Rick Starr
SvR/WWE 12: Looking Back and Seeing What Lies Ahead
by , 11-12-2011 at 05:54 PM (5597 Views)
What’s shakin’ Splashers? Since WWE 12 is coming out next week I thought it was time I gave the game an honest look. Let me just say this Splashers, just because you change the name, it doesn’t change jack shit in my book. It’s STILL Smackdown Vs Raw. THQ has changed everything else in the game; they figured they might as well change the name too. So much for my optimistic start eh?
Looking Back
When the Smackdown vs RAW series was first released, it was the biggest thing for wrestling fans. I remember I had it for my playstation 2, and although I had about 20 other games, the only game I played was WWE:SvR. Of course the game had several basic glitches that hundreds of people had no problems using. “The Wall Glitch” was one of the more well known. There you could lure your opponent outside, and throw him into the guard wall over and over, and he or she could not reverse the move. Then you would roll in before the count, winning the match. Another infamous glitch was the "head-butt" glitch, where a quick headbutt to the gut, couldn't be defended, any follow up move (including a finisher).
As the years went on most of the basic cheap glitches were fixed, but of course the real losers would hunt for the new glitches (as there is always glitches in every game). For me the series best year was 2009. They had a decent grappling system, their reversal system was in my mind the best to date, and finally their pinning system was perfect. I owned both 2010 and 2011, and I was disappointed with both of them!
In 2010 THQ decided to break what was fixed. First they changed the reversal system from two buttons, to one. This made it so people just had to button mash their way to reversals (lame). THQ claimed it was a “timed response” but that was total bullshit, as I had no problems reversing from button mashing. Then the final straw was the pinning system. It didn’t matter how many finishers you got hit with, as long as you button mashed, you could kick out (super-fucking-lame). Matches would go on for hours, where I just got bored and put the controller down and let myself get pinned.
2011 was a little bit better. They tried to refine the grappling system, which had a few holes in my book. But they made up for it, with stack-able tables that broke randomly, more ladder & cage moves, and the first WWE Universe feature which was fun. But again the pinning system is a make or break for me, and in this case it was a breaker. It was still very easy to kick out of 10, 20, even 30, finishers if your fingers, knuckles, or battery was fast enough.
What Lies Ahead?
One thing that WWE 12 does have that caught my attention is their expanding roster. Their alumni of WWE Superstars are one of the best I’ve seen since 2007 (Which I called the REAL Legends of the WWE). With Brock Lesnar, Batista, Demolition, Legion of Doom, Ricky Steamboat, Eddie Guererro, and Randy Savage(Who I think might be DLC) being just a few of the big key names. Also The Nitro, NWO, and other classic arenas definitely turned my head.
In the past WWE has had you create everything from wrestlers, to World Titles, to PPVS, even your own “Titon-Tron” entrances and more. Now it appears that the WWE has gone to the next level where you will be able to build your own WWE arena! This is another feature that has my attention, and can make the game a fun product. WWE 12 also refined their “dynamic camera system” adding more camera angles, better frame rate, and higher impacting animation.
One of the newest features in this edition is the “Predatory Technology”. This feature in my mind has some advantages and one big disadvantage. The problem I see with the new feature is now in 2012 Wrestlers are allowed to interrupt other wrestlers’ moves. This may sound very cool up front, but it will be very chaotic in the long run, as finishers will get broken up, regular moves will get broken up, and wrestling matches will break down to simple brawls. Sure, a one on one match will be fine, but in my experience you will not see too many multi-person matches who are executing moves, because someone will always be breaking up the move. BAD IDEA THQ!
Some of the other features did claim to allow executing wrestler’s moves much faster, thus looking less bulky. (They say that every year, and their usually right.) They changed the controls once again, what this accomplishes, I have no idea. 2012 revamped the “kip up feature” which now appears is not a selective option, everyone has the tool. However wrestlers can only use it once, when they have almost nothing left, and need a burst of energy. They also brought back the “store a finisher” feature, so you can quickly dish out more damage. This gives me a hint that THQ has not done much with the pinning technology, which I was speaking about earlier.
THQ has worked over the submission technology (or so they claim). THQ reinstated the body part damages. So if you wear down that one body part, and eventually use a submission move (like Alberto Del Rio does with his arm bar), you’re opponent will submit more quickly. Last year’s submission technology rarely worked, unless it was a finisher. You spent countless hours in submission moves, but your opponent rarely tapped out.
I really hope WWE 12 is on its way to righting the several years of wrongs the game has had. I know I am a minority, and several people loved 2010 and 2011. However I thought after playing 2009, the mechanics of the later games were just terrible. I only hope their finally on the right track.
That's it for this one Splashers. for now, I'm gonna go play some X-Box 360. Until next time...See you when I see you! -Rick Starr
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