WWE 12 is a great game....but you have to make most of the greatness yourself.
My friend loves WWE All-Stars. He is not a patient person, and the sounds of his excessive button-mashing can be heard from outside the house. All-Stars (just one example) is a brawler...fast paced, pure simple fun. I showed him WWE 12, to which he said after 3 minutes of game-time, "WTF is this CRAP?"
His character was grappling with air, swinging at nothing, and leaping from the top rope to land face first and 6 feet away from me. Reversals never seemed to work, and we were both mildly annoyed to see both our wrestlers (Triple H and Randy Orton) had basically identical move sets.
No problem at all though, if you are willing to put in the time to fix it. And of course, appreciate that it is not a fast paced button-mashing brawler, but a more deliberate and slower simulation that rewards timing, and knowing what move to use in what situation.
Move sets can be customized for all the wrestlers, from their signature finishers right down to the way they taunt and enter the ring. Considering there are well over 700 moves to choose from I found it very odd each wrestler basically had the same combination of basic scoop slams and clotheslines. Unfortunately some particular moves seem broken, you can just never seem to land them from any angle or distance, so when you notice one in the game you can just edit it out of the move set later.
Additionally, the top rope moves are MUCH harder to hit than ever before, it will take a lot of experimenting to figure out what position your opponent needs to be in to connect. But its kinda cool, coz those moves are known as high risk so it sort of makes sense.
And yes the reversals are extremely hard (on the default setting) so again it's up to you to customize the game and lower the CPU reversal rate. I find the medium difficulty setting with the reversal rate down to 25% to be perfect. Matches are close, it always ends in a flurry of finishers, and the only time you get blitzed is when the CPU uses a 90+ (attributes) wrestler like The Undertaker.
All I have to say about the graphics is that they are AWESOME, it all looks very slick and sexy. Diva hair is still a bit stiff and the backstage areas are very lack-luster, but overall it looks really really great. Glitches are not as common as youtube would have me believe, I have not seen a wrestler get stuck inside a chair (or vice-verser) or float away into the crowd once. I have seen more mild glitches when too many wrestlers are fighting near a turnbuckle, and when one hits the deck he might magically teleport into the free space...but that's about it.
You will have your most fun playing WWE Universe mode, customizing shows and playing or changing whatever matches you see fit. Road To Wrestlemania is a big flop, it's good that the storylines are pretty involving and interesting but 95% of the matches end in a pre-determined situation and you really don't ever feel in control.
It helps if you are a WWE fan to begin with, and this game would not deserve more than a 6.0 or 7.0 if it wasn't for the amazing amount of customization you can do. Patience and timing are key, but once you get that down it is a brilliant and fun game to play. I think THQ have got the pacing spot-on, and the more you play and tweak around the more your matches will start to mirror the real thing.
The two lowest points are that you cannot vacate titles (so be prepared to have about 30 wrestlers in Universe mode all wearing belts) and that the backstage brawls are absolute rubbish. Apart from RTW mode you will likely never play them, they really are quite terrible.
In conclusion,
Pros:
+ Huge customization options
+ Incredible graphics
+ Well paced deliberate fighting system
+ Massive roster of WWE stars and legends
Cons:
- Minor graphical glitches
- Road To Wrestlemania mode
- Backstage brawls