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As
far as nuts and bolts go, there are 32 wrestler save slots available, so
it's not possible to fill an entire fictional WWE in Season Mode with
created wrestlers. However, the Season Mode would be a little lean with
that many wrestlers, anyway -- the number of slots in each brand well
exceeds the number of create-a-wrestler slots available. The size of the
saved game, meanwhile, has been substantially reduced. An entire Shut
Your Mouth save, created wrestlers and all, now occupies only 228KB,
instead of the multi-megabyte monstrosity employed by Just Bring It.
When
it comes time to actually create a wrestler, there are two modes as
always: Appearance and Moves. We'll look at cosmetic customization
first.
Appearance
This
is the suite of options available for customizing the appearance of a
wrestler -- a pretty broad category. However, it's broken down into a
great many separate parts.
Base
Model
Very simple -- there are only two choices here. The Base Model option
determines a wrestler's gender, male or female.
Base
Edit
Ah, now we're getting into the good stuff. Base Edit is where you select
the individual parts that make up a wrestler's body, clothing, and
accessories. It's divided up according to body part location, for the
most part, although there are some separate categories of items that can
be placed in many areas around the body. It goes like so.
- Head:
The Head category includes Hair (128 options), Caps & Hats (42
options), and Horns (49 options). Horns is a rather broader category
than you might think -- it also includes mask horns that are
designed to work in conjunction with other mask parts located in the
face editing category.
- Face:
Facial features, lots of these. Eyebrows (93 options), Eyes (54
options), Mustaches (75 options), Paint features (85 options), Masks
(145 options), Glasses (42 options), and Accessories (88 options).
The Accessories category covers everything from eyeliner to scarves
to goofy clown lips. Masks and Paint, meanwhile, can be combined
with Horn parts on the head to create complex masks (a la Jushin
Liger).
- Body:
This is everything you could somehow fit on a torso. Skin (10
options), Underwear (close to 100 options), Tank tops (57 options),
T-Shirts (124 options), Open Shirts (84 options), Vests (65
options), Costumes/Singlets (81 options), One Piece outfits (37
options), Jackets and Coats (85 options), Tattoos (27 options), and
Accessories (55 options). Accessories in this category mainly
denotes neckties and such.
- Arms:
Accessories for the arms. Elbow Pads (85 options), Wrist Bands (100
options), Tattoos (15 options), and Accessories (12 options). All of
these selections except Tattoos have the option to place a part on
both arms or only one. These accessories are mainly watches and
bracelets, while Wrist Bands includes both small wristbands and
full-length sleeves like those worn by the Hardy Boyz.
- Hands:
Gloves and wrist extras and the like. Gloves (42 options), and
Accessories (17 options). Accessories in this case are rings and
finger tape.
- Waist:
The Waist category includes traditional wrestling trunks. Underwear
(145 options) and Belts (46 options).
- Legs:
Pants, pads, and more. Tights (163 options), Short Pants (127
options), Pants (145 options), Mini Skirts (61 options), Skirts (80
options), Long Skirts (182 options), Knee Pads (102 options), and
Tattoos (13). Again, knee pads can be worn on one leg or both.
- Feet:
Because otherwise a wrestler's toes would get cold. Socks (148
options) and Shoes (75 options). Note that a wrestler may wear only
one sock on a single leg, but he has to wear two shoes.
- Design:
This is one of the most interesting image editing options, because
it offers the ability to lay out a variable image anywhere on a
wrestler's body.
Design
requires a little more detail to explain. First, you select a Pattern,
Word, or Letter. Pattern is an array of images divided into five
categories: WWE slogans and icons (66 options), Simple Icons (172
options), Pictures (120 options), Flags (30 options), and Tattoos (53
options). Word is a selection of 142 different words. If the one you
want isn't there, you can write it out with the Letter command in one of
eight different fonts.
After
picking an image, it can go on one of six body parts: face, torso, left
arm, right arm, left leg, and right leg. It can then be moved around the
model, resized, and rotated, all the while appropriately mapping itself
to the curvature of the wrestler's body. Thus, it's possible to create
very detailed custom face paint and tattoos.
Skin
Colors
After that exhaustive selection of options, this is pretty basic in
comparison. There are eight different skin tone options, ranging from
pallid to extremely dark.
Figure
Figure is divided into two sub-sections, Form and Height. Height is
relatively simple -- the base height of a wrestler, from a minimum of
5'3" to a maximum of 7'2". Form, however, is very complex now.
It's possible to edit the size and shape of a wrestler's Head, Neck,
Chest, Shoulders, Abdomen, Arms, Forearms, Hands, Waist, Thighs, Legs,
and Ankles. Any limb part can be manipulated independently, so a
wrestler can have one leg that's much bigger than the other, and all
three axes are available for editing. This part of the game makes use of
the dual analog controls, so it's possible to adjust length, width, and
height of a part, all at the same time.
