Game Review - by Jeremiah Pratt
Are you ready for yet another wrestling title. After THQ had some minimal success in Console ets. THQ tries to do the same for the PC. This plan did not work. WCW Nitro for PC lacks in many areas. The game has that rushed out door feel to it. Especially when you take a look at the graphics. How can a game these days not be accelerated. I honestly don't know.

Storyline:
Welcome to WCW Nitro the only game that recreates all the excitement from the hottest show in professional wrestling onto your PC (not true). The universe surrounding WCW is more than just tow colorful gladiators battling in the ring. Throughout sold-out arenas across the country, complex stories play themselves out within the politics of the squared circle. In the world of WCW Nitro, interviews and taunting help or hurt just as much as fists to the gut, piledrivers, and bodyslams. What is the overriding force driving the Superstars if WCW Nitro? The quest for championship gold and the right to call themselves the best wrestler in the world. With WCW Nitro you take control of your favorite character. Competing with the toughest and biggest stable of athletes in the history of professional wrestling, your skills drive the fate of your chosen fighter, and the world of professional wrestling.

Features:
WCW Nitro does have plenty of options that fans of the sport will enjoy. Gamers can choose to have their match go three, five, ten minutes, or have no time limit at all. You can also set your ring timeout, which determines how long you can work your opponent over outside of the ring without being counted out. Plus with Over 60 WCW and NWO wrestling superstars with tons of hidden wrestlers. Thirty-man "Battle Royal" mode - each time a wrestler is defeated a new grappler runs in to take his place. That's just a few to name.

Gameplay:
It won't be long before you discover all of the moves that the game has to offer and many of the attacks are the same for all of the fighters. WCW Nitro is also let down by average collision detection. On screen it may look like your fighter just hit or grappled an opponent, but your foes simply stands there unmoved. Also once you have been caught in a grapple there is one way you can break out of the embrace, by reversing the move and throwing your opponent. This is very disappointing as it makes combat a lot more predictable than it should be. The developers obviously made quick work of the moves, especially in the finisher section. Now can someone explain to me since when does Wraith's meltdown look like a beat down. It's supposed to be a modified power bomb. That is just one example of the cheese. Many more wrestlers' finish moves are not correctly depicted.

Graphics:
I cringe when thoughts of graphics slander cross my mind. You wonder what is graphic slander, just take a look at this game. The players have that nasty chalky look and it's almost hard to tell who's who. I'm sorry but the graphics are just plain horrible and not being 3D accelerated did not help this game. If you're trying to save frame rate use the tri-liner buffering. Jeez now you thought this game would be fast with the Direct 3d support. Nope, not fast, not at all. The game pauses between each move. Makes you wonder if they hired 10 year olds to work on the source code. I can't say anything good here. At least the regular moves are represented correctly. But I'm still peeved at that finisher move business.

Sound FX:
The game is also far from kind to the ear as the music is trashy, and rather grating guitar twaddle, and the announcer could do with a few more cliched phrases - and maybe even one or two original comments. But I wouldn't ask for too much, as this game was obviously rushed out the door.

Overall:
Let this game be an example of what not to do. Which is rushing a title out before its ready. So much could have been done only if the developers weren't in such a hurry. The graphics could have been 3D accelerated. The sounds could have been improved. Each wrestler's finishing move could have been properly represented. I believe that even the hardcore WCW fans will be extremely displeased with this game.