Another pretty damn awesome feature is what they’re calling WWE Universe.  If you were a fan of Road to Wrestlemania, you’re going to love WWE Universe mode.  It’s the answer to every fan’s dreams of becoming a Superstar themselves and living it every single day.  It’s the closest thing to it outside of actually trying out for NXT.  In WWE Universe you get everything you want (rivalries, backstage interaction, ranking system, championships, PPVs etc) in a world that’s always alive.  It’s always active.  You get to control your universe and watch how every decision you make has meaning in the various other parts of the WWE.  Everything you do will have a cause and effect to it that this feature creates to play out in your own universe.

My suggestion is when this game hits, make sure WWE Universe is the first thing you turn on and dig into.  It’s like the ultimate career mode minus the grind of a career and its boring parts.  It’s you creating a living universe based on your own actions in the WWE.

I don’t think you’ll take that advice though because let’s face it everyone wants to be their own Superstar right?  The first thing you’ll do is head over to the Create-a-Superstar/Finisher area.  Both areas have been improved and a lot of new things added to let you take even more control over creating your very own Superstar.

I know so far I’ve said a lot of peachy things but there were some issues that continue to bother me about the game.  For some reason it’s still quite a challenge to climb a ladder and take the briefcase off the rope in a TLC match or Money in the Bank match.  You have to position the ladder perfectly and be even more perfect in your position to grab the damn thing.  Could it have been my lack of skills?  Maybe.

You still can’t go into the crowd.  I wish they’d put that feature back into the game.  You can play around backstage during Road to Wrestlemania (finally) but during separate matches in other modes, you’re just in the ring and the immediate areas outside of it.  I guess you can’t have it all.  There were a couple of other issues in the game (in particular targeting when multiple wrestlers were in the ring was spotty).  The build wasn’t final though and I was told most of what was criticized was changed already.

The bottom line is that I had a wonderful time hanging out with the THQ team and left the event with a much better feeling for what THQ has in store for fans in the future.  Most companies are blind to how a strong community can positively affect the way people experience their games and I’m happy to see THQ running with it.  You can’t stay stagnant in this industry and THQ seems to have the right people in place to usher in a new chapter for how they deliver their games.

You can check out a lot of pictures from the event right here including one of myself being the WWE Champion!  I can smell what they’re cookin’ with this game and I want a complete taste when the game ships this year.  New features, improvements to Road to Wrestlemania and more are in store for ya.  I want to give a big thanks to the folks at THQ and WWE for inviting me out!

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 is the most complete WWE experience in the franchise to date.  Look for the time machine! (you’ll understand that after playing Road to Wrestlemania)

Pages: 1 2