Last week I had the chance to head down to sunny California to attend a preview event at THQ's worldwide headquarters featuring their next wrestling game. However, it is not the next chapter in the Smackdown vs. Raw franchise, rather it is a new game that features a lot of nostalgia, a very simple control scheme, and a long list of legendary WWE wrestlers. A new brand experience is about to be unleashed onto the wrestling faithful. Created by long-time wrestling developer YUKES, this new game is called Legends of Wrestlemania (referred to as Legends in this preview) and its upcoming release could not be timed any better as Wrestlemania is about to celebrate its 25th anniversary with Wrestlemania 25. Paul Edwards – Senior Game Designer and Cory Ledesma – Senior Creative Manager were the two main THQ staff handling all the duties of answering all our questions we had about the game.

Legends aims to bring back a lot of the history and nostalgia when looking back at the long running Wrestlemania series. This includes the wrestlers themselves as well as the atmosphere such as the locales, the music, and even the audience. From the mullets of the early 80's, to the pink polo and tie-dyed shirts that never seem to age, everything you may associate with each time period is there. After watching a few matches on the demo screen I was astounded with how the early 80's and 90's were so alive and kicking in this game.

There are three main match types that Legends focuses on for each Wrestlemania match:

Relive Match (Single Player mode) - Here you will take on the role of a past winner of an iconic Wrestlemania match and complete certain challenges within the match. The more challenges you complete the more you live up to what the real match was actually like. The challenges are not necessary, but the more you meet the more your match will mirror the actual match of yesteryear. The game will let you know when you meet a challenge, so you won't be particularly lost during match. The challenges also allow for unlockables.

Rewrite Match (Single Player mode) - Here you will take on the role of a loser of an iconic Wrestlemania match and then try to win the match that the wrestler actually lost. You will try to 'rewrite' the history. There are also a set of objectives for you to try to meet.

Redefine Match (Single Player mode) - This match type has a fan fiction element to it. Here you will take a past match and introduce new elements to the original match such as new rule or even a new match type (e.g. ladder match when it was actually a cage match, etc).

THQ was keen to highlight that before each match there is a movie montage that the WWE created specifically for the Legends game. The movies show prime footage of what led up to the iconic Wrestlemania match you are about to relive. This footage is used to refresh those gamers who are familiar with each character, or introduce those who are rookies of the legendary wrestlers, to what events may have preceded the big match. There are over 20 movies that were created just for Legends. The WWE was able to dig into their vault of many years of TV and pay-per-view footage to put these movies together. The team at THQ team noted that some of the footage is even pre-Wrestlmania given that a lot of character feuds may have originated prior to the various Wrestlemanias featured. Knowing that the amount of detail and work that went into these videos leaves this writer somewhat impressed by the commitment that both the WWE and THQ have about staying as close to the source material as possible.

As this is a game of nostalgia, the crew at THQ explained that the control scheme is also meant to be a throw back to the past. Wrestling video games released during the time period of the Wrestlemania matches featured (1-15) were simple, so the control in Legends is made just as simple in an effort to sustain the 'remember when' feel. Of course not everyone who plays Legends will remember those days, but hey, I am sure a lot will. The control is a different set-up from the simulation control of any of the Smackdown vs. Raw games. The four face buttons are assigned the main tasks including strike, grapple, defense (e.g. block) and miscellaneous action while the left analog stick allows you to move about the ring. That is it. After personally spending some time with the game I really think that it will allow new users to wrestling games to enjoy what is offered on the disc while still letting those familiar with any previous wrestling games have a good time.

There is also a chained encouter system in Legends which is similiar to Quick Time Events (QTE) that occur in other action games found on the various consoles. During the match events occur where you chain together certain button presses. Your opponent, be it the computer AI or another human being, also has a chance to hit the same buttons you. If you are on the offensive, and manage to complete the chain, you can pull of some pretty slick and devastating wresting moves. If you are on the defensive end, and you hit the correct buttons quicker then your opponent, not only do you stop their move from occurring, but you can pull of a powerful and effective counter move. I have never been a big fan of QTE, or anything similar, but I actually didn't mind it when playing Legends. I had the chance to play against both the AI as well as some fellow journalists and each time the outcome was unpredictable in terms of who would win these chained encounter events. It actually made for some really good smacktalk between us writers and it added some more fun to the whole experience.

Wrestling game fans will notice that Legends has a different life bar and momentum system then that found in Smackdown vs. Raw. As you perform well with your wrestler, and take control of the match, you will fill up your momentum bar which in turn opens up more moves. There are three levels to complete. Level one opens up a larger repertoire of moves which are stronger then the default set you have at the start. Level two will open up signature moves as well as bigger and more powerful throws. Finally, when you hit level three you open up your character's finisher move. I had fun as I made my climb up the meter and eventually opening my character's finishing move. It should be noted that your opponent can interrupt your finishing move leaving you only with a body slam or some shortened attack.

