Ok, I’m going to put it out there: I used to be a wrestling fan. And a big one at that.
So crucify me for once enjoying the testosterone-driven soap opera...oh, and by now I am well aware of the fact that it is not a shoot (read: it’s fake. “oh no!!!! :’( lol” )
But in the last 10 years the show has gone backward so much that it doesn’t really warrant tuning in anymore. Maybe I’m just getting old too, but I am sure I can mark the turn-to-crap clearly to the day Bret Hart left in 1997. That day, the WWE died.
Anyway, on to the game. With the show turning to crud I’ve, in recent years, enjoyed playing the Smackdown VS Raw games (SVR). I have to add, THQ’s recent departures from the SVR franchise to produce few other WWE games have been hit and miss...but mostly miss. 2009’s Legends of Wrestlemania was a tremendous letdown, which, with a theme linked to its title, could’ve been something awesome. Sadly, it wasn’t.
So I was sceptic when WWE All Stars was announced. That THQ will drop the ball again... In short, the game’s big sell is on the “two generations, one ring” tag. Similar to the shambolic 2009 “Legends” release, the sell promised to feature of the earlier WWE stars, which is a wrestling era I really enjoyed.
Anyway, I finally picked the title up this weekend at a massively reduced price similar to a new cd release, so no real complaints there.
In case you haven’t seen screens yet, the game features all the greats the WWE ever saw, cartoonishly remodelled to look quite cooky. The roster is impressive and for a change this WWE game features almost every big-name character the “sport” ever saw. Feel free to check it out here.
Each character has certain attributes in terms of speed, strength and the like, as well as a certain fighter class. Each class is good at something, being it strong, fast, submission, etc. While some are small yet fast, they deliver less-powerful moves, and vice-versa.
Graphically the game is not stellar, but enough to get it by and at least reflect the current generation of consoles.
Sound is as good as you can expect from a wrestling game. Punches, kicks, crowd noise, entrance music. Nothing to really get too excited about.
The game is however a strong departure from the SVR series. Aside from the character design differences the controls have been simplified to turn it into an arcade fighter of sorts. The face buttons are assigned to strike, strong strike, grapple and strong grapple, with different variations of moves for every directional input used on the left stick in conjunction with the attack.
Similar to the over the top cartoon styling of the characters, the moves are also very much over the top with top-rope suplexes flying high into the air, and other grapple moves launching your opponent many feet into the air in some instances. Each character’s finisher is however the most over the top with slo-mo effects, and super-air if the move involves it. For example, the Rock’s RockBottom will surely kill a man and put a dent in concrete if done the way it is in the game. Silly and spectacular.
The game is however not easy at all. Learning the ropes so to speak will leave you restarting matches a couple of times. The game features zero help in terms of a proper tutorial so it’s definitely not a walk in the park to get going. The game’s razor-sharp-split-second-timing reversal mechanic will definitely lead to some frustration, but when you start nailing them, it’s worth it.
Each match sees every wrestler start with four powerbars, overlayed onto one. It starts on a green bar, and then gradually shaves through the bars as damage occurs until the last one revealed is red. A flashing red bar means your opponent, or you are done. A finisher here will end the match, although they can be done earlier and inflict around one powerbar’s amount of damage. You gradually build your special/finisher meter by performing moves.
Career Mode features three paths. Undertaker, Orton, and DX (HBK and HHH). Paul Bearer makes a surprise return to Undertaker’s path. The objective here is simple; fight ten matches, then fight Undertaker, Orton, or DX, depending on the path you chose.
There’s also a Fantasy Matchup mode where the match participants are predetermined between the stars of yesteryear, and today. For instance The Rock VS HHH, Big Show VS Andre the Giant and so on. What makes this mode pretty awesome is that, before every match, a promo video of real-life video is cut between the camera and mic spots of the participants telling each other off and talking the usual rasslin’ trash about the other guy...although they are from different eras. Really well done, and a treat to see some videos of the older guys again.
Other than that the game features a small handful of other matches in the form of tag, elimination, cage, and extreme rules. Sadly, no Royal Rumble.
What is a massive gripe though are the loading times. Upon every start-up it appears the game loads data to the HDD which takes about 2 minutes. I see there’s an update available which will probably sort this out I hope. But at 500+MB I haven’t applied it yet so I won’t know. The loading between matches is also quite long and takes away from the fast pace of the game.
All and all this is a great, albeit hard-to-grapple-with stroll down memory lane in terms of the WWE due to the game’s lack of tutorial when viewed in the light of the fact that it’s definitely not easy. For the first time in a while a WWE game is released where button-bashers can also thrive a bit so let’s not take too much away from it (my wife will also be able to play it....). I’m sure with some friends over this can be something great!!!
If you find it for a good price (below R200 IMO), and you like button-bash-able fighters, this won’t be a bad choice.