I'm starting to think the games are pretty much as good as they're going to get in this current, ever-restricting sports game format they are going for. I'll probably enjoy this game, but I think the best thing for the developers to do is take a couple/few years off (just keep updating the latest game with up-do-date content in the meeanwhile) and try to think up a completely new concept for these games or try expanding upon the old, arcade style.
The way I would do this is to look at how the wrestling world (at least the WWE kayfabe world) would work in a videogame context, rather than the current approach of simply trying to replicate the experience of WWE through videogames. I see the current WWE games as some kind of alternate medium for watching a WWE match, not as wrestling videogames.
I was pondering over this idea I had for a WWE game a couple of nights ago. Here Comes the Pain and I think Shut Your Mouth are the games closest to my vision. Its an open world-ish game where you start working from the bottom-up, probably as a CAW. And I'm thinking of focusing the entire bloody game around this expansive campaign (side modes with exhibition matches, etc) with tons and tons and tons of scripted possibilities along the way. Get rid of these Universe Modes and Create a Storyline modes that nobody really wants. I'd go all out with hundreds of scripted possibilities for storylines, allies and enemies.
I seriously spent a lot of time devoting thought to this concept, and you can too. Imagine something along the lines of the WWE Universe version of Skyrim and if you're like me, you'll spend time mentally frothing over the possibilities. Side-quests and main quest lines, heel/face morality systems for mutliple storyline paths and endings, class building for different wrestling styles, the whole fucking deal. Even keep the same gameplay engine to minimise effort.
Or perhaps a more linear, but nonetheless expansive campaign like Grand Theft Auto's (free roam restricted to backstage/arena/parking to maintain kayfabe), where you start out doing missions for low level jobbers (WWE's Roman Bell-- Santino!!) then eventually working your way up the ranks in a totally pre-determined, but deep, story campaign. You start as an NXT jobber and overcoming the other rookies to prove yourself for the big leagues, then you tangle with the mid-carders like Dolph and Kofi whilst becoming a rising star, get framed by John Laurainitis or something and become heel, culminating in the third act where you discover the true meaning of Christmas, turn face and defeat the evil arch CM Punk at Wrestlemania.
Maybe I'm being dreamy again, but THIS is something I'd be glad to hand over my money to see manifest. Truly new ideas, and like I said, the most fun way to do this is to imagine how the current WWE Universe, in all its ridiculousness and its vulnerability to parody, would function in a videogame world. New ideas, dammit! I'll probably like WWE 13, but its only just hit me how these games have been pretty much exactly the same at the core when the SvR series first started and almost every tentative change around the outskirts have been unsuccessful. Isn't there at least one dude at THQ who's tired of making exactly the same game yet?