What was noticeable during the preview was that the WWE characters had an over-the-top look. As the game is more arcadish then wrestling games recently released the THQ team let us know that both they and YUKES thought it would be nice to add some visual flair to the game. To accomplish this they took some creative liberty with each wrestler and emphasized specific aspects that give the majority of the wrestlers a superhero-like look. The attributes that are emphasised on each wrestler are meant to bring back those feelings of when fans were young and how they saw the wrestlers as gladiator-like superbeings. For example, Hulk Hogan's arms and chest were a lot larger and more powerful looking then what they were really look like. I have to say after watching and playing the game that the visual appearance really does suit the theme and matches how Legends' actually plays.

During the earlier time periods of the WWE managers seemed to be more prevalent then they are today. Well THQ made sure to include them in Legends. Such well remembered managers as Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Jimmy "The Mouth of the South" Hart, Mr. Fuji, and Pallbearer are featured in the game. They are not just eye candy either as they play an active role during the match. They get physically involved including throwing powder in your opponents face, tripping opponents along side of the ring and even picking up your foot to put it on the ropes to save you from being counted out. Heck, they will even encourage you to play on by cheering or giving you advice or a pep talk. You can also attack your opponent's manager with any of the moves you have available to you. It was pretty neat to see the managers in game acting their part and being a big ingredient of the gameplay. I have to admit that I felt a guilty satisfaction as I laid a beating or two on poor ol' Jimmy Hart.

An interesting feature that was mentioned was that you can transfer your full roster of wrestlers from Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 into the Legends game. This is pretty appealing given that you not only increases your in-game roster from the original 40 legendary wrestlers, but you can now create dream matches that could never occur in real life. Imagine John Cena vs. Sgt. Slaughter, or Randy Orton battling against the legendary Hulk Hogan. Hell you can even put together a "Battle of the Big Boys" match with the Big Show vs. Andre the Giant vs. the Big Bossman. THQ noted that this will make Legends of Wrestlemania one of the largest wrestling game rosters with over 110 superstars in the game, and that does not include any players you created in Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 which can also be transferred to Legends. I think that wresting fans around the world will absolutely love this feature.

THQ has made sure to keep the true WWE feel in the audio department as well, with Howard Finkle doing the ring announcing and JR and Taz doing the color commentary. There are approximately 5000 lines of commentating in the game and the folks at THQ noted that JR adlibs quite a bit given that he has been around for so long and he actually remembers a lot of the Wrestlemania's that are featured, so he was able to comment at will based on what he had seen and experienced in person. Of course each wrestler's intro-music is included in the game too.

There are 16 arenas found in the game along with 11 well known match types (e.g. ladder, cage, royal rumble, etc). One of the main reasons for the lower of number of different matches then those found in previous wrestling games is that a lot of the match types that exist today did not exist back during the time that the many of the included roster of legends wrestled. This keeps the match types somewhat realistic to time period of the featured Wrestlemanias in the game.

On a side note, during our visit to THQ, and while we were watching a demo of the game, all of us media folk were treated to a surprise visit from WWE legend Sgt. Slaughter. He literally stormed through the boardroom door in order to tell us a little more about what the game was about. Interestingly enough the match being demoed at the time was Hulk Hogan vs. Sgt. Slaughter . Sgt. Slaughter was adamant to point out that Hogan got a quick count, but the video game had a new referee and the match would now be fair. He also spoke about how the big match between him and Hogan was originally supposed to be in an outdoor arena, however due to his role at as a Iraqi sympathizer at the time (his bad guy role which some of you might not know about) there were a lot of death threats on his life and his safety in an outdoor stadium could not be guaranteed unless it was secured. So the decision was made to hold Wrestlemania 5 in an indoor stadium to help with any security concerns. This hit home a big point of how the fans of the WWE really do take their stuff seriously. The role that Sgt. Slaughter was playing at that time caused some real reactions and it shows how fans really do follow, respect and immerse themselves in the storylines that occur in the WWE.

Sgt. Slaughter is now a WWE Ambassador and he was kind enough to take the time to speak with us on a candid level and tell us what the wrestling business was about, and how it has changed since time times of the matches that are featured in Legends of Wrestlemania. He even had lunch with us regular media folk. I was quite amazed by how things seemed to have changed since the days when I was young and watched my share of WWE (back then known as WWF) including Sgt. Slaughter himself.

I have to shout out a big "Thank You" to the fine PR folks at THQ for allowing me to come down to their offices and experience firsthand their newest game, Legends of Wrestlemania. Having had a chance to play both Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game, and sit and talk with Sgt. Slaughter, I am somewhat excited to take a trip down memory lane and take on the role of those wrestlers I watched as a kid. THQ really does seem to have something of a hit on their hands as this game is simple, fun, and most of all nostalgic, especially for wrestling fans. That is not to say that non-wrestling fans won't have fun either as they too will enjoy all the game has to offer. I can't wait to play the final version later this month.