Simulation games belong to a certain
niche of gamers. They are fascinated with being behind the scenes, tinkering
with different options and seeing the outcomes, rather than being the main
attraction. Total Extreme Wrestling 2010 is a game that satisfies this. Rather
than fulfilling players needs to bash someone’s head in with a chair, it instead
provides a plethora of options, and lets the player be the man behind the
scenes, calling the shots, and ultimately being the top manager.
Fans of the previous Total Extreme
games will be familiar with the setup. You start off by making your avatar, or
in this case picking a face, and distributing 20 skill points across 4
categories, which are negotiating, motivating, leadership and creativity. These
stat points determine how you are able to progress through the game, whether you
have an easier time negotiating a contract, or build up morale for a particular
wrestler in your roster. Then you move onto the menus that let you decide how to
proceed from there. You can book other wrestlers, scout the other companies,
check out pay per view showings and set the actual matches and see how they play
out. Everything is text based of course, so you won’t see any actual piledrivers
happening. After you set the match and let it play through, you get an overall
rating of your show, what the fans thought, what should have been improved, what
was good etc. This way you build your popularity and in turn can hire more
wrestlers and book more expensive venues.
There is truly a vast number of
options right from the get go. There is a huge list of characters that you can
hire, and then decide their fate. Aside from the Companies tab, and Dojo tab
letting you get an overview of the different companies and their standings, the
Control Room tab is where most of the options can be set. There are four
subcategories in the Control Room tab. The Creative section, lets you look at
the roster, talk to staff, check the chemistry between wrestlers, and set
announcers. The Assistant section includes emails, a diary, decisions waiting
response and more importantly the Extreme Eye, which shows unfinished tasks that
need to be done in order to progress. The other two sections, Corporate and
Personal let you look at medical history and even give drug tests, check the
schedule, prepare advanced booking, and check coverage. It’s these options that
simulator enthusiasts can get completely engrossed in.
Total Extreme Wrestling 2010 also
provides a lot of improvements and some new additions over its previous
releases. Some user friendly additions such as drag and drop booking was added
to enable a more straightforward way of picking a character and dropping him to
the desired position. Another feature is a chance to provide a narrative for a
character, letting you essentially write their own storyline by setting up
predetermined events to happen, which then will appear on the in-game website as
a news story. A new feature introduced this year is the Dirt Sheet. The Dirt
Sheet is extremely handy when you want to find out exactly why you received a
particular grade for a performance. The Dirt Sheet opens up a window during the
matches, and in real time will show individual factors and their positive and
negative ratings, which then let you know what needs to be improved, and what
was done great. The most interesting addition is Random Death. Aside from the
two ways a wrestler can already die in game, which is either drug or old age
related, wrestlers can now die from practically anything, and it can happen at
any time. Thankfully, players who feel a little bit intimidated by this option,
can lower the frequency of this event happening, or turn it off altogether.
With 40 achievements to acquire,
this wrestling simulator is a game that can soak up a ton of time for people who
are ready to invest it.
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Gameplay: 7
With an impressive amount of options, this is one extremely detailed
wrestling simulator.
Graphics: 5
The game takes place entirely on menus with static pictures and text.
Sound: NA
No sound at all
Difficulty: Hard
Concept: 8
This game, or more appropriately text based simulator, really lets the
player decide on virtually anything and everything. I would have liked a
tutorial though.
Overall: 7
Like I stated, players who are willing to invest the time, have massive
amounts of options to go through. Without a tutorial, anyone thinking about
trying this game out will most likely find themselves lost, but sim veterans
will be right at home.
