About WWE Universe in general.

I had played a full month of WWE Universe before I went and made all these changes to the game, and thus might as well give my thoughts on what I thought of it until this point.

From the first Raw all the way to Backlash, there are some things that I thought were really cool about this mode, and a lot of things that need fixing, polish and improvement next year.

The good:

At it's core, while it's mainly just a continuing exhibition where it keeps track of certain variables and tosses in cutscenes to display these changes, it's somehow very addicting. And when I start playing it, it's hard to STOP playing it.

I think the major thing that Universe has going for it, is that it makes you feel like Exhibition means something, and therefore gives you a reason to keep playing it. It's not really a revolutionary feature or anything, but it does the job pretty well and very effective in keeping the replay value of the game infinite.

For as simple as it it, it will keep the game going in a fun manner, infinitely. And that's it's greatest success. It isn't really meant to blow anyone away, but it does it's job well.

I like how it's all pretty instant. By the time one match is done, it's time to go onto the next one, and you can lose a lot of your time playing match after match in succession and it really doesn't get boring. I actually tend to play every single match, and only very rarely do I "simulate" a winner. Seeing rankings go up and down based on your actions is pretty satisfying.

It's a good start.


What really needs work:

For as cool as a year 1 feature as this is, it needs a lot of work. I can see that this mode was really all they could get it to be in such a short amount of time, and it's impressive that it works as well as it does, considering they had maybe about 5-7 months to code it.

But there's also a hell of a lot of limitations, things that lack polish, things that are barebones about it and things that just plain don't make any sense.

For Smackdown vs Raw 2012 the main thing Universe needs is WAY more freedom.

To be honest, the way they have title defenses in this game is sort of a problem. I can see why they WANT to only have title matches generate and doable only on a PPV, but it's not only unrealistic, but it's not handled very well.

Title defenses can and do happen on Raw or Smackdown in real life, so not being able to do that is a major letdown. Their position on why this was, was to make the titles "mean something", but I don't buy that, nor do I agree. The least they could have done was have titles only be defended in a Main Event and it still would have achieved the same end.

But the real kick in the balls is that you can't select title defenses whatsoever, and it probably the single biggest flaw in the mode, to be sure. Even on the PPV, if it doesn't generate the title defense, you're screwed. On my Backlash, I worked pretty hard during the month to ensure that a Women's Title match would happen. It didn't.

I only got the Diva's Title for Raw defense, in which I had removed just about all the women from Raw to Smackdown anyway. I wanted desperately to find some way to schedule Smackdown's Women's Title on Backlash where most all my female wrestlers are, but no. It wasn't possible.

I think this is the #1 thing that needs to change for next year's game. Titles need to be able to be chosen by the player to be defended on the main event of a Raw or Smackdown (I'm fine with no title defenses on Superstars) if you so desire, and also be able to be chosen for every match of a PPV.

You still achieve the desired effect of having a title be worth something this way, and would vastly improve the playability of this mode tenfold. Not to mention would make it so much more accurate and realistic to WWE programming, which, i'm pretty sure THQ has said numerous times that they want to do.

Also, the number of matches you can have on a show is pretty ridiculous and not enough. Quite honestly, I can't showcase everyone or even half of the Raw roster each week, when there should be 5 or 6 matches so that wrestlers don't keep getting neglected because I can't fit them in everywhere, when there should be enough TV time for everyone. So more match slots really need to be added to each card in the next game.

Also, brands. Now with this, obviously, this was an issue that just came down to how mucch time they had. Getting the intricacies of having Raw and Smackdown to work was probably hard enough, and I can totally understand why they had to leave it at that and ship the game like this.l

But when they expand this next year... and they will.... they need to be able to figure in other brands, and let you rearrange the Calender to accommodate it as well.

If they would give you the freedom to rearrange the calendar, and let you decide if Raw is on Wednesday's from now on, or if you can schedule an ECW show on Tuesday, or add a custom brand or a custom show like WCW, or... yes, cXa, to the lineup, that would be great.

As well as of course, having a ranking system in place for any brand or show, not just Raw and Smackdown. If Bryan Williams gets his wish to finally include Create-A-Brand/Arena in 2012, than there would be no better way to compliment it than having your created brand work with it's own set of rankings.

I think it goes without saying that simply adding this would boost the game's replay value past the point where it's never been before. The dream come true for everyone who buys these games like me. Your own WWE show with your own logo, your own rankings, and so on. It would finally feel more like the simulation game they want this series to be.

Also, the game as it is now, doesn't work with teams very well. As noted elsewhere, you can't have a three man stable with a leader that isn't part of the tag team. (As in an nWo Hogan, with a Hall and Nash tag team behind him), and this problem could be solved, if you could add a Superstar to more than one stable, but bizarrely, the game doesn't let you add people to more than one team.

Rankings also seem wonky at times. Often, Superstars that havn't been featured in your matches will rise up the rankings or appear near the top 4 sometimes, while others you've been pushing, sometimes slip downwards. Dunno what that's about but it could use fixing. Obviously if someone wins a match, they go up, and if they aren't in a match they stay where they are, and if they lose, they go down.

