The Simpsons Wrestling
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 Meet the most unbalanced wrestling game of the decade!
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The Simpsons Wrestling is a wrestling video game based on the animated television series The Simpsons. It was developed by Big Ape Productions and published by Electronic Arts in Europe, and Activision in North America, and distributed by Fox Interactive. It was released in Europe on March 22, 2001, and in North America on April 12, 2001 for the PlayStation.
Gameplay
The game is loosely based on professional wrestling games, but more closely resembles a beat-'em-up. The game can be played in two modes: a tournament-style single-player mode or a grudge match where two players can interact. The matches take place in ten different detailed 3D locations from Springfield, such as the Simpsons' house, the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant, the Kwik-E-Mart, and Moe's Tavern. Letters float around in the wrestling ring, and if a wrestler collects enough of them, they can taunt and temporarily become invincible. A round ends when one wrestler pins their opponent for a three count. Two rounds are needed to win a match.
Why It Got Wrestled to the Ground
- Unbalanced gameplay.
- Horrendous graphics that look like they come from the Atari Jaguar era. Not even cel-shading saves the graphics from being terrible.
- Terrible controls that make the game very difficult.
- God-awful AI. The enemies act like they just want to knock you out easily without even bothering to go a bit away from you. Instead, they just run into you and beat you to death, until you get knocked out.
- Ned Flanders is the most unfair opponent in the game. Not only does his lightning strike attack cause heavy damage, but he also instantly recovers after being pinned, not only giving him an unfair advantage but also forcing you to beat him twice just to win one round against him! To make matters even worse, you have to pin him four times just to win a match against him!
- The characters' voice lines constantly repeat, and will get on your nerves fast.
- The music doesn't fare any better. For example, if you play as Itchy and fight Scratchy (or vice versa), their theme song plays ad nauseum.
- Many bugs and glitches.
- The gameplay is wrestling in-name-only and plays more like a horrible rip-off of Power Stone. The only part of wrestling this game has is that you have to pin your opponent after wearing down their health.
- There is no way to block your opponent's attacks. Blocking is one of the most basic moves in a fighting game. Because of this, you can get knocked out easily, and the only way to win is to just beat your opponent to death like a maniac.
Redeeming Qualities
- Good voice acting from the original cast.
- Nice soundtrack.
- Characters interact differently when one opponent fights another, a feature that was ahead of its time.
Videos
Reception
WatchMojo ranked this game the 1st WORST in the Top 10 BEST & WORST Simpsons games.[1]
References
Comments
- Bad games
- Bad media
- 2000s games
- 2000s media
- PlayStation (console) games
- Television-based games
- Games reviewed by Stanburdman
- Sports games
- The Simpsons games
- Games reviewed by Caddicarus
- Wrestling games
- Electronic Arts
- Activision Blizzard
- Games made in the United States
- Rip-offs
- Shovelware games
- Teen games
- Hard games
- Wha Happun? episodes
- List of video games notable for negative reception
- Featured on TV Tropes' So Bad, It's Horrible
- 20th Century Fox games
- Cash grabs