Sample
Model
The uselessly lazy can pick from among 20 different pre-created
fictional wrestlers, but what kind of fun would that be? Even so, it's
interesting to check through this section and see what the Yuke's
designers have crafted in their spare time.
Profile
This
is where you give your wrestler a bit of a personality. He has a Name, a
Ring Name, a Call Name, and a Nick Name, all of which affect what he's
called at different junctures in the text and voice portions of Season
Mode. Call Name is the one that's spoken -- including the names of real
wrestlers, there's a total of 192 different names available. Variables
for his progression in Season Mode is set in his Biography, where he
gets a gender, a weight class, and a face/heel orientation.
Incidentally, there is an "other" gender available if you
like. Finally, as before, a wrestler gets two signs that will appear in
the crowd during his matches.
Ability
120
points are available from the beginning to customize a wrestler's
abilities when it comes to attack and defense. Four basic categories
exist: Powerful (power moves), Speedy (agile/high flying moves),
Technical (mat wrestling and submissions), and Rough Neck (brawling and
weapon moves). Points can be allocated toward attack and defense in all
of these areas, enhancing a wrestler's ability to use those kinds of
moves or defend against them. For the lazy, there's an automatic setting
option to create a wrestler skilled in a particular area, rather than
very precisely tuned for a player's likes and dislikes.
Moves
It's
possible to skip out on the move editor entirely and select a move set
geared toward one of the four aforementioned styles, a completely
average move set, or one that's already been designed for a particular
wrestler. If you do this, however, you are silly.
Logic
This
category determines a wrestler's behavior while under the control of the
computer AI. Two adjectives can be set to govern how he behaves, from an
array of six: Brawler, Grappler, Submission, Luchador, Striker, and
Balanced. If you plan on using a wrestler as a tag partner, it would be
wise to select this with an eye toward's his moveset and abilities.
Okay,
so are we happy with how our wrestler looks? Then we can move on to how
he wrestles. The options available here are much simpler and more
familiar than those in the cosmetic customization mode -- as always, it
more or less boils down to putting moves in slots. Here's a rundown of
the categories available.
Bases
These aren't moves, per se, but the basic animations displayed when a
wrestler idles or performs basic navigation actions: Ring In Move, Ring
Out Move, Taunt, Fighting Style (a reversal activation animation),
Walking Style, Running Style, Winning Move, and Entrance. That last
selection is broken town into three options -- entrance animation,
entrance movie, and entrance music. It's worth noting that while there
seem to be no original entrance movies (as were planned for the original
RAW), some wrestlers have more than one movie -- Billy Kidman,
Brock Lesnar, Hollywood Hogan, and others.
Ready
Moves
These are straightforward strikes and grapples, usually performed
toe-to-toe with an opponent: Attack (6 slots), Grapple (12 slots), Back
Attack (8 slots), and Edge of a Ceiling (4 slots). That last category
covers moves performed on top of the Hell in a Cell cage.
Ground
Moves performed on a grounded opponent: Attack (3 slots) and Grapple (6
slots).
Turnbuckle
Not top-rope maneuvers, but moves performed on an opponent who's been
whipped into the turnbuckle: Attack (3 slots), Grapple (5 slots), and
Back Attack (4 slots).
Rope
Opponent
These are moves performed when an opponent is sitting groggy against the
ropes, or when the player is ready to fly over the ropes (pescados and
such): Rope Down (1 slot), Rebound Attack (3 slots), and Jump Down Over
(1 slot).
Aerial
These are top-rope maneuvers: Standing (2 slots) and Down (3 slots). The
qualifiers there refer to the state of the opponent being targeted, of
course.
Running
Moves performed while running: Attack (2 slots), Grapple (2 slots), Back
Attack (2 slots), Squatting Attack (2 slots), and Counter (3 slots).
Double
Team
Shut Your Mouth has a substantially expanded array of double-team moves,
although the conditions to perform them are the same as before: Stand (5
slots), and Turnbuckle (4 slots). The latter refers to a situation when
the opponent is whipped into the turnbuckle near your partner.
Special
Not only finishing maneuvers, but also favored maneuvers and weapon
grapples: Special (2 slots), Favorites (3 slots), Special Weapon (2
slots), and Combination Moves (3 slots). That last option allows three
moves to be performed in a special combination sequence.
Whew.
Shut Your Mouth looks to deliver as detailed a creation mode as
we've seen in a wrestling game yet, especially with its new decal
editing and placement system. Unfortunately, the previously-touted
password system -- which would have reduced a created wrestler down to
an easily-shared code -- has been scrapped in the interim, but the new,
smaller data save goes a little way towards making it easier to trade
wrestlers. And, after all, there always has to be something left to add
next year. |
