ECW: Anarchy Rulz

• Release Date: November 29, 2000
• Genre: Sports
• Style: Wrestling
• Similar Games: WWF Attitude (Dreamcast), ECW: Hardcore Revolution (Dreamcast), WWF Royal Rumble (Dreamcast)

Game Description

ECW Anarchy Rulz is constructed with the same engine used for the first ECW game, Hardcore Revolution, and first created for Acclaim's other wrestling titles, WWF WarZone and WWF Attitude. In fact, the rights to ECW games were snatched up by Acclaim when they lost the WWF license to THQ. The result is a game that plays quite similarly to those previous titles, but with extra options and, of course, a 2000 ECW roster, including old favorites like Rob Van Dam, the Dudleys, and Tommy Dreamer, as well as new faces such as the American Dream Dusty Rhodes.

Don't like the 34 ECW wrestlers already included in the game? Anarchy Rulz includes a Create-A-Wrestler mode where you can edit your wrestler's look, size, move set, and even whether they are a heel or a face. This mode will be immediately familiar to fans of the previous games using this engine.

There are a number of different types of matches and modes in the game. Some return from Hardcore Revolution, such as Career mode, where you take a wrestler and move through the ranks of ECW, eventually shooting for the World Heavyweight title, and an Exhibition mode where you can choose all sorts of different matches, from one-on-one to the patented ECW Three Way Dance. Tournament mode combines different aspects of the two above modes. New for Anarchy Rulz are some extra violent bouts, including Last Man Standing, Barbed Wire and Table Matches. Each match can be customized, from length to more specific rules such as No DQ or special pinfall stipulations.

Roots & Influences

The glory days of Extreme Championship Wrestling were the mid-'90s, when the federation was doing things that the "big two" eventually stole, ultimately rendering ECW considerably weaker and less fresh.

Review: Overall

Poor ECW. Not only was their status as the most innovative wrestling federation in North America stolen by the WWF, which essentially co-opted their style, but their videogames have been built on an engine created by Acclaim, an American company. Any fan can tell you that, for some reason, only the Japanese seem to get wrestling games right, from the Fire Pro-Wrestling and New Japan series to Virtual Pro Wrestling 64. Many of those games have made it to the U.S. as WCW or WWF titles, but none of them have made it to the Dreamcast, making ECW Anarchy Rulz one of your only wrestling options if you have Sega's system.

There are a lot of options in Anarchy Rulz and a tremendous number of different ways to play the game, from the different modes to the enormous amount of match types to play, including some extra-violent ones present for the first time. But the praise stops there, as the game just isn't fun, especially for those born and bred on the games that actually play somewhat like an actual wrestling match. With annoying combos, strange life bars, and punches and kicks that seem to do more damage than high risk moves, grappling and wrestling in Anarchy Rulz is turned into a chore. The poor controls and clipping issues don't help things, either.

Most of the wrestler models look like they were created in the Create-A-Wrestler mode rather than custom-built to emulate the real ECW stars. Their animation is clunky and they don't do a good job of moving like real people. The sprite-based crowd is a little more animated than in the previous game, but is still are second rate. Sound is in the same boat. Crowd taunts, chants, and occasionally hot pops don't come often enough, making the arenas you fight in sound practically empty. Generic synthesized guitar tracks replace most of the real music ECW entrances are famous for, and there is no music during the actual match, further highlighting the dead buzzing of the crowd.

Even if you're a die hard ECW fan, it makes more sense to snag a game such as No Mercy or Smackdown 2, and create ECW wrestlers in those games' superior Create-A-Wrestler modes. If you're a Dreamcast owner, and absolutely must have your wrestling fix, you should consider importing Giant Gram in from Japan, as that game makes ECW Anarchy Rulz look decidedly backyard. Or just go to a friend's house and play No Mercy on their N64. No matter how you stack it, ECW Anarchy Rulz cannot be recommended other than for completists.

Review: Enjoyment

One of the lousiest wrestling engines available, hands down. Even if this is one of your only options on the Dreamcast, you probably won't be able to stand playing it for an extended amount of time. The combo system is weak, grappling doesn't seem worth it half of the time, and the extra-violent matches don't do enough to make things exciting.

Review: Graphics

The game is highlighted by blocky characters who often barely resemble the wrestlers they're supposedly portraying. The engine is aged and the animation is pathetic.

Review: Sound

The chants are cute at first, but after the 50th time the announcer excitedly notices that you're going "off the ropes!", things go quickly south, becoming repetitive and annoying.

Review: Replay Value

There are a lot of options and match types, which is a good thing, and a lot of wrestlers, even if they don't look or move well.

Review: Documentation

The manual does an adequate job in explaining the details of this lousy, lousy game.

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