Review: WWE ’12 is a marked improvement that could use more refinement
November 28, 2011 Leave a Comment
Author’s Note: This review article was published November 23, 2011 and originally appeared on Examiner.com. Clicking on this link will take you to its original location.
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The WWE SmackDown! series was one of the most successful WWE video game franchises of all time. Marked by a dedication to presentation and gameplay, the original WWE SmackDown! for PS1 set a new bar for what gamers would expect from wrestling games in the years to come. The franchise, however, had stayed very close to a certain style of gameplay for a number of years and both fans and critics were calling out for change. THQ and Yuke’s acknowledged those calls with WWE ’12, a game that promises improvements to the gameplay formula. Have THQ and Yuke’s made good on that promise? The answer is yes, but a bit more work still needs to be done.
To be clear: WWE ’12 will, right away, feel vastly improved over its predecessor — and that’s because it is. The controls are easier to navigate, thanks to Yuke’s mapping grapples back to buttons instead of the right analog stick. The moves and action flow much better and feel less like a series of animations playing out in front of you. Moves can be interrupted, reversals are more organic and natural, and a sense of weight has been added to most moves (i.e. suplexing Big Show takes longer than suplexing Daniel Bryan).
The difficulty has been ramped up and the A.I. poses much more of a challenge than ever before, which is quite welcome. Players can expect to lose matches. Players can also expect to begin paying attention to in-game statistics more than ever, as a notable difference between the performance of main eventers and wrestlers with less impressive records has finally been established. The experience as a whole has been upgraded and feels like a better wrestling game for it.
However, WWE ’12′s newly refined gameplay has some trouble spots, too. For one, facing the A.I. at times feels like control for complete domination of the match, with very little balance or middle ground. In a match, either the player is in control or the A.I. is in control, with very few “move for move” moments. Speaking of taking control from the A.I., reversals have a smaller window than ever, which has a tendency to work much more in favor of the A.I. than the player. Reversals and other animations, while improved, could be a bit more fluid as well.
The A.I. will also repeatedly engage in a “lock up” hold mini-game with players on a number of occasions and if a player loses too many of these, they have almost assuredly put themselves on the road to losing their match. Mini-games have an increased presence in WWE ’12, from pins to comeback to submissions, but mostly don’t improve the match experience. The pin mini-game tasks the player with stopping the pinfall by stopping a meter before they fill it past one specific point. The area gets smaller and smaller as the player takes more damage and trying to stop the pinfall at one specific point just gets too difficult after a while. The comeback system concept works, but needs different implementation, as engaging in a QTE in the middle of a competitive wrestling match just feels too out of place to be effective.
The one system that works well is the Breaking Point system, as it is Yuke’s most successful attempt at replicating the feel of the struggle between the wrestler using a submission and the wrestler in the hold. The Breaking Point system — or some variation of it — maybe should also be used for pinfalls. WWE ’12, though, has too many in-match mini-games that become distractions.
The Road To WrestleMania mode has returned, but instead of selecting one out of a few miniature campaigns, the Story Mode has three somewhat interconnected preset stories. The new, interconnected approach would be fine, but the other changes made to RTWM negatively affect the mode in significant ways. RTWM will most times task the player with inflicting a specific amount of damage to a specific opponent in a specific area before a prompt will occur, allowing the player to progress. Very few full matches are seen throughout this very linear experience, which will often pit the player against multiple enemies and sees frequent backstage brawls that become annoying after a while.
The mode feels like it just moves from scene to scene instead of match to match and that the player has very little to do with what’s happening with the story, especially when the mode has so few actual full matches. Most of the unlockables are protected by RTWM as well, so — barring a purchase of the DLC that unlocks everything — RTWM is the only way to unlock most of the content in the game.
The rest of WWE ’12′s offerings, though, are quite good and one of the best creation suite offerings in THQ’s history with the WWE video game franchise. Create-A-Superstar is more streamlined than ever, Create An Arena and the video creation feature of Create An Entrance are great new additions, and the Story creation and Create-A-Finisher return with good options. However, the star of the offering is arguably WWE Universe mode, which offers more depth and control over your WWE season than in last year’s WWE SmackDown vs RAW 2011. Want to create a new brand? Go ahead. Want to have that new brand in your custom-created arena? Make it happen. You can also have a WWE Draft, including Draft Lottery matches, to refresh your rosters every so often. The additions to WWE Universe make it one of the most addictive and fun modes in WWE ’12 that will keep players coming back again and again.
WWE ’12 is still purchase-worthy to the WWE fan and a much better game overall than last year’s WWE SmackDown vs RAW 2011. The improvements to gameplay, WWE Universe mode, and the creation suites alone warrant a purchase for those who tune in to WWE RAW and SmackDown! every week. However, the mini-games, the dominating nature of the A.I., and a restrictive Road To WrestleMania mode that emphasizes story scenes over player matches keep WWE ’12 from being a truly stellar WWE game. THQ and Yuke’s are on the right path, though. If they can continue improving and refining the action to the same extent that they did in WWE ’12, WWE ’13 could end up being world championship material.
A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review.
