Its hard to believe that its been 15 years since WWE 12 was released for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. WWE 12 is considered to be revolutionary because it was the first main entry within the 2K series following the Smackdown vs Raw series. The last main SvR game came out in 2010 and WWE 12 from 2011 marked a new beginning in many people’s eyes. WWE 12 was published by THQ and developed by Yuke’s and was designed to be an entry that focused more on realism along with faster and more fluid gameplay. WWE 12 was designed to be more casual friendly than SvR 2010 with a more basic grapple system and other gameplay mechanics which made the gameplay more exciting. The Dynamic Comeback feature in WWE 12 made the gameplay look similar to actual sequences pro wrestlers performed in televised matches. Also, the new “Breaking Point” feature added more depth to the submission system in WWE 12 and felt more simplistic compared to older WWE games. The return of Universe Mode in WWE 12 was probably one of the best things about the game outside of Road to WrestleMania.

The Universe Mode felt organized yet chaotic at times because almost anything could happen before, during or after matches leading to surprise finishes and title changes. The base version of WWE 12 featured at least 60 different characters featuring some of the hottest names in pro wrestling during the early 10’s. WWE 12 featured names like John Cena, Undertaker, Triple H, CM Punk, Daniel Bryan, Edge, Rey Mysterio, Sheamus and many others. WWE 12 also had unlockable legend characters like Stone Cold Steve Austin and Brock Lesner along with DLC characters like The Rock, Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley, Batista and others. The Road to WrestleMania in WWE 12 was interesting because it felt similar to previous games but slightly different. Instead of certain characters being chosen and having their own story WWE 12 featured three different stories. In Road to WrestleMania WWE 12 has a Hero, Villain and a Outsider storyline where the main characters were consisted of a fictional character named Jacob Cass Sheamus and Triple H. The best things about the Road to WrestleMania in WWE 12 included the temporary return of WCW along with each story intertwining into one towards the end.

WWE 12 was loaded with seemingly endless match types like Six-Man Tag, Hell in a Cell, TLC, Elimination Chamber and Money in Bank which added to its overall replay value. WWE 12 was more than just another entry within the WWE video game franchise it felt like a reinvention mainly pro wrestling fans believe that the SvR series was becoming stale. WWE 12 was THQ’s answer to critics who argued that repetition in WWE games had become problem that needed to addressed. Simply recycling gameplay mechanics from previous SvR entries had ran its course and introducing a brand new gameplay formula scored big points from WWE fans and critics alike following the initial release of WWE 12. As good as WWE 12 was back the day there are many who would go on record and argue that it was one of the best pro wrestling games of the 10’s decade. WWE 12 was far more memorable than anything within the 2K series from most of the 2010’s with the exceptions of WWE 2K14 and 2K19.