As you play and explore each combination you’ll find that some cards come together to create a Feud Card, and this will give you an extra star when you place those two cards in the ring against one another. You make the matches and you watch for the results, there is no rigid way of playing, you can be as consistent or as random as you want but for the best possible outcomes you want to find out which Wrestlers share the best chemistry. Five is the highest, one is the lowest and you’ll receive lower ratings for repetitive matches on a weekly basis so it’s important to build the feuds you want carefully without using the same options every time. You’ll be competing against two other companies for superior ratings and to do this you’ll have to figure out which stars mesh the best and give you those all important star ratings.
There isn’t exactly much going on gameplay wise, the main bulk of the action is in building match cards every single week and trying to oust the audience from your competition.
It’s hard to choose who to use from week to week as you’ll come across so many different characters that you’ll want to shove into the marquee position but there simply isn’t enough space on the show. They feel like they all have their own personalities and reasons for existing within the universe the game creates. It does really at distinguishing these stars just beyond some art and clever names. The Wrestlers are also separated by precise types, these include Showman, Flyer, Hulk, Ghoulie, just to name a few. They all have positions on the card that stem from Jobber, (the lowest allocated spot on the Roster, reserved for the worst Wrestlers), Openers, (best used for kicking off the show with a bang) Midcard, (For the middling stars who can hang with the top stars but are best kept for feuds with the lower tier Wrestlers) Upper Midcard, (the talent that are considered important foils to the more credible stars) Main Event, (The cream of the crop, and show stealers on any given night) and finally Legends, (The icons of the business and the most respected names in the ring, the ultimate challenge). There are hundreds of Wrestlers and each have different looks and personas depending on the year, gimmick and their alignment with the faces (good guys), heels, (bad guys) and tweeners, (good or bad depending on the situation you choose for them). The roster consists of many cheeky nods to well known wrestlers, iconic movie characters, musical artists and other names that you’ll likely recognise the intended portrayal of. The music is appropriate to the era and for Wrestling fans, you will be so satisfied with just how accurate the audio and design of this game is. As I said, the game is called 80’s Mania but spans two decades of historical satire and does so really accurately. It’s all quite clever and is presented in this Hotline Miami type of aesthetic with neon colours and bold textures that really pop against the menus. Here is a Wrestling Booking simulator that spoofs not only the popular wrestling boom of the 80’s and 90’s but also heavily parodies the pop culture that was relevant to it’s time. Today I have the perfect game to start with, it’s one that I’ve been playing daily for around 6 weeks now and I’m having an absolute blast with.
My reliance on those little games this week have inspired me to create a new series where we look at mobile games and focus on the gems and the duds that have found their way onto our phones. We’ve now got really fun versions of Super Mario, Sonic The Hedgehog, Pac-Man, Rayman… the list is almost endless and just hammers home how far mobile gaming has come. Candy Crush, Angry Birds and Crossy Roads to name a few have found their way to mainstream prominence with many companies jumping on the bandwagon too. Millions of people these days are invested in the latest mobile trend and we’ve seen hugely successful franchises born from the medium. The platform of mobile gaming has improved dramatically from the days of pixelated side scrolling imitations of popular titles and now holds its own with entertaining and adds addictive titles. Between all of my explorations and adventures I’ve filled the quiet times with some mobile gaming and been inspired to cast a spotlight on this “lesser appreciated” form of gaming. I’ve been on holiday this week in beautiful Funchal, Portugal.