Fans have been crying out for years that the WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW series was getting stale. Our cries were finally heard and the franchise has been completely re-invented. Developed by Yuke’s and published by THQ, WWE ’12 is the end result of this rebirth. The game has been built from the ground up, everything about the game feels fresh, exciting, and even down-right addicting. That being said, there are also areas where the game falls short.

Gameplay

WWE ’12 has gone back to basics while making the gameplay deeper at the same time. How was this accomplished? Yuke’s did away with the complicated control scheme and went back to the controller’s face buttons doing most of the work, and giving you more freedom in the game itself. WWE ’12 introduces “Predator Technology,” which is sort of the codename for the engine. “Predator Technology” features a brand new animation system, which makes moves and transitions look much smoother. Much like the previous entry, SmackDown! vs. RAW 2011, you can aim your grapple moves like suplexes and body slams in specific directions, allowing you the freedom of thinking ahead to your next move or putting your opponent through a table. There’s also a new limb-targeting system that allows you to do moves and holds that wear down that specific body part. All of this creates a much deeper experience closer to the storytelling in WWE matches that is both gratifying for hardcore fans like myself and for casual players.

The first thing most will notice about the game is the dramatically improved A.I. I got my butt handed to me 3 times in a row, so I checked the options to see if the game was on “legend” difficulty for whatever reason and surely, the difficulty was on “normal.” The A.I actually thinks progressively now and doesn’t just stand around waiting for you to get on your feet. When your A.I. opponent grabs a chair, he intends to use it, rather than picking it up and dropping it randomly like previous years. They also tend to focus on wearing down specific limbs with the new system. I’ve been playing this a week now and I’m starting to get the normal difficulty down, so I’m probably going to move on to hard here in the next few days.

WWE Universe, which is sort of the “franchise mode” of WWE ’12, has been refined with tons of features and the repetitiveness of last year has been fixed. There’s also a nice selection of shows at your disposal. Want to get rid of WWE Superstars and revive the old WCW? You can do that in WWE Universe. You can even create your own brands and use paint tools images that you’ve created as the logo.

There are also a nice amount of unlockables within the game: Attires, music, arenas like WCW Nitro, and even a nice amount of wrestlers like Brock Lesnar, Arn Anderson, “Dashing” Cody Rhodes, Vader, and tons more! If you feeling like being lazy and not working for them, you can unlock them all in one shot by purchasing the unlockables pack off the WWE ShopZone store for $1 (or 80 Microsoft points). All of this adds a nice amount of replay value to keep you going til WWE ’13 comes out.

The online portion of the game has run into technical difficulties since it’s launch on Tuesday. Often times you will receive a message saying “WWE ’12 servers are not available. Please try again later.” According to THQ, they’ve had tech people working “24/7″ on the issue and are hoping to have it resolved soon. I was able to get in a few matches though and the online play seemed further improved over previous years. Hopefully once the servers are fixed, the online will continue to be as good.

Aside from the online problems, there are also a few lingering glitches within the game. Sometimes the ring textures will disappear leaving black holes in the ring, sometimes the referee will freeze in place and stop moving, and there’s even reports of game-freezing problems. THQ is reportedly working on a patch for these, but no date was given. THQ has had a history is not being very good about patching problems in their WWE games, so hopefully with the rebirth of the series, they turn a new leaf and put out more patches. Hopefully it’s sooner than later as some players are beginning to get a little impatient.

Graphics / Presentation

One of the big things Yuke’s worked on this year was better recreating the television experience of WWE by building an all new camera system that mimicking over 20 angles seen on WWE programming. They’ve also re-recorded around 40% of the commentary and even made a few small additions such the entrance music in the game having echo (through you have to add your own to custom soundtracks), and included all the different videos that play on the titan tron as you enter. All of this creating a much more life-like WWE experience and drawing you deeper into the game.

The new “Predator Technology” also allows for new graphics features such as higher texture resolutions and depth of field, both of which make the game pop out of the TV and give new life to the look of the game. While many of the character models in the game suffer from being exceedingly shiny which sometimes takes away from the graphics looking at good as they possibly could. Aside from the graphics, Yuke’s has also implemented the Havok engine even further and refined it on features it’s already a part of. Now, many of the jackets and shirts worn during entrances move much more fluidly and realistic. The ring rope also do not move around like Jell-O anymore, which was a little distracting in previous years. Overall, the presentation looks very refined and you can definitely tell they spent a lot of time working on this. It’s a job well done.

A lot of the moves and entrances have also been reanimated. Some of these look great, but others look very clumsy. The Undertaker’s signature Chokeslam is a good example. As you slam your opponent down on the mat, he lands on his neck and shoulders, rolling backwards over to his stomach. It’s very over-done.
Another one that really kind of took me back was Kane’s entrance. The whole thing looks like it was motion captured by someone who was very unfamiliar with his mannerisms and movements, to the point where a friend and I actually laughed out loud at it.

There’s also a few new features that allow you to customize the game even deeper. The Create-An-Arena feature has been requested for years and Yuke’s have finally put it in the game. Being able to change the colors and put logos on just about every part of the ring will open up hours of fun as you recreate your favorite show and pay-per-view rings like classic WrestleMania, SummerSlam, WCW, even Ring of Honor and IMPACT Wrestling.

Returning are the familiar modes like Create-A-Wrestler, Create-An-Entrance, Create-A-Move, and the paint tool. The only flaw I seen was that a few of the small features in Create-A-Wrestler have been removed or changed. Designs and 2D facial hair no longer have a transparency option, and custom skin tones have been removed as well. This creates a bit of a headache for advanced creation suite users like myself. Hopefully this problem is addressed next year after the out-cry many players have had on THQ‘s forums.

Final Thoughts

The people at Yuke’s have done a great job reinventing the series and WWE ’12 is a fine piece of work. While being a great game within itself, it also shows a lot of potential. A lot of people say WWE No Mercy on the Nintendo 64 is the greatest wrestling game ever made. With the new direction Yuke’s has taken with the games, they really have the chance to top that. WWE ’12 is a huge leap forward with focus on the most important aspect of the game: Gameplay. Let’s cross our fingers and hope that THQ comes through with fixing a majority of the glitches and the server problems.