WWE '13 Review
FINALLY... Attitude HAS COME BACK, to a WWE game!




Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Developer: Yukes
Players: 1-4 offline, 2-6 online
Genre: Professional Wrestling, Fighting
Buy if you liked: Previous WWE games, MMA

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Things have been pretty crazy in the 'WWE Universe' in the past year or so.

Brock Lesnar returned suddenly, but then seemed to disappear just as quickly. The Rock returned, won a match and then disappeared, only to return later and make claim to the WWE Championship. Paul Heyman returned and started to manage an increasingly pipe-bombing CM Punk.

Perhaps the most shocking, though, is the return of a WWE video game that is actually good. To keep up with latest review protocol, I'm going to break it down.

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Gameplay
The gameplay really remains very similar to the last few WWE games, considering there's not much that's really changeable when it comes to this type of game. The controls have been slightly tweaked, but not overhauled. One minor gripe that I found myself facing repeatedly was the counter system. The RT button (or R2) is used to counter both grapples and strikes, but it seemed to be hit and miss (pun intended). Often, I was 100% certain I'd hit it at the right time, only for my wrestler to not perform the counter, and likewise, there were times when I felt I'd been way off the mark but still countered successfully.

Graphically the game is mostly unchanged and the physics also feel very slick like the last game. As for commentary, it's as bad and repetitive as ever.

The mid-match cinematic cuts annoyingly return, too, but fortunately they can be turned off. I'd recommend this if you don't want to see four or five instant replays of every signature or finishing move that you pull off. All the usual match types have made their return, too, as expected.

Perhaps one of the best things about WWE '13 is its emphasis on creation. While WWE games have always had excellent create modes, '13 adds create-an-arena mode, meaning you can now create your own entire show or PPV, using your own created logos and arenas, and slot them into your own created stories or into WWE Universe mode. It's not for the casual player, but the hardcore fans are sure to get stuck in.

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Attitude Era Mode
Strictly speaking, WWE '13 games never have fantastic stories. The last few have been re-hashes of the god-awful Road to WrestleMania mode, where approximately six different short stories are available that allow you to follow a particular wrestler's journey from the Royal Rumble to WrestleMania.

You can now breathe a sigh of relief as I tell you that Road to WrestleMania is no more! Hoo-ray! That brings us on to the best thing about WWE '13, and arguably the aspect that will be the main cause of purchase for most. Attitude Era mode. Rather than being forced to play through six agonisingly boring and cringe-worthy storylines with equally dull and skippable cutscenes, you're now given the opportunity to relive six of the greatest storylines and moments throughout WWE's most popular period. Beginning from 1997, you will play through and witness the rise of WWE Raw and the fall of WCW Nitro. Coupled with actual video footage to push the story along, you'll play as legends like Mankind/Cactus Jack, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Bret Hart, Shawn Michaels and a very young The Rock. Even the CG cutscenes feature real commentary and voiceover from the actual TV event, giving it that extra authenticity and freeing us of those unexciting dialogue sequences in previous games that made the wrestler's sound like they were telling a bedtime story to a baby.

You'll play through six scenarios that take you from the beginning of the Attitude Era right up to WCW's demise, and recreate incredible matches like The Rock and Mankind's legendary I Quit match at Royal Rumble 1999, and moments like Undertaker throwing Mankind off the top of a Hell in the Cell. It's a genius move by THQ to play on everybody's nostalgia rather than create six more bland, pointless stories, and this alone is sure to bring back some old WWE fans to the series. Depending on difficulty settings, completing Attitude Era should take around 10 hours or so. The only real negative here is that some Attitude Era legends aren't included - no Hardys or Dudleys, no Rob Van Dam or Kurt Angle. Though this couldn't be helped, given that they now work for a rival company.

