WWE All Stars May Not Be the Best, But It's a Step in the Right Direction

What's up, ladies and gentlemen? My name is Eric Kanes and I am here to announce that there will be no "Smack Talk" this week.

SmackDown was pretty much just video packages for WrestleMania and replays for RAW so there wasn't enough original content to warrant a review.

However, something else that I think is worth giving my thoughts on is the brand-new WWE video game called "WWE All Stars."

I have to say that I was a bit skeptical about getting this game at first. I'm not a big video gamer but one game that I pick up every year is "SmackDown vs. RAW" and I have to say that it is a complete mess.

There are glitches left and right, it's impossible to play online because the kick-out system is brutal, and worst of all, there is no longevity. Once you're finished with Road to WrestleMania, you might as well throw the game out because there's nothing left to do.

Want to know the worst thing, though? The game never improves. Every year, they promise to improve but they never do. It's the same game with the same glitches every year. The only thing that changes is the roster.

With all of that said, I wasn't too excited for "WWE All Stars" but I was getting a bit bored of Call of Duty so I went out and bought the game. All I have to say is wow. This is one of the best wrestling games I have ever played and while it has some of its own flaws, it rights all of SmackDown vs. RAW's wrongs.

To start off, the texture in the game actually looks like that of a modern sports game. The crowd looks like an actual crowd rather than a cardboard crowd.

The ropes actually bounce around like real wrestling ropes. The wrestlers have actual shadows. The weapons don't just disappear after the fourth time you use them. It's just a lot smoother.

Next, you don't see these frustrating glitches all over the place. Nobody's disappearing through the ropes or walking through a cage. That is especially vital to the online mode where it's very easy to cheat because of these glitches.

Speaking of the online mode and the gameplay in general, there is actually some strategy involved. There are holds, counter-holds, and it flows like an actual wrestling match.

SmackDown vs. RAW loses its appeal very quickly because after a couple times, you just destroy your opponent in 30 seconds. 

Furthermore, and you guys are going to love this one, you can actually counter your opponent's holds when you're in a lying position. You don't just take a 20-minute nap every time you're knocked down.

My favorite improvement is that in this game, you can ACTUALLY KICK OUT OF A MOVE. In SmackDown vs. RAW, especially the most recent one, that was not possible.

On the online mode, once your opponent went for the pin, you were done. The kick-out "system" that they had is that you had to repeatedly press all of the buttons on the controller like a madman to try to kick out.

In WWE All Stars, if you have a full health meter, you kick out. If you have low health, you don't kick out. It's as simple as that. There are no imbecilic systems.

Another very good improvement is that the achievements actually make sense. It isn't the brutality that SmackDown vs. RAW had.

I mean one of the achievements on SvR was, "Hit 1,004 finishers in a single match." I mean, really? What kind of morons were their target audience with that game?

The achievements on "WWE All Stars" are actual achievements that you have to work towards, such as "Finish a certain pathway," "Win a certain amount of online matches,", etc.

The one advantage that SmackDown vs. RAW has is that there are usually 50-70 wrestlers in the game.

In "WWE All Stars", there are only 30 (or 42 with DLC, which should be released soon).

However, all of the wrestlers in the game are top notch. There are 15 of the greatest wrestlers in history and 15 of the top wrestlers in the modern day.

I think I'll live without Yoshi Tatsu and The Great Khali in the game.

So there you have it. The one thing that "WWE All Stars" really lacks is roster depth. Other than that, it succeeded where SmackDown vs. RAW failed.

If you're not into the whole arcade thing, that's fine. However, if you're tired of the same outdated SmackDown vs. RAW game every year, then I highly recommend giving this a try.

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