Mr. PSVR-2
Wrestling has been a staple in the history of the fans of the sport of both old and new. No matter your fan level, there are the ones everyone has surely heard of such as Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Chris Jerico, John Cena, and the Rock. Depending on where you live, you are going to have fans who remember those territory days when things get really passionate with names such as Dusty Rhodes, the Four Horsemen, The Fabulous Freebirds, and The Von Erichs. Wrestling has a special place in the hearts of many but does developer, Mega Cat Studios, bring something different and the spirit of what so many enjoy? Let’s find out with WrestleQuest for PlayStation 5.
WrestleQuest is a role-playing video game that combines the pro-wrestling theme with elements that take you on the ultimate wrestling adventure as you powerbomb and piledrive your way through a massive pixel art universe where professional wrestling and RPG fantasy collide. Take a hero’s journey as you upgrade from aspiring rookie to world champ by training, learning, glamming, and slamming to the top of the pro wrestling food chain.
So before you try and take on everyone to Suplex City, there are a few things that you should be aware of. First, as always, find your favorite place to sit. This is your journey to becoming a legend that you will want to be well-rested for. Second, make sure you let anyone who might be around you not to disturb you as you may make some famous sayings with some energy as you say Ohhh Yeeeaaaahhh as you perform your finisher as you snap into a Slim Jim. Third, I am not going to spoil anything for anyone. Remember that the path you take will be that of your own and I don’t want to ruin anything for anyone and will only be showing footage from the earlier parts of the game. Fourth, make sure that your DualSense controller is charged. You don’t want to be beaten down all because you forgot to charge it. And finally, just have some fun. With that said, let’s continue…
When you first start WrestleQuest, not only are you greeted with some of the awesome pixel art, but the music as well. There is just something about the music from the start that gives this embarking on your journey sound to it that is intriguing. But then you are greeted with some of wrestling’s finest such as Diamond Dallas Page to Jeff Jarrett as their text appears on the screen.
But what you have here is the bringing of what many of us have done as kids ourselves, and take those toys to practice those wrestling moves by using our imagination to the wildest parts that we could think of. So yes, you are playing with toys as toys, and while that may seem a little strange at first, once you start playing, you can see how much it works.
When you start, you play as one Randy Santos whose moves, actions, and mannerisms all come down to their favorite wrestler, the one and only Macho Man Randy Savage who believes that as long as you never forget to train, eat your vitamins, and say your prayers, will be become the pro wrestler he was meant to be or at least he believes to be.
As you start from your gym, you get the basics aka the tutorial, and as a reminder to keep looking at your radar to keep slamming in the right direction. Part of your training is, of course, wrestling. Now, if you were expecting that you would go into the ring and freely control Randy and lay the smack down on everyone, then you forgot to have your protein drink. This is here is turn-based fighting. So it’s a matter of you picking between Gemicks, Items, Taunts, and Taunts. Each one of these will have different options to select from as each one is represented by the buttons on the controller. For example, items you earn can be used to heal yourself, and your allies, or there may be items you can use against your opponents. You want to also keep a look for the Hype Meter as it helps keep the motivation up between allies and enemies, and there is nothing like a good taunt, but keep in mind, you very well could be using your turn for this instead of striking. When striking, you will have a meter that you will need to hit the corresponding button in order to have the move be effective or a miss. Sometimes, when the opponents attack, you will have the option to counter if you hit the correct button. So if you haven’t memorized the button layout of the DualSense controller by now, you may want to take some time as it could come in handy.
As you start from your gym, you get the basics aka the tutorial, and as a reminder to keep looking at your radar to keep slamming in the right direction. Part of your training is, of course, wrestling. Now, if you were expecting that you would go into the ring and freely control Randy and lay the smack down on everyone, then you forgot to have your protein drink. This is here is turn-based fighting. So it’s a matter of you picking between Gemicks, Items, Taunts, and Taunts. Each one of these will have different options to select from as each one is represented by the buttons on the controller. For example, items you earn can be used to heal yourself, and your allies, or there may be items you can use against your opponents. You want to also keep a look for the Hype Meter as it helps keep the motivation up between allies and enemies, and there is nothing like a good taunt, but keep in mind, you very well could be using your turn for this instead of striking. When striking, you will have a meter that you will need to hit the corresponding button in order to have the move be effective or a miss. Sometimes, when the opponents attack, you will have the option to counter if you hit the correct button. So if you haven’t memorized the button layout of the DualSense controller by now, you may want to take some time as it could come in handy.
As your journey continues to become a legend, you will meet up with others and other legends who will help you along the way as there is nothing like wrestling or training with some of these legends. Keep in mind, that when new members join your party, which can be exciting, they will not be at the same level as you or the rest of the party but will be at ground zero. But having new members can take some time to get them up to your level and that’s will you will need to choose if you should keep the ones that stuck with you from the beginning all the way through or take a chance as you never know what may be brought to the wrestling table. When you encounter enemies as you move along, they will become alerted and it will be up to you to either fight them or do your best to avoid them which can become tiresome at times as you are trying to reach the next point.
Speaking of next points, it’s not about just wrestling here, as there will be choices to make that will help to determine your destiny. But you also have the ability to increase your skills, check out new quests, see your achievements, select your party members, and partake in mini-games that some will either embrace as part of their wrestling journey or wish you could choke slam. You will be traveling from town to town talking and challenging different characters, or possibly getting lost in the dungeon-like areas. As with progression, there will be times when we want to save. Keep in mind, that there are only three slots.
Depending on who might be in your party, you might come to a point where you have to wrestle those big opportunity fights which may mean you have to go back to a previous town and make sure you have not only enough supplies, but the right supplies at that.
You will also encounter different characters to wrestle with where it seems they have created their own character look with some that didn’t ask other’s opinions or get the okay from that region’s promotion, but somehow tried to make it work. Bosses in each region will put you and your party to the test with what seems to be an endless amount of HP to only have its own trick up their sleeves of a way of gaining health (thank you outside interference) that you will try whatever trick you have, including some tag and triple-team powerups that make you think how much more fun and interesting wrestling would be if this was all a possibility.
Let’s talk about the graphics and sound. In looking at the graphics, I do have to say I really enjoy this pixilated art style as colors stand out when they need to and lead into the details of the characters. Seeing some of these legends in this retro pixel form compliments their likeness very well. With the sound, hearing the music throughout does keep things going with its own mix of music genres.
There are a few things that I would love to see. For one, character movement. I get it, this is a turn-based RPG, but it would be fun if there was a freedom option where you could go in and actually do some moves without having to hit certain buttons. Second, the dialog. There are times when characters are talking and you can almost start to hear the voices, but then it just goes to the words on the screen. I am not sure if it was set up where any of the actual legends had full dialog or not, but to only hear bits and pieces at times when what seemed like there was supposed to be dialog is a missed opportunity of sorts. It would be kind of amazing to have full dialog narration even if it wasn’t the actual wrestlers themselves. And finally, online multiplayer. Yes, this is single player only, but think how much fun it would be to have a selection of wrestlers to even create your own and wrestle each other in this art style.
WrestleQuest takes the fun and innocence and allows us to wrestle within our imagination on a bigger stage. It goes to show that if we imagine it we can create it. In life we all have dreams. Sometimes we are told that it will not work, that we may not be good enough, or even to try something else. Why should anyone give up on their dreams? If you believe in yourself, others will start to as well. So never give up, and if you try and work hard enough, you can hold that championship high in the sky.
WrestleQuest is out now for PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on the PlayStation Store. A review code was provided. To learn more about Mega Cat Studios, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, and follow them on Twitter.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I have some wrestling to get to.
