Review: WrestleQuest Comes Off The Top Rope With A Solid Debut Effort
07.08.2023 - 20:43
/ mmorpg.com
/ Randy Savage
Now let me tell ya something brother, this here WrestleQuest is one happening game, dude! It’s got some of the most famous faces to step into a square circle, even some the younger MMOamaniacs might not even remember, jack! The turn-based battle system turns a match into a RPG battle in a really cool way, even in the later stages of the game, chief. Whatcha gonna do when WrestleQuest-a-mania runs wild on you?!?!
Ahem…
WrestleQuest’s follows the story of Randy “Muchacho Man” Santos, whose love of pro wrestling is second to none. He lives, eats, and breathes the graps, to the point where he…might not realize its true nature. His journey to the top to be the cream of the crop is what serves as the backbone of this turn-based tussle.
The world of WrestleQuest leans into the farcical elements of pro wrestling, as every character in the game is a toy rather than a living human being. Some of them aren’t even wrestling figures; they’re stuffed animals or Barbie-esque dolls. Instead of going for cutting-edge realism, Mega Cat decided we were kids playing pretend, and the whimsical nature of that choice is a huge boon. I never knew what was going to come next, simply because I didn’t know what part of my nostalgic past Mega Cat was going to pull from next.
On that front, the game is absolutely stuffed with references of and cameos from real-world pro wrestling. One of the first scenes in the game is a podcast studio with Conrad Thompson, host of multiple successful wrestling shows. Names like Diamond Dallas Page, Junkyard Dog, and “The Macho Man” Randy Savage also appear, which warms my lifelong wrestling fan heart.
However, I do feel some of those cameos might be lost on folks who are here for the RPG and not the wrestling. I know who Brian Zane is and what his YouTube channel is called — Wrestling With Wregret, by the way, big fan — but when he shows up in the game, non-wrestling fans might think nothing of it. I’m all about insider references for wrestling degenerates like me, but they may fly over the heads of those not in the know.
Speaking of the RPG part of WrestleQuest, what Mega Cat was able to do in bringing a pro wrestling match to a turn-based system is wonderful stuff. Normal attacks are common strikes, special moves are high-impact slams and throws that require ability points. Different team-ups can produce different synergies thanks to the tag-team and triple-team attacks. Even the “pin” mini game needed to defeat certain opponents adds a little extra edge. It’s a system that continually shocked me with how well two things I’ve been a fan of for the majority of my life — wrestling and RPGs — fit together.
Customization plays a role in WrestleQuest as well, thanks to both a gear system and