Not just a bunch of pretty faces...
From the outside, the game can look like many things. Silly, Sexist, stupid, whatever.
But beneath all the eye-candy, lies a fairly well made, well-rounded, and even challenging wrestling game.
The Graphics are decent. Character models are beautiful, with the only sign of age being the animations and the backgrounds.
Gameplay is surprisingly difficult to master. While it is in part the animations that make controlling a character somewhat of a challenge here and there, the overall mechanics take time to learn. The Characters each have their own fighting styles and will take time to learn as well. The trick isn't necessarily to learn some super-combo move to win the match, but rather to use the mechanics in your favor during the match.
During a match, you can take/give damage in four areas: Head, Body, Arms, and Legs.Over the course of a match, you wear down your opponent using strikes, throws, and submission moves, which target one or more of the areas mentioned. There is also the infamous Humiliation meter that once filled, allows for a humiliation submission. Generally speaking your opponent's H-Meter is filled up by countering their attacks, as well as performing various moves on them (depending on your character.)
The story is minimal to nonexistent. Basically, your goal is to become a champion, and you fight a series of matches to do it. There are some references to the previous game in the series, mainly dialogue and body language between the wrestlers (So you know if they don't like each other). There are two... factions, if you will, in the roaster. The Babyfaces (Good guys), and the Heels (Bad guys). This only serves to separate the two personae of each of the characters. When you start out, you'll have mostly Babyfaces and a few Heels. In layman's terms, playing A LOT will unlock all of the characters (By that I mean Personae). For details, just look it up.
There are a few game modes; 1-1 , 2-2 , 1-2 (Handi-cap), 3 royal and 4 royal. There are also street fights, Queen's matches, photo shoots, and an Art Gallery. The re-playability of the game is decent, but while the game does have options, it's not brimming with content.
I should also mention that the tutorial for this game (if you can call it that) is pretty terrible. Essentially, it's a bunch of Q&A's with some short descriptions and then a prerendered video (which looks worse than the actual game). So yes, there is a learning curve, and your first few matches are probably going to be very difficult and demoralizing, as the A.I. isn't the smartest, but is unforgiving if it gets on a roll.
Oh, and if thought that this game was just a bunch of pretty girls dancing around a ring, think again. While there is a more than fair amount of fan-service in this game, a lot of the throws, submissions and strikes are downright brutal. Make no mistake, these girls beat the $#!% out of each other when they step into that ring. The only difference between this game and a WWE game is that the character models don't show blood.
Overall, a nice buy. This is the kind of game that you play with your friends when they're over for the lol's, or just as a cathartic relief from a long day. This game isn't anything special. But it doesn't need to be, nor try to be. This game sets out to be a wrestling game with gorgeous women, decent gameplay, and just enough fan-service to keep you coming back for more.Read full review
