Team Hyperstick

WWE All Stars Review

I’m not one who buys many games when they first come out, but something drew me to WWE All Stars. Maybe it was the nostalgia of being reunited with some of my childhood favorite wrestlers when the WWE was the WWF (not the World Wildlife Foundation), or maybe it was my way of supporting our nation’s economic recovery, whatever the reason was I went to Best Buy and picked up my copy.

Playing the game for the first night, I was totally immersed. I played through the Undertaker’s challenge, before realizing that if i wanted to unlock characters I should just play the Fantasy matches. Regardless, I played until 3:00 am, thoroughly pleased with my decision to pay $59.99 for the game. Character selection was pretty good, including some forgotten greats - like Ricky “the Dragon” Steamboat and Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka. It’s a game that has tons of muscle and plenty of legs - hours of gameplay, fun for game nights, and future content downloads (for a price I’m sure).

Once I played it a few more 2:00 am nights, i got to nitpick a bit. The first revelation I had was “Was Hulk Hogan that big?!?!” I know that these guys in their prime were huge, but Edge and Sheamus look like they are bigger than the Ultimate Warrior and Kane. Next up was the load time which is nothing short of awful. I hear that it’s better if you load the game to your Xbox, but I hate doing that.

Also, I found it to be somewhat glitchy and could see the potential for people to get frustrated when they can’t pull off a finishing move because their opponent leaves the ring at the right time. And speaking of finishing moves, some of them are a bit far-fetched - I know it’s arcade-style but when you combine far-fetched with glitchy you get C’MON MAN. Some other things that bring this game’s score down from perfection are the Xbox Live Lobby, or the lack there of one, and the cutting short of character introductions - that’s what the A button is for. Oh and PS… THQ gave Hulk Hogan’s hairline a little too much credit.

That all said, the game is real solid. On a 10-point scale - 10 being the highest and 1 being the lowest - I give this game a solid 7.9, it will stay good for a long time and has tons of replay value and recommend you buy at any price (under $60).

Unknown Rant: R.I.P. Game Manuals?

Last year it was Ubisoft, this year it’s EA, more and more video game publishers are “going green” (corporate speak for saving a sh!t ton of money) by opting to not include printed manuals in their games. Instead gamers will have to rely on in-game tutorials, pause the game for button controls, or buy the overpriced game manual to learn how o play the game.

Now, I never look at the booklets, in fact I never touch them, however, to me the unused manual serves as more than just decoration for the other side of my game… it’s an indicator of how well someone takes care of their games. Yes the scratches give it away, but if i see a chewed or curled up manual in a used game box, chances are that I won’t be picking that game up.

At least give me a poster, or something i can leave in that soon-to-be empty space across from my game. Ubisoft, EA - C’MON MAN!

Another Dynasty Warriors 7… sigh

So, Tecmo Koei released the trailer for yet another edition of their hit Dynasty Warriors title… DW7: NOW WITH MORE ENGLISH!!! Don’t get me wrong when DW first came out I was ecstatic because as a HUGE Romance of the Three Kingdom fan I loved taking Master Cao Cao and Wei Nation to the promised land and uniting ancient China by hacking and slashing through Dong Zhou, Liu Bei Sun Ce and many others along the way…. i know dork. But after 5 Dynasty Warriors - not counting the first one which was a Tekken-style fighting game - and countless other Xtreme editions and spin-offs, I have grown tired of it. 

I’m sure the game will be solid based on video released, but wished that Tecmo Koei would take a moment to answer the one question that RotTK Nation has been asking on forums everywhere….

“Hey, Tecmo Koei when the hell is Romance of the Three Kingdoms XII going to be announced for the PS3?!?!?”

I’m paraphrasing a bit, but C’MON MAN answer the question TK!