Wrestlemania 21 was the last wrestling game for the original Xbox. It, unfortunately, leaves the system with a sour taste in the mouth of any wrestling fan. There were only 3 WWE games on the Xbox, WWF Raw, WWE Raw 2, and WWE Wrestlemania 21. None of them were very good, but Raw 2 has some wacky things you can do and the entrances are just long enough that you can use custom entrance music to some effect.I may as well get to the point. Wrestlemania 21 is an utter disaster of a game. It is not even close to a finished product. The wrestling is no fun. You can win(or lose) a match based on knocking the opponent down once and then applying submission hold after submission hold until they are forced to tap out. The Heat Meter, a bar that fills with flames, takes far too long to fill to make finishers worthwhile, and you can usually pin your opponent long before that point. You don't even have to work an opponent's body part until it's red before a pin, I've gotten them with the worst damage being yellow. You have no control over your tag partner, but when the chips are down he will attempt a save. The referee is extremely strict about keeping the non legal partners out of the ring, and the game is so broken that when they go to leave the ring, they do not stand on the apron automatically when they leave, they step off it. You have to manually go back onto the apron. Switching between opponents in a multi person match is broken too, as you have to click down the right stick, which you also use for posing. You are more likely to do a slow pose, leaving you wide open, when you attempt the switch. There is no sense of smoothness or flow to the wrestling in the game at all. You just attempt moves until you get a pin or submission.
When you do win, you're treated to a horrible mess as the announcers attempt to say something and the logo flashes on screen to start showing a replay, but everything lags horribly as it attempts to load. Then you get a super generic cut scene of the winning wrestler(s) celebrating as their music plays quietly in the background.
The roster of the game was horribly out of date even for Wrestlemania 21. Where is Carlito, for one? The answer seems to be that this game was supposed to come out in 2004 along with Day of Reckoning for the Gamecube and Smackdown vs. Raw for the Playstation 2 based on the menu music and legends that are in the game. Despite being delayed, this game is by far the worst of the three. Also, the roster of male wrestlers is cut down in favor of having perhaps every single woman on the roster with the very odd exception of Christy Hemme. Having Trish and the girls who can wrestle is one thing, but putting Ms. Jackie in the game when she can't even come out with Charlie Haas is pretty pointless.
The one positive aspect of the game is the graphics. Wrestlers are big and well detailed, and show a fair amount of emotion in the proper contexts. If one braves the season mode, they will hear authentic voice overs as well. Unfortunately, the bit of the season mode I played put stipulations in front of you at the very last minute without using the cutscenes to tell you what you need to know. Early on, you need to beat a couple of opponents within three minutes for no particular reason. No one mentions the time limit until after these matches! If you aren't paying attention to Michael Cole while the match is loading, you have no clue until you look up at the time limit box.
Wrestlemania 21 is only going to be found used at this point. Gamestop had it for $12.99 US as of my writing of this. It's not worth that, it's not worth renting, it's not worth getting for free. Wrestlemania 21 is an unfinished game that perhaps could have been a decent one if it had more time, but as it is it stands as the single worst wrestling game I've ever played.
