WWE '12

I enjoyed the fun aspect of older SVR games but when it came to pure combat I always preferred the UFC titles. However this year is the first year WWE has become a serious contender for best fighting sim of the year. This game is incredibly fun.

PROS:
Graphics are incredibly deep and thorough
Little touches which WWE fans will connect with: the ropes move freely now, etc
Controls have been sorted out to the point where, for a WWE game, they are literally perfect
Gameplay aspects are now great, finally with the ability to interrupt people who are performing a move in front of you
Universe Mode 2.0, WWE has realized that the real longeivity of the game comes from the online creation suite and the limitless Universe Mode. In this game they've really gone for that approach, ditching the old 5 storylines and instead giving us one long story (like Fight Night Champion) followed by an endless Universe Mode to concentrate on. With the ability to download your favourite guys freely from the net, the possibilities here are great.

CONS:
Online functionality has been down since the game's release, which holds back alot of the game, however THQ are on it

A great improvement and overhaul for the SVR series, WWE '12 is literally a great game in itself.

I have had this game since day one launch and I have played this to death. Every Superstar, every Diva and every possible match type, every story in its Story mode. I have played it to death.

WWE fans will not be disappointed, this has everything that you would expect and more from a WWE game. It has the authentic entrance music, authentic entrances (The Undertaker has two, one for RAW/SMACKDOWN and another for PPV'S such as Wrestlemania and SummerSlam) and its got some legends thrown into the mix too, just because, why not?.

The moves are easy to pull off and I dare say even for those who are fans of WWE and haven't played played one of their games since the 90's. Those who have played WWE games previously will notice slight tweeks to the controls, now dropping the need to press a shoulder button to initiate a certain move set. It is a welcome change as it allows for more fluid gameplay.

The audio is better than previous games, its clearer and the fan interaction can be brilliant at times reacting to taunts and moves, there is even a chant for Drew McIntyre, its beyond real life at times. However, the game will go silent at times, no audio at all. The fans go silent, movement by the grapplers in the ring can not be heard and the commentary team of Michael Cole and Jerry 'The King' Lawler mysteriously seem to shut up. It does have frequently and especially more so when custom creations are being used.
When the commentary works it does work really well. They seem to remember rivalries between two wrestlers and will hype up the main event of the evening, similar to actual WWE TV. Cole and King are their usual selves, Cole insults King, King mocks Cole it is fun but after you have played three matches in a row where they have said exactly the same thing, the novelty wares off.

The Season mode in this edition tells the story of a typical WWE Villan, Hero, Outsider and someone else... probably. Although I found the stories quite enjoyable they were forgettable, **** SPOILER ALLERT - SKIP TO THE NEXT BREAK **** until I had to build a custom character to take on Kevin Nash and his WCW cronies. Then somehow Triple H got involved for some reason that is not fully explained.

This edition of the game has a decent customisation suite. You can customise the colours of wrestlers attires, customise the rosters of Raw/Smackdown. You can even customise these brands, if you wanted to you can change the name of Smackdown, Raw and even the PPV's to anything you want. You can now create your own arenas, however this is limited only to the ring, barricades and announce desk. The ramp and titantron can not be changed which is a bit of a let down. You could build an ECW ring and surroundings but it would still look like a generic stadium.
The create a Superstar is quite epic, customisation seems to be endless, if you want to create a green 6' 9" alien which looks like a chicken, well go ahead. I only touched this mode for purposes of completing season mode,

The online aspects of this game are its biggest let down. Until about three weeks ago, it simply did not work. It would take me about five attempts over a twenty four hour period to actually get onto the community creations hub. This place houses all of the brilliant customer Superstars, arenas, move sets, logos and stories built by fellow WWE 12 fans. When I did get on it would kick me out due to server problems.
It has taken me about 8 months to download 20 created superstars and 5 created arenas. It has happened the world over and despite THQ being aware of the issue they apparently ignored it until recent weeks.
I have managed to play 6 online matches in this time too, there was a lot of lag experienced by all players. It was not fun and since the last match, I have not touched online play.

Despite the issues with online play, I can not recommend this game enough. It is a definite a must have for any WWE fan.

After all the hype and trailers of this game i thought is was going to be the best one for years, but the control system is alot more complex and awquad to get used to plus alot of bugs and glitches in the game as others have said.
Hopefully they will do some updates for it soon and fix these problems