Before I begin, let me thank you personally for choosing to read this article about my expectations for WWE's newest game. I am setting them really high, and I really hope it can deliver. I would also like to state that I do not own WWE, or the games, nor do I work for these companies. I am a dedicated fan to WWE, and the gaming community, and for far too long, the WWE games have been neglected, or not thought out to their fullest extent. I realise that some of my expectations will most likely not be met, because they might take too much time for the developer, but I do hope that most, if not all of them, can be accomplished.
So as everyone knows, THQ filed for bankruptcy late last year, and has recently auctioned off many of its studios and gaming rights, including the rights to highly sought after games. An example is South Park: Stick Of Truth. Along with this, Take Two, the parent company of Rockstar and 2K Games has bought the rights to the WWE Games franchise. If things are ok with the sale, we will have a new developer. If it doesn't work out, then THQ may be forced to continue the games, or they will be scrapped for good, which wouldn't set well in WWE's corporate office.
The game is roughly 4 months in development at the time of this article. If the new company takes over and keeps the employees, studio, and engine running, it should be finished late this year. Alternatively, they may remake the engine from scratch. They might even work off the current engine for '14, but make a new engine for '15. Tubby Emu (@TeemingTubbyEmu on YouTube) talks about this more. My expectations might not be met if a new engine isn't implemented. Some might still be applicable, but not everything will be.
Ok, now firstly, the developer is on my mind. I would love to see Rockstar create the game, as it would most likely be open-world, which would be great as you could create your own superstar, and go from city to city throughout America, Europe etc. winning battles and unlocking superstars by doing various challenges, but I think that 2K Games will take this one, perhaps letting 2K Sports work on WWE, as Rockstar might be busy making other great games like editions to GTA 5, which now comes out near the end of 2013.
Now, let us begin my expectations. Bear in mind, as I mentioned earlier, as some of these ideas may seem wild, and I have intended to make them sound that way. One main aspect of WWE games that frustrates me so much is the Xbox/PSN/Connectivity access using servers. They are always down. There is so much great content out there, and I don't think half of it could be accessible because you can rarely connect. I want, no, I NEED this fixed. I also want to see more fields, and be allowed to upload more than ten created stories, superstars, logos etc. up to Community Creations. You should be able to upload as much as you want. You should also have a profile page on Community Creations that you can access if you buy the online pass that shows people what achievements you have, what you have recently unlocked, your win/loss record that updates each time you go online, you can post 'statuses' and follow people. There should be a section of the select screen (main menu-list of what you can do) that shows what those people have been doing, and you can glance at what they have been up to from your account. The connection should be fixed, and all types of cheating should be removed. Your online match list logo should be able to be customized a lot more.
Now onto the roster. I think that the roster should be the current roster of superstars at the time of release. This includes every superstar, no matter how irrelevant he or she is. The game should have regular updates that allow you to add more superstars. If, as an example, Evan Bourne were to return to the WWE after the game is released, then the game should be able to have him available for download, with his moveset, entrance, icons etc. I know this is a lot to handle, but it is possible, within a games coding. I wouldn't care if they updated the textures of the people, other than what is necessary, but options should exist to change what they look like entirely, and there should be a download available to add an attire every time they change it. Like, for example, if John Cena is wearing a blue attire in the game, and then in the WWE, he changes it to gold, then that attire should be available for download.
DLC is a huge part of the game, as some characters that fans ask for will not be in the game, but be part of the code on the disk so the fans can buy them later after the release of the game. This past WWE game had 21 characters available for download. I would like to see no superstars available for download, as they should be playable on the disk. I would like to see the usual passes: Fan Access, Online Access, but also have a Legacy pass, which would allow people to download legends that are no longer with the WWE, like Shawn Michaels, Edge, Batista etc. A character pass would make you eligible to download new superstars after the games release, rather than receiving them for free, you would need to buy the pass to be able to receive future superstars. One last pass could be called the future famous pass, or something of the sort, where you could request superstars to be put up on a special page of Community Creations, on WWE Games' own channel. The overall editor should also still be up as DLC, but comes free if you purchase Fan Access.
Brands. Hmmm? What do I think? I think that every brand should be in the game. This includes ones such as ECW, WCW, FCW, NXT, Smackdown, Raw, Velocity, Heat, Main Event, Slam etc. They should all have arenas and logos. This should also help in customizing your brand in either GM Mode or Universe Mode (which I will discuss later on). Arenas should be included, but not have older ones, only the ones from the past year. Any ones you want can be requested to WWE Games on Community Creations, or refer to the boards on Community Creations for arenas. Every logo that WWE/WWF has had should be within the game, as should every championship involved in WWE's history.
The disk requirement for everything explained so far, and the things to be explained will probably be 3 disks. This would mean a longer developmental time, which I would wait on until say, January next year so everything could be made. It would be great, as they could sell it for something like $150 and have many sales. The pre-order should include the years Wrestlemania poster, autographed by the superstars on the cover, and a packet of the WWE Trading Cards or something like that. Perhaps early access to DLC packs which would be the Legends pack etc.
Now onto WWE Universe 4.0. This was the general replacement for GM Mode (General Manager). However, it had a different take. In 3.0, a bunch of new storyline options and factors were added. I would love to see even more of that in 4.0, plus more realistic cards and build-ups. The universe should be even more editable, with a greater ease of access. You should be able to choose the brands, arenas, championships etc. to a greater extent, with options to have certain superstars appear at more than one show. The crowd in every match, Universe mode or regular disregarded, should have updatable attires, according to the most popular superstars in Universe mode, with their latest attire, or the one that they are wearing.
