Here are my thoughts after a brief moment playing the game.
Universe Mode
I was able to jump into a match to get just a sense of the game play. It was an Elimination Tag Team match, Cesaro and Tyson Kidd vs. The Ascension. I chose Cesaro and Kidd.
The entrances without loading screens between entrances really gives the game an uncanny realistic feel. Looks so much like the real deal. Lighting and sound changes as the first team is in the ring and their theme fades down and their opponents are getting ready to go out. It was just amazing.
As many of you, I was worried about the limited amount of counters, but it did brought a lot of excitement into the match. Limited reversals along with Stamina brings so much strategy into the match, also making each wrestler unique as they have different attributes for each.
I was playing on Normal mode and the match was fairly challenging. Animations and details are amazing even if you have seen them hundreds of times on videos, is just not the same than experiencing it yourself.
The only issue I found, and hopefully it can be tweaked in a menu somewhere was the auto targeting. I got in a spot I was getting ready to pin Victor so I took Konnor out of the corner, but Kidd got stuck looking at Konnor and I was unable to switch back to Victor. That costed Kidd being eliminated from the match.
I had to turn the game off afterwards, but I did enjoy the match a lot.
My Career
I wasn’t able to actually play, but I got it started and went thru the wrestler creation phase. The amount of options is just overwhelming, in a good way, but it was also so easy and natural to do. Not sure if a brand new player will feel the same, but it was a great experience for me.
I was a bit sad that some announcer ring names I was used to use for my character was not available. Although there are an insane amount of options, some key names (at least for my case) where not there like Vampire and Dreamer. I was not expecting to find Javy, but I did try.
I had to settle with Jay Dremers. Haven’t heard it yet, but I think it’ll be the closest I can get.
Entrance Customization
The amount of options on advanced mode were mind blowing.
Although the amount of original options is low, with so many super stars in the roster is almost not noticeable.
The entrance is divided in four sections: intro, stage, ramp, ring-in and ring. Each with pyro, lightning, tag and some others. Two pyro per section.
Each looks so good, that’s really amazing what can be done.
Besides that you choose music, Titantron, side videos.
You have all the tools to start your road to the Hall of Fame!
Conclusion
Although this is for sure not a perfect game, it’s a huge step on the right direction. Some might say that it’s missing some match types or modes like Story Designer and I will agree, but I expect those on next year’s version. For now, enjoy the biggest and best wrestling game available on recent memory.