Back again for another yearly installment, WWE ’12 is THQ’s attempt to streamline and revamp the franchise. Ditching the SmackDown vs. RAW title and reworking the combat system, WWE ’12 does an admirable job of capturing the tone, look and visual presentation of the TV wrestling series, with a whole host of impressive customisation options, but sadly it’s a game massively hindered by clumsily designed fight mechanics and a perplexingly restrictive story campaign.
The meat and potatoes of WWE ’12 comes in the story-driven Road to Wrestlemania mode, which is divided into three lengthy chapters: One playing as villainous Irishman Sheamus, one as wrestling giant Triple H and the third as a custom-created rookie character as they all strive for wrasslin’ victory. Pro wrestling, love or hate it, has always been essentially a violent soap opera, and the game’s story replicates the fun pantomime villainy, OTT drama and left-field rivalries of the show perfectly (“Oh my god, now Sheamus has gotten bored and decided to triple suplex his own team-mate!”) and is dynamically presented with faux TV angles in a great attempt at capturing the visual style of the show. Unfortunately, that’s not usually to the benefit of the gameplay and the rigidly scripted narrative saddles you with some awkward restrictions and a weird, unsatisfying match momentum.
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The role that each member of your team plays in the storyline of every match is already mapped out, and the plot might require you to almost win as Drew McIntyre, only to unexpectedly get pinned in a cut scene before you take control of Drew’s partner Sheamus to finish the match, for instance. The problem is that you’ll usually find yourself completely unable to tag in a team-mate during tag matches for no real reason other than it would disrupt that pre-determined plot, while your opponents constantly swap out freely to kick the piss out of you to their heart’s content (all while the announcers mention that you should be tagging out, to rub salt in the wound).
The rigid, formulaic scripting affects the pacing and satisfaction of almost every match, too. You’ll go into almost every round with a team of two to four wrestlers and, rather than being allowed to simply fight for dominance and win by pinning your opponent or knocking them out, your objective is usually to wear one of your adversaries down until a ‘Y’ button prompt pops up above their head. When you hit the button, it’ll trigger a cut-scene where your downed rival has somehow turned the tables and is instantly kicking your butt with rejuvenated dexterity. You’ll cruise in with the next member of your team when the scene ends and repeat the process until your last man, at which point you’ll trigger a cut-scene in which your character finally destroys their opponent with an elaborate, devastating finisher.
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The fact that the rug of victory is pulled out from under you with pretty much every cinematic scene becomes instantly repetitive and predictable. But even when you’re allowed to win, it never fills you with much satisfaction because the game doesn’t really allow you to end fights for yourself. After wearily slogging it out through a tooth and nail fight, you’re not often given the chance to experience the joy of finishing your opponent off. Instead, it’s all lead-up and no follow-through as the game yanks control away at almost every major turn, and what should be the most fun, satisfying moments of gameplay instead occur in climactic cut-scenes. The lack of any choice in character for the Road to Wrestlemania campaign also means that you’re stuck playing as Sheamus and Triple H (who you may not like too much) for most of the story, rather than wrestlers you might find much more appealing. Meanwhile, your teammates showcase sometimes baffling AI, awkwardly shuffling on and off the ropes or just standing around listlessly while you get your ass kicked outside the ring by two guys.
The new counter system for WWE ’12, which pops up trigger button prompts at pivotal moments of an opponent’s attack for you to block and launch your own assault, is great in theory. When it works, it satisfyingly flips the flow of the match in your favour, keeping the fight’s momentum flowing back and forth and giving you a vital escape from devastating combos and finishers. Sadly, it’s rare that it actually works; the trigger button prompt pops up for a sliver of a second and it seems like you need to know to press it before it appears – if you see the prompt, it’s already too late to use as you’ll have no time to push it. Even more frustrating, often you’ll hit the trigger at just the right time and find it has no effect anyway, while your opponent effortlessly counters everything you throw at them.
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For a lot of moves you can judge the timing from sight, knowing to hit the counter button before the prompt appears as an opponent starts to throw a punch. But even then, there’s little rhyme or reason to which moves can be blocked and countered: Some regular punches can be blocked, other simple punches can’t, with no particular explanation. There’s also no tutorial for the new limb-targeting grapple system or the revamped controls, meaning you’ll constantly be jumping in and out of the manual to learn it all by trial and error to tiresome effect. It’s an occasionally fun fight system that’s satisfying when it works, but the hit-and-miss responsiveness means it’s as frustrating as often as it is enjoyable.
Thankfully the game’s less restrictive regular modes, where you can create your own player (or choose from the standard roster of famous wrestlers, or those you’ve unlocked or bought as DLC) and customise a match to your liking are much more enjoyable. They offer more bountiful replay value and side-step the many issues of the Road to Wrestlemania mode, especially if you’re playing with a friend or three. The character customisation is impressive, and even if you don’t feel like ponying up the cash for DLC characters, the versatile range of tweaks and modifications you can do to appearance, costume, entrances and such means you can easily put together your own ‘bootleg’ version of your favourite legendary wrestlers, famous faces or just weird abominations.
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The game’s other major component, the WWE Universe mode, plays host to a huge slew of pre-scheduled “televised” style story-free matches between wrestlers that you can take part in, interfere with, view an AI simulated version of, or tweak to your heart’s content, altering the win conditions, adding your custom characters, and so on. It’s a nice, happy medium between complete freedom and the overly scripted narrative of the Road to Wrestlemania story-driven campaign. And if you prefer to just jump in locally or online and play single matches that you’ve customised from the ground up, you can also just hop on, grab a friend and quickly throw together a 6 man ladder match, 1 on 1 cage match or whatever you feel like, altering the rules to suit you. There’s a tonne of enjoyment to be had here, and when you’re let loose to pummel people mercilessly however you want, free from scripted restrictions, it can result in plenty of hugely enjoyable knock-down, drag-out brawls. Sure, the countering system is still clumsy and unresponsive, but at least if you’re playing against a friend, you’re on a level playing field compared to facing the superhuman reflexes of AI foes.
A disappointing, rigidly scripted story campaign nails the goofy, violent soap opera tone of WWE, but not much else, resulting in a game mode that pointlessly and frustratingly restricts the gameplay a massive amount, sapping most of the fun from it. Poorly-explained mechanics and a mostly broken countering system only add to the problems, while it’s not exactly a huge leap visually from prior WWE titles. But if you stick to the pick-up-and-play custom matches and the extensive player customisation toolset, there’s still plenty of enjoyable video game wrestling entertainment in WWE ’12, even if it’s far from the franchise rejuvenating follow-up it aspires to be.
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WWE ’12 is available to buy now on PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.
Click here to buy it from Amazon.co.uk.
It’s on sale for 39.99. Would you recommend it? Thanks
I’d definitely recommend a rental first, or check out a friend’s copy if you can.
I had a lot of fun playing the single match modes and toying around with the custom character tools, and WWE fans might find the issues easier to overlook, but the larger game is too frustrating and problematic to recommend buying without trying it first.