WWE: Day of Reckoning [GC]

It's been a sad few years for the marriage between Nintendo and wrestling. THQ has been left holding the reigns, and Wrestlemania XIX, their last release, wasn't quite the slam fans were looking for. But WWE: Day Of Reckoning is. By grafting the basic grappling engine into a solid single-player game, Reckoning becomes the best thing in the ring in 2004.

The biggest development in the game is the story mode, which gives players the chance to guide a budding superstar through the ranks. Players create a character with a respectably robust set of tools, customizing face, hair, clothes, and small details like tattoos. The next step is a WWE development cycle, where the new guy has to make good in skill tests that double as excellent tutorials. From there, it's time to jump into the ring on Sunday Night Heat, after which it's not long before the choice arises between Smackdown and Raw, each of which obviously comes with its own set of opponents.

The story mode is put together as well as any televised wrestling story arc, and it comes with monetary rewards as well as skill points. The former can be used to alter your physical appearance or buy new moves. The points, on the other hand, slowly beef up character stats so a heavy-duty cage match won't be like being fired into a meat grinder.

The only downside to the solo game is the striking linearity of the timeline. The only point where there's any player choice is at the path between Smackdown and Raw -- otherwise, it's all the same. That makes two plays through story worth doing, after which the excellent multiplayer game takes over. It's worth noting that all the character creation systems can also be used to replicate nearly any wrestler in history, which should help fans fill gaps where their favorite obscure personality should be.

Despite the many cosmetic changes, players will notice that the underlying grappling hasn't changed much. But the few new features and noticeable tweaks really affect matches in a positive way. For one, Yuke's has created a system to handle the weight differences between combatants. If you're a little guy trying to heft some 350-pound monster, the techniques for doing so will obviously be limited. But instead of simply making a pile driver out of the question, WWE throws up a meter, and by rapidly tapping A, it's possible to pull off the move.

Another addition is the momentum shift, which can really change the outcome of a battle. If you're really getting pounded, the game will offer a small window of time in which to pull off a specific grapple. If successful, your withered health bar will be swapped with the other guy's, which offers a chance to turn the whole thing around. It's a fun mechanic that can extend one-sided matches, and handily replicates the scripted reversals in many WWE matches.

In preparation for the moment when the story inevitably runs out of gas, Yuke's has crammed a huge collection of match types into Reckoning. Ladder, cage, table, hell in a cell, and more await. And then there's that bra and panties match, which is taken directly from the most recent version of Smackdown. Is it still ridiculous? Absolutely, and we won't go any further than that.

Despite some of the disappointments in THQ's last wrestling release for the GameCube, their graphics engine has been top-notch, and Reckoning raises the bar. The character models sport near-photorealistic levels of detail, and almost every environment in the game looks fantastic. The only issues are some over-accentuated highlights and a certain stiffness in animation. As with almost every wrestling game to date, there's the occasional problem with collision detection when executing lifts and throws, but it's doesn't seem to hamper play at all. Generally speaking, this is a more spectacular looking graphics engine than we'd expected to see on the GameCube.

Sound is equally well represented, and when it comes to sound effects, entrance music, and general ambiance, Yuke's has done a great job. But shouldn't we get some voice acting for that storyline? Why read subtitles when steroid thickened vocal cords are such a huge part of any ringside event?

Get on the mat, however, and the voice acting, or lack thereof, just isn't a problem. There's no better wrestling title on the GameCube, and Reckoning is almost good enough to claim that accolade across all platforms. We'd like the story mode to be more robust, but for what it is, and given what 'Cube players have been saddled with, there's no real problem. The meat of the game is always in multiplayer, and Yuke's and THQ have handled that with finesse. Reason enough to buy a GameCube? Not really, but for anyone with the hardware, it's time to get it on.