History of WWF/E Games Part 24
WWF With Authority
Release
2001
Format
PC
Time to look at Pokemon, but WWF style.
Background
WWF With Authority was the first WWF game to be exclusively released on home computers in nearly a decade. It was also the last WWF game to be released on home computers since 1996’s WWF In Your House. This is a very odd game as it is not a wrestling game instead it is a online collectable card game. It is very similar to the online Pokemon game that we have today. As well as being available as a digital download like most online collectable card games it was also available as a retail release on a CD.
WWF With Authority was supported with expansion packs up until 2002. When the WWF changed its name to WWE this game also did the same. Many people blame the decline of this game to the fact that the WWF released a real physical card game called WWF RAW Deal that was the same idea, but with physical cards around the same time as WWF With Authority. I know from my own personal experience that I would much rather own a physical product than a digital one.
Presentation
I really like the look of this game. Despite being a collectable card game it still manages to capture the look of the WWF very well. All the cards have great action images on them including a battle screen that has picture of the wrestlers who are doing battle, while the fans are taking photos.
When you do execute a move it does not just tell you the name of the move, but instead it is done through text commentary. It may not sound like a big deal, but this really helps give the game that WWF authenticity. In all, it’s hard to be critical of a game like this in terms of visuals. It does what it does well, and truth be told I am not sure what more they could have done.
Game Play
This plays really just like any other online collectable card game. You will pick what wrestler you want to be, and then take it from there. Each wrestler has different hit points and there own special moves. You then need to make a deck of cards. These cards will have your various wrestling moves on them that will damage your opponent. Each kind of wrestling move needs to be used with another style of card called “momentum”.
Momentum is split up into categories such as strength, stamina, and speed as well as a bunch of others. Depending on the wrestler depends on how much momentum from a certain category you can use. For example a larger wrestler like Rikishi will have much less stamina than say Chris Jericho. You will draw your cards and try and deplete your opponents energy so you can pin them for the win. To complicate things you can also counter moves as well. This is really where the strategy comes into play. Your cards are in what is called your “play book”. From the in game store you could buy wrestler specific play books. For example I bought the Triple H playbook that had some moves, momentum and his own special cards in it.
Something really cool is that there is kind of a single player aspect to this game. There is a tutorial mode that lets you battle the AI in order to learn exactly what you have to do. Of course like all games in this style if you want to get good then you will need to spend your money to buy packs of cards. They did a great job of keeping things fresh with adding new cards, but if you wanted to be one of the top dogs you really had to pay the price. While you could just play the game with the free download or with the game disc and never spend a penny, chances are you would never really be able to compete with other players who were spending money to buy many packs of new cards.
Final Thoughts
I loved the idea of this game, but for me I would much rather collect the physical WWF RAW Deal cards than these ones. I still have two card albums full of my WWF RAW Deal cards apart from the start up disc I have nothing remaining from this game. It can be played for free now, and I actually would recommend giving it a shot. I am sure that hard core online card gamers may find it simple, but if your a wrestling fan I am sure you will find it quite unique. I think to be honest this game may very well have been a little ahead of its time. I am sure if they were to release a similar game now it would be much more successful as there are more than a few very popular online card games out there.
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