WWE Day of Reckoning 2 Hands-On

Slam Masters

A whole bunch of new features can be found in THQ's latest Cube-exclusive WWE game.

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We got our first look at THQ's WWE Day of Reckoning 2 in April, during the thralls of WrestleMania XXI. Despite being very early in development at that point, we got a pretty good idea of where the game was heading for its fall release. THQ recently dropped by with an updated build of the game to give us an idea of some of the refinements the Yuke's development crew has added. Fortunately, the crew also gave us a first look at the story mode that will be the centerpiece of DOR2.

During the two months in development since our last look, one of the biggest areas of improvement has been the roster, which has been nearly completely fleshed out. We say "nearly" because, except for the WWE legends lineup (which hasn't been finalized yet), the entire main roster has been set for the game. Notable additions to the DOR2 lineup include WWE Raw talents such as Muhammad Hassan and Eugene; SmackDown! luminaries like Orlando Jordan, Carlito Caribbean Cool, and Heidenreich; and rising stars such as Chris Masters, Gene Snitsky, and the lovely Christy Hemme. For a full list of the entire DOR2 roster, click on over to page two of this article.

What else is new? How about the assisted defense controls, which act as a sort of simplified version of a counter against both grapples and strikes. When activated with either the right or left trigger (for a strike or grapple defense, respectively), your wrestler will strike a sort of protective stance that will dramatically lessen the amount of damage a kick or a punch will do to him or her, or it will allow your wrestler to become basically invulnerable to grapple attacks. While you won't be taking any damage with the assisted defense system activated, your stamina level will suffer.

In fact, as we learned in our first hands-on look at DOR2, stamina plays a bigger role than ever before this time around. If your superstar is completely drained, you'll not only be inflicting less damage per strike or be more susceptible to attacks from your foe, but you'll watch as your controlled character visibly slumps around the ring while desperately trying to catch his or her breath. The assisted defense mechanics are in place to let beginners step in and find success with the game's defensive controls right away, though the DOR2 producers assured us that standard counters will also be intact for more-advanced users.

Beyond the assisted defense controls, the big story regarding DOR2's gameplay will be the submission system, which we stole a peek at in our first look at the game. Beyond some much-needed streamlining of the menus that drive this rock-paper-scissors-style control (and some code-tweaking behind the scenes), the actual mechanics work very similarly to how we first saw the mechanic. When you engage in a grapple against an opponent, you'll be presented with four options to choose from. These four options will represent the types of submission holds you can execute on your opponent. A rest hold will let you regain some of your stamina while still tightening the screws on your opponent, for example.

Muhammad Hassan at his stereotypin' best. Hassan is just one of the new grapplers in DOR2.

As a defender, you have two methods of breaking the hold. You can either choose the appropriate counter hold (by pressing the C stick in the same direction your foe chose), or, once the hold is clamped on, you can use the standard "tug-of-war" button-mashing method to break loose. Though it wasn't included in the build we saw, the producers say the type of submission hold you choose will be displayed on the screen (though presumably not before your opponent has chosen his counter).

A momentum meter will build up as you progress through a match, and there are several ways to fill it up, from pulling off high-risk maneuvers to using taunting submission holds that will draw a pop from the audience. Once you've filled up your first (of three) momentum meters, you can pull off your finisher. If you're really looking to dish out the pain, you can hold onto your earned momentum for a bit longer to fill up your second and third momentum containers, which will give you more opportunities to execute your trademark move, in addition to providing better camera angles to view it from.