WWE 2K20 announcment coming August 5th. First screenshot released!

[UK Kat Von D]

1 hour ago, Otto Dem Wanz said:

I want an AEW game, they've teased it'd be one with the No Mercy engine (which I've never played myself) but it's going to be a long while, if ever.

Cody confirmed it again recently, but he said it will take time to do it properly. They are planning to do one of their “road to” series with it which will be great. Not only will anticipation be through the roof by the time they release it but it’ll also give them the chance to gauge opinions as they go 

[CavemanLynn]

AEW could do worse than give Kenny Omega a modded No Mercy engine for 3 months. Ramp up the speed and they'd have something passable for the app market, I reckon.

Re WWE, I kind of want someone to be brave enough to try a new genre. The wrestling game has been variations on the third person arena brawler with grapples for 40 years, with different sheen and animation styles. Would something like the two person actioners like Uncharted work? With the split joystick controls of Halo (sorry if I'm aging myself here!), it could be fun using targeting to aim strikes at specific body parts or in different directions to where you're facing. You'd still need grapples in there, but it might actually make a game with more emphasis on tactical positioning, so maybe a bit old school for the current WWE fixed choreography style.

Come to think of it, the upcoming Money in the Bank concept could make a great side scrolling beat em up. Smashing your way through stooges, security wonks and enhancement talent to get to Boss battles with the roster higher ups,ending with a battle on Titan Towers roof against mecha-Vince and a cyborg HHH. I'd buy that for a dollar, or free with ads.

[HarmonicGenerator]

4 hours ago, NorthSeaTiger said:

My son and I have been discussing this. We both reckon a new version of All Stars would be great. Imagine hitting a Claymore that sends the opponent damn near into space, similar to Injustice. Hitting a Spear that sends them into the ropes and back into another spear , a stomp that starts in the rafters, a styles clash similar to the spinning perfectplex....wrestling has always been big,colourful, OTT characters and the game should reflect it. The ability to add freckles and wrinkles means the developers have spent so long fucking about with little touches that they failed to make games enjoyable for years as a result. Take it back to basics, make it bold and colourful with massive caricatures, simpler controls and it’ll sell bucketloads.......*
 

 

 

 

* or just do a modern remake of No Mercy....🤞🏻

Finally, someone is with me! I’d love a new All Stars game more than any other game. Played the first one to death and still would be if my PS3 hadn’t packed in.

[NorthSeaTiger]

Same here. Just so playable. Only thing i’d add is being able to actually pin someone having a ref in ring. Looking forward to this Retrofest game coming out. Hopefully it’ll recapture my days on holiday playing the original Wrestlefest non stop. 

[Merzbow]

My one issue with that RetroMania game is that the sprites just don't look as colourful or chunky as Wrestlefest, it doesn't have the same spark and looks a little subdued.

[BomberPat]

It would be nice to see WWE trying new things with the license, but the money is always going to be in a yearly pseudo-sports simulation game. If a brand new team can get their hands on it and rebuild it from the ground up, rather than constantly retrofitting gameplay mechanics that have been in place for 2-3 console generations, though, that doesn't have to be a bad thing.

I think a lot of where wrestling games struggle is trying to balance between being a competitive fighting game, and representing the cooperative nature of wrestling - so being rewarded for having "good matches", or story modes requiring you to hit specific spots at the right point, rather than just trying to win. The more a game can organically reflect the feel of a wrestling match without forcing you into positions like "get Randy Orton's head to maximum damage and then put him in a kendo stick assisted Yes Lock" to mechanically replicate the exact notes of a previous match, the better - if anyone can nail that, they're on to a winner.

[Hannibal Scorch]

3 hours ago, CavemanLynn said:

 

Come to think of it, the upcoming Money in the Bank concept could make a great side scrolling beat em up. Smashing your way through stooges, security wonks and enhancement talent to get to Boss battles with the roster higher ups,ending with a battle on Titan Towers roof against mecha-Vince and a cyborg HHH. I'd buy that for a dollar, or free with ads.

WWF Betrayal did this on the Game Boy in the early 00's. Like a Double Dragon rip of. By all accounts it was pretty awful at the time can only imagine how shit it is now. But If they got the engine right could have a fun Streets of Rage like game in there.

But yeah, All Stars was such an underrated gem that a sequel to that would be a right treat.  

[Chris B]

3 hours ago, BomberPat said:

I think a lot of where wrestling games struggle is trying to balance between being a competitive fighting game, and representing the cooperative nature of wrestling - so being rewarded for having "good matches", or story modes requiring you to hit specific spots at the right point, rather than just trying to win. The more a game can organically reflect the feel of a wrestling match without forcing you into positions like "get Randy Orton's head to maximum damage and then put him in a kendo stick assisted Yes Lock" to mechanically replicate the exact notes of a previous match, the better - if anyone can nail that, they're on to a winner.

I've started playing Fire Pro Wrestling, and one of the things I've enjoyed about it is that it feels like it does that. You have to build up organically from smaller moves to larger moves, but you also get rewarded for the length of the match, close kick-outs, variety of moves, and back-and-forth. Admittedly, I've not played many wrestling games in years, but I've enjoyed this far more than I thought, and part of it is definitely that you get rewarded for a better match rather than just a convincing one.

