Do you remember NBA JAM? No? Neither do I. But it's defiantly a huge influence on how "OTT" this game actually is.
So to start off you have a selection of superstars and legends that you can pit together in the "greatest matches that haven't happened... yet." Of course, all these menus and options look very generic and not confusing to the savvy WWE gamer, you've got your Exhibition, Fantasy Warfare, Path of Champions, Create a Superstar and Settings. In Exhibition you can create a match with any superstars you want, there's no restrictions. Being an arcade game it doesn't lavish itself with useless features, it only has 5 match types. Normal, Tag, Handicap, Cage, Extreme Rules. Tag matches also share 3 and 4 way dances. It's kinda strange but it's still fun.
In a normal match you obviously just beat down your opponent (or get beaten down) with a series of entertaining and slightly frustration button combinations and high octane moves. Finish off you're opponent by using a finisher or getting the pin. It's the same with elimination matches and tag matches, Just keep hitting until you can hit a finisher. A Cage match is where things get shook up and become extra awesome, You have a match inside a huge cage, You can use the cage to your advantage or stay away from it, either way, the cage must be your friend. You climb up the cage and unlike SvR you don't have a mini game to get to the top... you do to get out though, a very simple timing game which requires you to hit the marker after the cursor has gone past it. Hit it 5 times throughout the match and you've escaped the cage. Also, even with the tutorials on, I was never able to hit someone off the cage... strange...
I refuse to discredit this game in any way, shape or form. It is simply what it is, and nothing more. Thankfully. I can happily assume that since this game was developed off the TNA iMPACT game (created by bankrupt Midway, bought by THQ, now a San Diego branch) there are a lot of similarities, but I can't help but wonder if there was any more in this game that just shouldn't have been there could we have just suffered another TNA game? Not that I'd object to it but it just wouldn't feel right to be playing a WWE title and have it feeling like something we've played before (RABLE RABLE RABLE, calm about SvR being the same for all these damn years) I have the utmost faith in what THQ accomplished with WWE All Stars and I was very.... shall we say, chuff? With the many hours of game play that I put my life into there... If you would like an update, I will say that it is now, chilling somewhere in a GAME store... I traded it in after I had finished all Path of Champions and Fantasy Warfare... It was taking up too much space and I could of gotten new prettier games with it. I would recommend this game to be a must-rent or borrow title. Don't own it, if you do, you've made on helluva mistake, Mi Amigo...