The more realistic feel that the past few games have possessed (including a removed HUD, WWE trademark on-screen, etc.) continues in full force. Unfortunately, Yukes did very little to spice up the actual in-ring action this year. When a franchise is annualized, you have to look beyond flashy new modes and directly at the heart of the experience: the in-game action. This go around, Yukes has replaced Attitude Era with a new mode, this time called “30 Years of WrestleMania.” The question is, could they manage to capture lightning in a bottle twice?
The mode evoked those memories effortlessly and was a wonderful experience for all wrestling fans. That all changed with last year’s release, WWE ’13, as Yukes created a fantastic mode entitled “Attitude Era.” If you’re familiar with wrestling, you know the Attitude Era as the time when Stone Cold, The Rock, Edge, DX and many others were consistently running wild on Raw and simultaneously making it one of the most exciting shows on television. Raw (inevitably just called “WWE”) releases were mediocre in every way possible, improving very little on the product they had created. For a consistent number of years, WWE Smackdown vs. A little over two years ago, the WWE video game franchise - now published by 2K (formerly from THQ) and developed by Yukes - seemed to be caught in a funk.
