Total Extreme Wrestling 2010 (PC) Review

Posted by Armando Rodriguez on 01.25.2010

The king of text-based wrestling sims is back and better than ever! But is TEW 2010 enough of an improvement over TEW 08 to warrant purchase? Read on to find out!



Game: Total Extreme Wrestling 2010
Genre: Simulation
Developer: Adam Ryland
Publisher: Greydog Software
Players: 1-4


Adam Ryland has become a cult figure among wrestling fans. In the 90’s he came up with a little wrestling simulator called Extreme Warfare. Then came Extreme Warfare Revenge, the last of the freeware simulators and a game that many consider a crowning achievement in the genre. In 2004 Adam started producing professional grade games with the Total Extreme Wrestling series. The games have been so successful that Adam has been able to branch out into the world of mixed martial arts with a simulator appropriately called World of Mixed Martial Arts. However, TEW has always been the main game, the one that hundreds if not thousands of fans salivate over. Every time a new TEW comes out, servers’ crash and heated debates emerge in the game’s official forums. Wrestling fans are a passionate bunch and TEW fans are not the exception. Now TEW 2010 is out and as I sit here writing this review I can barely contain my desire to keep playing. If you even remotely enjoyed any of Adam’s previous games, TEW 2010 will drive you insane with all the new features and changes designed to make the game more user-friendly. If you don’t have a clue what TEW is, then keep on reading and prepare to be enlightened.

Gameplay:

TEW 2010 doesn’t reinvent the wheel. It looks and plays pretty much like TEW 08 (the last game in the series) but tosses in a bunch of new features and improvements. Once you experience 2010, you can’t go back to 08. First of all, the game is very user friendly. Pretty much everything has an “auto-name” function now, which makes playing the game with one hand entirely possible. It is also a very smart system that names the angles and matches according to the competitors and what exactly happens in the event. So if you are lazy (like me) you won’t need to type a single thing. Drag and drop booking is a welcome feature that speeds the process of making matches tremendously. No more scrolling through lists on the booking screen! However, this only applies to matches: if you are booking angles, you still need to scroll down a list. For the next game I hope drag and drop booking is incorporated into every phase of the game. Loading times are also significantly faster than in 08, even with the default database clocking in at 35+ promotions and over two thousand workers.

But what exactly is TEW about? Well, if you have ever found yourself saying “Hey, I could book wrestling better than Vince McMahon or Vince Russo” then this is the game for you. You take control of a single promotion and are responsible for booking shows, hiring talents, dealing with backstage issues, negotiating TV and PPV deals and much more. Booking a show is not as simple as tossing together a bunch of workers and praying for the best: it requires strategy, knowledge and a lot of trial and error. Different promotions have different product styles, fan bases and expectations. For example, a sports entertainment promotion like WWE or TNA appeals to a mainstream fan base. They want to see angles and storylines, a soap opera. But a lucha libre promotion or a Japanese Puro promotion have different expectations. Some promotions want long matches with clean finishes; others want short matches with hardcore and violent action. Each promotion type is booked differently and presents a new challenge.



The game doesn’t include real life promotions, although the mod community is already at work in bringing today’s wrestling world into the game. Not only updated real life data, mind you, but also scenarios from the past, like 1993 and the Attitude Era. However, the game’s default database, The Cornellverse (named after the Universe’s top wrestler: Tommy Cornell) is fantastic in its own right. As a matter of fact, everyone on the message boards seemed to be more excited about the changes in this universe (first introduced in 2004 on the original TEW) than anything going on right now in the real world of wrestling. If you take your time to study it and play it I am sure you will become a “Cornellmaniac” too. The Universe is more fleshed out this time: Australia has become a hot bed for wrestling boasting 4 small promotions, the USA are witnessing a new 3-Way War between the WWE-like SWF, the WCW-like TCW and the old-school nirvana of USPW (which resembles 80’s WWF), Japan has seen the death of INSPIRE and the fall of PGHW and much more. Every promotion is unique enough to warrant playing.

I could talk about the Cornellverse all day, but it is the new features that I am sure people want to hear about. Perhaps my favorite feature is the ability to have what in Mexico is called “Luchas de Apuestas” or Betting Matches in which the characters can put their hair or their masks on the line. Masks gain prestige over time just like title belts and they can be put on the line. Hair lengths are also adjustable and you will be able to shave a wrestler bald and he will slowly grow his hair back over time. This make simulating Mexican Lucha Libre (and some old-school promotions) more realistic since over there title belts are secondary and mask prestige (as well as Betting Match records) are top dog. But perhaps the most helpful feature for newcomers is the Dirt Sheet. By enabling this option when you begin a new game you will be able to see exactly what affected a match in positive and negative ways and what led to it getting the grade it got. Grades are affected by such things as crowd heat, match length, wrestler overness and even morale issues, among other things. Using the Dirt Sheet is a good way to find out what mistakes you are making and improve as a booker.



