WWE All Stars

[Teal]

This one snuck up on me and pile drived me through the mat. I haven't had this much ridiculous, simple fun with a game in a long time. I downloaded the demo, just because I always download demos, and finally decided to give it a whirl. Bought the full game today. It harkens back to the old WWF No Mercy game on the N64. It doesn't take itself seriously (I've often wondered at the oxymoron of a wrasslin' game taking itself seriously, but I digress), but it's serious fun. The legends are a blast, they're superhumanly buffed out, and the special moves are ridiculously over exaggerated. For instance, The Rock's finisher. He grabs his opponent, then jumps like 30 feet into the air before slamming the poor guy to the mat.

But there is some depth here, as well. Pretty much every move has a counter, and every counter can be countered. I'm not great at the counters, but when you do pull one off (it's just the LB, at the right time), it's tremendously satisfying. There are 30 wrestlers represented, with more to come via DLC, a good create a wrestler option, different costumes, etc.

And, then there's the fantasy showdown thing, where you pit, say, the Ultimate Warrior up against Sheamus to battle for the title of 'greatest warrior'. The guys who do the videos for the WWE put together videos for each of these matchups, and they're phenomenal in making you believe such a matchup is about to happen, a real rivalry. It's great stuff.

Here's the thing: I'm not a wrestling fan. Used to watch WCW back in the day, but hadn't been a fan for years. This won't make me into a fan again. But good grief, it's fun. Give the demo a try, at least...

[Danimal]

Thanks for the heads up. This is on my list to get since everyone is raving about it.

Thanks for reminding me it is out

[MizzouRah]

Yeah I might have to get this one.

[Danimal]

Got it played a few games and it was fun.

Moves seem limited, like I could only do one move out of each grab. Other moves happened but they occurred based on body and ring position. The action is non-stop and fast. It definitely has everything Teal suggested but I don't think this is a $60 game based on my limit play time with it. $40 sure, but not $60.

Regardless my daughter will love it and it's characters and over the top style.

[Teal]

Different moves come from different button presses after the grapple, Dan. Try grappling and then pressing the different face buttons.

[Danimal]

Different moves come from different button presses after the grapple, Dan. Try grappling and then pressing the different face buttons.

Thanks, I probably should of RTFM. I am use to smackdown where it is grab and directional pad.

I will say this the game is hard, for me anyway I dropped it down to easy and I still haven't won a match. You're right the Legends thing with the video preludes are awesome.

[Teal]

The Fantasy mode IS hard...very hard. I haven't been able to beat the first matchup, and get beat down really fast. I went through the Undertaker's challenge thing last night, and that was a blast. Cage match was intense, and I was seriously celebrating after finally getting out of that thing...

[sportdan30]

My 9 year old son had an absolute blast with the demo. We'll be picking this game up as soon as it goes on sale sometime.

[matthewk]

I tired the demo out last night for about an hour. I'm usually a sucker for ANY wrestling game (I still own over a dozen different ones going all the way back to the N64), but was skeptical of this one.

It is a lot of fun. Much more fun than I have had with any of the recent SvR games. Not realistic, but it feels a little strange saying "realistic" when talking about wrestling For "authentic" wrestling there is always No Mercy and Fire Pro. I wish there were more options for creating your own wrestlers though. I'm not into many of the current WWE guys at all. The legends are nice, but I want more.

I'm tempted to pick it up, but I don't want to spend more than $40 on this. It's worth that much just because it is so much fun, even though I wonder how long that feeling will last with a game like this.

I did notice that the reversals (which are implemented very well) closely resemble what was done in the TNA Impact game. This game has a few things that feel very similar to Impact, yet this one seems to be getting overall praise, while Impact was savaged.

Dan - There are 2 grapples and 2 strikes. Using teh d-pad with the strikes will execute different moves. Once grappled, the 4 face buttons will execute different moves too. Hopefully that opens up the game a bit more for you. Oh, and don't forget about the signature and finisher moves.

[Danimal]

Well my daughter and I played this for an hour last night and the expressions on her face and the laughter we're worth the $60 price tag. Thanks for the tips that certainly opened up the game being able to do more moves. I still think you'll be able to get this $20 cheaper in about 2-3 weeks but it is a load of fun, great pick up and play game.

Only thing that bugs me is the loading times are ridiculous and the menu lag is more noticeable then the SvR games which i didn't think was possible.

We played a 3 way elimination match and we teamed up on the cpu until he was out and then my daughter "beat me" with the Undertaker and I was Macho man. I had to call her Champion the rest of the night, that was our deal.

Her mom hates that she likes wrestling games BTW haha

[greggsand]

Is there online multiplayer? Any good?

