2013.1: WWE 13

Did all the Attitude Era events and the 'off script' events along with all their bonus objectives - so, 100%ed the story part of the game in about ~20hours on Hard

I haven't played a WWE game since the PS2 days but when I came across information that this game let you relive the 'attitude era' of WWE (then called WWF) and then finding out they did it well, I just had to get it.

Quickly let us touch on what the 'attitude era' is. It is basically the peak of WWE. The Rock, Stone Cold, D-GenerationX, Undertaker, Mankind, Hell In A Cell and so many other foundations of WWE was founded and established during that era.

This game takes you through it in 6 'chapters'. Like "Rise of D-Generation X", "Stone Cold vs Vince McMahon" and others. What is cool here is each chapter is set up via real life footage, giving you the perfect context and a reminder of how badass WWE used to be. This really gets you hyped and in the mood to carry on the story.

Another interesting tidbit is, I did not know the main reason for this 'attitude era'. I just thought it was WWE being awesome but turns out it was because of a Monday night rating war with WCW. It just goes to show how important competition is to innovation. There is a ratings chart the game shows you throughout the advancement of the story with WCW taking the lead many weeks until something happens that I won't spoil, which gives WWE the ultimate lead and eventually leads to Vince (owner of WWE) buying out WCW.


The game design side of things, in each match there are main objectives like "win the match" and also "history bonuses" or the like, where you duplicate what happened in real life "put him through a table with this move" etc. This makes it very interesting, going in there with a goal and adds much needed depth and purpose to the gameplay. Doing all the bonuses earns you an unlock.

Gameplay itself....Let's say it gets the job done. Improving animations could maybe add more smoothness to the gameplay. It all feels a bit 'stiff', really and you are constantly aware that you are controlling the wrestler instead of being him.

I was disappointed the only 'unlimited' story mode was something called WWE Universe. This lets you edit everything. The shows, every match, what those matches are, who holds the titles etc etc.Even the storylines!
This is basically a dream come true for any teenage kid who collects the action figures and wishes he could create his own WWE universe in a videogame. On that front it is an admirable effort but for me it didn't do anything. I rather the game just put me through a story. As a meme says "ain't nobody got time for that" when it comes to setting up your whole Universe.
Granted you can play without editing anything but the fact you know you can edit everything, and the fact before every match it acts who you want to play as, takes away from the illusion that you are going through a story with one wrestler. I would have preferred it like in one of the PS1 Smackdown games where you select one character, and OK granted, with much repetition, go through an endless story mode.

Speaking of editing, you can create and customise everything in this. Arenas, belts, entrances, even cutscenes...Whatever you see, you can make your own version. Again, fantastic for the young creative mind but does nothing for me.


Overall, anyone like me who has grown up with the 'attitude era' of WWE and holds fondness for it should definitely give it a shot. It is well worth the price of admission just for that and they did a great job recreating it. It didn't do much for me other than that but that was good enough for me, really.


7/10.