Post by Goldash on Mar 7, 2009 9:17:49 GMT -5
All right, I downloaded the demo for LOWM last night over Xbox Live and have some impressions.
Let me start by saying "wow, this game seems like such a cash-in". I know the connection with SVR is big since the whole business about importing current WWE roster members and your own CAWs into Legends, but I didn't think it'd be this obvious.
First of all, apart from the camera and different controls (which I have had a terrible time getting used to), there isn't much difference from this game and SVR. The generic "groaning wrestler" sound effects are carried over. Much of the same move animations have been carried over. Some commentary has even been recycled, although it sounds a lot better than in SVR.
However, the game mechanics themselves have been rewritten, some for the better and some for the worse. Some moves are designated as "chain moves", which takes a lot of control out of your hands but replaces such control with pretty awesomely-animated cutscenes. It reminds me a lot of SVR2006's pre-match mini-games. Overall, it seems you're watching the match instead of actually playing it, which is a good and bad thing at the same time.
There isn't any analog control. Everything's done with buttons, which ends up being one of the game's most clunkiest aspects. Taunting is done with two buttons (Y and B on 360) and can only be done when your charge meter is on the second level. So, in a sense, you can only taunt in certain situations. And unless your opponent's stunned, finishers are pretty clunky as well. But once you get a finisher (A and X), the sequence is pretty damn awesome. Stone Cold, for instance, downs Rock with the Thesz Press, waits for Rock to get up, kicks him in the waist and hits the Stunner on him. I was about ready to mark out. Say what you will about it, but LOWM is true to its product.
There are certain aspects I wish were in SVR, including a better targeting system (which is controlled by the analog stick) and amazing manager interaction, the likes of which I've never seen in a pro wrestling title. I thought I had Andre The Giant down for the count with Hulk Hogan's Legdrop of Doom, for instance, but instantly became frustrated when I saw Heenan put Andre's boot on the bottom rope after a two-count. That's how SVR should be.
Entrances are, like SVR, the best in the business. The WMIII arena has the motorized "mini-rings", for instance, despite the entranceway only being a quarter of the size it was for the actual event.
What REALLY screams "cash-in" to me, though, is the fact the menus look exactly the same as SVR's. It's almost as if the game's running on SVR2009's engine (which really doesn't surprise me).
Anyway, I expect to give LOWM a rental this year. I usually buy most of my wrestling games, but this one just may be so radically different that I may pass. But there's one thing that's true about this game: it's authentic, and it should inform the younger WWE fans of Wrestlemania's storied past.
Let me start by saying "wow, this game seems like such a cash-in". I know the connection with SVR is big since the whole business about importing current WWE roster members and your own CAWs into Legends, but I didn't think it'd be this obvious.
First of all, apart from the camera and different controls (which I have had a terrible time getting used to), there isn't much difference from this game and SVR. The generic "groaning wrestler" sound effects are carried over. Much of the same move animations have been carried over. Some commentary has even been recycled, although it sounds a lot better than in SVR.
However, the game mechanics themselves have been rewritten, some for the better and some for the worse. Some moves are designated as "chain moves", which takes a lot of control out of your hands but replaces such control with pretty awesomely-animated cutscenes. It reminds me a lot of SVR2006's pre-match mini-games. Overall, it seems you're watching the match instead of actually playing it, which is a good and bad thing at the same time.
There isn't any analog control. Everything's done with buttons, which ends up being one of the game's most clunkiest aspects. Taunting is done with two buttons (Y and B on 360) and can only be done when your charge meter is on the second level. So, in a sense, you can only taunt in certain situations. And unless your opponent's stunned, finishers are pretty clunky as well. But once you get a finisher (A and X), the sequence is pretty damn awesome. Stone Cold, for instance, downs Rock with the Thesz Press, waits for Rock to get up, kicks him in the waist and hits the Stunner on him. I was about ready to mark out. Say what you will about it, but LOWM is true to its product.
There are certain aspects I wish were in SVR, including a better targeting system (which is controlled by the analog stick) and amazing manager interaction, the likes of which I've never seen in a pro wrestling title. I thought I had Andre The Giant down for the count with Hulk Hogan's Legdrop of Doom, for instance, but instantly became frustrated when I saw Heenan put Andre's boot on the bottom rope after a two-count. That's how SVR should be.
Entrances are, like SVR, the best in the business. The WMIII arena has the motorized "mini-rings", for instance, despite the entranceway only being a quarter of the size it was for the actual event.
What REALLY screams "cash-in" to me, though, is the fact the menus look exactly the same as SVR's. It's almost as if the game's running on SVR2009's engine (which really doesn't surprise me).
Anyway, I expect to give LOWM a rental this year. I usually buy most of my wrestling games, but this one just may be so radically different that I may pass. But there's one thing that's true about this game: it's authentic, and it should inform the younger WWE fans of Wrestlemania's storied past.