Despite a long absence of professional wrestling from my entertainment palette, WWE All-Stars had me intrigued from the get go. Many billed it as a return to the wrestling games of the Nintendo 64 era, something that’s a cross between arcade and sim with plenty of style and substance. In fact it may have been since the Nintendo 64 was out that I’ve even watched the WWE, when it was called the WWF, and when all the “Legends” in the game were current wrestlers. That didn’t discourage me - I’m ready to body slam these young rapscallions in the ring.
This same competition of old vs young is the basic theme for WWE All-Stars. While its not a requirement for the game itself, its definitely an over arching theme. There’s a dedicated mode which sets up matches between legends of the past and current superstars. On the legends end you’ve got the likes of Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Sgt. Slaughter, Ultimate Warrior, Ricky The Steamboat, The Rock, and Steve Austin. For the current superstars roster you’ll find The Big Show, John Cena, CM Punk, Triple H, The Undertaker and others. The final roster has 30 wrestlers (with about a quarter to be unlocked) and there’s more wrestlers planned for DLC.
Along with all these there’s a create a wrestler mode where you can make just about any monstrosity you can dream up. Trust me, I’ve seen some ugly dudes out there. The character models for all wrestlers, while its easy to tell who they are, are extremely exaggerated - almost like action figures. Some are turned off by the style, I rather enjoy it. This over the top-ness is carried over into the gameplay itself. So while the moves themselves might be copies of the moves found in a wrestling ring - the physics of said moves are a little...accelerated. Even better the moves are context sensitive - so while doing something in the middle of the ring might yield a DDT, doing something near the corner might force an opponent onto the turnbuckle and have your guy perform something different. This also applies to a position an opponent is in as you can do things like catch them midair or perform submission moves if they are knocked down.
To me, this is where the game shines. The controls just feel extremely tight and I loved the moves I was able to pull off with ease. Everything just seemed to flow together as you punched, kicked, grabbed and slammed your opponents. There’s also a simple countering system which requires a press of a bumper button at the right time. Counters can be countered and soon you get to that ridiculous punch - counter - punch - counter thing that always seems to happen in wrestling matches...I love it. Eventually you’ll build up a meter of signature moves which you can pull over with a few short button presses - things like Edge’s “Edge-O-Matic” and The Rock’s “People’s Elbow”. Finally you have a meter that fills up for finishing moves and each wrestler has their own familiar and over the top finisher.
The game’s presentation is also top notch with all the ring entrances and play by play you’d come to expect from the WWE. There is a downside though, the game has some atrocious loading times. So if you want to experience all the goodies to go along with the start of a match expect a good 2 to 3 minutes before you actually start to wrestle if you end up watching those entrances. Thankfully, they can be disabled after you’ve gotten your fill.
In terms of gameplay modes, WWE All-Stars has a few options. The three Path of the Champions campaigns are most of the game’s meat. These 10 match story based modes allow you to choose a wrestler and face off in a matches from 8 different styles, from the likes of 1 vs 1 to Steel Cage matches. After them there’s the Legends vs Superstars Mode which pits classic wrestlers against the modern day counterpart. This mode is particularly impressive as its boosted by video footage from both eras with a particular theme for every match - like greatest big man - Andre the Giant or The Big Show. After these two modes you have your standard exhibition matches and online play. So there’s a lot to do here...but where’s the co-op?
Sadly co-op is only available locally and in the game’s exhibition mode in Tornado Tag Team. Players are limited to a 2 vs 2 scenario where everyone is in the ring at the same time. In a way this method is a lot more fun than a traditional tag team style - as my partner and I are able to support each other when we found ourselves in trouble. While there’s no co-op moves per se, there are things you can do in co-op you just can’t do in single player. At times we were able to “pass” the other wrestlers between us for different grapples and moves and if one of us ever got pinned the other was almost always there to rescue.
I think WWE All-Stars is one of those perfect party games like Smash Bros. It’s incredibly accessible, it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and when you get four people together into a match it’s a ton of fun. While the co-op is a bit lacking in depth, what is there is extremely enjoyable and flexible. As an old-school fan of wrestling I enjoyed the presentation and history and it was interesting to be introduced to these new characters. If there’s a message the game has its whats old is new again, and while WWE All-Stars has a definite old-school feel to it, its still new enough to find enjoyable.