[E3'10] Wrestling Destiny: Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes Del Ring Demo

One booth that was the talk of the town during E3 was the slice of expo-real estate dedicated to promoting Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes Del Ring. Aiming to engage players by throwing them into the almost mythological world of masked wrestling, the game’s promoters set up an actual ring and had several of the sport’s greatest fighters flown in to decide who would ultimately end up on the game’s box cover through masked combat. The booth’s presence would also explain the growing crowd of masked expo-goers wandering the halls, having been given the chance to don a sensational Luchador hood upon completing a demo of the game. Sitting down for a presentation showcasing the game in action, I knew little of what to expect, but came out with my eyes opened to the possibilities presented by this beloved sports franchise.

One really cool aspect of the game is that a character’s popularity with his audience serves as the fuel for his more advanced moves and combos. Putting on a good show is just as important, if not more so, than nailing the correct set of combos. Taking the time to play to your cheering audience through elaborate theatrics will pay off in dividends once you have enough fan-power, culminating in a bone crunching finale for smart players who own their crowd. Maxed out popularity unlocks your patented special move, which you can actually customize by sifting through and combining a series of entertainingly painful attacks during the creation of your own Luchador.

In conveying the authenticity and flair of masked wrestling through the medium of video-games, the developers chose to emphasize the importance of grappling through the game’s mechanics. Grappling is key to winning matches, so players favoring long-distance trick moves and reaches better be cool with getting in close for the finish.  Don’t feel as if you have to keep your battles in the ring, though, as venturing beyond the rope is thoroughly encouraged. How else will you get a chair to bash your opponent’s head in? Also adding to the authenticity is the ability to lose via disqualification and submission, although true heroes del ring would never consider such defeatist tactics now would they?

Another surprising aspect of the game was the emphasis placed on creating your own unique masked wrestler thanks to an elaborate Luchador editor that comes into play at the beginning of your Lucha experience. Keeping in step with the detail-oriented character creators of most modern-day RPG’s, Heroes del Ring allows for body shape, facial, clothing, and most importantly in-depth mask customization to make your wrestler truly your own. You wouldn’t think creating a face to hide under a mask would make much sense, but the level of detail does play heavily into the Mask Versus Hair tournaments, which result in losers getting de-masked or shaved. Numerous clothing choices and accessories can be tailored to fit your wrestler’s persona. During our demo, the audience chose to rock a pair of tight spandex pants with flame lacings and a bull’s head at the center, earning our Luchador the infamous title of “El Crocho”.

To further your experience, the creators also allow you to customize such things as your grand entrance and title finishing moves, with around 27 different entrances available at the start of the game. I really enjoyed little touches like these, which emphasize the player’s investment in the game and the universe it is trying to create. Helping to sell that atmosphere is a running narration by famous masked wrestler Konan, who will walk you through your paces and throw out words of wisdom during the game’s tutorials. The game’s story mode will be divided up into two different formats, allowing a player to try their hand at being the good guys (tecnicos) or the sinister bad guys  (the rudos). Providing parallel perspectives on the same events, what little I saw of the story mode proved fairly compelling and showed the potential to keep players entertained through a decently paced campaign.

With fighting taking place both in and out of the ring, wrestlers wielding muscles and furniture at random, and competitive online play not only supported but encouraged, Heroes Del Ring is shaping up to be a formidable entry into the fighting scene. Bringing a whole new flavor to fighting games, this fantastical festival of fisticuffs brings the entertaining and thematically deep world of masked wrestling to life at the hands of players who might think they’ve seen everything the genre has to offer. With a respectable amount of customization sprinkled amongst the compelling fight mechanics and competitive fighting modes, Lucha Libre AAA: Heroes Del Ring should turn heads once it hits shelves August 9, 2010.