I am a big time pro-wrestling fan and I've been purchasing WWE Smackdown vs Raw (SvR) games every single year for at least the past 5 years. SvR titles are usually somewhat realistic. They are basically pro-wrestling's version of the Madden games. But this year THQ announced that they would be releasing a NEW title along with this year's SvR, and that is WWE All Stars.
Admittedly, when I first laid my eyes on this game, I was disgusted. All of the wrestlers were physically blown out of proportion and just looked completely goofy. I brushed the game off at that point, but as it came closer and closer to release, it grew more and more intriguing. I'm not sure why or how it caught my eye a second time, but I'm glad it did because this game is utterly awesome!
If you think about it, this game sounds like everything a wrestling game should be, and it is! It has larger than life characters and makes them ridiculously bigger by buffing them up larger than humanly possible. It takes rather simple and uninteresting moves and makes them look phenomenally insane! Let's take Honky Tonk Man's finishing move which is basically a swinging neck breaker (but barley, this move looks terrible when he does it in person). In real life, Honky gets his opponent in a head lock and basically falls over. HOWEVER, the All Stars remastered version of this move has Honky getting his opponent in a head lock and then flinging them some 75 feet in the air before they land brutally to the mat, shattering every bone in their body (ok, maybe it's not that extreme, but it's damn close). In essence, this game takes wrestling to a whole new level and does it in a super fun way.
This also is not technically a "wrestling" game. It is being dubbed by its creators as a "more traditional fighting game" approach to the series, and I can understand why. While it's not a fighting game in the Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat sense, it does have many fighting game aspects. It has quick and strong strikes, quick and strong grabs, blocking, and all that jazz. They take all of this and give you free, 360 motion as well as an interactive arena environment and occasionally weapons (also 2 on 2 or 4 way matches which you can't get in a "traditional" fighter). It's also got more glitches than a regular fighting game, but that is to be expected in a game like this that gives you so much free reign. But the glitches certainly don't take away from the gameplay in the slightest.
I would say this game's biggest shortcoming is its learning curve. All Stars is hard, especially if it's your first time playing it. Any move is reversible but the timing of the reversals is something that you have to master and that takes a LONG time. You also can't button mash or spam buttons to get anywhere (which can be good or bad depending on who you are and how you play) but in my opinion, this is a good way to even the playing field and weed out really annoying gamers. Once you master countering and reversals, the game gets really ridiculous and fun. You can start reversing reversals with crazy, spinning, back and forth animations.
The roster is a little on the small side too, although 30 fighters really isn't really anything to sneeze at. Not to mention more are coming in terms of DLC (although, knowing THQ it could be a while before we see them). I got my game at Gamestop so I could get the Million Dollar DLC pack as a bonus but it says I can't use the code until the end of next month. Kind of weird that I have to wait almost a month in order to redeem my "pre-order" bonus (curse you THQ for making me shop at GameStop!!).
Yes, it can be frustrating at times, but what game isn't? All in all this game is simply a blast! Once you get the hang of the controls you can start flying around the ring, smashing people 20 feet in the air, and chaining 4 to 5 grapple moves together in a row! The finishing move animations are so ridiculous, I never get tired of watching them.
I am so glad I gave this game another chance. It actually reminds me of back when Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker first came out I HATED the look, but upon playing it it turned out to be one of, if not the greatest Zelda games I ever played. Even though WWE All Stars looks... different, it is super enjoyable, and if you are a wrestling fan, you owe it to yourself to at least give this game a shot.
Pros:
- really fun (once you get the hang of it)
- diverse roster
- amazingly over the top animations
- cool video packages before each match in Fantasy Warfare mode
- it's something new in terms of WWE games
- can be hard to get the hang of
- roster could be larger (also have to wait a month for pre-order bonus....)
- can sometimes be frustrating (especially if just starting out)
- Create a Wrestler mode is not as in-depth as other WWE games (you have to choose from the pre-made movesets of other wrestlers WHICH you must first unlock)
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