WWE Day of Reckoning 2

Features
By published

NGC grapples with THQ's latest Cube-bound wrestler

Being repeatedly punched in the face hurts. But what seems to have been forgotten in the vast majority of wrestling games is that being repeatedly punched in the face is also tiring.

Luckily, all that is about to change; Yuke's has learnt its lesson.

The key to the much-enhanced grappling is a stamina bar that dictates how your brawler responds to your commands.

Reckoning 2 drags the stamina bar into the centre of the action. Working in tandem with the C-stick driven submissions and more accurate location-based damage, the state of your wrestler not only decides how hard you can hit, but if you can at all.

A tired grappler is so sluggish and slow that they can barely block or dodge an opponent's blows.

The 50 or so brawlers will also feature four fighter-specific choices of submission moves, from humiliating crowd pleasers to a special bar building Show-Off move or a stamina rebuilding Rest Submission.

Breaking these holds depends on matching the move by shoving your stick in the same direction, which already feels far more intuitive and demanding than the original.

With 15 events, a greater degree of pre-show presentation and backstage shenanigans, it should also be a long time before anyone gets tired of Reckoning 2.

WWE Day of Reckoning 2 is out for Gamecube in September