Those in the US are a week away from getting their hands on a copy of this year’s wrestling game, WWE 12. With European release following days later, what can people expect out of the rebadged SmackDown vs. Raw series?From all of the information leaked so far, one thing is clear – THQ has stacked the roster for this year’s game.
On top of the usual roster of current stars, including big names like The Rock, John Cena, Randy Orton, Triple H and the Undertaker, along with cult favourites like Daniel Bryan, Zack Ryder and Tyson Kidd, there’s also a healthy smattering of DLC and legends. Usually a hotch potch of characters you’ve always wanted to play as, and guys you don’t even remember, WWE 12 gives us the Legion of Doom and Demolition so you can re-enact that feud of the originals and the carbon copies!
There’s also the usual suspects – Stone Cold, Eddie Guerrero, the recently-retired Edge and the returning Brock Lesnar all come out of the box, whilst the downloadable content gives us access to guys like Jim Ross, Michael Cole (uhh), Mick Foley, Batista and a bevy of divas.
Elsewhere, the Road to WrestleMania mode consists of an 18-month long storyline which spans two WrestleManias, whilst the Universe mode has been tweaked to allow you to hold title matches when you want them. That’s not the killer feature though – you can now edit the shows you hold.
Do you wish WCW had won the Monday Night Wars? Well, you can ditch Raw and replace it with Monday Nitro. Want to move Superstars to Fridays? Have at it. How about your own show? Well, with the paint tool, you can create your own brand logo and create your own brand, with your own champions (from a roster of stock belts) and… your own arena!
Having played a demo of WWE 12 at September’s Eurogamer Expo, the game isn’t that much different from SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, save for a slight change in controls. That being said, WWE games recently have been all about the creation modes, which is where WWE 12 looks to excel. With any luck, WWE 13 will expand the create an arena mode to allow extra tweaks of the ramp and aisleway, and possibly the return of Create a Belt.
That would make the game complete, but given that THQ would have to sell WWE 14 the following year, perhaps we’ll have to make do with either/or one of those features! Hurry up the 25th!