Most of the time, the game seems to do this right, but sometimes, an oddity will happen, and someone will just bounce around. For instance, I have a female manager that doesn't wrestle pop up on #4 for the rankings for the Women's title arbitrarily on one show, even when she never earned it. Dunno what that was about.

Also, the game puts high priority on Superstars rather than CAWs, and you have to work your ass off to get CAWs up there. But by default, there's no earthly way that Vince McMahon, or Vance Archer deserves to be pushed over Rob Arnold, who has won a buttload of matches, even though I just put McMahon and Archer onto the brand, and by that virtue alone, they should go straight to the bottom, not straight to the top as the #1 contender for every title.

Also, the game seems to learn slowly, and there's always one match that seems to pop up time and time again, even though I keep clearly telling the game what I want done.

Seamus vs John Cena has come up at least 6 times in my game. Even though I kept destroying Cena in every encounter the two have, and....

Oh wait. It's John Cena. Ok, i'll give the game this one. That is accurate to WWE.

But all joking aside, I have been jobbing Cena out whenever the game decides to bring him up, and never put him in a match that the game didn't generate, and it seems incapable of learning that I want Cena down at the bottom.

Sure the match keeps popping up because the two have a rivalrly apparently, but that still means that Cena stays where he is in the rankings, regardless and keeps showing up when I put much more attention in every other rivalry I have set.


Also, the cutscenes, while cool, and sometimes surprising, and do add a lot to the experence, feel a bit rare. It's just that something tells me they should pop up more frequently than they do, but sometimes, I can go through a whole card and not get one. When I really wouldn't mind seeing one in almost every match.

They feel a bit too short, and next year, i'd like to see them really expand the "moments" into full blown stories, with voice over and more of an actual cause and effect to them, or relevance aside from who is on whose naughty list, so they beat them with a pipe or interrupt their celebration and then never follow up on it.


So really, I think WWE Universe does at least what it set out to do. It's an Exhibition Plus, where your matches and time spent playing the game are more than just isolated matches that mean nothing like in previous years.

It's something that keeps you playing, but there's a lot more than needs to be done to it for next year, to really capitalize on the potential it shows this year.

Here's my list of improvments that should be made for next year's Universe mode.

1. More user control over titles and defenses, and support more titles (like the unlockable ones)
2. Add the ability to rearrange the calender and add custom brands and unlockable with their own rankings and rosters.
3. Implement created arenas and created belts, too.
4. Fix the ranking issues and the oddities that pop up on it from time to time, and let it be an all CAW universe if people want.
5. More matches per show. I just can't fit in half the wrestlers I want to book for each show, and most get neglected.
6. More and better cut scenes that follow more of a cause and effect storyline format.

WWE Universe this year, is really cool, but it feels like a demo of sorts that really should be expanded more in the future. I like it, but these things above, I feel, aren't just suggestions, but are more of guidelines to what needs to be in the game next year to make Universe truly worth it's re-inclusion in 2012.

Oh, and one other improvement i'd like to add.

This one's not as important as the others, but it'd still go a long way.


It needs to be more like WWE Programming.

Each show should begin with the introduction with the announcers and Pyro, and the main events should end with the announcers saying goodbye and the corresponding end logo on the screen.

Doing this one thing for the shows would really make you feel a lot more like the entire experience is like what you see on tv, instead of just a series of video game matches strung together.

That Cena .v. Sheamus issue? Just look to see if they are listed as enemies of each other. If they are, remove that under "My WWE" and the AI shouldn't then keep pairing them up.

Reaper wrote:

That Cena .v. Sheamus issue? Just look to see if they are listed as enemies of each other. If they are, remove that under "My WWE" and the AI shouldn't then keep pairing them up.

True, but my issue isn't exactly that they keep pairing up, it's that John Cena never seems to move in the rankings downwards when I have Sheamus beat the crap out of him.

Not that I minded his presence so much as that I felt getting his ass handed to him should have moved him down the ladder at least, some.

However, now in my game everyone except Vance Archer, Vince McMahon, Stone Cold and RVD are off my Raw and Smackdown.

Also, I just now turned the game back on, and I am actually gonna start recording my matches.

Like you said before, its Cena, not even being fired from the fucking company keeps him off TV, so getting jobbed isn't going to do it!

Reaper wrote:

Like you said before, its Cena, not even being fired from the fucking company keeps him off TV, so getting jobbed isn't going to do it!

lol


Also, by the way...

