WWE WrestleMania 21

« But the most important inclusion into Wrestlemania 21 is it's full on Xbox Live gameplay with all matches available. That makes the game worth having right there. »

« XXI is certainly more polished than previous installments, sporting better voice work (Randy Orton ain't just phoning it in, anymore) and cleaner graphics. We especially enjoyed the Create-A-Fighter feature. »

« A satisfying scrap that'll keep you mashing buttons, if for nothing else than to see Stacy Keibler in her bitmapped bra and pixel panties. »

« Does not really offer anything new, except improved graphics and a new storyline. That is not enough, really, but wrestling fans will probably still like the game. [Aug. 05] »

« I think despite the shortcomings with this title it does a good job of providing some entertainment and fun and at the end of the day this is what counts. »

« Wrestlemania 21's outrageously flawed A.I. and emphatically clunky control integration sully an otherwise outstanding display of wrestling prowess. »

« Inconsistencies such as the out-of-date player roster (why are Jazz and Nidia still there, yet characters like Heidenreich, William Regal and Torrie Wilson aren't), the fact that only four wrestlers are ever allowed on screen at once (why not six, or eight?), and that the list of unlockable legends is limited to say the least (no Hulk Hogan!) [Official UK Xbox Magazine] »

« THQ's new development team really put the polish on the games visuals and sound, but failed to polish up the final product. »

« Graphics are the best part of this game by far. They're beautiful. The season mode is pretty good if you can past the game play. The WWE shop in this game is ridiculous. There's a lot to unlock but you can only earn up to $5,000 a match on the highest difficulty. And theres almost nothing for under $5,000. The Wrestlemania arena is $1M dollars. It would take so much time to earn the cash to buy everything in it. Lags a lot when loading. Feels rushed. Gameplay: 4/10 Roster: 6/10 Soundtrack: 10/10 »

« One of the most disappointing wrestling games of all time. It couldn't match WWE RAW 2. The trailer looked impressive and **** you into the game but unfortunately, it got worse as you started to play it. So many things wrong with the game. The load times are bad, it has THE worst create a wrestler mode ever, the roster was so small and didn't match the 2004 roster at all. Well all wrestling games that came out that year had very poor rosters. The career mode is boring and is a complete ripoff of Day of Reckoning's. It was lacking in so many beloved match types and that you could only play one on one matches. The fatal flaws with the game are the broken AI and broken game engine. It was so buggy and unreliable. Most of the match types were unplayable. The only good things I like about the game are the graphics, the solid controls, the various ranked challenges in profile mode that gives you money, plenty of purchasable unlockables through WWE Shopmode and the great soundtrack. Try it out and only play it in short bursts. »

« WWE Wrestlemania 21 for XBOX is the worst wrestling game and WWE game that I have played. It has the worst game play of any wrestling game that has been released and it takes five minutes to do one Boston Crab. When I saw the story mode is a dumb down version WWE Day Of Reckoning for Nintendo GameCube and there was no originality. »

« WrestleMania XXI is easily the best wrestling game on the XBOX. It's certainly better than anything you'll find on the Gamecube (with the exception of Day of Reckoning 2.) First of all, the graphics are absolutely phenomenal for an original xbox title, the wrestlers look perfect, every bit of detail is captured, in my opinion, the graphics on this are certainly better than the ones on the SmackDown! series on PS2. The variety of superstars to choose from is great, you can be top superstars of the WWE such as Triple H, John Cena, Kurt Angle, Rey Mysterio, The Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Chris Jericho etc. Midcarders/Jobbers like The Hurricane, Eugene, Rene Dupree, Val Venis, Rhyno and Tajiri. Then of course you have the divas, there are only about 6 divas in total but unless you're a real divas fan, this shouldn't be too much of a problem. Finally, you have a new addition to the WWE XBOX game franchise, WM 21 introduces Legends to the game. Andre the Giant, The Rock, Bret Hart, Mankind and Jimmy Snuka are all playable within the game but need to be bought through the WWE Shop. The gameplay itself is a lot of fun, there are loads of different moves to use throughout the match so it never feels like you're using the same boring old move over and over again. Each superstar has their own unique finishing maneuver in the game and weapons can be used in matches like steel chairs, sledgehammers etc. There are a variety of arenas in the game like SummerSlam, RAW, SmackDown, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble, Heat, Velocity but one of the main flaws with the game is that there is no WrestleMania 21, instead there's only the WrestleMania XX arena, which kind of spoiled the game for me. The story mode is a nice addition to the game, you create a superstar and take him through the ranks in order to make him a top WWE superstar, it's not mind blowing but it's not a let down either. As you play through story mode, you will earn money. The money you have earnt can be used to purchase Legends, Arenas and Alt Attires (such as Big Show with hair.) Another downside to the game is it's Create-A-Wrestler mode. As you'd expect, it's nothing compared to recent WWE games such as SmackDown vs RAW 2011 or WWE'12 but it's a very poor mode, compared to the previous XBOX original WWE game, WWE RAW 2, where the customization on that is so out there, with the player being able to not only create a wrestler but also being able to edit current WWE superstars attires, WWE WrestleMania 21 just seems like a total let down when it comes to creating a wrestler. Overall, WWE WrestleMania 21 is a fantastic wrestling game, it's really cheap now and can be bought for about £2-£10 somewhere on the internet, it's definitely a must have for anyone looking to get a good wrestling game on the original xbox which is why I'm giving it a 9 out of 10. »