WWE 13 (PS3/Wii/Xbox360) 2012
WWE '13 was last year's installment of the series which attempted to improve upon the previous slightly disappointing entry. CM Punk fronted his first ever game, despite revealing that he was not WWE's choice to be on the cover. THQ however listened to the fans and went against the company. 13 had the biggest roster in WWE game history but turned out to be the last THQ game as they went out of business months after the game was released. It was somewhat of an end of an era, though it was thankfully a better game than WWE 12. Because Road to Wrestlemania had become disappointing it was replaced by Attitude Era Mode which celebrated the most famous time in WWE history with six different storylines from the real life era and some of its bigger stars. For long time fans, this mode was fantastic making you wonder what they could have done at the time if they had the technology. It let you take control of some of the biggest WWE stars of the time and play through their major storylines of 1997-1998. It was great living out some of the best moments from that era with over 60 cut scenes that recreated famous real life happenings. It focused on WWE taking control of the Monday Night Wars though focused on the WWE side with no WCW stories to be seen. It followed the main event timeline closely and was a faithful recreation and real treat for fans of the era. It allowed for recreation of the Rise of DX, Austin 3:16, The Brothers of Destruction and more. Additionally it had a follow up Epilogue with matches featuring other mid card stars like Jericho, Edge, the Godfather, Christian and Eddie Guerrero. It boasted a new Predator System that made even better animations and fixed some of the odd transitions that previous games had. A new homing attack system eliminated the annoying times where you would attack an opponent and completely miss. This was particularly welcome with high-flying attacks. Crowd noise, announcements and commentary were all much better with some taken from real WWE events. Online mode now added the chance to preview items better before downloading but again the servers were pretty awful (and nonexistent when THQ finally shut down.) The Creation Suite was expanded yet again with Create an Arena being thorough but not as detailed as hoped. Create a Finisher and Create a Storyline were upgraded yet again and you could now customize title belts (but not create your own.) Universe Mode now allowed for the use of created arenas and create a whole new brand with its own belts, roster and arenas. When THQ went out of business, Take Two stepped in and saved the franchise, getting WWE 13 back in stores by March. Of course, they have also taken over for WWE 14, which this whole article series was in honor of. Despite being the last in a series, WWE 13 was the best WWE game in years and the Attitude Mode was a great addition in place of Road to Wrestlemania. 14 has gone a different route, with its 30 Years of Wrestlemania mode which to be honest has disappointed me by being quite similar to the Legends of Wrestlemania game a few years ago. There is however a lot more variety in 14 and the game plays a lot better than Legends of Wrestlemania. Maybe with WWE 15 we will get a different story, more along the lines of Attitude Mode, perhaps looking at the WCW side of the time, a different era in WWE history altogether or a return to brand new storylines for the games. In all, the slight gameplay additions and even more extensive creation suite were even better ever than before. WWE 13 was THQs last game but a good one to end on giving WWE2k14 a great starting point for taking over the reigns.