Their individual dynamics take half a match at most to familiarise yourself with, but offer deeper techniques - combinations, reach distances, Finisher timings - to avail yourself of the longer you play. Instead the thirty brawlers are divided by their fighting style - tanks versus technical whizz-kids, powerhouses versus aerial acrobats. Here they've been stripped off the restrictions of stamina bars or slowness that's made SmackDown Vs Raw such a draw with fans and a turn-off with others.
The cast is stylised in that O.T.T fashion that keys into the WWE's love-or-hate-them-but-always-bigger-than-life characters. Sure, it adds something when you go into a Rock/Hogan match knowing the events of Wrestlemania X-8, or the feud that bled out from the ring into real life between Brett 'Hitman' Hart and Shawn 'The Heartbreak Kid' Michaels, but crucially it doesn't get in the way of, or dilute what is a ruddy good arcade beat'em up.įolk with only a passing understanding of who Ken and Ryu are still can enjoy Street Fighter - the same principle stands here. Four-player matches could prove to be a social evening staple alongside other brawlers.
