I played a bit. Not really sold on it so far. Different than the past, that's for sure, but it seems like they should have left the old grapple system the way it is. Maybe you can change it in control types, not sure.

Presentation is great, feels like a live broadcast. Wrestlers look good.

So far I'd say it's a 7.5/10.

Thanks for the info. I'm still interested. A demo would have been nice. Just not in a big rush since i have games to play right now and I always get a buncha gift cards at Christmas which turn into games.

Man do I hate the controls. After 10 years of Smackdown I feel like I have no idea what im doing. I had to put it on easy to even have a chance. Presentation is nice, though some of it is lazy, like heel commentary for CM Punk

I put it on easy, too. Still tough.

I played with a 10 year old today, who played a lot of Smackdown 2011. He hated the controls, and said he never wanted to play it again. Ouch.

10 year olds, dude.

Ha. 10 year olds taking over for all the 20 to 30 year olds who hated the controls of the Smackdown games, in favor of No Mercy. The more things change...

I'm tempted to give this game a chance, but only after it gets marked down.

So true

Really? I picked it up in about 30 seconds. Had no problems at all (and I've played every Smackdown game there is; then again, I've played almost every wrestling game that exists too...)

I've played the game a bit, I don't mind the controls.

...except for kicking out of pins. I just can't get the meter to stop in the right spot. Because I have that much trouble doing it, I can beat on a guy for 5 minutes and he can get lucky with one move and attempt a pin on me and it's all over because I can't kick out. Arg.

I believe you need to hold A to the darker portion of the meter, then quickly release and tap A again to kick out. It's very hit or miss for me, I perfer the old button mashing technique.

As per usual with this series, THQ manages to screw up the little things.

WWE '12 is riddled with bugs, glitches and really stupid limitations that take a lot of fun out of the game.

First, Road To WrestleMania is terrible. Not only repetitive, but it also takes any decision making out of your hands in terms of playing. There are no branches, the story is linear. This wouldn't be so bad, but the outcomes of most matches are taken out of your hands. Most of them end with you hitting triangle or Y to trigger a cutscene. Many of them have multiple cutscenes. This could be overlooked, as I've always viewed RTWM as bonus fluff. Something to do for trophies, and to get away from the normal modes for a while.

While the casual gamer might not notice many of the flaws, there are just way too many for even the minor fan to ignore. There's bugs with custom music that were present last year (volume issues, pausing the game can lead to your custom theme playing throughout the rest of the match, etc.) Create-An-Entrance has bugs relating to entrances with props. (you can't get rid of them, even if you choose no). The Edge and Christian DLC characters can't have their entrances edited without screwing them up completely.

Then there's the stupid limitations. The whole idea of edit-a-brand in Universe was that you were supposed to be able to create a show of your choice that may or may not have anything to do with WWE. It was even stated exactly that you could have a show that was populated only by CAWs and not any of the main wrestlers. Well, something happened between THQ telling people they could do this and release, because now you have to have 15 actual Superstars on your roster (making it kinda hard to do an 80s era brand or something like Ring Of Honor. Last year, the requirement was 2.

Then there's just the stupid, like the inability to vacate titles in Universe. So you're stuck with all 23 belts having champions. They won't all be defended, but to have that many people coming out with some sort of title is just silly.

I could look past most of the small bugs and glitches, but when they can't fix bugs from last year and they flat out lie to their most loyal supporters in order to get them to buy the game, it's really hard to give THQ any slack.

Man, now I remember why I try to avoid the PS3 for cross platform titles. 15 minutes to download and install the update, and now it's installing the game to the HDD.

I'm playing entirely too much of this. And also spending way too much time with all the customization options.

Got to the third leg of the story mode, and while I loved seeing WCW get such prominent placement in the game...