HUGE NEWS!!!! ;D
I had a chance to play the full 360 version of the game today in a local Best Buy store that had the game on a TV. Not sure what stores are doing this, so your mileage may vary. So, I, being extremely excited (either that or the caffeine) decided to put an hour into the game and explore. I wish I had a better phone than the one I do now to take some TV photos, but you're going to have to trust me on this one. I'm an honest guy, after all.
Anyway, here are some random, nerdy observations from a CAW League Owner's perspective. Feel free to post on other forums as long as you give me credit.
-WWEHD/WWE Live logos
can be toggled off. They are part of the HUD, like the WWEHD logo was in 2011. Turning it off for 1P or the active controller should do the trick but the option's there in the menu to change all controllers' HUDs regardless.
-However, and this will frustrate many league owners, certain HUD elements
can NOT be turned off.
Breaking Point logo included. Even with all HUD elements and prompts turned off, it still appears. CAW league owners can avoid this by using Highlight Reel, but it's going to be frustrating. Turning camera cuts off doesn't affect this either.
-Also, all pinning prompts and collar-and-elbow tieup "press A" button mashing sequences are also ALWAYS ON regardless of turning HUD, prompts and camera cuts off. This is another big annoyance but something that can be worked around by using Highlight Reel. Again, it'll take you a bit more work to get everything looking seamless but it's easily fixable.
-I was happy to discover MANY more moves for chain grapples.I'm glad, especially since SVR 2011 became stale quickly with its limited moves. The list isn't amazingly long, mind you, but it's a good balance between the vast amount we had in groggy grapple and the chain grapples last year.
-Create-an-Arena is powerful. Of course, many of you have seen the German video so I won't attempt to cover anything you already saw. But, damn. With the designs already in the game, league owners can make some amazing things. Only downside is...no in-game fonts from what I saw. That's a really big disappointment for those not willing to use Paint Tool. And speaking of PT, 20 slots this year. Letters and preset designs also don't blur the whole composition when you add them in (from what I saw). Still can't change colors on the imported designs by using the menu. You'll have to go back to using the fill tool or do it by hand.
-Back to CAA...the possibilities are pretty much endless design-wise. As said before, only one large PT logo can be imported, which is a downside, so make sure every arena logo you want to use is 128x128. Design options are just as robust as in CAW mode, including resizing, recoloring and rotation in just about every area. No transparency, though (but who expected that this year?)
-CAW itself wasn't a big focal point of mine, as I wanted to get a well-rounded view of the game in the hour I played it...but I would not be surprised if morphings end up being 1:1 with SVR 2011. Templates and facial skin textures looked pretty much the same as last year. I didn't go deep into every menu, so don't call me out on this...but I think transferring your created characters will be easier than ever before...or at least until THQ gives us a freaking CAW Import feature. Do it, already!
-There seems to be a new match type called "Free Brawl". Not sure what it may be. Maybe I'm amazingly oblivious to something everyone else knows, but IDK. Didn't try it out, though.
-No option to "turn off" Universe from the Main Menu as there was last year. I really hope Universe is a self-contained mode (meaning it won't be affected by every match you play like it was if you didn't click the right analog stick last year in the main menu). But we'll see. I don't think this is anything to worry about unless you start seeing Mark Henry in the front row of a Barry White and Shane B. Perkins match.
-Limited amount of arenas, belts and wrestlers at startup, but those of you either willing to buy the Unlock Everything DLC or play through RTWM shouldn't have a problem. I'm strongly considering the former.
-No new options in Match Creator from what I see. Shit. I really wanted to have a two-count fall match with Mexican Deathmatch rules. Oh, well. Always Fire Pro for that.
-Played three matches - Punk vs. Bryan, a four-way (Bryan/Cara/Rhodes/Tatsu) and ADR/Ricardo vs. Punk. Each match lasted around 5-10 minutes but that was because I wanted to get a hold of things.
-I am very impressed with the gameplay but it's not perfect just yet. Maybe I just wasn't getting used to it that quickly. Running is now left trigger + left analog which took some getting used to. Button-based controls took me a bit of time to get the hang of, but they work well. Only thing I don't really like is the removal of submissions by clicking the right analog stick. It now seems submissions are a part of a chain grapple's normal moves.