Now comes one of my personal favourites, GM MODE. I loved this mode. I have campaigned for it every year since it was last implemented in the game. While Universe mode is a suitable replica, it does not give me the thrill of managing my own brand and competing against friends or just against the computer simulated brands, and looking up the Top 25 on wwe.com, while looking at the various articles. The rivalries, match capabilities and online community would be great for the franchise. I think though, that GM Mode should be customizable, like Universe mode, in having the choice of which brand you are, including custom made brands, and defend certain championships there. I just can't help but feel obliged to stop playing the newer games, and go back to WWE Smackdown VS Raw 2008, and playing GM Mode with older superstars, which isn't much fun anymore, as I have played the simulations out over and over again. I need new superstars, new rivalry possibilities and newer content in general. In fact, here is something to note about WWE Gaming. I have mentioned Tubby Emu earlier in this article, and I will talk about him again. He is a widely famous WWE Gaming persona on YouTube. He gains thousands of views per video, but when he did a season of GM Mode, he gained almost twice as many views. The reason for the views has nothing to do with nostalgia, but with the fact that everyone wants to see what Tubby could do as a General Manager, and they want to see GM Mode again, and if such a famous YouTuber could pull it off, then they could hope to see it reappear again in a future WWE game.
Here comes a big one. A LOCKER ROOM. This was featured on Smackdown VS Raw 2007, and is one of my favourites. You could play the story mode from the Locker Room. You could also customize it to a huge extent, and place memorabilia around the room. There was even a bar you owned where you played famous matches. I for one would love to see this return, with even more customization available, and I think that the bar challenges should return. The final match at the bar would give you an achievement/trophy etc.
Now onto story mode. It was re-added to WWE '13. I think it should be modified to act like Smackdown VS Raw 2007's game, where you choose a superstar on the game, or your created superstar, and go through a storyline. Perhaps the memorabilia in the Locker Room mode could work off the cash your superstar would win. Just like GM Mode and Universe Mode, story mode should feature injuries, and both story mode and GM Mode should have the mobile function that Smackdown VS Raw 2007/8 had. I loved playing story mode, and witnessing rivalries take place, and have my custom superstar included. I repeated the story day in and day out until 2008 came out. I still play many of my old games for the modes that are no longer included.
Now we go on to Road To Wrestlemania. Personally, when they replaced story mode, I was sceptical. They are quite fun to an extent, but aren't truly the pinnacle of what you can achieve. I wouldn't care if this wasn't included in WWE '14, but if by some chance it is, than I hope the Road To Wrestlemania is a lot better, and makes everything more enjoyable, but it had better not replace story mode, GM Mode or any other sort. I love how the past Road To Wrestlemania on WWE '12 had an enticing storyline aspect where you could transfer from the story you begin on to the next one, where you would continue where your character left off. This was a pinnacle moment in my enjoyment of this mode, and if it wasn't in there, I would most likely have complained.
The menu should be redesigned to have the social aspects, and the ring should return as the menu screen. No demo should be played. I know some fans may like this, but I think it is a waste. Why bother? You bought the game. If you want to see gameplay, then you should play the game yourself or look up matches on YouTube from people such as TonyPizzaGuy, Tubby Emu and Itsmyyard. I liked customizing the superstars and difficulty, and just playing on the menu for fun. It is a great training opportunity, rather than having match interruptions and the need for tutorials to learn just what to do.
Now on to the fun part for most of my readers: The Creation Suite. You know, like CAWS, Arenas, Moves, Entrance, Story etc. These areas are always continually improving, but I have a few suggestions that could change the game for the better.
First off, I shall begin with Create-A-Move. I think this should have other options, such as created weapon finishers. I also think a search bar would be greatly needed for ease of access. The moves themselves in both Create-A-Move and the Create-A-Moveset should be more fluent, and work more efficiently.
Create-An-Entrance-Video should be improved. Yes, it has reached an all time high in terms of options, but I would still love to see more, and still have more editing options, as there is a small limit to what you can do.
Create-An-Entrance should stay how it is, just fixing it a touch in the fireworks [pyro] and such. The music has been getting better and better. Back in Smackdown VS Raw 2011, your own music was very loud, and overpowered what the announcers were saying. However, I think that you should be able to customize your nameplate, which would be appealing. In WWE, for main event superstars, you always notice that the nameplate has been modified to look different (such as a golden nameplate).
Next we move on to Create-A-Superstar. Now this is a huge one for me. The level of customization that WWE games have with this suite of customization is freaking huge. There are so many different ways to customize your character. As I mentioned before, I think that superstars already on the game should be able to be changed, and what I mean by that is that I, as the player, should be able to change their attire, and what they look like. Similarly, I would like to see their attires become available (all of them) for CAWS. I think that there should be even more items, such as swords, knuckle busters and more. It improves the whole online community and what they can do, which is essential for a game in this modern era.
Create-An-Arena should be able to be customizable even more, by choosing what the seats look like, and the size and crowd customization should be even more definable. For example, some people may like to have the largest building and crowd, but have it inside, which is not currently possible. I think every aspect of the arena should be customizable, and as for the crowd, you should be able to choose what they wear, and not that Attitude Era or Modern Era crap that they make you choose from. Sometimes I want a selection, and I bet that a lot of the other fans do to.
Create-A-Championship should return to its glory back in Smackdown VS Raw 2007, when you could customize it entirely. It only returned in this past years game, WWE '13, but was quite stupid and not thought out properly. I also think that these championships that you make can be put into any category for any gender. In Universe Mode in WWE '13, you could not make a Diva's Championship the main title of your brand, which should change.
Not likely I have forgotten something, but the point is, I have spread my message. I really want to see this happen, and if the production actually does continue for WWE '14, than I hope at least some of my ideas are utilised, then all of them be utilised in WWE '15.
Thank You from a long time WWE Fan,
Sosnh.
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