WWE 13
What We Liked:
Attitude Era is a complete triumph and the shear amount of options is incredible. The ability to share and create easily is truly genius.What We Disliked:
Still has some animation problems and the camera angles are a bitch at times.WWE 13 Released today across North America, and set for launch in Europe on the 2nd November, is THQ’s most ambitious WWE game to date, WWE 13. With the inclusion of the new campaign mode, the “Attitude Era”, and a host of other features, WWe 13 has been long awaited and anticipated by [...]
WWE 13
Released today across North America, and set for launch in Europe on the 2nd November, is THQ’s most ambitious WWE game to date, WWE 13. With the inclusion of the new campaign mode, the “Attitude Era”, and a host of other features, WWe 13 has been long awaited and anticipated by fans across the globe. So how good is it, and what major changes if any have been made in this latest release of the series?
Gameplay and Graphics,
Diving straight into the “Attitude Era”, the new campaign mode, you are presented with a six chapter history of the rise of WWE through the matches and eyes of some of the biggest names known in WWE. You start off with the rise of Degeneration X, featuring “The Heartbreak Kid” and “Triple H”, as he is now known. Each of the matches you face along this road aim to be as accurate as possible to the actual matches of the day, giving you historical challenges to complete for each match if you wish to do so. Completing these historical challenges will unlock characters, belts, arenas and more, so doing these is probably a wise move but not a necessary one. Each of the chapters have been painstakingly backed up with real archive footage and audio that really sets the scene and tone of the era with the usual dose of WWE twists and theatrics that we have all watched and loved on TV for years.
WWE 13 gives us more choice than a Chinese take-away menu in the form of matches, arenas and fighters. Designing your own wrestler was a
real highlight for me with choices to design and upload all aspects of my fighter. I must have spent a good few hours making the perfect intro movie, logo and just generally making him look as hard as nails, then to be honest in a really simple way was able to upload this to the community. However, not all is as slick in the game, with some glitches still existing in the animations and for me I found the camera angles difficult at times, as the game tries to give you that real WWE feel by changing from one camera to another. I did get to play online in a couple of matches and I have to say that playing this game with human opponents is more fun than trying to hold a jelly on a trampoline!
You can also take your hard looking, muscle bound creations with you and actually play them online in real matches, allowing the fans to create and play a virtually limitless roster of wrestlers. There have been no major changes to the core gameplay this year, but the one thing WWE 13 does have is the ability to allow anyone to just pick up a joypad and start playing, and this is all down to the control system. Even if you have never played any of the series before, it’s simple to just get stuck in because you don’t have to master all the special moves and blocks. This allows both the expert and beginner to play together without the latter getting totally pummelled in every match. One of the major changes this year is that you can now set matches to quick, normal, or epic, which if added to another change of being able to use infinite finishing moves, makes for some hectic matches, seeing players trading massive moves back and forth. Also, the OMG highlights of each match seem a lot more realistic and enjoyable to watch.
Another feature not to be slighted is the return of the Universe Mode which is now bigger than ever allowing the player to create their own WWE. Players now have the freedom to create their own shows while scheduling which day they appear on, from Monday through Saturday. In their show creation process, players will be able to choose the presentation graphics, the arena, which rosters appear on the show, and assign up to four Championships to be contested over. As well as Pay-Per-View, Statistics and Storylines you get a WWE experience that is completely unique and as individual as you are.
Another thing I did notice was that some of the wrestlers did not look the best in close up, I suppose a bit like their ageing counterparts all full of botox and face-lifts. But WWE 13 has managed to get a lot right, from the absolutely spot on entrances, through to the painstaking design of the wrestlers tattoos, some of which by the way are just incredible. On the audio side however I found it a bit repetitive at times and the crowd noise at times failed to give the atmosphere the lift it needed. As the crowd reaction is important to the whole WWE experience this is still something that needs work for future releases of the series.
Conclusion,
The one thing I would have to say is that every year THQ don’t just stick a new name on the box and grab our money, they constantly try to add new content in different ways. This makes the WWE series fresh, new and exciting every year, giving fans and new-comers a whole new experience with each release that should be judged as such. With this years Attitude Era they have rang the bell on the start of something big, something I hope they continue to build upon in the future. WWE 13 is not without it’s problems, most notably the animation and camera problems that show their ugly head now and again, but by no means do these spoil the enjoyment or sheer fun of the game. With endless ways to play and the ability to recreate historical matches as well as setting up your own story, WWE 13 has more to offer than Santa Claus’ sack. I have not been a massive fan in the past but with this release I am now a convert, you would have to be dead not to enjoy this game despite any problem it has, seriously you would have to have no pulse.
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In my oppinion, a great move for THQ would be to try and acllutay BUY other studios like Naughty dog. Big monney making high tech studios like that is what makes monney! naughty dog has superior graphics and game Engines too, not that THQ isnt good enough already, but somtimes you have to spend some monney rather to make monney, rather than cutting back all the time. also what i have noticed in alot of gaming studios is its more like a company than a studio. for example, say a game designer has an idea to make the game better, thay have to go to their boss and if he thinks the idea is good then the designer gets sent to his boss’s boss and he never gets anywhere! Alot of time great ideas are lost because of chain of command and the way things work at studios. THQ should make there studio more worker friendly in that way..