D12 Pro Wrestling Hands-on

[jhoni_slimshady]

Hip-hop culture has already had a profound impact on mobile content,
and it's poised to take the whole shebang over. Sean "P. Diddy"
Combs caused a furor at a recent industry conference when he told
the audience that he, in effect, was a vital mobile brand. And,
given the position of hip-hop on the ringtone charts, he can hardly
be argued with. The tide has spread quickly to mobile games, too.
There's already been a Snoop Dogg game, and Marc Ecko and G-Unit
games are on the way. Hudson Entertainment wants in on the trend, so
it has leveraged its relationship with The Source to lock down the
license to D12--Eminem's somewhat ridiculous but always entertaining
rap band. We got our hands on a preview version of D12 Pro Wrestling
to see what all the fuss is about. It's a couple of atomic elbow
splashes later, and we've got a big grin on our faces.


First of all, Eminem, D12's centerpiece and founding member, didn't
make it into the game. Apparently it would have cost Hudson an extra
million bucks for the rights to Em's likeness, so his bad self was
left out of D12 Pro Wrestling. That's OK, though, because the other
five members of the band are there--Bizarre, Kon Artis, Swift,
Kuniva, and Proof--as well as a few clever additions, such as a
rough and tough character called Groupie, who's sort of a composite
picture of D12's infamous female fans, plus two unlockable fighters.

The rappers of D12 hail from the wilds of urban Detroit, and they
know how to scrap. Each fighter makes use of a unique set of moves
and combos, all of which are accessible via the phone's nav pad. Up,
right, and down perform light, medium, and strong attacks,
respectively, while left is your block, and the action key charges
up your "juice meter." Since stronger attacks require more juice,
timing your charging in between attacks is the most important part
of the game. At the same time, if each opponent attempts the same
level of attack at the same time, nothing will happen and they'll
both lose some juice. At times, D12 Pro Wrestling plays like a
violent, fast-paced game of rock-paper-scissors.

You'll have to sustain some damage to pull off your strongest
attacks, which can take away three-quarters of your opponent's
vitality with one blow. Also, every fighter has some mean combo
attacks that play almost like a rhythm game. You initiate a regular
attack, and then hit the action key at exactly the right time to
start another attack, creating an extra-nasty beatdown. While you're
throttling the other sap, you get a black starburst background,
suggesting that you've hit the guy hard enough to tear open space-
time. The fighters also get one "savage attack" per level, which
takes up all of your juice and turns the screen bloodred. Some of
the techniques are downright awe-inspiring, like Kon Artis' triple
sole kick, which is an off-the-ropes running attack that seems to
set off an atomic explosion. A quick three-count pin is almost
inevitable after such a blow.

On the LG VX7000, D12 Pro Wrestling sports a neat, cartoonish look
that gives each fighter its specific trademark appearance. Bizarre's
definitely lost a lot of weight, but he's still wearing that weird
shower cap thing, while Kon Artis is decked out in a magenta
tracksuit and headband. The character sprites are pretty homogenous
otherwise, as are their combat animations, which consist of a few
different frames of animation put together in various sequences. On
the other hand, the game's got six different arenas to fight in, and
it makes great use of music, including a few tunes licensed from
D12. Each fighter has its own theme music to help pump them up, too.
The game ran great on the 7000, and it seemed quite playable on the
midrange LG VX6000, too.

We like what we've seen from D12 Pro Wrestling so far. It's a goofy,
fun little game that reminds us a bit of Sumo Wrestling, another
fighting game on Verizon. It's a pity that Eminem isn't making an
appearance, but it hardly ruins this game's streamlined, humorous
approach. We'll bring you the full review once the game's out in
October.


http://www.eminem_brasil.zip.net