WWE '13 is a professional wrestling video game developed by Yuke's and published by THQ for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii. It was released on October 30, 2012, in North America and November 2, 2012, in United Kingdom. It is the fourteenth overall installment in the WWE series, the sequel to WWE '12, and the last installment to be released on a Nintendo console until WWE 2K18 in 2017. It was also the last WWE-licensed game to be published by THQ before the company's demise in January 2013, ending their relationship with WWE after 14 years. Following THQ's liquidation, Take-Two Interactive would acquire the publishing rights to future games, as the WWE series would be rebranded as the WWE 2K series and would be published by 2K.
WWE '13 focuses on the promotion's Attitude Era, replacing "Road to WrestleMania" with a new "Attitude Era" mode where the player plays through six different storylines inspired from that time period. In addition to an updated "Predator Technology engine", the game adds in a new audio system called "WWE Live". The game is said to be the second phase of a "Revolution" in WWE video games, with cover athlete CM Punk taking charge.
Following its release, the game received positive reviews from the critics and was nominated for the Spike Video Game Award for Best Individual Sports Game.
WWE '13 was succeeded by WWE 2K14 in 2013.
Gameplay
Exhibition
WWE '13 runs on the engine dubbed, "Predator Technology 2.0", which succeeds the first version from WWE '12. The engine has been updated to allow for more fluid animations, with odd collisions and transitions having been fixed and updated, it also allows over 300 new moves. Other past problems that have been fixed include a better weight detection system, contextual animations, and automatic attack homing, to ensure that the character always strikes toward opponents. The contextual animation system has been refined to ensure that it dynamically swaps out moves to make sure that the game is using the appropriate move animations at any given time and state. The weight detection system makes it so that small superstars such as Rey Mysterio are unable to lift larger wrestlers such as the Big Show. Thus, the contextual animations ensure that more appropriate attacks are put in the superstar's normal moveset.
The game's new homing system is designed so that when doing high-flying moves, a player will hit the intended target with better precision. The homing system also tracks tables so that they will be better detected when doing grapples on a ladder in TLC and Ladder matches. This feature allows for environmental moves such as ring breaks, barricade breaks, announce table breaks, and catching (mid-air) finishers to be possible.
A different model is used for "giant" characters, rather than a single-body structure for all superstars. The game also features a newly revamped audio system with remastered sound effects and crowd reactions, and commentary audio taken directly from live WWE events. Online servers have been enhanced to allow players to test out creations before downloading them into the game.
The "Special Referee" match type returns from its last appearance in WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007. Additionally, AI will fill in for absent players during online matches, in the event when not enough players are available.
Story Modes
Attitude Era Mode
The game's "Attitude Era" mode feature 35 superstars and over 60 cutscenes that detail aspects of the Era. To fill in the gaps and storylines necessary to understand a feud or match's context, THQ worked with WWE editors to produce 20 video packages. The "Monday Night War" with World Championship Wrestling (WCW), a major element of the era, is given a nod through the way of a rating chart that follows the player as they progress throughout the mode. Smaller details, such as entrances, arenas and television graphics from the time period have also been recreated.
Players have the option to recreate several moments from the Attitude Era, allowing them to unlock over 100 items. Commentary from Jerry "The King" Lawler and Jim Ross, who were WWE's main commentary team during the period, are present, with re-recorded commentary along with archived audio in certain points during in-game cutscenes. Though Lawler is present in Exhibition and Universe modes alongside Michael Cole, Ross' commentary is only featured in "Attitude Era" mode.