In just over a week, the rebranded WWE 12 will take to the shelves, replacing once and for all the now defunct Smackdown vs Raw title as THQ's flagship wrestling property. While the developers are keen to promote WWE12 as an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary step, the list of developments and new features this year looks massive compared to the step-ups between earlier franchise additions, and it is perhaps better to think of WWE 12 as a new start entirely. Fans will buy it, and those pre-disposed to snear at the "fake" sport (I suggest those nay-sayers try suplexing Mark Henry to test their philosophy properly) will probably stay away, but for the first time in a long while for a wrestling title, WWE 12 has a genuine broad appeal. Personally, I count myself as something of a lapsed fan - I cling to the classic eras, adding a rose-tinted gloss to the Big Boss Man and The Mountie, until they are unfairly idolised in a way that only nostalgia can really manage - but handling this release for WhatCulture (and meeting Mick Foley recently for an interview) has reignited in me a fire. And now I find myself looking towards new heroes, like Sheamus, like The Miz and like CM Punk for my kicks and back-flips. So the release has got me popping like a Foley-inspired crowd... RIGHT HERE at WhatCulture.com!! With the release of this brand new title just around the corner, THQ looks to have revamped many aspects of what had proved to be an already relatively successful formula - though one admittedly that in recent years had begun to turn slightly stale. And we have to wonder how those new additions and evolutionary developments will impact on the overall success of the release. So without further banter, let's have a look at 12 of those changes that could power-lift (the puns start and stop here) this franchise to becoming more than just a game solely for fans of the sports entertainment, and crucially that will make it an improvement on the last game in the series...
1. The Rebranded Name
Smackdown vs Raw is of course now gone thanks to the shift away from the brand-warfare within WWE, and the linked game has undergone a similar evolution. Now simply WWE12, that former title is no more having been the franchise name since 2005, and it is a good move as far as I'm concerned. In purely marketing terms, WWE 12 is a far more digestible name, and it brings the franchise in line with other sports game series names - plus it makes a hell of a lot more sense to casual fans of the sport whose only association to it is with the games. Crucially, as well, this is a whole new beginning for the franchise: an opportunity not only to reflect changes in the sport, but also to herald an entirely new gameplay system and level of quality under a new rebranded banner. And, as we have said, the sport is no longer the same as it was just twelve months ago, or as WWE games designer Bryan Williams puts it:
The name SmackDown vs. Raw, as cool as it was, just didnt really resonate with the product anymore, both for WWE and for our games. Our game is just a snapshot of the entire WWE for that year, and the name change is more appropriate for what were offering players.
2. Road to Wrestlemania
Instead of the 3-month story arc from SvR2011, the new story mode now takes place over 18 months within a 3-act structure labelled as Villain/Hero/Outsider. With the acts set in stone you'll take on the roles of Seamus as the villain, Triple H as the hero and a User-created character as the outsider. While I felt initially that it seemed liked an odd decision to limit your choices in who you took control of with regards to Wrestlemania, at least this way the story of their flagship event will have been sculpted to possibly form a more rounded and exciting experience. There is obviously more impetus on the generation of a story, which is aided by the way the chapters transition into one another - and the three arc structure will allow for a broader experience overall. For those who don't want to play as these designated characters though, and who prefer the purer rock-em-sock-em thrills of weekly wrestling matches the Universe mode remains.
3. Predator Technology
Appearing initially to cover many things, the Predator Tech is the brand new foundation that the game is built on. As a result the overall feel of the game will be more fluid thanks to improved character animations, ring physics and move transitions all in attempt to prevent glitchy, stunted movement. The speed of the game also looks to have increased as a result with less time lying on the mat, and cumulatively the tech looks to have addressed the enduring image of wrestling games of unresponsive fighters, stuck in a half grapple position before an animation unrealistically kicked in. Realism is a major factor in the longevity and durability of a combat game in particular - but within the WWE universe, it is particularly necessary to sell the theatricality and spirit of the show: yes everything has to be fundamentally more than other combat disciplines, but it can never go too far into the realms of fantasy, and having more fluid, realistically human fighters will go some way to achieving that balance.
4. The Grapple System
Directional grapples remain but the weak/strong grapple system has been replaced with a more match specific system that takes into account the current physical state of the opponent. Word is, that the new system is less complicated with the re-introduction of the use of the face-buttons, hopefully taking us back to simpler times. (There will be no mention of No Mercy in this article by the way, which was of course the greatest wrestling game of all time... starting now.) And simpler invariably means better when it comes to combat mechanics.
5. Limb Targeting
Ever find yourself angry at another man's knees? If so, then the limb targeting system is for you. With a simple tap of the left stick you can now focus your attention on your opponents legs, arms or head. Take out their knees repeatedly and it'll hamper their ability to run whilst satisfying your knee-hate. You can also potentially re-enact key sequences from The Karate Kid, using someone who looks a bit like Daniel-San (for instance perhaps Mark Henry) to relive the "sweep the leg" finale, and flying crane kick to the chops pay-off of the 80s uber-classic. Seriously though, limb targeting is a seriously impressive enhancement, provided it works properly, adding a far greater sense of strategy and targeted combat into a gameplay arena traditionally governed by spectacle and grander, more explosive moves. This will particularly help even the playing field in more difficult bouts, against both CPU and human opponents. Though we're already predicting that it will also cater for the annoying kind of "hardcore gamer" who would seek to take a cynically anti-progressive approach in the ring in favour of a stultifying assault on one limb in particular repeatedly. And that sort of BS leads to broken controllers and banned XBox Live accounts...
