WWE Legends of WrestleMania Demo Available, Impressions Here

[TimmeH]

Been playing the demo for about an hour now, so here's some of my impressions:

In the demo, you can either have an exhibition match between Andre & Hogan with Heenan being a selectable manager, or you can "Relive" the Austin-Rock match as Austin and try to complete the objectives that you are given in the match.

As I stated earlier, it's really difficult to defeat wrestlers who have a manager in their corner. The manager gets on the apron to try to distract you, give their client a pep talk to increase their energy, or pull their foot onto the ropes as you're making the cover. They'll also grab your foot if you bounce off the ropes in their direction. Although it can be a bit frustrating, it's also very fun. I had to lay the smackdown on Heenan so I could cover Andre for the three-count.

The gameplay is VERY different from SVR. The game goes for more of an arcade feel(although I feel SVR is already has an arcade feel haha), and it does a good job at it. There's not nearly as many moves to cycle through, but you can't tell too much during the match. I remember one point where it got annoying after Rock hit me with like four straight Samoan Drops lol. The "quick time" grapples are actually pretty fun. I expected it to ruin the gameplay, but it's not as easy as it looks, and it adds alot of back and forth action. The only downside is that the moves used in the quick time grapples don't really link well together.

The AI seems much smarter. They won't just hover over you when you're down. They're always on the attack. Counters are ALOT better than SVR. Sure, there are counters in the game, but it's not every other move like SVR.

Graphics look good. I was actually thinking it'd look a little better, but oh well.

Commentary is very hit or miss. JR & King comment on the story between Rock and Austin a bit, which is cool. But they'll go silent for minutes at a time. I don't know if they just didn't put all the lines in for the demo, or if that's just how it'll be. I'll say this, at least the commentary isn't annoying like SVR. When JR/King are silent, you really don't notice until they start talking again, and then you go "Oh, I haven't heard them in awhile" lol.

It's not perfect. As I said, the movesets aren't nearly as in-depth. The fact that managers seem to be able to put their opponents feet on the ropes no matter where you are in the ring is weird. Yet, if a manager isn't involved, ropes breaks seem nonexistent regardless of how close you are to the ropes. There's issues like that, but overall, I think the positives are outweighing the negatives. Afterall, it's an arcade game, it's not gonna be pure realism

I dunno, I think that's about all I got for now.

My main worry is that after mastering the controls, the game might become too easy. I'm gonna keep playing and see if that's the case, if not, I think I'm going to end up buying it. The roster is awesome. The nostaligic value is great. I'm glad there's going to be an option to import the SVR09 roster into the game. It's definitely got it's flaws, but that's to be expected with the first game on a new engine. But it seems solid enough to make for a FUN ARCADE game. I bet multi-player will be great

[vernond]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sausage

I have to say this just became a day one purchase for me. I love the control scheme and the chain combos are great. The pace of the gameplay is nice. I know it is early but the grapple mechanic is similar to "No Mercy", but not as deep. There are combinations of weak and strong grapples, as well as strikes. A few maybe concerned about the chain combo button, but it does not block your view nor get in the way of gameplay. Will add more later. So far so good.

Good to hear the positive feedback. I just worry about the replay value mostly. It'd be fun online but the thq games don't have the best track record online and wrestling games are pretty timing based so online lag would be pretty rough.

[TimmeH]

Quote: Originally Posted by vernond

Good to hear the positive feedback. I just worry about the replay value mostly. It'd be fun online but the thq games don't have the best track record online and wrestling games are pretty timing based so online lag would be pretty rough.

Yeah, lag would ruin the real time grapples for sure

[WazzuRC]

I'm so glad that there are positive impressions. I really want this game to be great so it's very refreshing to hear. I wouldn't call it a first day purchase, but if reviews and feedback come back positive I'll buy it a week or two after release.