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WWE Universe Mode
Universe Mode makes its return as expected and has received some tune-ups. By-and-large though, it remains the same. Universe mode is excellent for when you've finished Attitude Era and want to keep playing some semblance of a story. While it doesn't have anywhere near the same depth, it can be best be explained as a 'live' exhibition mode. You choose a match to play from a pre-arranged card (or all of them, if you like), and play through an entire calendar year of WWE programming. Rivalries and teams form on their own, titles are won and lost, and both Money in the Bank and Royal Rumble winners will cash in as they please. You can take a more creative role if you wish, adding your own shows and creating your own matches, or just sit back and play as the computer does all the arranging for you.

Unfortunately, it's not quite perfect. After adding my created superstar to a roster, I soon won the WWE Championship, only to find myself regularly being put into matches with the likes of Primo and Brodus Clay. It's also common to find top stars like The Rock and HHH in RAW main events with Zack Ryder or Jack Swagger for four weeks, but then put their belts on the line against Undertaker or CM Punk out-of-the-blue. The alternative is to simply change the participants yourself, but that feels a little like cheating. There's a wealth of achievements/trophies to be earned in Universe Mode though, so if anything, it's worth playing just for that.

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Replay Value and Online Mode
As with all games in this genre, the replay value is entirely up to you. If you're someone who can easily do the same thing over and over again and still get enjoyment from it, then the replay value here is endless. However, if you're one of those who feels like they've finished a game once the main story is over, then this is one you'll want to trade in after Attitude Era. The online mode is still here and has a ranking system, so you could try your luck at getting to the top rank, but that's really more trouble than it's worth for just a couple of small achievements/trophies. The create modes could also potentially grip you for quite some time, but again, it's only likely to be the hardcore WWE fans who take advantage.

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Should You Buy It?
If you've never been a WWE fan, no. There's very little here for you. If you're currently a WWE fan, chances are you've had this on your list since WWE '12 anyway. The only person who may need this question answered is the casual/older WWE fan, and if that's you then yes, definitely buy it. There's plenty of fun to be had in the different modes, and Attitude Era mode will send you into  nostalgia-induced excitement.

This is without a doubt the best WWE game since the 'Smackdown vs RAW' series was dropped. And that's the bottom line, 'cause Rob said so.

IF YA SMEEELLL... ahem.

One of the hardest parts of being a gamer is the painstaking wait that we all have to face for our most anticipated games to be released. And I'm not talking about the not-so-agonising wait for the annual Call of Duty or FIFA games, either. Another tough thing about being a gamer is when you've waited over two years for a game, only for it to be largely disappointing and leave a sour taste on your thumb sticks.

The wait for Mass Effect 3 has definitely been one of the more difficult ones, especially if you loved the other two. Thankfully, it leaves no other taste on your thumb sticks than dried-up sweat and flavourings from the junk foods you've been eating while you couldn't put down the controller. Not that I tasted it or anything. Honest.

If you've played either of the first two games, chances are you're already pretty clued up on what to expect from this one. If you haven't, why the hell not?

The story picks up after the events of the final piece of Mass Effect 2 DLC, Arrival. Commander Shepard has been relieved from duty and detained on Earth after allowing for the destruction of an entire star system, wiping out all life within it. A large portion of the galaxy are still in denial that the rather ominous Reapers even exist, never mind about to launch a full scale attack. Those doubts are put to rest in the first five minutes though, as the invasion begins on Earth in one of the coolest and most shocking cutscenes you're ever likely to see.

It's here where you play through a mini-tutorial. You're forced to escape the Alliance headquarters with Admiral Anderson, while the Reapers effortlessly lay waste to your surroundings. At one point Anderson leads you onto some rooftops, and you get a full view of a burning, crumbling Vancouver being levelled by the gigantic Reapers. It's eerie in a story sense, but the immense level of detail is absolutely breathtaking to look at.

