Over the years, THQ has really refined its WWE games, to the point that they actually mean something again. I mean, yeah, the fans have loved them over the years, but as of late, they’ve really opened up into something special. Earlier this year, WWE All Stars presented an arcade-style experience that’s still fun to play these days, and now we have WWE 12, a concentrated new take on the sim side of things. Though it isn’t perfect, it continues to buck the trend for hw wrestling games should be. Most of the WWE active roster – and even a few released wrestlers – are included here, and while it is sort of a sore spot that a few are locked away for DLC purposes (namely Mr. “Boots To Asses” himself, The Rock), it’s a pretty fairly balanced one. A lot of veterans make their return here, including Randy Orton, Triple H, the Undertaker (where is he, anyway?) and John Cena, along with new faces like Wade Barrett, Dolph Ziggler and – you know it! – Zack Ryder himself. The Divas also make appearances here, but you’ll probably play as them less because, well, they don’t power slam as well. (They do look hot, though.)
And if your favorite wrestler isn’t included (or, hey, you just want to make Scott Hall ala the Razor Ramon days, before he lost himself), you can enter the WWE Universe and create one from scratch. The tools are as robust as ever, letting you control everything from body size to appearance to wrestling performance. After you’re done there, you can create a number of other things, such as custom finishers (get ready for the Pepsi Plunge!), storylines (Michael Cole WILL get his), entrances and arenas. Ever want to create something devoted to the Gobbledygooker? Well, while it won’t be perfect, you certainly can. What’s more, you can connect online and share with others, or download theirs to see how well they perform. This admirably boosts the replay value. Too bad the rest of the online experience doesn’t quite measure up. While there is Xbox Live-supported versus match-ups and other features, the timing feels just a slight bit off, and given the heavy nature of trying to counter with the refined gameplay system, it just feels a bit frustrating. If you can manage, or just don’t care about the counters to begin with, you’ll have fun. But maybe THQ can clean it up a little bit with a patch.
Now, getting to the gameplay, WWE 12 does have an interesting new system where you can grapple, do moves and other techniques using a combination of button presses and analog stick usage. It’s an overall great system, and you can fluidly pull off signature attacks and finishers without breaking a sweat. However, there are flaws. The first are the counters. This has you trying to press a button with the utmost timing to get out of an attack, with a prompted button highlighted above the wrestler for like a nanosecond. Problem is, even if you hit the assigned button at the exact moment, sometimes you don’t get the proper result. Case in point – when we’re in a grapple move and being told to pound the A button as furiously as possible, and do so, we still lose and end up getting put into a move or a headlock. What was the point of the mini-game then?
The second is the submission system. It’s too easy now to either make an opponent submit by furiously tapping buttons, or getting out of a submission going the opposite way. On the other hand, the body-oriented damage system is good, so we’ll forgive this. Finally, there’s kicking out of a pin. You need to hold down the proper button and release it at the EXACT right moment, or risk getting the 3-count done in on you. This is way too tricky for its own good, and we can’t tell you how nuts it was to lose to someone like Ziggler – with the Big Show, no less – due to a roll-up. Also, the AI is finicky. There are times when the wrestlers don’t do anything and wait for you to attack, while, during others, they do too much and counter everything you throw at them. Worse yet, the referee is ridiculous. Hit a valet or do anything with a male contacting a female – even by accident – and he calls for the bell. Granted, it’s not like we were LOOKING to chokeslam Vickie Guerrero…but now we will just for spite.
This feature review concludes on the next page, please click Page 2 below to find out our final thoughts on THQ's WWE '12.
