It's fitting that WWE '13 takes us back to the Attitude Era, because the series reminds us of one of that era's most famous sons. No, it isn't the effortless suaveness of The Rock or Steve Austin's reckless disdain for authority that inspires thoughts of THQ's longstanding wrestling series. Rather, it's beginning to remind us of D-Generation-X's weasely lapdog, X-Pac.
There's a term in wrestling circles known as 'X-Pac heat' - the phenomena of a grappler receiving a hostile welcome from the crowd not because they're dastardly or said something vaguely anti-American but because their act is so stale it bores the fans rigid. Well, THQ's WWE series has serious X-Pac heat with us. This is simply the latest in a long line of fussy, infuriating WWE games, with controls that are convoluted yet bereft of tactical depth. That promises you total control over your favourite WWE Superstar, yet yanks it from your grasp when you need it the most.
That's not to say that the developers at Yukes don't mix it up. On the contrary, they're always tinkering with the formula - but always in small, insignificant ways, as if re-arranging deckchairs on the Titanic. Sometimes it has analogue grapples, other times it doesn't. Sometimes you apply pressure on a submission hold by cranking back on the stick, other years you have to mash the buttons. Talk about reinventing the wheel.
WWE 13's control system is a more refined version of that seen in WWE '12. The main difference is that the time windows for reversals are slightly more forgiving, with little indicators telling you if you're tapping the trigger too late or too early. So it's a more sophisticated type of fumbling then, but fumbling is still the verb you're looking for. If only there were some kind of 'tell' in the grappler's body language to indicate when you should attempt a reversal, the whole process would feel a lot more intuitive and a lot less frustrating.
The concept is noble, but in our opinion it's a misstep that serves only to drive a further wedge between the player and the action. If your opponent makes a huge error in the opening moments of a match, why make it difficult for the player to capitalise on it and go in for the kill?
WWE '13 does address this to a certain extent by allowing you to play around with the parameters of the game engine in the main menu. A series of sliders allows you to customise the damage values of each type of move to a ridiculous degree, so matches flow however you fancy - from short, sharp squash matches to lengthy technical clinics. It's a useful addition to the series - and curiously, one that does more to give you a sense of control over proceedings than anything that ever happens inside the squared circle.
It's not all doom and gloom. One thing the WWE series has nailed since shedding its Smackdown skin is the pinning mechanic. As in WWE '12, you escape a pin by holding down the A button and releasing when the marker arrives in the green 'escape' area - the size of which is dependent on how beaten up your grappler is.
In certain situations you can now turn the tables by aiming for a second, smaller 'reversal' area, but the pay-off is that these are harder to perform and it's easy to get caught out if you get greedy. It's a brilliant mechanic that captures the WWE's unpredictable flavour to a tee - even if you're getting chewed up like a dog toy, a well-timed small package can catch out a complacent opponent unawares and allow you to pull an unlikely win out of the fire. It's perfect as it is. Let's hope this is one deckchair Yukes decide to leave in place.
Comments
14 comments so far...
illage2 on 31 Oct '12 said:
Looks alright to me, I grew up during the Attitude era so it will be nice to go back and re-live those moments. I've pre-ordered it already.
The best WWF/WWE game was WWF Attitude on PS1, you could literally make any ring style you wanted, and in a tag team match you could whack your partner with a microphone and just dominate the match. You could even hear the microphone screech, it was well good.
I hope they put Mike Tyson in this game so I can whack him with a steel chair for becoming a part of WWE.
TheLastDodo on 31 Oct '12 said:
"They just need to be given a year off to completely overhaul their engine and bring it in line with modern expectations."
Been saying this for the last few years.
This isn't a knock on your review but if you hadn't included the bits on the Attitude Era then this could've been a review for any of the WWE games this gen.
It needs rebuilding from the ground up.
