Written by: Mark

 

 

 

The WWE (Formally WWF) has been popular worldwide for around thirty years and in this time we have seen numerous video games based upon our favourite real life grappling stars. Mostly the games have been pretty decent although there has been a couple of duffers thrown in to the mix.

 

Developers Yukes and publishers THQ have once again brought another game in the franchise to the XBOX 360 and PS3 in the form of "WWE '12". In this review we take a look at the XBOX 360 version to see if the game has enough changes to warrant a purchase or if it has simply been released to cash in on the global phenomenon.

 

 

The one area in which the recent WWE games has stood out is in the superb amount of content you get within the games and WWE 12 is no different. Once again the roster of wrestlers available is nothing short of sensational and with each boasting their own move sets should offer an incredible amount of gameplay. The same can be said for match types as all of the classic match styles which WWE fans will be familiar with are included.

 

Additional modes include story based campaigns such as the return of the popular WWE Universe and Road To Wrestlemania which have both seen a few improvements thanks to added cut scenes which help storylines flow. The most radical change is in the Road to Wrestlemania which now no longer gives players a choice of one of a number of virtual three month stories and now contains only one which takes in an eighteen month career and two Wrestlemania events.

 

 

One may be led into believing that the lack of story choice is a setback but in all honestly in the previous games I found myself sticking to one anyway so I thought that the much longer campaign suited me better.

 

 

Like previous games in the series the presentation is particularly impressive with character animations in particular looking good and mirroring their real life counterparts not only in looks but also in how they act within the ring. The same can be said about each individual event such as Wrestlemania, SummerSlam, Survivor Series, Royal Rumble and more, all of which are can instantly recognisable to fans of the sport.

 

Sound is more of a mixed bag with the stand out aspects coming in the form of musical score and character entrances. When the action is in full flow the commentary starts out fairly informative and amusing but soon becomes rather annoying thanks to it’s repetitive nature.

 

Aside from this the overall package in terms of how it’s presented is on the whole rather good and aims to be as realistic as possible which it does to good effect.

 

 

I will be honest and hold my hands up and say that it’s been a very long time since a WWE game has had me captivated with it’s gameplay. This is not to say that I have not enjoyed any of the releases, it is simply that I find that the gameplay does let down the overall glossiness of proceedings.

 

 

In WWE 12 there are a number of changes with how the game plays and although they have been added to supposedly add more realism I am sorry to say that these rarely add any excitement and can lead to the combat being somewhat uninspiring.