between the WWF and Acclaim. After WWF Attitude was released, the WWF license would go to THQ. It has long been speculated that the WWF and THQ did this deal right behind Acclaims back, and losing the WWF license was a huge financial blow to Acclaim.
WWF Attitude was the first WWF game to be made for the Sega Dreamcast. In truth it was nothing more than a slightly enhanced port of the other versions, but it was not released until a few months later. As Acclaim lost the WWF licenses literally weeks after the release of the Dreamcast version was released. Not many copies of this version were made, yet for some reason this game can still be found pretty easily and very cheaply.
When WWF Attitude was released here in the UK, I remember going to pick it up for the Nintendo 64 from my local Electronics Boutique (man I miss that store), and I had a coupon that got me a free WWF rumble pack. I think that rumble pack is actually worth more than the game is now. Anyway, it was released on my third day at University so my plan was to get to the store at 9am, and make it to my first class by 10am. I had a full day of classes so I would not be home until around 3pm. Of course that never happened and by 9:15 I was on my way home to play WWF Attitude.
WWF Attitude was also the last WWF game to feature Owen Hart who tragically passed away during a WWF pay-per-view event earlier in 1999. WWF Attitude is dedicated to his memory. Despite losing the WWF license Acclaim would still go on to make more wrestling games. They obtained the license for ECW, and they made games using this same game engine. Once ECW went out of business Acclaim would make even more wrestling games, and this time they were called the Legends of Wrestling series. So despite no longer having the WWF license, Acclaim would still make five more wrestling games before they would eventually go out of business.
Presentation
WWF Attitude improves on Warzone in every aspect the game features with over double the amount of wrestlers, yet the quality of them is better than in Warzone. Each wrestler has four different attires to chose from. At the time this was more than any other WWF game had done. Also this was the first WWF game to have full entrances for the wrestlers. Some of them were a little odd. Steve Austin for example walks like he is a caveman. However at the time it was really cool to see.
One really amazing presentational feature was the ability to create your own arena because this was way ahead of its time. You could chose a ring apron from any WWF pay-per-view or WWF TV show. You could edit the lighting, and even chose what kind of stage you wanted to have. It’s crazy to think that it would be over ten years until we got a feature similar to this in another WWF game.
Sound was also improved this time around with even more commentary, and voice samples from the wrestlers. Also Acclaim did a great job in getting actual real entrance music on the Nintendo 64 version.
On the Dreamcast many fans, myself included, were disappointed in the graphics for WWF Attitude. The character models did look smoother, but truth be told the difference especially over the Nintendo 64 version was really not that great. It is the best looking out of all the versions, but when you consider how much more horse power the Dreamcast had than the Nintendo 64 and the Playstation, it really should have looked better.
On the Game Boy it pretty much juts looks like WWF Warzone, but with one big difference; it was designed for the Game Boy Colour. It did have a very large roster for a Game Boy game, but the graphics and animation really are nothing to get excited about.
Game Play
WWF Attitude plays just the same as WWF Warzone. So if you liked WWF Warzone then you would no doubt love this. At the same time if you were one of the people who did not like WWF Warzone then there is no way in hell WWF Attitude would win you over. While the core game play is the same, one big improvement is that now your finishing move is listed on the move list. WWF Attitude has a huge amount of game modes. It’s crazy just how many there are. Not only is there a great amount of modes, but you can then also tweak the settings to each match as well.
Career mode was huge, and there had never been a mode like this in a WWF game before. You could pick a wrestler and have to start out at the bottom of the WWF wrestling in small shows. In winning matches you would move up the rankings, and earn title shots at the various WWF titles in the game. This was a awesome mode, and I put some serious time into it. This was also the way that you would unlock other wrestlers in the game.
“Create a superstar” was back, but this time it was bigger and better. The amount of things that you could do were amazing. Also you could give your wrestler a different voice, and there own entrance music. It was great being able to create Chris Jericho and The Big Show who were a big deal in the WWF, but were not in the game.
Create a pay-per-view was also a new feature. This was awesome you would create an event, give it a name, and design the arena. You would then have to decide what matches your event would have also. This was great, and it let you run your own version of the WWF.
While the three console versions offered a great experience. Sadly the Game Boy version played horribly. While they did manage to squeeze a great amount of content on the Game Boy version, it seems to have come at the expense of being fun to play.
Final Thoughts
I love WWF Attitude. It may be hard to go back and play today, but I will always have a soft spot for me. It was the last WWF game before we would go on to the series of games from THQ who are still making WWF games to this day. You can pick up pretty much any version of WWF Attitude dirt cheap.
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