[webdanzer]

I've been playing the demo with my kids, and it's really a lot of (stupid) fun!

I don't think I would pay $60 for it, but I'm definitely now considering it after a price drop.

[matthewk]

I was planning on getting after a $20 drop, but I can't get the demo out of my head. I will alsmot surely cave before the weekend is over.

There is some depth there, even if it more of a fighter than a true wrestling game. I think with a few creations added to the rosters this could be a fun game for short bursts of time.

[Teal]

For those on the fence, there's a LOT more depth here than in, say, NBA Jam. Actually, there's more depth in terms of modes and what not than MvC2. It's a full featured title, insofar as arcade games go.

[matthewk]

Well, we just got back from grocery shopping.....and I added All Stars to the cart.

Teal is right about it being deeper than a normal arcade fighter, but it's not quite as deep in terms of match types and customization as "normal" wrestling games.

[Teal]

That's what I like about it, actually; wrasslin' started trying to be all realistic and deep, and let's face it...it's neither. The best review I read stated that All Stars plays like what a 10 year old sees when he watches wrestling. Gotta love that.

[greggsand]

Is there online multiplayer? Any good?

Bump'n it!

[RallyMonkey]

Ok, someone help me. I want to like this demo enough to buy the game because I think it would be fun as hell from what I've seen and read, but I have played the demo at least 20 times and have lost every single time. Even when i'm ahead and have the finisher bar flashing when I try to complete the finisher the idiot Warrior does his little face rub dance and then nothing happens and inevitably the match is turned around and I lose to Rey's closing move. Am i just doing it at the wrong time? is there something besides pressing LB+RB that I'm supposed to be doing?

I need help to win once so I can justify getting this game!!

[Teal]

I can't tell you what you're doing wrong, necessarily, rally, but I can tell you that you can "store" your finisher for later. When you have a moment, like when you've got the other wrestler flashing red, lying on the mat, back up and simply tap the LB-RB buttons. Your guy will glow and do a little powerup move, and the move will be 'stored'. You can then keep beating the hell out of your opponent until you're ready, then simply tap LB-RB again. Otherwise, you have to hold the buttons in and it takes forever for the guy to grab, which usually resulted in me getting b*tch slapped. Try that.

[webdanzer]

I think I should have listened to my gut on this one, because even though I picked it up based on trading in old games I wasn't going to play again, there is still not much game here for $60.

Honestly, you've seen 80-90% of the key gameplay in the demo, so by the time you get the game you may be disappointed that there is not really all that much more to what you'll be doing. The different categories of wrestlers (Acrobat, Brawler, etc) don't feel THAT much different in execution, and you can be done with the meager single player offerings in a couple of evenings.

It still remains a stupidly fun game for 'on the couch' multiplayer, though, and I'll enjoy it with my kids, but I was expecting something more robust in the full game. My own bad for not paying much attention to the multiple reviews that mention the lack of features.

Summary:

Demo: GREAT, FUN Demo.
Full Game: Longer, Fun Demo.

[matthewk]

I hate spending $60 on a game, and I love wrestling games. To me, this has been worth the money. It's not as deep as SvR, but it's 100x more fun.

There is depth to the game though. The different types of wrestlers come into play more as you discover the more advanced moves. Things like chaining moves toghether as a grappler, or powering up strikes as a big man. The match types include cages, extreme rules, 3-way, 4-way, and tornado tags. That's pretty good, and covers a lot of the really good match types. I like how they added little things like being warned if you use a weapon in a non-extreme rules match.

Sure, I would have loved to see more CAW slots, move moves for CAWs, more match types, etc... but this is a lot better even as a strict wrestling game than SvR. In All- stars the CPU is a challenge, and at the higher difficulty levels they use what is at their disposal to try and beat you. I see more variety (and brains) out of the CPU in ALL Stars than I do in SvR.

[sportdan30]

Game is on sale at Best Buy for $47.99. Thinking of picking this up as a game my son and I can play together. Anyone still playing and enjoying this title?

[Spooky]

Is there online multiplayer? Any good?

Bump'n it!

Has this been answered?

[webdanzer]

The game has online multiplayer. I have not personally played it, but have read that it is ruined by a significant amount of cheese, which I do not doubt as the smelly stuff has even shown itself in local multi with my son. A lot of tactics/moves that can be abused.

I would personally wait until it's at $25 or so. Some fun to see the amped up moves and wrestlers, and great fun at first, but it has some serious fun-damping issues that pop up in MP, and the 1p fun is seriously limited as you'll blast through the modes quickly.

[Teal]

Still enjoy it quite a bit, but yeah, it may not be a 60 dollar title, in retrospect. Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase and his son are supposed to be dropped as DLC soon, too. Never have taken it online, though.