Scottish developer Serious Parody have something just as big to shout about. The makers behind Wrestling Manager for iOS just announced a direct challenge to WWE's video game offering with 5 Star Wrestling which will launch as a PlayStation 3 exclusive this summer!
Official Press Release: “5 Star Wrestling” Announced Exclusively For PlayStation 3
Dundee, Scotland – April 2013. The wrestling game world is long over due a shake up. The same development studio has dominated the genre for well over a decade with little to no competition. Well as the saying goes, ‘Enough is enough and it’s time for a change!’
Introducing ‘5 Star Wrestling’ the first PlayStation 3 wrestling game made out of pure passion for the art form of professional wrestling. This is not a Sports Entertainment game, it’s a Professional Wrestling game! The stories aren’t told through badly dubbed cut scenes, they’re told in the ring with truly genre enhancing gameplay!
Wrestling Psychology
Everything in wrestling is done for a reason. Have you ever noticed that technically gifted wrestlers will focus their attacks on an opponent’s legs if they are outmatched in size and strength? The reason that’s a popular strategy is because if a man can barely support his own body weight, he’s going to struggle to lift you above his head and send you crashing down to the mat.
In 5 Star Wrestling, the way you attack an opponent can significantly limit their offensive arsenal. If your opponent is faster than you and is constantly running around, attack their body to drain their stamina and slow them down. If your opponent is stronger than you, injure their legs and next time they try a lift up move like a Powerbomb, their knee will buckle and you’ll be left on your feet while they roll around crying like a baby.
Putting The Rules Back Into Wrestling
Wrestling has referee’s for a reason. Groin shots and eye pokes are dangerous weapons that have ended many matches and they will not be tolerated in a 5 Star Wrestling ring. If you want to kick a man in the crotch, by all means go for it but IF THE REF CATCHES YOU, it could be game over. Of course if he doesn’t catch you, you might just be on a winner!
Finishing Moves Galore
Finishing Moves are a huge part of a professional wrestling and 5 Star Wrestling revolutionizes finishing moves in wrestling games. Tired Finishers, Power Finishers, High Risk Finishers, Quick Finishers, Finishers that come from nowhere, 5 Star Wrestling has it all. There’s no robotic formula of 2 finishers per wrestler because 5 Star Wrestling is aiming to be as close to the sport of wrestling as possible. Some wrestlers utilize devastatingly powerful finishers, while others stringing multiple finishers together to end a match and some of the best wrestlers can perform their finishing moves from virtually any position making them incredibly dangerous. That’s the same approach 5 Star Wrestling takes and the end result is characters that are fun master. It’s The Moves That Make The Man It won’t surprise you to learn that the most highly praised wrestling games of all time were the ones where wrestlers could utilize the most amounts of moves and the most heavily criticized wrestling games were the ones where wrestlers didn’t have many moves at all. Not only does 5 Star Wrestling feature more Moves Per Wrestler than any other wrestling game in history (nearly 200 per wrestler) it also has the most character specific move sets of any wrestling game, making each character feel incredibly unique.
Styles Make Fights
In 5 Star Wrestling, each character has strengths and weaknesses but they also fit into certain archetypes. Brutes are powerful but slow and stupid. Ring Technicians are cunning with tactical move sets but are weaker than your average wrestler. Risk Takers are fast and can perform dare devil type moves but they hurt themselves in the process and Showman are highly resilient wrestlers with lots of finishing moves but they aren’t the strongest, fastest or smartest wrestlers in the mix. Heels (bad guys) have access to devastating (but risky) cheat moves, Faces (good guys) don’t cheat but they can receive huge momentum swings that allow them to perform amazing comebacks. The bottom line is, each character in 5 Star Wrestling feels unique and that means players will need to come up with different strategies if they want to be successful.
Serious Parody: The Story So Far…
5 Star Wrestling is being developed by Serious Parody Ltd, a studio established in 2010 with the primary purpose of bringing the new wave of wrestling titles to games players. The team of 15 are based in the Scottish games hub of Dundee.
Made the 1st 'Prowrestling Management Sim' on any mobile device https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wrestling-manager/id465946596?mt=8
Made the 1st iOS game to feature mod tools (no coding/no jail breaking) http://www.wrestlingmanagement.com/forums.html#/20130106/pokemon-battle-league-2213433/
Raised a bit of cash to build a team http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/17/serious-parody-funding/
Made a cool augmented reality Bat Signal prototype to book our own tickets http://scottishgames.net/2012/07/20/the-dark-knight-returns-to-dundee/
The CEO/lead designer of 5 Star Wrestling/Wrestling Manager was listed in Develop Magazine's 30 Under 30 http://www.develop-online.net/features/1780/The-fourth-annual-30-Under-30
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