New Attitude Era Mode

Return to an unparalleled and groundbreaking era in WWE history - a time of pure raucousness, grandiose personalities and colossal revolution – through a franchise-first single player campaign focused on eight purveyors of attitude during the famed television "Monday Night Wars," including WWE Hall of Famer "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.

Attitude Era mode replaces the Road to WrestleMania mode this year. It allows you to play as eight of the top WWE superstars during the Attitude Era period: Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Bret Hart, "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, Kane, The Rock, Mick Foley and The Undertaker.

The chapters are as follow:

The Rise of D-X
Austin 3:16
Brothers of Destruction
The Great One
Mankind
WrestleMania XV

The additional "Off Script" chapter will allow gamers to also play through other major moments of the Attitude Era, such as Chris Jericho’s Monday Night Raw debut and the first episode of SmackDown.

Told from the perspective of the WWE during that period, matches and in-game cutscenes are supplemented by superb video packages assembled by WWE’s own editors. These short vignettes put matches, feuds and larger industry developments into perspective, not only keeping the overall story going, but giving a bit of a history lesson in the process. Those of us who never saw the Attitude Era play out week-to-week will finally have that chance - through stellar video packages, 65 playable matches and even a ratings chart that follows the so-called ‘Monday Night Wars’ of WWE and its rival, WCW.

THQ isn’t simply relying on the allure of legendary stars to boost its Attitude endeavors. It has learned from previous ‘Road to Wrestlemania’ efforts. While there is certainly a desire to stay true to history, and tell the stories the way they played out on television, the developers of WWE ’13 are mindful that wrestling fans want a fun game first and foremost.

Your basic objective is almost always the same - win your match. That will come as a huge relief to many who found themselves simply playing to an arbitrary point and pressing a button to let the computer take control to a pre-determined conclusion. Games are meant to be played - and beaten. To have a mode that wrests control from the hands of players was understandably frustrating to some. WWE ’13 does away with that notion, instead working with incentives and bonus objectives to entice players to recreate moments from the past. Steve Austin beat Shawn Michaels at Wrestlemania XIV, but he did it in a specific way. You can simply beat the Michaels and move on, but if you go that extra step, you can potentially tap into the massive amount of unlockable content the game features.

Between videos, photos, belts, superstars and alternate attires, there are more than 100 items that can be opened by seeking out bonus objectives - some of which are hidden to prevent you from knowing how a match will play out. Critically, your list of objectives can be displayed at any time with the quick press of a button, just in case you’re curious if you’re accomplishing everything that’s necessary before you make the pin.

Legendary commentator Jim Ross will be heard alongside Jerry “The King” Lawler, just as he was in the late ‘90s.

Another nice addition was that the Attitude Era mode allows you to choose sections of the story's to play once you've completed them, meaning you can always jump back to specific matches to retry objectives at a later date instead of having to play through the entire story from the beginning.