Developer: Kodiak Interactive Publisher: Electronic Arts

Released: December 12, 2000 Rated: T 3/10

The decline of WCW, particularly the free fall and turmoil throughout the year 2000, has been well-documented and much-discussed in various forums over the years. So without spending too much time outside of the game itself, it seems almost too obvious to point out or wax philosophical over the parallels between the complete misfire of WCW Backstage Assault and the rest of the company’s comedy of errors at the time. But at the core of Backstage Assault’s many problems, we have to, of course, start from the top — the overarching bad booking decision that sets the tone for every poor choice thereafter with an idea that could never work no matter the execution: this is a wrestling game that takes place entirely backstage, with no ring, referee, or rules of almost any kind. An entire wrestling game that only offers backstage hardcore matches. 

In an era where the WWF was, even just with their video games, quite literally stealing the company’s lunch money by poaching THQ/AKI Corp. as the publisher/developer, respectively, replacement dev Kodiak Interactive created and released an entire game that not only tosses out any goodwill earned from the prior year’s WCW Mayhem, but equals about 1% of the content offered by WWF No Mercy released a month prior. And naturally, that content still plays and looks like absolute garbage.

If playing nothing but matches based on WCW’s afterthought hardcore division at least sounds like it’s worth trying out of curiosity, there’s still some pretty awful presentation to get through before starting a match otherwise. Now, given that the product it’s based on isn’t something they really have control over, it’s no fault of Kodiak Interactive that the roster is so weak, but that doesn’t mean you should hide basically the entire thing away as unlockables for playing this extremely limited game for far longer than it can possibly hold out. Sting, Flair, Hogan, Goldberg… Doug Dellinger, Corporal Cajun, and Disco Inferno? A quick flip through the initial selection makes sure to keep a few of the big names available, but the roster as a whole is honestly pitiful. And with most of the roster, ring gear, create-a-wrestler options, and even the few backstage areas you’re offered to fight in hidden away, it certainly isn’t giving you much to work with without hitting that single player Hardcore Challenge mode and filling out those menu options to see what content there actually is.

Though none of these wrestling titles on N64 have ever done anything truly excellent with the character models, Backstage Assault does the remaining WCW roster few favors with their portrayals. There are definitely a few instances of “that barely looks like them,” though there’s admittedly room for error when considering how many characters you’ll barely remember anyway. There’s really just so many presentation choices that are hit not only by an overall sloppy package but the double whammy of having nothing to present in the first place. The character creator is present, but about as complex as the one from WWF War Zone, where the novelty of the feature was its own commendation. Animations are poorly executed across the board, rarely feeling like the even operate at the right speed, and only contribute to the off putting nature of the gameplay. Backstage fights only means no entrances and hardly any music to be heard. The only plus I would give any of the visual or audio design would be the commentary. Clumsy and disjointed, but certainly of the time, the three man team of Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyskzo, and Bobby “The Brain” Heenan delivers a lot of lines in the rare feature that AKI’s titles do not offer. Always impressive on the N64 and nice to have considering it’s not awful (doesn’t include Mark Madden, for one). 

Of course, the gameplay is where WCW Backstage Assault proves truly atrocious. A significantly dumbed down experience that throws away any leftover goodwill that WCW Mayhem might have granted considering Kodiak had basically started from scratch, the implications of the hardcore-only concept stretch so much further than most will realize upon starting the game up. Singles matches only. No ropes and scant options for aerial maneuvers. A significant downplaying of submission moves or, really, most actual wrestling maneuvers, with only a few grapples in each character’s arsenal. If executed properly, Backstage Assault would play like a Power Stone knockoff and not be so utterly laughable by maintaining the framework of actual wrestling gameplay, including a momentum meter that swings wildly back and forth with little apparent rhyme or reason for its severity. . Even the variety of backstage areas and various weapons and plunder isn’t a bad effort, but at the same time it’s also where the age of the title and product it’s based on have probably aged the worst. 

While the rise of even more extreme promotions than those of the ‘90s in the intervening years has proven the audience exists for wrestling with such intense bloodlust, the way it’s presented here is probably even more grotesque than the real thing, and can make Backstage Assault an even worse experience based on your stomach for the type of wrestling this game most closely resembles. While the weapons-heavy nature of the gameplay is in no way surprising, it’s the dissonance between the product it represents and the way the video game pushes boundaries further due to the absence of risk that personally, I found really hard to ignore. What is wisely limited to low impact items like boxes, aluminum trash cans, and even bags of uncooked pasta on TV is expanded into pay phones, urinals, and lots of fire and high voltage electricity, which is only exacerbated by awkward animations and physics. Seeing Mona whip Stacy Keibler by her hair and toss her headfirst into a porcelain sink that breaks off the bathroom wall is the kind of stuff that the tone of the game is absolutely going for and playing for laughs, and it’s honestly kind of striking to experience.

I’m by no means squeamish about video games, loving my MadWorlds and my Mortal Kombats and what have you, but it’s that closeness to the real world that definitely upsets my stomach a little bit, calling to mind both the real performers as well as real incidents that have proven why there is a line that doesn’t get crossed in the real product. I apologize for getting on my soapbox here, especially as your mileage will certainly vary, but it’s a very tangible distaste I had for this game that doesn’t fit under the usual beats of a video game review. Remove yourself from this issue entirely though, and WCW Backstage Assault is still a very bad game that has only gotten that much worse with age.

Continuing Legacy

There’s nothing to be salvaged from Backstage Assault’s miserable game engine, though the concept of hardcore-only wrestling would stay viable to some degree with the backyard wrestling scene getting a pair of dedicated titles that are still over with their respective audience. It’s a sad whimper to go out on, just like WCW as a whole, as we would never get the next-generation follow-up of WCW Mayhem 2, which was supposedly in the works with AKI Corp. back in the fold. A PS2 release of Backstage Assault was also rumored to be on the way before the company was bought out by the WWF in March 2001.

Additional Information

Saves: Controller Pak

Players: 2

Compatible With: Rumble Pak

Print Guides: Prima

Aggregate Critical Reception (GameRankings): 55.40%, based on 5 reviews

Other Releases: NA Exclusive on N64

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