WWE ’13 Review

In 2000, I saw a commercial featuring The Rock for a new wrestling video game, SmackDown! for the PlayStation. Later that night, I bought it with the money I had saved from Christmas. It was a unique wrestling experience, featuring actual entrances and a rich story mode. Nearly 13 years later, I’m here reviewing the latest game in that long-standing series, WWE ’13.

Game Modes

Attitude Era Mode

WWE ’13’s big hook this year is the Attitude Era mode, covering the period between 1997 and 1999, which helped create numerous stars and contributed to WWE’s rise past WCW in the ratings. Sometimes, you have to bring back the things that people loved, and this is truly a case in point, with nearly 100 different superstars, dozens of arenas and attire options, and the return of a couple of series favorites, including the I Quit Match and King of the Ring.

Storylines

Let’s start with the Attitude Era mode. This mode replaces the Road to Wrestlemania Mode, which was criticized in previous series entries. Reliving the Attitude Era was terrific, and I enjoyed revisiting the many different Superstars who once graced WWE rings. The mode begins with the Rise of DX and continues through stories featuring The Rock, The Brothers of Destruction, Mankind, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. An Off-Script storyline runs through various moments in the AE after you complete the main stories. These stories remain true to life, with specific objectives to complete to win the match. Still, the objectives never feel too challenging to achieve and never detract from the overall experience. If anything, they add another layer of fun to a mode that could have quickly become mundane.

Unlockables

Throughout the Attitude Era mode, you’ll unlock different Superstars, championships, attires, and arenas to use in WWE ’13’s various game modes. The one criticism I have about the AE mode is that it doesn’t go past 1999. Anybody who watched WWE during that time knows that 2000 and 2001 were significant years for WWE, and it would have been nice to see the mode extend into those years. That’s not to say there isn’t a lot of content, but they have some superstars who emerged later in that period, such as Lita, Trish Stratus, and Chris Jericho, circa 1999.

I don’t understand why they didn’t include more attire for Superstars who underwent significant changes at the time. Triple H has three different character slots, yet not one is his attire from when he became a massive star in 1999. Undertaker has two separate slots and is missing the many phases that his character went through, such as his American Bad Ass gimmick. This sounds like a petty thing, but the attire makes the Superstar in most cases, and when you’re trying to relive an era, it’s hard to get taken back when they look entirely different than what you remember.

Missing Stars

Yuke’s did a good job trying to get things right with the era, even with so many Superstars who were huge during that time unable to appear in the game, such as Kurt Angle, The Hardy Boyz, and the Dudley Boyz. Superstars with only one attire had their colors changed to match the attire they were missing, according to the timeline, which was a nice touch. People missing from the game were strategically replaced or left out altogether (like Chyna).

Videos and Photo Gallery

There were some nice videos to introduce you to the different points in time you were reliving, along with an extensive photo gallery that took you through the entire period. AE lasts anywhere from 8-15 hours, depending on what you’re looking to unlock and what difficulty you’re playing on, and is an interesting take on career mode in WWE games. I wouldn’t mind expanding on this game each year and delivering a storyline that highlights significant moments in company history. Still, I doubt we’ll see something like this again, as impressive as it was.

WWE Universe 3.0

The other significant improvement is WWE Universe 3.0, which left me somewhat underwhelmed. The mode itself is fantastic and the one I play through the most. It allows you to control almost every aspect of your WWE roster to create one massive schedule. There’s a lot more to control this year, with an additional two matches added to each weekly show, choosing whether it’s a minor or major show, and placing whoever you’d like on the roster. There are a few things that bother me, though. You can’t have a regular show on Sunday. I wanted to watch a show on Sunday, but I was only given the option to make a PPV. I don’t want that. You can’t make a PPV on any other day than Sunday. What about something like Taboo Tuesday?

Limitations

You can’t have two shows in one day. No Nitro/Raw war on Monday nights. It’s not possible. Having more than four titles on one show is impossible, and one must be a Divas title, a Tag Team title, a Major title, and a Minor title. Reliving the Raw and SmackDown of 1999 would be impossible because you can’t use all titles simultaneously. You can only choose two of the three minor titles that WWE had to offer at the time (Hardcore, Intercontinental, European) at once. I’d also like to be able to institute the 24/7 Hardcore rule and just be thrown into a match if I’m the Hardcore champion. Make it true to life!

The WWE Universe is a solid mode, and adding all the statistics and different logos for the vintage shows and other content makes it even more enjoyable. However, I wish there were more matchup screens to match the show I’m creating. I also wish I could cost someone the title or interfere in a tag-team match, but you can’t. Superstars are even limited to one faction, as far as I could tell. It all sums up that if this is YOUR mode, why can’t you do things completely YOUR way? Again, this is a solid mode as is, and it is a lot of fun, but there wasn’t much added on.

Create-An Arena

Create-an Arena was revamped and is spectacular. You can make the old ECW arena, the SmackDown Fist arena, or pretty much anything you want. There are several templates that you can tweak to create the arena you desire. There are notable outdoor arenas, including those based on WrestleMania IX and Tribute to the Troops. You can customize every aspect this year, not just the ring, which translates to nicely crafted arenas. Create a Superstar, besides introducing kickpads and a few other minor additions, remains the same. The characters still resemble last-gen characters and are generally somewhat disappointing. This is something Yuke’s has left unchanged since probably the mid-2000s, and it is simply unacceptable for the next generation.

Matches

King of the Ring and the I Quit Match make their returns and are solid additions to a robust match lineup. I have to hand it to Yuke’s. The match types and gameplay in WWE ’13 are second to none. There are matches for everyone to enjoy, and the new King of the Ring would be great to run through with friends.

Gameplay

The gameplay has been pretty much perfected. I haven’t had many problems with collision detection, and the reversals are awesome. I’ve been caught out of the air and slammed to the mat while performing an aerial move. That’s crazy! It’s a lot of fun to reverse move after move with the computer looking for the upper hand and coming to a standstill. I genuinely think this is one of the better games I’ve seen for pure wrestling. OMG Moments were added in, but they were more novelty than anything, and I didn’t like using them as a type of finisher by pressing a triangle. They should be random.

Online Modes

Online modes that were very problematic last year (I couldn’t get on Community Creations until August of this year!) don’t seem to have the same problems, and there are plenty of incredible creations to download. You can find anything you can think of there and make the game you want from the characters, logos, and arenas you can download. The online matches are pretty much the same. I wish Yuke’s would introduce regional online championships to give online some meaning. It’s never been something I’ve cared to explore because there’s not much point, no point to progress.

Final Thoughts

Cutting to the chase, the gameplay in WWE ’13 is second to none, Attitude Era mode is a fresh take on a career mode, Universe Mode hasn’t received any massive upgrades, and the Superstar list is MASSIVE. WWE ’13 is a step forward for the franchise, albeit a small one. If Yuke’s can revamp the ‘Create a Superstar’ mode and give the user more freedom in Universe mode, they’ll have a real winner; however, this one falls slightly short.