Format: Advance
Genre: Sports
Developer: Natsume
Publisher: THQ

-> ROB VAN DAM! <- Yeah that's right, I picked RVD for my adventure through Survivor Series. This is a technical wrestling game in the early WWE days after it lost it's lawsuit with the WWF(world wildlife foundation) and had to change their name. For the record, it used to be World Wrestling Federation, aka WWF. I said this was a technical wrestling game, because it's not a beat-em-up style like many other wrestling games. You have soft goals in this game, and the majority of the action comes from performing moves rather than smacking your opponent senseless. For example, most of the matches you will be required to get beat up yourself. That means basically putting down the game and eating a sandwich. Another goal that's pervasive in almost all matches is doing every single one of your moves. You get popularity points based off accomplishing the goals, which means that this game is more of a checklist rundown than anything else. Match Starts, do all your moves, get beat up, do any extras, win the match. Most matches boil down to that archetype. It can be extremely repetitive. There are all types of scenarios in this game but the basic action feels more like rockem' sockem robots than anything else. There are cage matches, royal rumbles, submission matches, hardcore matches, singles, and tag teams. When you start the game you're given a choice between RAW and SMACKDOWN to choose from, and from there you choose which wrestler you want to be. The progression is pretty simple: Complete some qualifying matches then do some sort of "event" like the royal rumble or summerslam. Each show has 3 titles, and when you get all 3, you are transferred to the other show. Since I picked RVD, I started on SMACKDOWN and then transferred to RAW. After the transfer you get to do it all over again! yaaaay? It's a bit monotonous in that regard. The two factors that bring a little life to this game's repetitive nature are the tag matches and the royal rumble. The tag matches, you're given a partner (maybe randomly?) that you have to win the title with and the royal rumble you have to survive the entire thing on each show. For the royal rumble, you have to knock people out of the ring as per usual. With tag matches, the goals double up requiring you to get a high partnership value. Basically this means to tag a lot and run in to cause some havoc whenever someone uses a submission or a pin. With the royal rumble, a simple running attack will knock people over the top rope. The AI knows this too, and WILL capitalize when you're not paying attention. Running exists in this game but only left-right. By pressing 2 directional buttons and B you can get up on any corner to perform moves off them. Since I choose RVD, this was important since his five-star frog splash requires it. Specials use the select button btw. For hardcore matches you're expected to use weapons, which can be grabbed from under the ring with the L button. Most of the game requires you to use all your moves, which comes down to the A button to grapple and a combination of buttons after you've grabbed them. A+Down, A, A+Forward, A+Up, B+Down, B, B+Forward, B+Up. You also have a different set of moves when grappling from behind, and a few unique moves based on running or if the enemy is running as well and a few when the enemy is down or if you're on top of a corner. It's a much more technical game than most wrestling beatem'ups, but once you get the flow of it, it's a decent way to kill 20 or 40 minutes. Most saves in the game occur after about 4-6 matches, so get ready to be invested for a bit... There is a pause button though. Credits after you beat both RAW and SMACKDOWN and get all 6 titles.

Hot Tips: The energy bar, when full, will never allow you to pin. Throw a fake pin before using you finisher.

All in All, This one gets 6 german suplexes out of 10 for ROB VAN DAM's Survivor Series. The gameplay is a bit flaky. The style of the game is KAYFABE. There's no move list, tutorial, or indication of how moves work. Sub par game for a 9 hour game.