DAEDALUS79 on 31 Oct '12 said:
Knew it, just knew it. Ive been buying wrestling games since my mum got me WWF warzone with my playstation classic, since then ive bought many versions of the games, some of which were utter classics. However the recent games (ie every single release this generation) have been utter rubbish. The change of control scheme from button based to analogue stick twiddling was the first major disaster, as it completely alienates new players and destroys the pick up and play multiplayer aspect of the games which was o much fun. But quite honestly, the biggest problem is THQ and Yukes. Theyve had the license for years and frankly are totally inept. Yukes as a development team do not have the skills necessary to develop a good wrestling game, they release shoddy desperate ports year after year, adding barely any new features and often releasing them months out of date (the most recent example being wwe 13, where CM Punk is shown wearing a tshirt which was replaced at least 3 months ago. THQ are just as culpable, they clearly have no aspirations for the game to be better than it is, and are content to release crap games and flog ridiculously priced DLC. I said after buying wwe 12 that I would never buy a wwe game until THQ and Yukes lost the license, I nearly buckled and went for this game because of the attitude era characters but this review has reminded me why I chose my stance.
if you want to play a wrestling game, get your ps2/xbox out and play smackdown just bring it or one of the similar early releases from that generation. They wont cost you £40, and more importantly, they play brilliantly!
TheCrimsonFenix on 31 Oct '12 said:
You only really needed the preview version to know the end result would be this, CVG. The series has always been a hype up and then a major letdown. With each sequel they either re-introduce a feature that was taken out of one of the older games or they end up making a big feature out of something that was always in it. The moment challenges you can do for classic matches was in one of the way older game when you could just play a classic match. I seriously doubt the series will get it's much needed reboot until the sales start seriously declining. I thought they were reconsidering the gameplay fun factor with that whacky hugely muscled WWE game from a couple years ago but this and WWE 12 says otherwise.
They can keep saying it's been worked from the ground up before every yearly update but it's been using some form of the same engine since day one. They'll more than likely want the next gen consoles to come out so they can up the graphics and again say it's an entirely new game. Can't really blame them for all the problems though with only having under a year to do each one.
steagz on 31 Oct '12 said:
mate do a google search and read a review from a reviewer that understands the real passion for wrestling.
loads of reviews have said this years game is amazing.
wwinterj on 31 Oct '12 said:
6.2 here 8.2 on IGN. I'll wait for the gametrailers review but it looks like we are look at a 7/10 game. That's all I expected. Looking forward to Friday.
TheAmazingDaler on 31 Oct '12 said:
To be fair, I used to be a wrestling journalist.
Bambis Dad on 31 Oct '12 said:
I used to take smack but I don't have a scots accent.
DAEDALUS79 on 31 Oct '12 said:
I watch Raw and Smackdown every week, visit wrestling websites and have played most of the wwe games released over the 15 years so have more than enough passion for wrestling, enough so to put up with a bland game just for the characters and setting, but Ive had enough of being shafted by THQ. They have released the same game over and over again since 2006, and spend more time removing previous features and working out how to sell them back to us as new ones than actually thinking of ways to improve the game. I only read the review because I wanted to know if the game had been completely blitzed and reworked from the very beginning and it hasnt. It pains me not to buy the game as I love wrestling, and loved the ps2 titles, but there comes a point where you have to make a stand or quit complaining. Im voting with my wallet, with the hope that it makes a difference.
TheLastDodo on 31 Oct '12 said:
Well said.
And if you can watch Raw & SD every week without fast forwarding then you're a better man than me, finding it a chore to watch at the mo, if it wasn't for Punk, Bryan & Sandow I would probably have stopped watching.
slimify d on 31 Oct '12 said:
add in the brief moments of tyson kidd and i agree :\
c97dem on 1 Nov '12 said:
Just remake WWF No Mercy from the N64.
I only owned 2 games on the N64, Goldeneye and No Mercy and still cant beat No Mercy for it's story telling and gameplay. Hmm kind of makes me want to go buy a 2nd hand N64 with the game now.
Can't say I have really enjoyed THQ's wrestling games, used to love the Activision ones on the PS1 and playing as Road Dogg just for the intro "OH YOU ASS BETTAAAAA CALL SOMEBODY!!!! It's me, it's me it's the D O DOUBLE G!"
illage2 on 1 Nov '12 said:
One thing that amazes me is how people can say the game is bad even though it's not even out yet.
Give it a try and you might actually be surprised.
Take me for instance. I absolutely hated Oblivion as I found it boring, and when Skyrim came out everyone was going on about it, I delayed getting Skyrim because I thought it'd have the same problem as Oblivion did, but I took an arrow to the knee and seeing as I wasn't gonna walk for the next few weeks, I limped out to my local GAME (Which BTW is now closed down) and got Skyrim and I was presently surprised, the game wasn't boring, in fact I had a lot of fun on it.
illage2 on 2 Nov '12 said: