2. Its Rough Around The Edges In An ECW Kinda Way
For all the things Booking Revolution
is, one thing it is
not, is pretty or super polished. If youre the kind of gamer who cant stand 2D graphics or the occasional awkward animation, Booking Revolution probably isnt for you - and youre a terrible person and should consider jumping off something high up through several flaming tables. Booking Revolutions interface feels right at home with the old WWF Raw chain-link fence aesthetic, and the characters (particularly the lady characters) are ugly in a cartoonishly ribald way - but always recognizable. There's some weird glitches and animation hiccups, and the first few times you see it, the ladder climbing animation is almost laughable. But thats what makes the game lovable, too. It feels willed into existence by a die-hard wrestling fan who has a vision for what these kinds of games can and should be - so he made one himself and packed it full with as much cool stuff as possible to make up for the lack of polish and budget. Its ECWs essence in game form. Not just because it brings the mayhem in the form of chairs, sledgehammers, thumbtacks, blood, barbed wire, glass panes, ladders, 2x4s, TNT, and the ability to light objects on fire, but because Booking Revolution feels like a cause. Because its not limited by multimillion dollar graphics engines, publishing deals, or licensing contracts, all kinds of new ideas emerge. It's a game by a hardcore fan, for all fans. These innovations are many - the aforementioned inclusion of match ratings being the biggest of them, but even the little details feel authentic to what a hardcore fan wants. For example: Wrestlers suggest spots and talk throughout the match via text Powerslam? Bump the Ref! suggesting ways the match can go. If two wrestlers have behind-the-scenes heat, theyll say stuff like I hate you, or Youre being too stiff! A.I controlled heel refs count slower for faces and face refs count slower for heels. You can attempt a finisher at any point, but it will almost always be reversed. If you DO hit a desperation Stunner or RKO, both wrestlers stay down on the mat, exhausted as they should be - and yes, you can slow crawl over and attempt a weak pin, like you've seen on many a PPV. An injured wrestler will let out a blood-curdling yell and grasp whatever their injured appendage is until the end of the match, then actually be injured for several weeks thereafter. Even better, upon injury, the ref will raise their arms in an X to let you know someone has been hurt. If you keep hitting your partner during a tag match hell up and quit the team on you. Certain promos use real wrestler data to change the text - if you do a tale of the tape promo - a wrestler will highlight their attribute strengths in the context of calling out his opponents weaknesses. If the referees back is turned to the wrestlers, you can hit each other with weapons and not get DQed. If a no DQ match becomes too violent, the referee will quit. Holding the the grapple button while completing certain moves results in you either pinning the opponent, or grabbing their legs, allowing for you transition to a submission to pick them back up again. These and dozens of other dynamic little touches lend a lot of charm and personality to Booking Revolution - and are made possible entirely because its a one man show. There wasnt time for fluff or pageantry or physics engines that look sexy on the back of the box but do little to make the actual in-game wrestling good. No time or money was wasted on poorly recorded commentary or rendering elaborate arenas - all the hard work is there, on the screen, in the ring and around it, in a way you simply never see in this genre. Sure, some animations are janky and there isnt incredible detail paid to some things - and a few of the 100+ wrestlers have an odd move or two assigned to them, but that there is so much stuff to do and interact with that you easily forgive those rough edges, because without them Booking Revolution would not be as special as it is.