WWE Wrestlefest game released on iPad App store. Here's what it's like.

I just watched a live stream of someone playing the game.

There are arenas like Raw, Smackdown, Old School Wrestlemania, Old School Royal Rumble, and others.

And the default roster seems to be John Cena, Randy Orton, CM Punk, Sheamus Steve Austin, Shawn Micheals, Triple H, Undertaker, Rey Mysterio, Jake Roberts, Macho Man, Big Boss Man, and The Rock.

You have to pay extra for CM Punk, Sheamus, and Big Boss Man I believe as they are the first wave of DLC, with the next batch coming in a month or so.

According to the guy playing in the video, (and watching him play it) it is EXACTLY like Wrestlefest, programming, engine, and physics-wise. All the graphics are entirely redrawn, and the entrances are very simple with the theme music not being in the game from what I can hear. All the music in the game is brand new.

There is a Road To Wrestlemania mode which is only a series of matches where you go for the United States title, then the Intercontinental, The Tag Team titles, and then the WWE title. In between matches there is a graphic of Mean Gene Okerlund but his voice is not in the game, only one of 3 or 4 different scrolling text lines about how great your match was.

The matches include Royal Rumble, 1 on 1, Tag Team, and Triple Threat.

The guy playing said it is very much like the original, aside from completely redrawn sprites, new characters, loss of old characters, and new music. But it plays EXACTLY like it used to. He mentioned it is very addictive, and indeed the matches I watched him have were kind of epic at times.

So that's kinda what it's like already from what I just watched him play for about 1 hour.

I've just downloaded it, so I'll have a play this afternoon and let everyone know what its like.

Just watched a gameplay video, and it just isn't the same. The graphics don't look right, the commentary isn't there, and it just looks thrown together to get THQ some extra cash. To me it's like a stripped down version of the original, with new wrestlers added to appeal to current wrestling fans.

But the only real noticeable difference are the graphics and audio, which I honestly think just had to be redone anyway, and the different roster, really. What aside from the visuals, roster and audio is different? Not the gameplay.

It's because of that one important aspect that I disagree very much that it seems like it was "slapped together for a quick buck" since it legitimately seems to me, like they worked pretty hard to actually rebuild the Wrestlefest arcade engine from scratch as they did for this. It's not nearly that easy to do something like that.

A "quick buck cash in" would have been emulating the original game without doing a thing. Doing all of what they did for this as an overhaul actually takes more effort, doesn't it?

It seems faithful to the arcade in it's play style at least, and outside of that, there was no way they were going to realistically be able to include the same roster, with the same license availability deals of today, while having to reflect new scenery, because the old ones can't be used, anymore. I think it looks visually good, considering that, and that an emulated port is impossible, since I think the likenesses in a lot of that game have probably expired, anyway.

ALso of course it's not the same. It's a remake, not a port. You should take it as that. A pretty decent looking remake, really. The matches I watched seem like a lot of addictive, back and forth fun that I'll be probably buying mostly because of that.

I understand people would rather play the original game's graphics, but I figured pretty early on that all the likenesses and original things was impossible. WWF logos, Earthquake, Ultimate Warrior, Hogan... there's just no way. I figured it'd be a remake and I think it seems like a fun game to play aside from cosmetic differences. I expected from the very beginning that it would look like this and sound like this. The roster, I was unsure of but I understand why it is what it is.

I think the graphics are the main problem for me. I don't like the way they've made the characters look. The lack of any form of commentary seems strange though. If they're going to make that much effort to remake the game, why not take ten minutes to record some simple commentary. I'm sure Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler are paid enough that they wouldn't mind recording something quick. Even a few words for some moves, like the original game had.

In terms of the wrestlers used in the game, don't they have the rights to use wrestlers such as Ultimate Warrior and Hogan already? They used them in All Stars. Would they need a new license to use them in a different game? I don't really know anything about that kind of stuff, but I'm not bothered about it either. The roster is good, with a nice mix of current and former WWF/E wrestlers.

They already have legends likeness deals with Hogan and Warrior, plus a deal with the families of Perfect, Earthquake, and Hawk. Clearly they have deals with Demolition, Animal, Jake, Slaughter, and Dibiase as well.

However, having now downloaded and played the game, I can clearly and unequivocally state that it's the single worst wrestling game I have EVER played, and may in fact be the worst game of any type I've ever played.

Dealing with the graphics first. In the screenshots it doesn't look too bad with that cartoonish almost cell-shaded look. However, actually running on the iPad it looks utterly awful. There's a complete lack of detail in the characters, the scaling is all to cock (when they stand at the back of the ring they appear 15ft tall against the ropes) and the animation is painfully woefully amazingly awful. Legs extend by over a foot when someone lands a kick, each move has about 2 frames of animation with no real attempt to join one character to another (your character seems to flip themselves when they get power bombed for example). Half the time you have no idea what the move is actually supposed to be.