The difficulty is somewhat customizable this time and allows you to make the game easier or more challenging. You are able to activate or deactivate such things as The Dirt Sheet, Owner Goals, The Perfect Show Theory (in which the fans expect a show to have peaks and valleys) and even the Repetitive Booking Penalties that so many people complained about in the last game. Besides that, you can also customize your user character’s skills in such areas as Negotiating, Leadership, Creativity and Motivating. You have 20 points to distribute among them and going the default route (5 points for each category) will mean that you are playing the game just like it was in 08. However, you can give yourself more points in one area and less in the other, which gives you advantages or disadvantages: For example, let’s say you give yourself more points in Negotiating at the expense of Motivating. You will be able to sign people for less money and for longer periods of time, but your locker room morale will suffer and you will have a more difficult time in keeping a positive backstage atmosphere. I loved these two additions since it makes the game as easy or as hard as you want it to be. Customizable difficulty was one of those things that the series sorely needed and it has finally been addressed.

Talking about locker room morale, now it is one of the main issues you have to attend to. Wrestlers can have positive or negative effects on morale based on their personality traits and this can really affect your shows. Disgruntled wrestlers don’t give it their all and affect match grades. The good news is that besides the typical negative incidents in past versions (wrestlers caught with drugs, spreading rumors or getting into fights with other wrestlers) there are positive incidents this time around that can balance things out. Be it a veteran sharing road stories, a wrestler cheering the locker room up by drawing cartoons (a la Bret Hart) or even a veteran wrestler taking a youngster under his wing as a protégé, positive incidents are a welcome addition. The backstage area has been expanded as well, allowing you to set rules and these rules can also affect the wrestlers in positive or negative ways. Rules include No Smoking backstage, no alcohol and drugs allowed, being at the event 3 hours before showtime and others. All these additions go a long way in making the world feel alive and fleshed out.

Negotiations with workers have been improved and borrow the system from WMMA 2 in which all interested parties bid on a wrestler at the same time, exchanging offers and trying to lure the star to their sides. It is a huge improvement from how things were done before. There are a ton of other features in the game as well, from more sort able stats, to the ability to export your roster into Excel spreadsheets and the ability to add narratives into scenarios. Narratives allow you to program events into the world, like economic booms and falls. TV Networks can own promotions this time, a la Wrestling Society X and the inclusion of Network Umbrellas (in which one network owns many channels) opens even more negotiation possibilities. Dojos are back with a vengeance and now promotions can own them. They produce wrestlers on a regular basis and give you the first crack and negotiating with these new talents. Reject them and they will go to the free agent pool. It is possible to build arenas in which to run your shows and the dirty tricks feature (for promotions at war) is back and better than ever. Overall TEW 2010 is a much better game than TEW 08 and that is saying something considering how good 08 was.



Graphics:

Everything looks good for a text-based game. A lot of people have complained about the use of the same blue skin from TEW 08 and although I don’t feel it is as good as the ones used on WMMA 2 and Wrestling Spirit 2, the entire game is customizable, so it is as easy as replacing it with any one of the many alternate skins available in the forums. That’s part of the appeal of the game, every wrestler picture, every logo, every belt and skin can be replaced by something else. The default pictures for Conrellverse wrestlers are very well done, although with so many different artists and programs in use, quality varies. Personally I like the diversity. The menus are sleek and the font is the right size. I did not find any issues (outside of minor typos that can be easily fixed via patch) with the graphical presentation.

Sound:

There is no sound in the game, so just fire up your iTunes or program of choice. I know a lot of other sims use sounds (like Title Bout Boxing and Baseball Mogul) but honestly I don’t miss it one bit. This is a text-based game after all.

Lasting Appeal:

TEW is one of those games that could last you forever. The game has 35+ promotions to play as, plus you can always create your own promotions and characters with the easy to use editor. There is also a ton of scenarios that will be available in a few weeks, once the modding community has had enough time to work on them. More than just a game, TEW is an outlet of your creative genius and as long as you keep pumping out ideas, the game will continue to be fun. It is possible to put hundreds, if not thousands of hours into this game.

Fun Factor:

TEW 2010 is undeniably fun. I can’t recommend the game to everyone, since it is a text-based game that requires a lot of strategy and thinking. But if you are a creative individual who enjoys the business side of things, TEW 2010 is the game for you.



The 411:
TEW 2010 is the best game in the series and the best text-based wrestling game, period. The game runs better than past versions and is more user friendly. It also boasts enough new features to warrant the upgrade from TEW 08. Trust me; after you play 2010, there is no way you will go back to 08. TEW 2010 is hands down, another masterpiece from the king of text-based wrestling sims.

Graphics	8.5	It looks great for a text-based game and pretty much everything is customizable. You can make it as good as you want it to.
Gameplay	9.2	A ton of depth and a lot of options when it comes to booking your promotion. Like all great games, it is easy to play and hard to master.
Sound	0.0	No sound at all, so I am not rating it!
Lasting Appeal	9.5	With 35+ promotions to book and dozens of downloadable scenarios done by the community, you could literally play this game forever.
Fun Factor	9.0	If you have a little bit of Vince McMahon in you, this game is tons of fun. Booking different promotions with their own unique styles is a blast and never gets old. Thumbs way up!
Overall	9.1   [  Amazing ]

Screenshots
All 5 Total Extreme Wrestling 2010 Screenshots