WWE All Stars 
Compared to Raw Versus Smackdown, WWE All Stars is an entirely different wrestling experience. Immediately the differences become apparent in the way that the wrestlers are characterized. Instead of going for realism, WWE All Stars jacked up the appearance of every wrestler to be eerily reminiscent of a WWE action figure. These wrestlers have gigantic muscles and toy shaped heads that made me feel like I was indeed playing with action figures in my room.
The core game mechanics are completely different than those of Raw Versus Smackdown. The in ring action is much more arcade like because of the simple controls and fantastical move executions. In recent years the controls for wrestling games have grown increasing complex. In WWE All Stars the controls have been simplified enough that a relative who isn’t accustomed to playing video games could have a fun time. The Y and X buttons are strong and weak strike with B and A being strong and weak grapple respectively. When a grapple is initiated pressing any of the four face buttons will perform a unique move. The ability to transition from one grapple into other holds is present but is not essential to success.
Limb specific damage has been replaced with a four layered health meter that decreases as your wrestler takes regular moves and signature moves. By executing moves on an opponent you build up to three signature moves and fill your finisher meter. Signature moves do a lot of damage and help set up finisher moves. Finisher moves are the way to end a match. While not necessary to get a pin, they are the only way to knock out an opponent. Performing a signature or finishing move often involves the wrestler jumping or throwing the opponent several feet into the high, an impossible human feat. The action in WWE All Stars looks as if there is an invisible child playing with his action figures, making them perform incredible unrealistic moves. For this reason alone, WWE All Stars has succeeded at becoming a nostalgic experience, making me relive how I would play with toys during my childhood.
The only aspect of WWE All Stars that I find too unrealistic is the crowd of predominately adult males chanting for John Cena during matches.
The Fantasy Warfare mode is another area that succeeds at creating a nostalgic vibe and should be one of the most popular additions. As opposed to making us relive classic matches, Fantasy Warfare pits the current crop of wrestlers against their supposed counterparts or rival. Matches like Sheamus versus Ultimate Warrior on the basis of intensity or Ricky Steamboat versus Kofi Kingston on basis of explosive moves are a few examples of what their mode entails. The most interesting rivalry besides that of John Cena versus Hulk Hogan, is Stone Cold Steve Austin versus CM Punk on the basis of lifestyle. Stone Cold being the indulgent alcoholic and CM Punk living the straightedge lifestyle. The promo video hyping this match up actually made me wish that this match up actually took place.
While this mode is just essentially a singles match between a human player and the computer the promo videos leading up to each match are fantastic. The promo video shows just how similar or different each wrestler is and why that this fantasy match up has meaning. The voiceover work for each of these promo videos is performed by the same person who does them for actual WWE programming which lends a lot of credibility and realism to each one.
Also creating credibility and realism, good old Jim Ross and Jerry the King Lawler are the commentators. As with any wrestling game they do run out of things to say quickly and will often call the match incorrectly but it could be worse, we could have Michael Cole announcing.
In addition to Fantasy Warfare, the marquee game mode in WWE All Stars is the Path of Champions. The Path of Champions serves as the campaign mode with the player choosing whether he wants to pursue the legend, superstar or tag team path. Each path consists of ten matches of varying style and difficulty with the final matches being fought against The Undertaker for legend mode, Randy Orton for superstar mode or DX for tag team mode. As you progress through each path the final opponent will have several cutscenes dedicated to addressing you that are entirely in character with their television personas and written incredibly well.
Each path of Champions can be tackled with any of the twenty legends or superstars or the ten unlockable characters. Many wrestling fans enjoy creating their own wrestlers to use and thankfully the create a superstar mode is present in WWE All Stars. The only drawback is that it is a little shallow compared to the creation tools that exist in Raw versus Smackdown. The create a wrestler mode is only here for fan service as the core of this game is about the current generation of wrestler versus the past generation.
Compared to Smackdown Versus Raw, WWE All Stars has a shallower depth of available match types. The only available matches are singles, tornado tag, steel cage, elimination (triple threat of fatal four way), extreme rules and handicap match. The exclusion of several popular matches may be due to limits in the development cycle or the fact that some of the newer matches (TLC, Hell in a Cell) didn’t exist during the prime of some of these superstars. It is a drawback but the arcade style of WWE All Stars does a lot to distract from their exclusion.
The biggest complaint that can be held against All Stars is the incredibly long loading times. Load screens will hold players hostage between every match, cutscene and return to a menu. Sometimes the loading screens will even last up to a minute and a half.
While most of the changes in the control style of Smackdown Versus Raw are positive there are a few detractions. The controls seem to be more proximity based rather than directional based. Pressing the left trigger to exit the ring near an opponent lying on the ground will cause your wrestler to go into the pinning animation, even if you`re pointing the directional stick in the opposite direction. This has always been a problem in wrestling games but performing the wrong action can be incredibly deadly in All Stars.
The ability to sprint is not unlimited as it is in most other wrestling games. Instead, pulling the right trigger for a short sprint will drain the meter you’ve built up for signature moves. I feel that an infinite sprint or at least a drainable one would lend itself well to the crazy action packed arcade style of WWE All Stars.
One thing that WWE All Stars does that is an improvement over wrestling games of the past decade is that while performing a grapple, characters are not locked into animations. This means that if your tag team partner is about to get power bombed, you can actually stop it. Signature moves and finisher are unbreakable however.
Multiplayer Review
As with most wrestling games the multiplayer portion of WWE All Stars is a mixed bag. Getting into a match online is fairly easy but there are often some laggy games. When a good connection is established WWE All Stars plays just as it would as if you were sitting next to a friend on a couch. The start button is even disabled during matches to prevent people from pausing matches or quitting early. Each of the match types mentioned earlier are available online with tornado tag being my personal favourite.
WWE All Stars is at its best when you have a group of friends playing against each other on the same TV. It is over the top fun that should provide a lot of laughs between you and your friends.
Closing Comments
WWE All Stars may not be the wrestling simulator that Raw Versus Smackdown has become but it is a nostalgic arcade experience that any wrestling fan cannot miss. Playing All Stars reminds me of being a child, playing with my action figures or playing an old wrestling game on the SNES or Genesis. The over the top unrealistic wrestling style coupled with the authentic WWE presentation give All Stars a unique feel that should set up the game to turn into a franchise much like RAW versus Smackdown.
