FNR4 and UFC are great! Now where's wrestling? - statum71's Blog

statum71's Blog

FNR4 and UFC are great! Now where's wrestling?

Posted on June 28, 2009 at 06:37 PM.

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The way these companies (especially EA and Sony) are starting to promote these games now is just terrific. They're starting early and giving us a lot of info. Then taking the feedback to help create the best game we all can collectively.

Months ago when I started reading bout how they were going to improve Fight Night, I thought...WOW! And the same goes for UFC. Except it wasn't really an "improvement" because this was really the first next-gen edition of MMA.

Now after getting both games and enjoying the heck out of 'em, I can say the hype was well deserved. No, they're not perfect. But I really, really like 'em both. On both career modes I wish I could fight any fight I want, and I wish FN had title matches in exhibition. But that's another story.......

What I'm here to talk about is the "other" form of fighting that's now lacking severely due to these two games being so well put together.... wrestling.

OK, OK its not really a form of fighting since its scripted, I know. But we're talking about video games so who cares?

This past year was the first time in about eight years that I didn't buy a wrestling game. Did I stop liking wrestling? Of course not. I still haven't missed an episode of Raw or SmackDown in about ten years.

What turned me off was the feeling that the game was just not getting better. I waited a long time to see what the new hype would be and the best thing they could promote was....hot tags??? I'm sorry, but tag team matches are the weakest part of the real show. Its the time you go to the restroom if you're there live.

In comparison, both the FN4 and the UFC games look AND feel like they're the best game ever seen in the respective sports. Even though there aren't many editions to compare as far as next-gen goes. But isn't that the way it should be?

They are both very deep. UFC has 80 and FN4 has 48 fighters. But what makes that even better is that all these guys fight like they really fight. No two guys on UFC fight alike. And that increases the replay value of the games. Not even to mention DLC and boxer share.

Anybody that watches wrestling will tell you that what really makes the show fun to watch is the storylines. This is where THQ needs to kick this series in the rear-end. Only having a hand full of wrestlers available for career mode is a major, major crutch for this game. It needs to be available for all of 'em. Even if it means less voice-over. Heck...I'd do without the voice-over if it meant a better and deeper story mode. Go back to text for all I care (except commentary).

I remember running career mode over and over and over again years ago with Here Comes The Pain. The music, the twist, the record keeping, it was just simply immersing. But whats worse is not only did they change that, they starting taking other popular things away from the game too.

What I miss is the GM mode. BUT....... I wish the GM mode had the storylines played out on screen. That way you have all the control, you can play whatever matches you want, you can watch the drama unfold like on TV, and maybe mix in a few random items just to keep the suspense. Then you could deal with things on-the-fly like a GM should. Or have a CPU-control option where you could carry on and not have to make all the matchups and all that stuff. To keep it fresh.

I thought the Madden team did a good thing this year. By picking the game most talked about from the past (NFL 2K5) and saying "OK enough, here's what we're trying to top." Now how many years have we been saying that wrestling games aren't living up to No Mercy or Here Comes The Pain? Too many!

Sometimes to move forward you gotta go back. I know it can be done. Besides, isn't THQ the same ones that made UFC? Or is wrestling just not a priority sports game anymore? Will wrestling catch up? Or are we simply stuck with memories?

What do you guys think? Post comments.

Comments

# 1 statum71 @ Jun 28

Yeah co-op was cool too. The only thig I didn't like about the last Co-op was you couldn't save once the show started.

Maybe I wanna play all the matches myself. But who wants to sit through 8 matches just to save again?