WWE All-Stars

ShaneU

This came out today, thought the demo was fun so I'm looking to pick it up. Anyone know the cheapest price? I'm going to assume it's HMV

That_Guy

I'd rent it if I were you. Really not liking it to be honest.

chrislad

Very meh to be honest.

irish_stevo815

Love the smackdown vs. Raw series but i reckon this is worth a rent at the most, could get boring pretty fast.

Trishtan

chrislad wrote: »

Very meh to be honest.

Yeah same for me, no interest really. The character design to me is very offputting.

PTH2009

just bought it. I think will be better than Legends Of Wrestlemania but have a feelin i will board of it quite quickly but its only E50 (i was going to buy the new Nintedo for E280 instead lol).

Josey Wales

It is cheap enough already on Zavvi.

Link

DARK-KNIGHT

Josey Wales wrote: »

It is cheap enough already on Zavvi.

Link

ill be picking this up next month for a tenner i reckon lol

Helix

i like it for what it is. though if id actually bought it im not sure id be quite as enamoured. its shallow, silly fun but it suits the source material excellently. my full take:

We have always felt that the WWE (formerly WWF) license was one that never quite got the excellent use it deserved in the video game world. There have certainly been some notable titles along the way, but for the most part developers seem to have failed to grasp the most basic fact about the brand and style of wrestling it represents – that it’s essentially a real life cartoon.

Heroes and villains come and go from week to week as characters switch allegiances, build rivalries and act out some of the most ridiculous storylines the world has ever seen. Everyone who watches it knows how absurd the whole thing is, but it simply doesn’t bother them – they’re in it for the sheer fun only grown (and in many cases overgrown) men dressed in tights throwing one another around a wrestling ring can provide.

Yet for some reason, video game representations of the sport, if that’s what one could call it, have tended to lean inexplicably towards the more realistic side of things. The irony isn’t lost on us, so perhaps it was about time that THQ got their finger out and made some creative use of the license for a change! It’s not that we don’t like the Smackdown vs. RAW games or anything, it’s just that other games do the “serious” side of fighting a lot better, so why bother trying to compete when you’ve got a huge roster of stupidly dressed, borderline insane muscle-bound men intent on beating the crap out of each other to select from?

And that’s precisely the view taken by developers THQ San Diego. You can forget all about realism with WWE All Stars. Minor details like accurate representations of the fighters in question, or even whether or not they’re still alive (the inclusion of Eddie Guerrero on the Legends side is attracting some heat from wrestling aficionados who are unsure as to whether enough tact was exercised in his inclusion), are cast aside as current fighters, the Superstars, are pitted against the heroes of yesterday, the Legends.

For those of you, and we know there will be many, who grew up with the world of the WWF the Legends roster will surely delight. The 15 man line up is comprised of Rowdy Roddy Piper, Andre The Giant, Bret Hit Man Heart, Jimmy Superfly Snucka, Macho Man Randy Savage, The Ultimate Warrior, The Rock, Hulk Hogan, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Jake The Snake Roberts, Mr. Perfect, Sgt. Slaughter, Ricky The Dragon Steamboat, Eddie Guerrero and Shawn Michaels and should contain more than enough memories to satisfy nostalgia.

The Superstars line up, however, may not be quite as identifiable to those of you who have moved away from wrestling as you grew, but for current fans it seems to be quite impressive, featuring The Undertaker, Kane, Triple H, John Cena, Rey Mysterio, John Morrison, Edge, Jack Swagger, Drew McIntire, Sheamus, Randy Orton, The Miz, CM Punk, The Big Show and Kofi Kingston. While some of the newer names might not carry the same prestige as the likes of The Undertaker, it’s an impressively well rounded selection and should have something for everyone.

Of course there’s always the option to create your own wrestler using the Create A Superstar mode, should the preset selections not offer precisely what you’re looking for. In terms of visual customisation, Create A Superstar is right up there with the best of them, allowing you to go into as much, or as little, detail as you like – from rough fighter size right down to the most miniscule of physical attributes. Unfortunately it does feel somewhat lacking when it comes to customising your roster of attacks which is quite a disappointment given the level of creativity on show in THQ’s other wrestling title, Smackdown vs. RAW. If WWE All Stars turns out to be a commercial success though, we’d fully expect this to be addressed in any subsequent titles – but whether or not that happens will hinge very much on the gameplay…

With something of a resurgence in the fighting genre these past few years, it’s actually rather nice to see a game that really gets back to basics and focuses primarily on its arcade fighting roots in an enjoyably light hearted manner. With such a strikingly over-the-top visual style, it’s unsurprising that the gameplay in All Stars is suitably action packed. If you’re looking for a game with a huge number of attacks and inputs to commit to memory than you might as well look elsewhere, because this is all about controlled button mashing and clever chaining of the bread and butter moves in order to build combos with which to fill your signature and finishing move meters.

