WWE All Stars - Xbox 360

Let me start by saying I've been playing wrestling games since I was about 6 years old, beginning with the NES games like WWF Wrestlemania and Steel Cage Challenge. I've owned nearly every console since then and have also purchased almost every WWF/WWE game ever released (exceptions being WWF In Your House, King of the Ring, Crush Hour, and the Game Boy Advance titles). Like many other fans, I felt that THQ's N64 wrestling games (WCW vs NWO, Wrestlemania 2000, No Mercy) were the most fun to play overall, and will always be considered classics. I enjoy Smackdown vs Raw for what it is, and I think they've made a decent amount of progress since the PSOne Smackdown games, but the recent titles just haven't been that much FUN to play. The moves are mostly accurate, but many feel weak and lack hard-hitting impact. There are STILL things, over 10 years later, that the N64 titles did better (including submissions, location-specific damage, weight detection, momentum shifts, and overall pacing), and I honestly feel that SvR has become more of a yearly roster update and cheap cash-in, similar to what EA does with their annual sports titles. Remember the amount of progress made between Smackdown: Just Bring It and SD: Shut Your Mouth? And the equal amount of progress made with Here Comes the Pain? We never see that anymore. Yeah, we have more match types, features, and modes than ever before, but the in-ring gameplay has become an afterthought. Enter WWE All-Stars. Gameplay is the focal point of this title. Sal Divita, formerly of Midway Studios and creative mind behind titles like NBA Jam, NFL Blitz, and WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game, has given us something completely new and fresh. Yes, the character models look like action figures on steroids, but they're some of the most beautiful graphics I've ever seen. Yes, many of the moves are completely over the top and ridiculous, but they're also so much fun to watch. There aren't very many game modes or match types (1 vs 1, 2 vs 2, Handicap, Elimination, Extreme Rules, Steel Cage), but this type of game doesn't necassarily need them. I rarely even leave the ring to grab weapons or climb the turnbuckles, because I'm too busy pulling off crazy combos and defending myself from my opponents attacks. Yes, the entrances are very short, but this is an arcade-style game and isn't trying to be a simulation. Beneath the cartoony style and crazy moves is a surprisingly complex and VERY responsive grappling engine. If you played TNA Impact, they based this game on the same engine, but seriously tweaked and expanded on it. You have 2 buttons for weak and strong strikes, and various combos that can be performed by entering different sequences. You also have weak and strong grapples, then each face button will perform a different move. You can also tap the right analog stick while in a weak or strong grapple transition into a headlock, go-behind, or other positions and perform alternate moves w/ the face buttons. Also, you can irish whip by holding the right trigger after you lock up, then perform a number of moves out of the irish whip position. There are a number of turnbuckle moves, flying moves, springboard moves, and so much more. I was shocked by the hidden depth, and it reminded me of Day of Reckoning with much better animations and a great reversal system. Each character class (acrobats, brawlers, etc) plays differently, but the thing I was most impressed with was the difference between individual wrestlers. I expected more generic movesets and repeated moves (similar to TNA Impact) and was pleasantly surprised by THQ San Diego's attention to detail. For example, when you play as Rey Mysterio, he does a lot of his signature lucha-libre style moves. Although John Morrison is also in the "acrobat" class, his moveset is much different and includes moves that you'd expect Morrison to perform. Randy Savage has his signature punches and taunts, Randy Orton has his signature stomps, kneedrop, and other moves. Each wrestler has a number of signature moves than can be performed from various positions (Orton has his punt as a ground signature, his neckbreaker as a standing signature, etc), and of course one finisher, which has to be activated and then performed. Many times you'll activate it, then get attacked and have to rebuild your momentum. This makes for some amazing back and forth endings to matches. The best thing is that most wretlers have moves that they don't use anymore. HBK has his old side suplex finisher as a signature move. Sheamus has the Fiery Red Hand, which he hasn't used since his days on the independent circuit. Orton has his old standing neck-drop move that I haven't seen him use in at least 5 years. The developers paid very close attention to the wrestlers movesets and mannerisms, and clearly are passionate about their product. The steel cage match is my favorite match type, by a long shot. During this match, your signature moves include crazy slams and throws into the cage wall, and you can perform multiple diving moves from the cage wall and the top. I can't describe in words how awesome this is. There's also a challenging mini-game for escaping the cage (similar to TNA Impact's Ultimate X mini-game), but it's not frustrating and makes sense for this particular match. In future All-Stars games (if they continue this series), I think they have the potential to really expand on what they've done here. The grappling engine, while deep, could be much deeper. They could have twice as many grapples if they would assign different moves to different directions on the analog stick. Right now, if I grapple and press A, for example, I'll do the exact same move if I press a direction + A. I remember the old wrestling games had different moves for Up + A, Down + A, etc, etc. This could really open up the moveset and make the game feel less repetitive. They also need to place more emphasis on submissions and have the wrestlers stay down longer and sell the moves a little more. They could give us tables and ladders, and definitely Hell in a Cell. I'm sure they could find a way to make those match types insanely fun. The surrounding environments could be more interactive (i.e. announcer tables, ringside barricades, backstage areas, parking lot brawls, the stage itself could be used to toss opponents off of, etc). I'm sure THQ SD is one step ahead of me, and they're probably working on implementing new match types. Even if the gameplay was garbage, the roster is clearly the game's best feature. When I began watching WWF programming in 1990, Hulk Hogan, Ultimate Warrior, and Randy Savage were the biggest stars. Then came Bret Hart, Undertaker, and HBK, followed by Rock and Austin, and now Cena, Edge, Orton and The Miz are the top guys. So I basically get all my favorites in one game, and it's actually a GOOD game. I do have a few gripes about the roster (Drew McIntyre?), particularly the upcoming DLC. Mark Henry? R-Truth? Michael Hayes?? Where's Batista, Evan Bourne, and Rick Rude? Why do we have to wait for guys like Chris Jericho, Big Boss Man, Road Warriors, and "Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase?? Bottom line - This game is the polar opposite of Smackdown vs Raw, and that's a very good thing for fans who are growing tired of the same old thing. Don't expect a wrestling simulation, and don't expect the huge number of wrestlers, modes, and match types that you would get from SvR. If you're simply looking for a fun, solid WWE game that doesn't take itself too seriously, pick this one up.