David Shand is the WWE Champion
Steve Awesome is the United States Champion
The Cydes are the Tag Champs
Julie Yafuda is the Divas and Women's Champ (Only the Women's title is active as all my female wrestlers are on Smackdown)
Out Cold is the World Champion
and Paul James is the IC Champion

Raw:

Chio Reto
David Shand (WWE)
Javier Profecia
Matt Campbell
Mike Rocket
Myron Fox
Rob Arnold
Shane Hunt
Steve Awesome (US)

Smackdown:

Derek Vicious
Dominus
Drake Cairo
Homer Cyde (Tag)
Reggie Cyde (Tag)
K.C Powers
Out Cold (World)
Paul James (IC)
Trash Williams


X-Women's Division (On Smackdown)

Amy V
Julie Yafuda (Womens)
Justice Dynamite
K-Lotus
Morgan LaFaire
Quadra
Rachel Starr
Sara Senai
Soudouki Kobayashi
Suzanne Rickley

I'm WHC on my game, and all the CXA CAWs are on Smackdown

Myron is IC Champion
The Dangerous Bees (Generico and London) are Tag Champions
Justin Gabriel holds the Cruiser Belt
Shane Hunt is Hardcore Champion.

Out Cold is feuding with me and interfering in my matches, as he's number 1 contender. Rob Arnold is feuding with him over it.
The Cydes and Nexus are vying for the tag belt contendership
Paul James and Mike Rocket are in the running for IC title.

Only IC champion? And onot even that on the other one? I'm being held back! All this talent...hello, can you get me Hulk Hogan's number...I want to talk about a transfer...

You have already been tag team champion a couple of times with me and with Fireball. You've also fought several times for the world title, but never quite been able to grab that brass ring.

Politics, that's what it is! I'll have the belt, you see!

Not while I'm champion you won't

Not so much a passing of the torch as using it to burn the living bejesus out of you and taking your belt!

Don't worry Myron, Paul will ease your pain soon by taking the IC title from you

Only when I drop it in the trash after I win the world gold!

So, only in your dreams.

My dreams are far more interesting than that!

I can imagine you having dreams about being a fairy princess, and stuff like that.

And Paul has wet dreams about me and the gold...well...he says its about the gold...

Paul has wet dreams about yo momma!

Paul has wet dreams about everybody's momma...including his own!

They do say incest is best.

You will notice how the conversation has taken a down turn now Wheato has woken up!

Myron started it!

You encouraged him.

So how about that WWE Universe? It sure is something, eh?

It is...but I'm betting it doesn't have bad mouthing like this on it!

I wish I had the patience with story creation mode, and it would have.

Imagine a feud over gangster films being better than fantasy adventures. That'd be a feud of not very epic proportions.

There's nothing wrong with a good fantasy adventure. But LOTR wasn't a good fantasy adventure. I tried reading the books once, got about 20 pages in, and thought "Oh bollocks, who cares?"

Many people would disagree! I put it down to this: I loved LOTR, as a book and film. The Hobbit was one of the first books I read for myself (as opposed to reading for school, etc) and it's obviously had something of an impact on me. By contrast I think gangster films are boring and unimagantive. Then again that's my opinion.

The question might be would a gangster game make a good film or would it fall for the same reason - too close to the movies.

Many Gangster games are essentially reworks of existing movies anyway, and many are awful. However, if it was done right, then GTA IV would be a good movie.

But seriously on the fantasy stuff, I do like some of it. I like the imagery and when I was a kid I was a lot more into it. But for some reason neither the LOTR nor Narnia books ever clicked with me.

I liked the LOTR films, but by the third one it'd gotten a bit dull. Narnia is crud. I like the three Discworld TV adaptations which have been made over the past few years. I've always been a fan of Discworld.

I've only seen the Hogfather. Were COM and LF good adaptations too? Might watch them if so.

I'm a little bit split. All of the adaptations were good. If they had been standalone shows then I wouldn't have even blinked in liking them in a big way. But...this is TP. I just expected something a little...more. His world is so fantastic, so wonderful that I guess I'd be hard pressed to think anything matched up to them. That just me, I guess.

TP is definitely my favourite author. I thought the same as you Myron. Probably because Pratchett's Discworld is so well crafted, his stories so masterfully told that attempts to recreate them on a screen, try as they might, just don't give you the satisfaction of reading a Discworld novel. It's not their fault though, maybe Pratchett's fault for setting the bar too high

What's everyone's favourite Discworld books then? I'm quite partial to Men At Arms, Interesting Times & The Last Continent but I'd say my favourite has to be Guards! Guards!

Back on topic, in my WWE Universe, I've played about half a year with my Joxide CAW. I had a few matches here and there then suddenly have to face Shawn Michaels for no. 1 contendership, won that then beat Cena for the title. My overall character score isn't going up though and every time I skip a match I lose, even to like the Hart Dynasty, so have to play every one. Do the scores actually go up with experience?

No, they don't go up. You do know you manually adjust everyone's ability levels in My WWE, don't you?

Uhhhhhhhhh.... what?

Also, I bet since all you are on XBL and I'm on PSN I'll have to manually recreate all the CXA CAW's won't I...

Pretty much.

And yes, if you spend a few points and download the "Superstar Attribute Customiser", you can alter the ratings of everyone in the game.

I downloaded it, and in addition to adjusting everyone to what I think they should have, I went the extra mile and smacked Alica Fox down to an overall of 17.

Hey Jox, you want me to make a video for you with all the CXA wrestlers morphing and costume parts next time I get the chance to play the game?