It's just awful. But by no means as bad as the gameplay. The controls just don't work. You have no idea what you are doing half the time. Sometimes your character runs around swiftly at the press of the stick. Another time the bugger hardly moves. Collision detection and positioning seems all over the place. Sometimes you can trigger a pin, sometimes you can't. Sometimes you go straight into grapples, other times you don't. Whether or not you win grapples seems entirely random, and even if you do appear to win sometimes you still get Irish whipped (into another two frame attack animation).

Let's be very very clear. This DOES NOT IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM PLAY LIKE WRESTLEFEST DID IN THE ARCADE. I cannot be clearer about that. THIS IS NOT WRESTLEFEST. If Wrestlefest was the Wrestlemania of WWE arcade games, this is the house show at Butlins.

I accept they needed to add an updated roster and new look, but they have RUINED the gameplay experience. I COMPLETELY agree with Wheato that this is ENTIRELY like a cheaply produced lashed together cash-in. It simply doesn't play like a quality product which anyone has taken time over.

Rarely have I EVER been so let down by a game. The IPad is capable of so much more both graphically and in terms of gameplay. This is an abysmal game in every possible way.

So...you're undecided about it then, DS...

I told you! I told you it was shit!

Be fair you end every sentance with 'shit'!

Myron, you can play it on Saturday and see what you think. But it's fecking awful.

Myron, don't give me that shit. I definitely don't end every sentense with shit. That'd be silly... Shit.

Quote :

If Wrestlefest was the Wrestlemania of WWE arcade games, this is the house show at Butlins.

Hahahahahahahahaha

Sounds like "AVOID" then. Aaaand back to FF7!

Quote :

Myron, don't give me that shit. I definitely don't end every sentense with shit. That'd be silly... Shit.

Lol, touche!

I'll give it a try. Looking forward to Soul Cailber, mind.

For the love of all things shit!

So exactly why is is awful? I'm honestly not seeing any good reasons as to why that's being said.

Because it was redrawn and not all the original roster is included?

I think that's a pretty harsh and vastly unfair statement to make for something that I think we all had a very good idea was going to have those changes.

But after viewing videos of the original and then of that, the gameplay remains almost completely unchanged.

Sorry, but I think this looks great, and the video I watched of the first playthrough also spoke highly of it, and looked very fun. The second this comes out for XBLA, it's a must buy for me.

No... It's shit because it plays terribly. Did you even read anything David said in his review (I think highly of David's opinion on any Wrestling games)? Have you watched any gameplay videos? The animations are crap. The original Wrestlefest had some nice animations, and the collision detection was actually pretty good for the time it was released. This new Wrestlefest game doesn't have the nice looking moves and, from the look of it, hardly any collision detection at all.

XratsthgiN wrote:

So exactly why is is awful? I'm honestly not seeing any good reasons as to why that's being said.

Because it was redrawn and not all the original roster is included?.

As Wheato asked, did you actually even bother to read my review?

I have no problem at all with a new roster. I think it was pretty obvious that they would want to include some of the current talent, and as All Stars proved, that can work very well. I wasn't throwing a criticism at the game for the roster - I just pointed out that the inclusion of the original members wasn't as impossible as you suggested.

Likewise, I really don't have a problem with the graphics being redrawn or them adopting a cartoonish/cell-shaded feel. If that's done right, its fine. Personally, I'd have quite liked them to stick to the graphical feel of the original (which was actually more akin to All-Stars OTT approach) but I have no problem with it being redrawn.

I'm not sure what exactly you expect me to say, but I think my review was pretty clear on why the game is awful.

Whatever STYLE the graphics are in, the fact is that they are poorly done. The level of detail is poor, the scaling is poor, the attention to detail on things like limb scaling is poor (super extending legs for kicks) and most of all the quality of animation is terrible. The characters don't really seem to "interact" because the collision detection is so poor, and so half the time you can't be sure exactly what move you are supposed to be doing. So its awful graphically NOT BECAUSE ITS BEEN REDRAWN, BUT BECAUSE ITS BEEN REDRAWN BADLY. AND NOT BECAUSE IT DOESN'T INCLUDE THE ORIGINAL ROSTER, BUT BECAUSE THE ROSTER IT DOES INCLUDE HAVE BEEN ANIMATED BADLY.

Similarly, the gameplay. IT PLAYS TERRIBLY. The control system isn't responsive, the logic seems all over the place, and the lack of animation means its simply disjoints to the extent that its just no fun at all to play. The gameplay certainly DOES NOT remain unchanged from the original. The basic IDEA is similar, but the EXECUTION on the new game is extremely poor, and that's what ruins it. As I said, I loved Wrestlefest int he arcade, and I understood exactly how the game mechanics worked. Those mechanics have NOT been applied to this game. You can watch as many videos as you like - this does not play like Wrestlefest.

