Wrestle Reviews
Hulk Hogan’s Main Event
Release
2011
Format
Xbox 360
Background
Well let me tell you something, dude if you want the best wrestling game in the world brother, then you better make sure you have the Kinect and a copy of Hulk Hogan’s Main Event! Anyway Hulk Hogan’s Main Event was an exclusive and as of writing the only wrestling game to make use of the Kinect. The game features no other real wrestlers apart from Hulk Hogan. Which to me is very odd as you would have thought that as Hulk Hogan was part of TNA Wrestling at the time they could have perhaps made the game be based on TNA.
I am embarrassed, ashamed and possibly deserve to have my gamer card revoked because I actually bought a Kinect so that I could try out this game. Now in my defense it was a pre owned Kinect and I got it cheap, but I still bought it just so I could try this game. And as I write this now it is the only Kinect game I have in my collection, and as the Kinect is stuck in the back of a draw full of controllers. I cannot see it being brought out again anytime soon. I know I am a huge wrestling fan, but really what the hell was I thinking?
Presentation
If I had to say a good thing about the game it would be that I do kind of like the cartoon visuals. In many ways it does remind me of the Punch Out game for the Wii. The game also has some pretty nice looking arenas that start out with you wrestling literally in people’s backyards before making your way to the big arenas. So from a graphical point of view the game is really not that bad…… but this is a game that requires you to make your own custom wrestler, but the amount of choices you have are pathetic. Want to make a wrestler with long hair well you can’t even do that! The best you can come up with is a CM Punk look alike. Which is what I and I am sure most other wrestling fans did.
Now you would think that the sound in this game would be awesome I mean after all Hulk Hogan is the guy training you so there is bound to be a ton of funny and classic Hulk sound bites right? Well wrong the game has around 30 (and I think I am being very generous here) different things that Hulk will say and that is it. You do get to record your own dialogue which should be amazing. I wanted to record myself being Randy Savage, but nope. This was a huge missed opportunity to let you record your own wrestling promos. I am sure if they had done this that having some buddies around, a few beers and recording wrestling promos would be a great time.
Game Play
I am not a fan of motion controls at all there is just no way they can replace a controller. Off topic here, but about a year before Kinect was released I attended a trade show and had the chance to check out Kinect Star Wars. There I was using The Force feeling like a bad ass and then I had to make my character move to the next area and it was the biggest chore and pain in the ass ever. The Kinect makes something as simple as moving from point a to point b an issue. Anyway Hulk Hogan’s Main Event claims to have over 50 moves and you will have the Hulkster himself to tell you what motions you need to make in order to do them. I would go as far to say that the game is flat out broken. Just stand there flapping your arms around and you have a better chance hitting a move that doing what Hulk tells you.
The game mode (yes game mode) sees you as a struggling backyard wrestler who is spotted one day by Hulk Hogan. He takes you under his wing and promises to make you the greatest wrestler of all time! The game is a ladder themed wrestling game where you beat one guy and move on to the next and again and again. One interesting thing that the game does do is when you are making your entrance. You will have to strike poses and avoid stuff being thrown at you by the crowd. What is weird is that the motion controls here work a million times better than the actual wrestling. So if you want a game where the best part is to flex your muscles and avoid hot dogs being thrown at you then this is for you.
Final Thoughts
Wow is all I can say. If there is a game that is the one to show how bad Kinect can be then it has to be Hulk Hogan’s Main Event. It should be fun, but you realize after about three minutes (again I am being kind) to realize that the game just does not work. The terrible lack of options for creating your wrestler, the one game mode all make this game seem like it was nothing more than a quick attempt to cash in on Hulk Hogan’s name and dumb asses like yours truly fell for it. The annoying thing is that some of the ideas are not all bad here and if they were done right then maybe a Kinect wrestling game that was mini game based like recording promos, practicing moves, dodging chair shots and other weapons, making your wrestlers signature poses would have been pretty fun.
For additional reviews by Jason Delacey: Click Here
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