First Play | WWE Wrestlemania X9

In addition, THQ also expanded on some of the previously known gameplay elements. The story mode, which takes players on a conquest of ba
ck-stage revenge against ringleader Vinch McMahon, is now set to offer WWE fans some brand-new play mechanics, such as climbing and hanging from structures and interacting with these real-world environments in ways that other Wrestlemania games have never attempted. There's also a new single-player "ShopZone" feature, where players can spend their cash earned throughout the story mode on a variety of bonuses ranging from new playable wrestlers to arenas, outfits, and more.

These details gave us a good idea of what to expect from the game down the road, but our attention soon turned to what the game has to offer right now as we plugged in our Nintendo controllers and booted up the early demo. This single match demo allowed two players to duke it out in a timed grudge match between Rey Mysterio and The Undertaker. The point of the hands-on experience was to get a feel for the several new gameplay elements that the development team is designing in addition to appreciating the new graphical presentation.

Using the GameCube controller, the current control scheme breaks down as follows:

As returning Wrestlemania gamers can see, some moves will be familiar this year, while others are fresh. The new weak and strong grapple system is a nice feature that definitely adds depth to the gameplay, as we were able to tell the advantages to getting off a quick and light grapple versus the more slow and powerful slams to the mat.

At the top of the screen, three indicators clue players into the status of their fighter. The top meter is a momentum indicator which turns from blue to green to red as players eventually start kicking rear and building up steam -- the more momentum you have, you'll definitely notice a distinct improvement in your dexterity and ability to dish out the pain. The middle bar is a blue addreneline meter that fills up with every strike, grapple, and reversal you pull off. Once the bar fills, one-third of the yellow special bar below it will light up. Once all three yellow blocks are glowing, players can hit the A + B buttons to deal XIX's highly cinematic and player-specific special moves.

Each fighter will feature at least two of his or her special moves in the game, and some will even feature a third. In today's gameplay time, we were able to pull off The Undertaker's "Last Ride" and "Choke Slam" specialties with the greatest of ease, in addition to Mysterio's head-crunching "X-Factor." When special moves and other strong grapples are triggered, the camera shifts to an intense close-up of the action that definitely looks to give XIX that presentation boost that THQ is aiming for.

We left this morning's event wishing that we had even more time to enjoy with the already fun yet early build of the game, but we didn't leave empty handed. THQ was gracious enough to let us share the WWE love with you by snagging a ton of super-sweet direct feed footage of the game in action for the very first time.

Click the link for the media page.

WWE Wrestlemania X9 First Movies | Click Here!

I have looked at a couple of videos and am very impressed at the improvement from their first try at the Gamecube. And as its in early stages there are the bland looking characters, which are said to still be working on. I hope they succeed with this game, as it has the potential to do it!