This is the best wrestling game since the N64 days of No Mercy, Wrestlemania 2000 & WCW/nWo Revenge, this game is a lot better than all the Legends of Wrestling games that don't have good gameplay at all, I love the rosters of those Legends games but they don't play well and this game is also much better than all the Smackdown vs Raw games, WWE 2K14 etc. in my opinion, those games have a lot of options and arena's, big rosters etc. which is great but the gameplay is bad, the wrestlers move extremely choppy and not smooth at all especially when they strike it's really irritating, in this game the wrestler animations are extremely smooth and the game is just plain wild and fun, it's crazy and over the top and not really realistic but it's fun and it has great gameplay, try it and you will see I'm right, Legends of Wrestlemania is decent, the Gamecube games are decent but this game is better, The TNA Impact game was smooth, had good graphics and pacing but it was incomplete with few moves and needed a bigger roster and options also but it has a lot of potential if they could revive that engine sometime with a new game in the future. I wished the normal yearly WWE games would adopt this engine from WWE All Stars and just toned it down for the realism they are looking for similar to the TNA game but a lot deeper than that game and I think that formula would be a real winner for the WWE and all their fans actually that way everyone could get a great engine with great gameplay, great pacing plus the realism and options etc, using the old Smackdown engine every year just changing the roster a little bit and some options is sad and a way to just suck money from the fans. The controls are great with WWE All Stars also with the strong and weak grapples, strong and weak strikes, counters etc. the only complaints I have really are the loading times are too long, when you KO your opponent it acts like you won already then it counts to 3 afterwards when it should count to 3 first to make more sense plus the roster could be bigger, I love the roster of old and new guys for sure it's awesome but if it was double or triple the size it would have been even better but I won't dock it down from 5 stars for those reasons cause the game is just so much fun and so smooth to play it's great, I wished this series made more of these games cause this one is amazing even if it is over the top, I wished it had people like Goldberg, Lex Luger, DDP, Ric Flair, Kevin Nash, Scott Hall, Sting even though he was never in the WWE he would have been a great addition to this game. I have played tons of wrestling games and this one is definitely one of the funnest I have ever played even if it's not perfect nothing is, great job!

This game is how WWE games should be! Everything in this game is over the top from the characters' physiques to their moves. The controls were tricky to figure out at first but you'll get the hang of it even when you don't read the manual. This game offers plenty of achievements and downloadable characters so you won't get bored with seeing the same guys going at it over and over again. You can....NO!!!....YOU WANT TO challenge other players online to unlock more achievements and just have fun. They also included character-creator in case you like to add your own touch and display your creativity to friends. There are some minor clipping issues and glitches in the game but nothing horrible. It's a real fun game and I recommend it to whoever likes to have a change from the popular FPS games but needs to release some stress. I also really like the fact that there is no blood in this game and that the characters look more like action figures than a normal human being. I guess I'm old school but when I was growing up, there was less emphasis to the gore in games and more focus on play-ability and fun. In my eyes that is exactly what this game has done right.

Haven’t played this game since 2011 and man it was too nostalgic. It is a little dated as it is an old game but it’s still a gem and recommend it to anyone who wants a very Arcady and fun wwe game

This game is very good. Delivered perfectly. Go for it

今作品は今までのリアルさを追求したWWE,SVSRシリースとは路線をガラリと変え とにかく派手さを押し出した作品に変わってます 筋肉量も本人より二倍ほどに増量し技もフィニッシャーもオリジナルより人間離れしたド派手な技になってて見てるだけでも面白い!! (DefJamっぽくなったと言えば正しいかも) 掴み技も一つの技からいくつかの技に派生する仕様になったりしてて限界だと思っていたシステムも更に進化させてしまった事には驚きました しかし1番素晴らしいと思うのは プロレスゲームに最も重要な打撃や投げ技の時の "衝撃音"と 選手や技の "重さ" が如実に伝わってくる事 これは今まで発売されてきたプロレスゲームの中でも随一ではないでしょうか このキモの部分がしっかりしてるとしてないでは操作している感覚がまるで変わってきます この感覚はプレイしてみなければ分からないと思いますが中々他のゲームでは味わえない感覚だと思います このゲームで新たな感覚を体感してみてはいかがでしょうか 最後に前述にも書きましたが毛色は全く違うけどシステムや操作感覚にDefJam(良プゲー)っぽさもチラホラ見えますのでDefJam楽しめた人ならこれもイケるかもしれませんね COOLなラップは流れませんが(笑)

This game is so cool! It combines old wrestlers with new wrestlers.

Super service très rapide, fonctionne très bien