WWE WrestleMania 21 | |
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NTSC cover art
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Developer(s) | Studio Gigante |
Publisher(s) | THQ |
Director(s) | John Tobias |
Designer(s) | Matt Cianchetti Mike Vinikour |
Platform(s) | Xbox |
Release date(s) | |
Genre(s) | Professional wrestling |
Mode(s) |
Single-player Multiplayer |
Aggregate score | |
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Aggregator | Score |
Metacritic | 56/100 |
Review scores | |
Publication | Score |
EGM | 5/10 |
Eurogamer | 3/10 |
Game Informer | 5.75/10 |
GamePro | |
GameSpot | 4.5/10 |
GameSpy | |
GameZone | 4/10 |
IGN | 6/10 |
OXM (US) | 6.8/10 |
X-Play | |
The Sydney Morning Herald | |
The Times |
WWE WrestleMania 21, also known simply as WrestleMania 21 or Wrestlemania XXI, is a professional wrestling video game released on the Xbox game console by THQ. It is based on WWE's pay-per-view event of the same name. It is also the successor to Raw 2. The game was the last WWE game released to the original Xbox.
WrestleMania 21 includes superstars from WWE Raw 2 and new wrestlers, including: Charlie Haas, Lance Cade, Rene Dupree, and Eugene. The game features a new reversal system dubbed the Pro Reversal System. This feature allows for simpler functionality with reversing an opponent's move.
WrestleMania 21 was first announced by THQ just before E3 2004, stating that the game would be replacing the Raw video game series.
Despite an upgrade in visuals, and a fully voiced career-mode, WrestleMania 21 was met with very mixed reception due to its gameplay. Rather than being an upgrade of a pre-existing game engine, it was virtually built from the ground up, as well as containing numerous glitches that crippled the gameplay experience. In their review of the game, GameSpot mentioned that the hit detection was horrible. Among various other problems such as a slow and unresponsive AI taking away from the difficulty, or drastically decreasing the length of a match. A Create-a-Wrestler mode lacking a variety of moves, and items for the wrestler being created. While specialty matches are included within the game, they are only playable in 1 on 1. Among other problems, VideoGamer.com mentioned that the game had sloppy controls.IGN gave the game a rating of 6 out of 10, praising the high quality visuals, but like other reviews took issue with the flaws in the gameplay.