The bulk of the single player experience is based around the Path of Champions – a fantasy tournament which pits fighters both old and new against each other in a bid to become champion of their chosen discipline. For us, the pick of the bunch is the Undertaker based Path. Punctuated with wonderfully rendered cut scenes from the legendary Funeral Parlour set of past Undertaker mythology, and featuring his odd-ball manager Paul Bearer, it really makes you feel like you’re part of the old WWF broadcasts of the early 1990s!

If the promise of a title shot at The Undertaker at Summerslam doesn’t appeal to you, then you can opt to put together a tag team for a shot at the Triple H and Shawn Michaels pairing of DX (played out as a continual two on two battle – there’s no actual tagging involved), or you can take a similar, if slightly more up to date, approach to The Undertaker storyline and battle your way towards a fight with Randy Orton at Wrestlemania. Each Path has its own distinct flavour, and will undoubtedly be eaten up by wrestling fans of all ages for nostalgia reasons alone!

Rose tinted spectacles aside, as the action plays out and you get down to business in the squared circle, your chosen wrestler must prove himself worthy of a shot at The Undertaker by winning a variety of different style matches. We’ve got traditional one on one bouts, cage matches, triple threats, extreme rules fights and fatal four ways, so there’s plenty of variety to keep you playing.

While the action may be a little simplistic for some players’ tastes, All Stars is both massively enjoyable, and surprisingly refreshing in its approach. Signature and finishing moves are suitably ridiculous, with characters often leaping twenty feet in the air while clinging to their opponents before smashing them to the canvas, creating shockwaves in the process. With no count outs as punishment for taking the battle outside the ring, you can be as creative as you like with your surroundings – even going so far as to use unconventional means (steel chair to the head anyone?) to gain the advantage, although this method should only be used in desperate times as you’ll run the risk of disqualification, which is never nice.

The controls, as we touched upon, are kept exceedingly simple. The face buttons are used for grapples and hits of varying ferocity, while special moves, finishers, running and pinning have been assigned to the shoulder buttons, making for an impressively accessible experience. The down side of this, as is often the case, is that the game does lack a certain finesse, and with that comes the impression of a real lack of depth at times. But at the end of the day, this is clearly not being pushed as a deep and involving fighter, it’s all about larger than life personalities, insane special moves and fast paced, adrenaline fuelled silliness – much like the real thing.

Our only major concern with the game is its loading times, which do tend to feel a little prolonged given that there’s really not a huge amount going on at any given time. In an age where we complain about an album from iTunes taking more than a couple of minutes to download, long waiting times in games are about as annoying as it gets. This is our spare time, we don’t want to be sitting around waiting constantly between fights, and it certainly does the immersion level no favours. Even if the fights do go on for much longer than those of regular fighting games, it’s no real excuse. Fortunately, that’s really the extent of the issues.

Whether or not WWE All Stars is a game for you depends very much on your outlook. If you’re happy enough to simply waste a few hours here and there on an enjoyable but somewhat shallow fighter that plucks at the strings of nostalgia then you’re going to get a real kick out of it. Those of you who like to get down to the real nitty gritty (you know who you are… you’re the ones who know precisely how many frame’s recovery time it takes after Ryu throws a fireball in Street Fighter) then you’ll most likely find this a somewhat pointless experience. You can’t really fault it for what it is though, especially given the fact that it uses its source material better than any wrestling game in recent memory.

It’s not a classic, but it’s definitely more fun than most games out there today.

That_Guy

What is with this game and caching data (PS3) every single time? Very annoying.

Jericho.

Have this game a while now on the 360 and I love it. Completely over the top and ridiculous but that's kinda the point.

discobeaker

I got this game the other week and i found that after playing it for about 45 mins it would keep freezing/stalling. Has anyone else had this problem? Thankfully i managed to get my money back on the game

Jericho.

It has frozen on me two or 3 times actually. I'm really glad to hear you say that. I was worried my xbox was getting a dose of the gremlins.

discobeaker

Likewise.... thought my Xbox was going to the grave aswell. It must be a glitch or some. Kinda ****ty especially after you have spent 50 euro on a game but it freezes alot.

Jericho.

I wouldn't say it's happened a lot for me. Just the 2 or 3 times and I have played it a good bit.

discobeaker

It happened me 3 times in a row,i rest the game,it would work for half an hour then freeze again and its definately not my xbox so i might of gotten a dodgy copy or something.