6. Submission Breaks
A mini-game of sorts that allows the player to break out of submissions. Either crawl to the rope for a rope break, or power out of the hold. The re-introduction of rope breaks and crawl time will also appease fans of the sport, as they remain a regular occurence in even the highest billed match-ups, and this re-conceived submissions system will at least amp up the realism, even if its success is likely to be viewed skeptically up until the moment of release by fans who have consistently been let down by systems that simply don't match up to expectations.
7. Comeback Moments
Snatch victory from the jaws of defeat with a combo move designed to recreate the dynamic moments during matches when a wrestler manages to forget he broke his spine earlier on in the fight, to shock his opponent at the death. Used only during 'critical status' it will no doubt lead to both joy and controller-launching, which are both perfect qualifiers for a successful combat title. And for my money, the opportunity to completely change the way a fight is developing is not only in keeping with the unpredictably entertaining nature of WWE matches themselves, it also offers a the chance for predictably one-sided exchanges to be mixed up. And here's a video from THQ introducing the new feature... http://youtu.be/nRBs5Dt2Vvg
8. Likenesses
Graphically WWE12 looks superior in every way to SvR, but there is a notable uplift in character likenesses that is particularly pleasing. A direct comparison between the characters of each games shows this instantly, and with help from the Predator technology their movement and environment are also to a higher standard across the board. Seriously, this one can't be under-estimated: how often are games criticised or lauded because of the way they present real people in sprite form? For some reason, there is an element of gamers out there who resist all logic, and the restrictions of technology and demand perfect likenesses every time. With WWE 12, it might not be perfection, but it's certainly a step up from SvR 11. Here's Randy Orton proving just that: And the man we have to thank for these positive developments? Jeff Godfrey, THQ's Character Art Director, and the man chiefly in charge of likenesses, who has spoken about how he set about making improvements:
Each year I strive to improve the Superstars likenesses and to make the models look more realistic. Part of that involves adjusting how they are lit. My goal in adjusting the lighting for WWE 12 was to push it closer to WWE TV broadcast and increase the realism. The Superstars have 6 lights on them that I can adjust; each can be set to a different color and brightness, plus I can adjust the angle. All of this is done by adjusting numbers and watching the results on screen in the model previewer. This year I made sure the lighting feels like it is coming from above while still creating dramatic contrast on the Superstars. This gets tricky because you do not want to leave the Superstars face in a dark shadow. The lighting also has to work for a wide range of skin tones. At one point I tried using one of the lights to create a bright rim light coming from behind the wrestlers, but it washed out Sheamuss skin so it had to be abandoned. When lighting the crowd I made it a little darker than broadcast so that the Superstars would stand out more. I made the Superstars stand out even more by having Yukes add depth of field. This makes the crowd get blurrier based on how far away they are. The end result is the Superstars pop off the background this year.
9. TV Presentation
In what is becoming the norm for sports titles, TV reproduction is a must. WWE 12 has taken camera angles from the show and dropped them straight into the game, leading to immediately heightened realism and more dynamic overall presentation. The matches look far more authentic, and as if there is a director controlling the angles and width of shots, as opposed to them being purely defined by the action of the fight. WWE 12 will be slicker, more cleverly framed and just much bloody better looking.
10. Ring Creation
For the first time ever you create your own arena in all its illuminous glory. 1-Hour MakeOver this isn't - as if I returned home to find someone had painted illuminous green all over my lovely wood-chip panelling I'd be pretty peeved, and yet I can see myself enjoying the thrills of DIY with the game's in-built editor. And thankfully within the confines of WWE 12 you can destroy all that we know about good colour design and aesthetics without fear of antagonising Granny, or having to deal with fancy "professional" designers like Lawrence Llewelyn-Bowen.
11. Championship Belts
Universe Mode now has up to 23 championship belts to fight it out for. With the 6 existing titles comes the return of such classics as 'The Million Dollar Championship' and 'ECW Championship belts. That's an awful lot of bling, and more importantly a lot of excuses to stick with the game past the first few weeks and months after release.
12. Old School
Welcome back Brock Lesnar, we hardly knew yee. Oh yeah, and welcome Michael Cole... In the form of the obligatory DLC that is. WWE 12 promises a huge roster, and in that long list are a number of proper legends from the good old days, including - quite brilliantly - the Legion of Doom and Demolition in older fan-baiting inclusions and bona-fide legends Ricky Steamboat and Eddie Guerrero. The opportunity to pit these solid gold icons against the new breed is something that has always appealed across the franchise, and this time out, with that new physics engine, it looks like the experience will be all the more impressive. So what do you think? Will WWE 12 dwarf SvR 11? This might be only a relatively short synopsis but it should hopefully cause your lycra-pants to tighten that little bit more in anticipation of WWE 12's release later this month. From early appearances the game, helped enormously by the new physics engine, looks more solid and more fluid, and we can expect a major uplift in quality that might go some way to atoning for the past sins committed in the sport's name in the gaming world. Let's hope the story mode lives up to the hype that is building around it. WWE 12 is released on XBox 360, PS3 and Wii on November 25th.