WWE '12: Welcome the New Era

by Richard George - IGN.com | 16 August 2011 12:00
 
The death of Smackdown vs. RAW should not be mourned.
 
I have never considered myself a big fan of Smackdown vs. RAW. What started as a series that moved too fast compared to its then-modern counterpart, No Mercy, eventually became a cluttered, bogged down mess best compared to a rickety house stitched together by duct tape. No doubt the series appealed to some, but not me. That's why WWE '12 caught my attention. Throwing out an established brand? Rebuilding a series from the ground up? Faster gameplay? A better sense of momentum and skill? It sounded too good to believe. Thankfully I stand corrected. WWE '12 does a lot of things right. Those who strayed away from WWE games long ago will no doubt find a considerable amount of appeal here.
 
What matters most about WWE '12 comes down to fun, and you'll find plenty of that here. Both accessible and competitive, your characters don't feel like they're flailing around, and you don't often find yourself mashing buttons unless the game's design specifically calls for it. Precise controls and more fluid animation make the whole the experience feel polished. That said, the game covers some familiar ground, not that I mind. Hit a grapple button to lock up, then specify what move you want to execute; hit another to pull off melee attacks and combos. Pretty basic stuff.
 

A closer look at the upgrades coming in WWE '12.

Your other face buttons trigger signature/finisher moves and a mixture of pinning and Irish whips. The right stick remains entirely dedicated to positioning your opponents. If you grab the other player, you can flick the stick to turn your opponent to muscle in a move from behind. Likewise you can position attacks on specific areas with relative ease - the head, arms or legs - to strategically wear your enemy down, which makes a noticeable impact on gameplay as well. Focus greatly on a wrestler's legs and he'll start to limp slowly across the ring. How you play the game matters, and that changes the entire thought process behind a match.
 
Strategy represents only one small part of the game though. The control matters some but more so how that plays out in the context of a match. The entire pacing of WWE '12 feels different. Matches go by fast, building and sustaining momentum quickly. You'll rapidly shift from basic strikes and grapple moves to more devastating maneuvers, creating a distinct sense of energy and purpose for a match.
 
Like any great match on television, things start out slow but rapidly escalate to a point where every moment could result in a three-count pin. You'll always know when you hold the advantage, when you're getting your ass kicked or when your opponent has just yanked control of a situation from out of your hands. Still, THQ and developer Yukes have shown great care to keep any one player from running away with the match. You'll always have a chance to come back. You might have the upper hand, but a reversal at the wrong time will quickly change everything.
 

The Summer of Punk continues in WWE '12.

That's not to call the game unfair. WWE '12 definitely provides an "anything can happen" vibe, but always with a sense of skill in how that "unpredictability" is determined. Precise reversals, precise pinning, if you have your timing down, and manage to execute what the game requires when it prompts you, not only can you do almost anything, you'll feel a real sense of control over your fate. You never get the feeling that the game forces a "rubberband" scenario, where impossible things happen just to keep things interesting. The developers clearly care about simulating the storytelling of the WWE without damaging gameplay. What they've done here works incredibly well, maintaining the thrill of a well-paced match while not making things unfair. When Randy Orton hits a RKO out of nowhere, you know your opponent skillfully took advantage of certain opportunities. You also probably had a chance to reverse it and failed. Just because your foes fight back doesn't mean you should give up. Even powerful concepts like "dramatic comebacks," which allow nearly KO'd wrestlers to instantly obtain finishing moves by executing combos, have a balance. That balance comes in the form of allowing an opponent to reverse multiple times while the other player continues to play out the comeback sequence.
 
Precision and balance play into pinning as well. To avoid reaching the count of three, you hold down a button to fill a meter and release it when a gauge reaches a precise "kick out" point. The width of that point varies depending on your wrestler's condition, as does the speed in which the meter fills. The exact timing and placement of the "kick out" point can also vary wildly, so don't think you can simply memorize the rhythm for any situation. The good news: you can take a beat down and still kick out of a pin - if you're good enough. The new pinning system feels incredibly effective and satisfying. The mixture of patience and timing perfectly recreates the thrill of seeing if a wrestler can escape a pin. I routinely found myself tensing up, trying to hit a narrow mark with the filling meter in the desperate hope of reversing my predicament. The thrill of actually hitting that seemingly impossible spot matches the thrill of seeing CM Punk narrowly kick out of a pin attempt by John Cena.
 

Ain't no grave can hold his body down...

I could spend pages discussing all of the small ways WWE '12 works. The simple fact remains that things just feel right. The subtle ways in which Yukes ensures matches maintain momentum are pretty remarkable. If you control a match, and then your opponent reverses you and takes control, you don't lose your progress heading towards a signature or finisher move. That means if you manage to turn the tide, you can quickly pick up where you left off. The game doesn't screech to a halt. That ensures a feeling of progress and gives a sense that a match ends differently than it began – a sense that a RKO or GTS is just around the corner.
 
As I mentioned earlier, THQ has revamped animation to make sure things tie together better than ever. You no longer feel like you're taking control of an action figure that awkwardly bounces around a static ring. Moves blend together. You can interrupt attacks. Oh, and the ring and its ropes actually move now.
 
That said, some facets of gameplay still need attention from the developer. Ignoring some glitches I'll scratch up to the early state of the game, I noticed WWE '12 still needs more situational flexibility. A running attack by CM Punk typically results in an airborne cross body block. That's no problem, except there's no way Punk could actually do that were he within a few steps of his opponent. The game needs to begin to distinguish between those types of situations. That probably seems like a good step for WWE '13.
 

Randy has some anger management issues.

Some characters' designs create other problems entirely. While some superstars like Randy Orton and the Undertaker look great (and 'Taker's trenchcoat has an incredible texture to it), others like, well, all of the Divas are alarmingly sub-par, particularly when it comes to facial design and animation. Entrances remain generally well-preserved - I cheered seeing CM Punk's new entrance to "Cult of Personality," still only a couple weeks old, make it completely in the game. Likewise, Undertaker's entrance into a PPV set like Hell in a Cell will feature the infamous druids, complete with torches. That said, THQ might want to focus on some of its fog and fire tech. The Phenom's entrance looks a little less eerie when the ring appears surrounded by small, puffy rain clouds.
 
Still, a few complaints about awkward animations and character designs only a mere month or so before WWE '12 hits stores aside, the core of the game feels very solid. With that one month window in sight, I'm surprised by how much we still haven't heard about: 80 or so match configurations, 70 characters, a 12-hour story mode, and a "franchise-esque" universe mode. Don't forget the requisite character creation tools or create your own ring (new to WWE '12). Online gameplay. Content sharing. Downloadable content. Unlockable content. The list goes on and on.
 
For a title intent on throwing so much out in the name of revitalizing how gamers experience the WWE, this new title represents a huge, huge undertaking. It might seem easy to lose what matters most in a sea of modes and extras. Not so. WWE '12 blends energetic gameplay and meticulous simulation together very, very well. It's actually fun to play, has a great sense of pacing and captures the spirit of the televised product. Not even No Mercy managed to do all of that at once. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that everything surrounding the core experience will turn out great. If the developers at Yukes can accomplish that - which they appear on track to do - very few of us will miss Smackdown vs. RAW - or No Mercy.
 
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