10. WWE Legends Of WrestleMania
Legends of Wrestlemania was released in 2009 to coincide with the airing of WrestleMania 25. Although created and published by the same people who dealt wth the SmackDown vs Raw series, they took a completely different approach than that series. Its main selling point was being able to relive the past 25 years of WrestleMania using the near 40 classic superstars that were present in the game. At the time, many wondered how it would justify itself as a whole new title, especially since many of the stars had already featured as unlockables in previous SmackDown games. To differentiate from SmackDown, Legends of WrestleMania had a complete new control scheme, which simplified everything down to just 4 buttons. The most frustrating part of the new controls was that almost the entire game was distilled down to one long Quick Time Event. Even normal grapples would turn into chain wrestling events, relying on pressing the right button at the right time to get the edge on your opponent. Same for reversals. Grapples built your level until you earned yourself a finishing move, which of course was executed by carrying out a Quick Time Event. Matches ended quite quickly as it was relatively easy to wear down your foe. Not that it mattered as pins and momentum were all over the place. It was definitely more arcade than simulation, but that didn't excuse it from being mostly frustrating to deal with. In fairness, the WrestleMania mode was enjoyable as a short distraction and did set the stage for the 30 Years of WrestleMania in WWE 2K14. They did also let you import your entire roster from Smackdown vs Raw at the time, so it wasn't all bad. Unfortunately the main hunk of Legends of WrestleMania was a disappointing cash-in that maybe would have fared better as a DLC rather than a full price game.