You're shown the basics of how to move, shoot, run and roll, as well as the new melee kills, which work incredibly well. However, you should notice a difference right away in how much combat has been refined and improved over that of Mass Effect 2. The cover system is much smoother now, allowing you to hop and slide over objects and right back into cover again. Simple things like blind-firing and grenades have also been implemented, giving you more ways to fight your way out of sticky situations. Situations which you'll find yourself in much more often thanks to the improved AI of your foes. You'll now be flanked if you stay in cover too long, and enemies will support each other and work in real teams. Luckily, you can now use Kinect voice commands to tell your squad members where to go and when to use their biotic powers. Alternatively, the D-pad still works for this. Typical run-and-gun techniques are still possible on lower difficulties, but opponents will make short work of your efforts on harder modes.

Where Mass Effect 3 really shines though is actually nothing to do with these changes. It is, once again, the incredible storytelling from Bioware that will make you fall in love with it and lose yourself when you probably should be doing something else.

In Mass Effect 2, you spent pretty much the entire game rallying up a team for yourself to stop the Collectors in preparation for a major battle at the end. This time, it's your job to rally the entire galaxy and convince them that they need to put old quarrels aside to stop the mutual threat of the Reapers. Your old team has now disbanded, moved on with their lives and are spread out across the galaxy. While a few old faces do have major roles in this game, you can expect a largely new team to be working with. Don't worry though, if you play the game thoroughly enough you'll still find out what happened to each and every person you've cared about in the series, assuming they're still alive.

What Bioware captures beautifully in Mass Effect 3 is the sense of despair and struggle amongst the citizens of the galaxy. There's a genuine threat, and there's not one character in the story who is confident of defeating the Reapers. The worlds you visit are in tatters, and are often under attack at the same time you go about your business there. There's a spooky feeling of doom throughout, and it honestly feels like a war that cannot be won. Too much can't be said for the sake of avoiding spoilers, but your main objective is to build an army as big as possible in the faint hopes of giving yourself a fighting a chance. As you'll know from previous games, the Mass Effect universe is full to the brim with lore and history. Certain species hate one another and refuse to work together, so it falls to Shepard to help them sort out their differences. In some cases this can involve making difficult decisions, because no matter what, you're going to upset people. This is why Bioware deserve all the credit they get for being brilliant storytellers, because you're basically forced to turn your back on old friends and partnerships for the sake of saving the galaxy, and it's almost always heartbreaking. It's also at these points that decisions you made in the previous games are likely to come back and haunt you.

As you form new partnerships and rally people to the cause, your Galactic Readiness meter slowly fills. How full or empty it is when you embark on the final mission to take back Earth will help define the type of ending you get. There are three main conclusions to the trilogy, but you'll have to play them all yourself to know what happens. However, I will say that all three left me feeling a little bit underwhelmed. During the final ten minutes, things get extremely confusing and you're left wondering exactly what happened. Bioware have since promised to expand on the ending in future DLC so things could possibly become clearer in time. It’s not a massive gripe, and it’s still guaranteed to blow you away.

Another minor complaint is the way in which you can pick up side missions. Often, you'll be wandering around the Citadel and realise you've overheard two people talking and picked up a new quest without even noticing. Sometimes you don't even notice until you check your mission log, by which time it could be too late. Most of these types of missions are simple and unimportant, but it can still be slightly off-putting.

New to Mass Effect 3 is the multiplayer mode, called Galaxy At War. It's essentially very similar to Horde mode from Gears of War 3, whereby four players battle constant waves of enemies. In this game, the player chooses a class and starts at level one, earning XP as they go along. There are ten waves and three difficulties to choose from, and XP varies depending how far you can get and how difficult you set it. When you reach level twenty, you can promote that character to join your campaign, raising your Galactic Readiness. It's not necessary to play the multiplayer, but it's extremely good fun, well executed and a welcome addition.

All in all, you can look to spend around 30-35 hours within Mass Effect 3 if you play through it how Bioware intended - by taking your time, exploring every corner and pacing yourself. That number can easily double if you decide to tackle the multiplayer.

At times, it seemed like it might be an impossible ask of Bioware to do a perfect job of closing and wrapping-up this massive trilogy. It's not perfect, but it's about as close as they could've got.

Overall: 9/10

by Rob Best