-Some GREAT sequences in the Punk and Bryan match that I have to mention. The camera changed to a ringside shot during an Irish Whip in which Danielson attempted a few life-like moves, almost like a quick-time event. Eventually, Bryan (the AI) countered a Punk irish whip by jumping onto the ropes and backflipping like he does in real life. Thankfully, I was able to control Punk and move forward as he backflipped to maintain a really awesome sequence and keep the advantage in my favor. These moments were fluid, organic and kept a great flow going.
-What I also noticed is the lack of "hesitation" in the animations. As soon as I scoop slammed Punk onto the ground as Del Rio, I was able to lock him into a shoulder hold without having to wait a few seconds for the animation to complete. It threw me back to Day of Reckoning and how seamless everything went. It isn't perfect, and I still saw some "botched tieup attempts" here and there, but I found the "Predator Engine" great for what was essentially a first year effort.
-Manager interaction. Wow. Again, not perfect...but manager interaction is now as good, if not better, than what we saw in Legends of Wrestlemania a few years ago. Playing as Del Rio, Ricardo Rodriguez was involved in the match from the onset and ultimately was removed from ringside. He popped up onto the mat at the correct moments, especially to distract the referee from pinfall or submission attempts, and often was the focus of the AI CM Punk when I was down on the mat. Not sure if it's intentional, but Punk grappled Ricardo at ringside without doing a move in an attempt to get me to exit the ring. It worked, and Punk ended up focusing his attention directly to me afterward, eventually whipping me to the barrier.
-I accidentally grappled Ricardo at ringside but found out that no grapple animation triggers...instead, it triggers a "consulting" or "taking a breather" animation that heel wrestlers often use with their managers in real life. VERY nice. No longer will managers use generic feminine animations at ringside. They walk around, jump onto the apron, react to moves...they just get involved a lot without your control. Hopefully this can be toned down in a patch or in '13. Finally, since Alberto and Ricardo have a special entrance, I didn't see if they improved the entrances a wrestler has with a one-off manager (that is, selecting one from the menu instead of in a preset stable/tag team). Probably the same as it ever was, so don't expect anything on the level of WM2K/No Mercy's dynamic managerial entrances.
-I don't know if I'm just not good at Breaking Point submissions, but apart from finishers (Punk's Anaconda Vice, Bryan's Labell Lock and ADR's armbar), I didn't have ANY last longer than a few seconds. As a fan of epic submission matches --- Bret Hart's forgotten classic with Bob Backlund at Survivor Series 1994 comes to mind --- I would love to see some long, suspenseful holds with the new system in place. Then again, I
was playing against the AI, so that may explain the quickness of it all. On a more positive note, nearly every submission ended with a great reversal animation or with a wrestler making his way to the ropes. Thumbs up in that department. Just confused as to why the damned logo has to always be on-screen...
-There seems to be some new and interesting "hotspots" around the ring. I was able to position Punk standing face-first on the ring apron for a few seconds but didn't bother to try any moves out. Same goes with the ropes, they always seem "live" to me, and the new physics helps in that regard.
-The TV styled presentation is great, and everything seems to look real-time, unlike the canned cutscene animations of previous titles. This is a huge plus. Yearly annoyances like camera shake and slow motion can apparently be turned off in the Visual Presentation menu by toggling "special effects" to OFF, but don't hold me to that just yet. I was trying to focus more on the wider scope of gameplay than what was happening in the on-screen details.
-Nothing's changed in Highlight Reel, mind you. The logo still appears on screen and it's worse than ever before, but those of you using Avid Media Composer (which I will be using from now on to edit the URWL) can blur a portion of the screen, so that's a way to fix it. I heard that turning off "camera cuts" last year took the Highlight Reel logo off, but not sure about '12.
ANYHOO, I have to run for the moment but I'll take whatever questions you may have. I may not be able to reveal specific or obscure information because my time with the game was limited, but I'll try my best to answer. I don't have the game in front of me yet, so please take that into consideration while asking. If anything else about my playthrough comes to mind, I'll be sure to include it in future posts. Again, American Rantboarders who have a local Best Buy should check their store to see if the full game is indeed running. Your mileage, however, may vary.
What a day, huh? Walking into a store on a whim and playing WWE 12. That's what I call good luck.