[King Pitcos]

55 minutes ago, Chris B said:

I've started playing Fire Pro Wrestling, and one of the things I've enjoyed about it is that it feels like it does that. You have to build up organically from smaller moves to larger moves, but you also get rewarded for the length of the match, close kick-outs, variety of moves, and back-and-forth. Admittedly, I've not played many wrestling games in years, but I've enjoyed this far more than I thought, and part of it is definitely that you get rewarded for a better match rather than just a convincing one.

Is this your first Fire Pro game? I bought the PS4 version at Christmas, and while it was a welcome change from the WWE games, I soon stopped playing because it had a similar problem for me - it’s the same as the other Fire Pro games I’ve been playing for the last twenty years. 

[Chris B]

8 minutes ago, King Pitcos said:

Is this your first Fire Pro game? I bought the PS4 version at Christmas, and while it was a welcome change from the WWE games, I soon stopped playing because it had a similar problem for me - it’s the same as the other Fire Pro games I’ve been playing for the last twenty years. 

Yes, it is. Tried to emulate one years back but didn't get on with it. Tried it on Steam and enjoying the hell out of it - I can totally get that it may not have changed much. Has the scoring system been similar throughout? It definitely feels closer to what @BomberPat was talking about more than what I've played before.

[Merzbow]

A lot of the Fire Pro fanbase don't even play the game, it's mostly about tweaking logic and having the CPU play out a match to emulate the real thing. I could never get into that side of it, I'm far more likely to bash out a few matches once every couple of months and that's about it. I'd probably have played all the story modes in World but they seemed like pretty expensive DLC so never bothered.

[Abe_Knuckleball_Schwartz]

I am hoping that it will be something like a Legends of wrestling / Wrestlmeania game. 

You could have a season / story mode in which you pick a wrestler, say, Randy Savage and you fight through the tournament of Wrestlemania IV and continue right up to Wrestlemania V either sticking to actual events or creating your own storylines and scenarios. 

Totally blue sky thinking, but a GM or booker mode would be awesome and would be great to rebook the era of 1992 to 1994 with the talent available.

[Chris B]

1 hour ago, Merzbow said:

A lot of the Fire Pro fanbase don't even play the game, it's mostly about tweaking logic and having the CPU play out a match to emulate the real thing. I could never get into that side of it, I'm far more likely to bash out a few matches once every couple of months and that's about it. I'd probably have played all the story modes in World but they seemed like pretty expensive DLC so never bothered.

I'm going through the 1-player missions, which starts off as learning to play and gradually becomes more difficult. Finding it really fun, actually. Some of the challenges include having to get higher scores, too.

[CavemanLynn]

15 hours ago, BomberPat said:

 

I think a lot of where wrestling games struggle is trying to balance between being a competitive fighting game, and representing the cooperative nature of wrestling - so being rewarded for having "good matches", or story modes requiring you to hit specific spots at the right point, rather than just trying to win. The more a game can organically reflect the feel of a wrestling match without forcing you into positions like "get Randy Orton's head to maximum damage and then put him in a kendo stick assisted Yes Lock" to mechanically replicate the exact notes of a previous match, the better - if anyone can nail that, they're on to a winner.

On top of this, I've realised I don't want a WWE game - I want a good WRESTLING game, with all the styles that comes with. Both the 2k games and Fire Pro are great evocations of that kind company's particular style, but I wana game where I can choose to play different ways without being penalised. The last few 2k games have had that early MK problem problem of having everyone seemingly defined by their moveset rather than style of play. You couldn't have a match like the recent Brock vs Goldberg without a load of match setup tinkering, whereas (rose tints on), with No Mercy, there was the chance of a lucky couple of opening flurries and suddenly you've got a finisher in your pocket. Yes, the 2k have been good if I wanted to bang out Goldust vs Fandango, but what about a Nitro Rey vs Psicosis lucha fest? Raven vs Rhyno? That's the difficulty, and why I often hark on about Def Jam Fight For NY being the ideal wrestling engine - choosing different styles forcibly reduces the available moves for a character, meaning that you have to adapt and learn to play a new way. Is striker Nakamura really going to have the same number of grapple moves as Chad Gable?.

[Your Fight Site]

If people are going to pine for No Mercy, then I’ll jump on board with you @CavemanLynn in that I want a decent “wrestling” game too and not a WWE game. I’m a casual follower of the present day WWE product, but if you gave me a decent game with rosters from different promotions and time periods, I’d be on it. Modern day Superstars, legends, WCW-brand wrestlers, ECW wrestlers. WWE own the rights to it all, may as well monetise it and cash in on the nostalgia.

I know WWE have included a handful of WCW stars and arenas in recent 2K releases, but it’s not the same. I also found it weird that the same wrestler but from different eras also ended up taking multiple “character” slots, i.e. you’d have Undertaker, but also “Undertaker ‘91” and “Undertaker ‘00”. Is it really that hard to have a single character have variants? Oh, sorry. 2K are lumbered with an old engine; it must be.