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WWE All Stars demo impressions

by: Jeremy -
More On: WWE All Stars
The demo for THQ’s WWE All Stars launched earlier this week for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The brief demo gives players a chance to try out two of the 30+ characters that will be included in the full game, which launches next week. I downloaded and played the demo for a little while the other night and figured I would share my thoughts...

WWE All Stars isn’t anything like the Smackdown vs. Raw series, which should be evident the first time that you see the game. While SvR aims to deliver a true to life simulation of the wrestling experience, All Stars is all about over the top action and outlandish characters (even more so than standard wrestling games). I love the visual style of the game; the characters )Rey Mysterio and Ultimate Warrior in the demo) look like caricatures rather than true-to-life representations of their personas. These guys are jacked... ripped from head to toe and and super-animated. Seeing the Ultimate Warrior in particular, since its been years since I have seen him in action, is extremely entertaining and it sort of helps the Legend(s) live up to the childhood memories that I have of him. I cannot wait to see the rest...

The action is fast paced and very much like a fighting game. Things get absolutely insane once you get the hand of the chain combos and special maneuvers because bodies end up flying, literally, all over the ring. The characters are launched from pillar to post in and out of the ring. You can take the fight outside of the ring but are limited to the area just outside the squared circle; you cannot walk up the ramp toward the locker room thanks to an invisible wall. THQ has done a phenomenal job in creating the reversal system for the game as just about every single move can be reversed, and each of those reversals reversed. It gets crazy! As crazy as it gets, it is a ton of fun too. All of the comparisons to Midway’s old Wrestlemania arcade game are dead on, only this game is a ton more polished and plays a lot better.

I cannot wait for the full version, which just happened to arrive here at GN earlier today. Fighting and wrestling game fans alike are in for a treat when WWE All Stars launches next week. You can expect our full review of the Xbox 360 version of the game first thing on Tuesday...