WWE Champions is a 2017 puzzle RPG mobile game with a unique take on the 3-match game system with a professional wrestling theme.
WWE have really been no stranger to video games. Way back in 1991 they released WWF Wrestlemania before locking in a stranglehold on the wrestling game market in 2000 with WWF Smackdown. Each yearly edition proves as essential a purchase for wrestling fans as the FIFA / Madden games are to football fans.
WWE Champions is the latest attempt by the company to break into the mobile games market as it follows on from the trading card game WWE SuperCard and mobile fighter WWE Immortals. Here though, we get another 3-match puzzle game in a market certainly oversaturated with choice for titles but admittedly forms a solid basis for a much deeper experience.
The game sees you building your own roster of WWE superstars both past and present as you battle your way to the top of the company while adding new wrestlers to your roster with each earning coins and tokens to improve the stats of your wrestlers.
The gameplay is simple to pick up as matching three gems of the same colour causes them to shatter, with the total points of the three gems being the damage you cause to your opponent. Matching four gems causes the whole line to break, which not only causes additional damage to your opponent but also sets up the potential for a chain of damage to be unleashed. The damage is acted out by the two wrestlers at the top of the screen with the higher the damage total, the more impressive the moves being performed. Where the game mixes things up is with the special moves a wrestler can perform as breaking certain coloured gems will charge the special move bar of your wrestler which, when fully charged, can be unleashed on your opponent, causing massive damage and potentially setting them up for a pin. Matches usually last around 2-5 mins making it the perfect game to pick up and play on a down moment.
Drawing from a deck of over 100 wrestlers, which sees current roster members like John Cena, Kevin Owens and Roman Reigns rubbing shoulders with legends like The Rock, Sting and Triple H essentially allowing you to play out any number of fantasy matches, either as single or tag matches while ensuring plenty of variety when it comes to match setups. Sadly, there are no members of the Women’s roster included in the line up which will come as something of a blow to some fans, while its exclusion is only the more confusing when you consider the push that Women’s wrestling has received from the company as of late.
Graphics wise the interface is really clean and easy to navigate with plenty of tempting options to wrangle your money from you, which is such the standard model for these free to play mobile games it barely registered as an issue. As such fans of grinding can still slowly build up an impressive roster without it feeling like too much of a hassle. The character designs which hyper-cartoonish with some of the more powerful wrestlers looking like the hulk with their inflated muscles they are still enjoyable to see pulling off their trademark specials and entrances while bringing back nostalgic memories of the likes of “Street Fighter Puzzle Fighter”.
For established wrestling fans, this will no doubt provide a fun distraction especially with it providing such a heavy dose of fan service though its appeal might be more limited outside of its target audience.