Two Step Forwards and a step sideways.
WWE 12 is pretty much the first game in the newly rebooted WWE Game Franchise. Its bigger, badder and better apparently, which is somewhat true. The TV style presentation is great, the sound is awesome (besides the terrible commentary that is just rehashed every year) The Create a Wrestler mode is fun and you can even create your own arena! Lets start this review off shall we?
Graphics 10/10
This is by far the best looking wrestling game to come out this gen since TNA Impact. The wrestlers are very detailed and look just like their real life counterparts all the way down to their tattoos. The crowd looks pretty good, granted Im to expecting people in the crowd to be full of heavy detail because that is just too many people. Some things too look a bit off and blocky for certain items but it really shouldnt bother people too much
Gameplay
There is a bit of a learning curve when it comes to the controls. I've been use to the analog system for the past 5 years and this whole new control scheme can be very confusing if your just starting up, that's why I would recommend starting your first match off using two controls, just so you can get the feel down good before you jump into the game. Everything is done button wise. X is your main means of starting a grapple and you press X plus any direction to execute your moves. after you grab someone you press and hold in X again to start a breaking point submission. Circle is your Irish Whip and Pins, R2 is your reversal, L1 grabs weapons out from under the ring, and right stick picks up your opponents or put them on the turnbuckle,you taunt with the d-pad and triangle is your finishers and signature moves. You can also force someone off the ground by taunting them when you have a finisher ready. Its simple, but it takes some time getting used to and once you do, it will be easy for you. I do hate the Breaking Point submission system. They should have just stuck with button mashing. or tapping a pattern of buttons in succession a few times to break out of submission.
Audio
All Theme songs have an "Arena Effect" to them, meaning they sound just like they would if you were at a real WWE event. The commentary is terrible. plain ad simple. They are poorly acted and all around awkward and annoying. sound effects for punches and weapon hits sound like they should.
Single Player
The Road to Wrestlemania is terrible and a waste of time. Its boring. When you use your CAW for it, it actually changes your entire movesets and entrances and theme songs you've worked so hard creating. The only thing that doesn't change is your CAWs appearance. If you happen to have the 10 bucks laying around, I would suggest buying the DLC that unlocks all the secrets in the game. WWE Universe Mode is a step up from last years, but it still has its glitches. Example was, I won a match against Kevin Nash and after the match My alliance with Zack Ryder was no longer there and our team was deleted.
Multiplayer
I will say, there are times when the game is laggy and their are times the game is not laggy. It really all depends on the persons connection to their internet. The game is really fun online because its best played with another human seeing how eventually you'll be able to dominate the A.I if you get good enough.
Cons
This game still suffers from annoying bugs. When you use costume entrance music for your CAWs, during the match when you pause your game and check out the latest clip from your match in progress it actually plays your ENTIRE playlist of songs you've downloaded onto your system and turning the sound off in the options does not fix this. I had Zack Ryder as my CHampion of Champions and when I turned my system back on, Yoshi Whatever was Champion of Champions again. Ladders move on their own when you lean them up against certain items and some weapons actually dissapear. The Fan Access is still the biggest rip off in history. I have no problems paying for Macho Man Randy Savage, Vader or Legion of Doom because none of them have been seen on WWE TV in YEARS, but they really expect you to pay for things like Jerry Lawler, Jim Ross, Micheal Cole and, Half of the Diva Roster...mind you, these are people who have been active and seen on TV on a weekly basis for the past 5 years. So I really don't see how this Fan Access benefits anyone. Its pretty much admitting "Hey! If you want to play as people who have been seen every week on WWE Programming for the last 5 years leading up to this games release, you have to pay us a 1$ per person!" I could see this Fan Access benefiting people if you had "Legends" from WCW, ECW or guys from the Attitude Era who are no longer with the company. Even last Years Fan Access was dumb and even then they stopped adding DLC after the 3rd pack...even though they promoted everyday that new things would always be added...but they never were after the 3rd DLC pack. I see the same thing happening this year. You will only get 3 DLC packs, most of which are filled with people who shouldn't have to be paid for because they were on the main roster up to this games release to begin with and that will be it until next year with DLC. So I advise staying away from Fan Access because even then, it isn't a discount at all.1 dollar per person and there are 11 characters to download...do the math people. You are just paying off the future 3 DLC packs that will be released during the next month and be left out in the cold with no new DLC until next years installment.and speaking of the DLC, for some reason, whenever you download a single character and install them to your game, it actually resets your entire roster management in the Universe mode. All the Stables and brand trades you made to make your show filled with nothing but the wrestlers you like and champions gets reset to default, resulting in you recreating those teams and roster changes.
The game is good and a right step in direction, but WWE seriously needs to reevaluate their partnership with THQ. I believe it is time for them to move on from THQ and Yukes, or atleast move away from Yukes and go back with AKI for their wrestling games.