People are saying "Well its only £2.49, what do you want on the iPad?" Well the fact remains there are 100s of better executed games for the device. Games that are better graphically, games that have better sound, games with much better animation, games with much better implementation of the touch screen control system, games where someone has taken some time and effort, in short.

Perhaps, if this is redone for XBLA, the physical control system will work better and they can improve the mechanics and look, but it would need a radical overhaul before I went anywhere near it. However, if you want to waste your money on it, then go right ahead.

I look forward to reading the 8 page rant when YOU realise how awful it is

It came across to me how awful it is. I'll still try it at the weekend but that will be out of morbid curiousity more than anything else. Sorry, Mike, but you seem to have totally missed out half of the review DS gave it. Still, it's your money to waste...

I look forward to Mike apologising to me, for shooting down what I said twice in one thread. I think he's forgotten one of the things this forum is all about... Freedom of speech. If I have an opinion on something, I don't expect that opinion to be dissected. It's my opinion, and no amount of arguing about the points I made will change what I think.

Dude, what's this about a review??

In all honesty, it's like people keep screaming at me right now about this review that I honestly hadn't seen and didn't even know that you wrote.

I havn't seen anything like that. Is it in the review section? I'll look there now I GUESS. I hadn't looked in there, and I hadn't seen anything indicating that a new post was made there.

But holy shit, man. Why get indignant about me ignoring a review before I've given any indication that i've even seen one. Usually when there's a new post somewhere on the board, the CXA logo in that forum lights up, but I didn't see a new post about that. Maybe I missed it, or accidentally skipped over it, but wow. Ok. I'll go look again for it.

Fifth post down in this thread. It's sort of a review, but more of a Mike style rant :p

Fifth post down? Ok. It's just that over the last few days i've only seen 2 threads light up or get updated.

Yeah, that post really never lit up for me, and thus had no idea it existed, or that a new part was made to it.

But I'll go read.

OH...

In THIS thread. This VERY thread.

NOW I see. I thought it was a new topic.

Oh, I didn't see this before, in here. I just went straight to the bottom every time. I thought I saw all the posts, but that one I missed, I guess.

LOL!

Really. I looked for such a post the first time and really didn't see it. Now I see it, but I didn't, then. I'd been to the thread about 2 times and both times scrolled past it.



One of the several videos i've seen of the game. And I've seen literally none of the issues that David speaks about, based on watching this.

Not the weird stretching things, none of the ratio problems, or detail issues. Also, the controls seem to be just fine, since the guy playing this is playing as Randy Savage and seems to be having a very precise time doing what he needs to do. And wins the match, too.

I can definitely tell the punches from the kicks, and the grapples, the finishers seem to be alright, and if the controls are so bad, I don't see how he's able to play it so fluidly and so well.

He is hitting every move and doing exactly what he needs to, faces some back and forth opposition, and still wins the match. The graphics look fine to me, the animation seems to not nearly be as choppy as it's implied. Not too different than how the original animations looked, anyway. Sorry... But I still think this looks really fun.

I will admit Shand has played it himself, while I havn't, and i'm just watching a video. But the guy that made the video seems to be having no problem controlling the game. And in another hour long video, he has commentary over his gameplay and seems to be vocally having a lot of fun.

He calls it "addicting" and "It plays exactly like the game". I looked at another online video of Wrestlefest from the arcade and noticed it looked entirely similar, and that seems good enough for me based on that. When I read David's post though, it just sounds like he's exaggerating and really going overboard on a lot of things, that I am not noticing at all.

I'm seeing Macho Man controlling very well and precisely, kicking CM Punk's ass in a cage that looks really enjoyable and easy to pick up and play.

You know what, I'm going to keep that post, purely for the amusement factor of Mike Alkire accusing ME of exaggerating and going overboard on something.

Pot. Kettle. Black.

If you really can't see how the scaling is wrong when they stand at the back of the ring (the top rope is half way up the ref's thigh), if you really can't see how the limbs expand during punches and kicks, and if you really can't see choppy animation, then good luck to you. Believe me, it's all there. Just watch Shawn Michaels do a last call overhead throw.

As for the controls, yes he does seem to be playing it well. However, unlike you, I've actually played it. So I'm perhaps in a better position to comment on how it works on the iPad. Or rather doesn't. Trust me, it's a frustrating mess and I'm not sure how many times I need to say IT DOES NOT PLAY LIKE THE ORIGINAL ARCADE GAME.

This is NOT a quality product and NOT worthy of the name.

But dude, it's perfectly obvious you have made your mind up. It's perfectly obvious you will refuse to believe a word I've said, so please do go ahead and buy it. Really, go for it. Enjoy.

Personally I'd go with somebody I know and trust the opinion of who's played the game over a view of somebody who hasn't and always over the youtube massive who really should spend more time working and less time having 50 mins to tell the world their opinion on a game...

And we have a winner...