[vernond]

Quote: Originally Posted by TimmeH

Been playing the demo for about an hour now, so here's some of my impressions: In the demo, you can either have an exhibition match between Andre & Hogan with Heenan being a selectable manager, or you can "Relive" the Austin-Rock match as Austin and try to complete the objectives that you are given in the match. As I stated earlier, it's really difficult to defeat wrestlers who have a manager in their corner. The manager gets on the apron to try to distract you, give their client a pep talk to increase their energy, or pull their foot onto the ropes as you're making the cover. They'll also grab your foot if you bounce off the ropes in their direction. Although it can be a bit frustrating, it's also very fun. I had to lay the smackdown on Heenan so I could cover Andre for the three-count. The gameplay is VERY different from SVR. The game goes for more of an arcade feel(although I feel SVR is already has an arcade feel haha), and it does a good job at it. There's not nearly as many moves to cycle through, but you can't tell too much during the match. I remember one point where it got annoying after Rock hit me with like four straight Samoan Drops lol. The "quick time" grapples are actually pretty fun. I expected it to ruin the gameplay, but it's not as easy as it looks, and it adds alot of back and forth action. The only downside is that the moves used in the quick time grapples don't really link well together. The AI seems much smarter. They won't just hover over you when you're down. They're always on the attack. Counters are ALOT better than SVR. Sure, there are counters in the game, but it's not every other move like SVR. Graphics look good. I was actually thinking it'd look a little better, but oh well. Commentary is very hit or miss. JR & King comment on the story between Rock and Austin a bit, which is cool. But they'll go silent for minutes at a time. I don't know if they just didn't put all the lines in for the demo, or if that's just how it'll be. I'll say this, at least the commentary isn't annoying like SVR. When JR/King are silent, you really don't notice until they start talking again, and then you go "Oh, I haven't heard them in awhile" lol. It's not perfect. As I said, the movesets aren't nearly as in-depth. The fact that managers seem to be able to put their opponents feet on the ropes no matter where you are in the ring is weird. Yet, if a manager isn't involved, ropes breaks seem nonexistent regardless of how close you are to the ropes. There's issues like that, but overall, I think the positives are outweighing the negatives. Afterall, it's an arcade game, it's not gonna be pure realism I dunno, I think that's about all I got for now. My main worry is that after mastering the controls, the game might become too easy. I'm gonna keep playing and see if that's the case, if not, I think I'm going to end up buying it. The roster is awesome. The nostaligic value is great. I'm glad there's going to be an option to import the SVR09 roster into the game. It's definitely got it's flaws, but that's to be expected with the first game on a new engine. But it seems solid enough to make for a FUN ARCADE game. I bet multi-player will be great

The difficulty also concerns me. I'm sure the demo is on normal but I hope there's sliders to adjust in the retail. I'm not too interested in having squash matches over and over. It should be called Legends of WWE Wrestling Challenge if that's the case.

[7stringking]

This is going to be a cheap and shallow game for Sm VS Raw veterans......Might be ok for kiddies and 50 year olds who haven't played a game in 10 years

[TimmeH]

Quote: Originally Posted by vernond

The difficulty also concerns me. I'm sure the demo is on normal but I hope there's sliders to adjust in the retail. I'm not too interested in having squash matches over and over. It should be called Legends of WWE Wrestling Challenge if that's the case.

Yeah. But I played for two hours today, and even towards the end, I was still exchanging wins and losses with the CPU, which gives me hope it won't get too easy. Especially considering that as you said, the game is likely on Medium, so there should be at least one more difficulty to crank it up to if it starts getting too easy.

We'll see. The fact that I played a very limited demo for two hours, and still want more tells me that this is definitely going to be a first day buy for me. Hopefully I don't end up regretting it lol

[TimmeH]

Quote: Originally Posted by 7stringking

This is going to be a cheap and shallow game for Sm VS Raw veterans......Might be ok for kiddies and 50 year olds who haven't played a game in 10 years

I've been playing the Smackdown series since it's inception, and I don't find it cheap or shallow. Not as deep as SVR, but at the same time, it seems to do alot of things better than SVR.

[vernond]

How big was the file size?

[Mo]

Quote: Originally Posted by vernond

How big was the file size?

723MB on 360