“I'll show you who you’re dealing with Brotherrrrrrr”….”BANZAAAAAIIIIII!”….”OOOOOOOOOOO YEEEEEAH!”
That’s what comes to mind what I think of the Wrestling (I knew it as WWF - World Wrestling Federation - now known as WWE-World Wrestling Entertainment)! It’s been a while since I have watched wrestling. Almost 7 years. Can’t say I was ever its biggest fan because I always knew it was entertainment. But still, I was none the less looking forward to playing WWE13 when I was told that we received a copy to review from XCN.
It’s been a while since I played a wrestling game. Smackdown vs RAW was incredibly addictive in every way and I was introduced to that by my cousin and his brothers 5 kids! We played till late and enjoyed many sessions of tag team matches, battle royals, Royal Rumbles and even single player game modes.
So how has this wrestling game changed over nearly the last decade? How will it affect me? Will I enjoy it? All these questions were running through my mind.
To say that the game is a disappointment would be wrong. However, to say that it’s absolutely fabulous would not be entirely accurate either. THQ and Yukes have done a pretty good job with the game play and the wrestlers.
As I admitted earlier, I haven’t played it in a while. So the change from Smackdown vs RAW to this is certainly a huge one. From what I remember, the previous version had a “campaign” where I would be able to create a wrestler and develop him in certain areas e.g. power, agility etc. This seemed to be missing in WWE13. As it was the first thing I looked for when I loaded up the game, I was left a bit disappointed when I saw that there wasn’t one. I even checked with a few other friends who had the game and they confirmed that this was the case and I wasn’t mistaken. So I created a wrestler anyway (which still remains very very detailed – still quite impressed with that) and decided I would just give the game a go by exploring and trying to see where the Developers were headed with this.
The WWE13 Roster
The game is divided into basic sections, which I will try and tackle one at a time.
Single match- This is exactly what it says. It allows you to choose what type of match you wish to play, including hell in the cell, Royal Rumble, Cage match and very many others.
Attitude Era – Defined as “Relive the greatest & influential era of WWE history, this is something new! Attitude takes you as a player back to the year when WCW, WWE’s great rival started to win TV viewing ratings and becoming very popular with the viewers. This is when WWE decided to step it up a notch and try and win back publicity and came up with RAW is WAR.
You play one important match at a time building the story line with the classic players like Mankind, Shaun Michaels, Triple H (before, during and after he was the leader of degeneration X) and many others, at the same time, unlocking these characters to play in the main game modes when not in Attitude. A definite plus as the more you play, the more you unlock.
You are given a few tasks to achieve. Some of them MUST be completed in order to complete the main task at hand. At the end, if you were part of this time, you may remember some of the events that you go through, bringing back memories of you screaming at the TV! At least I did anyway!
This game mode is a great addition to the game. It certainly keeps you motivated to want to help improve the TV ratings but more importantly, if you are a gamer who enjoyed playing with the likes of Mankind/Dude Love, The Undertaker, Shaun Michaels and various other players, then this mode will keep you going for ages. One thing is for sure, it will take time to unlock all the players so make sure you have a cup of coffee or energy drink to hand.
Creation – In this mode, you can create your wrestler customise his moves, create an entrance scene, moves and you can do a lot more. This includes creating a story line from scratch. And I was very surprised at the amount you can actually do. Right down to what the wrestlers say to each other, where they stand, what they do and how the story builds up, scene by scene! I would say that this section is more for the wrestling fanatic! If you have an imaginative mind, it can be great. But it’s not my kind of thing to sit and plan out a story. I can’t leave out the fact that the detail is incredible and the game allows you to share your creation with the rest of the world on Xbox live. This is uploaded to the server for other gamers to actually download and be a part of! Some racing games have this sort of feature already where you can create tracks but that is limited to only the games tools. With WWE13, the gamers mind is the tool. With the various options and combinations possible, the choices are near enough limitless.
Universe – In this game mode you take one week at the time as if you’re in the real world of wrestling. However, this lacks in creativity and interaction with the gamer. It took me the better part of 30 minutes trying to figure out what I was doing here. I knew the wrestler I created was part of RAW. I could see the schedule of events in a calendar; however I didn’t really want to sit playing every single match in the event. So I skipped a few matches at first until I got to my created wrestlers’ match. I then went past a few weeks before I realised that I could use my wrestler to actually interfere in other matches. This would either develop relations or burn bridges. The choice was yours. The interference does also lack a certain edge as there’s only 1 cut scene which is very repetitive and there’s no other way around it. I will let you (the reader) figure that one out. It’s very easy to spot when the same thing happens a second, third; fourth…I think you get the idea. I think a lot more can be included with this mode and it would improve the enjoyment of the game as a whole.
Xbox Live – Certainly online gaming has become a huge industry in the last few years with millions of gamers around the world coming together with aid of servers are playing against and with one another. I was excited to have a chance to play someone online to see what it was like. However, the 2-3 times that I tried, the servers were “under maintenance” Hence, you would have to decide for yourselves when you get the game if the online gaming is enjoyable. Not something I’m happy to put across of course but I have little choice. Not a good impression but hopefully the next time I do, I will be ready to take on the world!
Overall, I must say that the game will bring a fairly enjoyable experience as the game modes cover old and new wrestlers in a certainly unique style. The menus can be a little confusing at first and a bit more instruction would be handy. Now days the manuals that come with the games are not as detailed as they used to be before. It’s probably to conserve paper, costs etc. But even when you have a tutorial in game, in my honest opinion, it should be a bit more detailed. To say RT+A doesn’t really cut the mustard for me as a gamer. Hence, I went through trying to figure out most of the moves. But that’s just me. Other readers may opt to read through and remember.
There is much more that can be added to the game to make it more enjoyable. However, I felt that not being able to take your own created wrestler into the world of the WWE leaves a big hole in the game.
Coming back to the game, the one question must still be asked. If you don’t watch wrestling, will you enjoy it? Will you play it? There’s only one way to find out…….FIIIIIIIIGHT!!!!!
With that I leave you to ponder if you will simply watch on TV or if you would like to step into the virtual shoes of your favourite wrestler and lay the smack down on their….. We know how that ends!
Massive thanks to XCN for giving us a chance to review the game.