First Impressions: Mpire 2008

I finally plunked down some money on the full version of Wrestling Mpire 2008. You just cannot get a feel for what's going on with this game through three separate play sessions (the limits of the trial version), so a full purchase is in order.

I had wanted to buy the boxed version but apparently, it is temporarily not available on cafepress.com.

The 2008 edition adds a lot of decent new features, new match types and new gameplay elements lifted from some of Mat's other games. The game does look better and there are new story elements that make the game more interesting. for example if you take steroids in the game there's a chance that everyone will find out and you'll be called out by the other wrestlers for it.

The ability to hire your own manager, find a tag team partner and make your own matches are in there, as well as a ton of new match types.

Some old problems from previous games persist too: picking up big objects is still awkward, changing focus is problematic, and the occasional clipping problems and collision detection are still an irritation.


If anything Mpire 2008 is the best wrestling game Mat has made, but it also shows that the technology he's using is getting long in the tooth. In the last interview I had with Mat, I mentioned the technology he is using and whether or not he planned to find tools that were more robust. Months later he mentioned using a new version of Blitz...

No offense to the makers of Blitz, but it just cannot handle what Mat wants to do anymore IMO.


Anyway, this is just some early thoughts on the full game. More to come, but i'm happy I spent the money on the game.

Wrestling Mpire 2008 Trial Run

I've been fiddling around with the trial version of Mat Dickie's latest wrestling game Wrestling Mpire 2008, and while I'm enjoying the game most of this year's changes don't seem all that dramatic. Sure, there are few noticeable things like the ability to recruit a manager or partner from the menu and the option of setting up a match, and the ability to block (borrowed from Mat's box title Reach), but it's really hard to put your finger on any major changes.

Admittedly I am missing a few things like better graphics because this is the demo and it probably wouldn't hurt to dig through the documentation a little more and play the trial as much as I can before it expires.

Don't get me wrong, I’m not disappointed with the latest game - I'm just trying to figure out if there are any earth shattering changes in here.

The game is still as brutal as ever. In one match, I beat a guy so badly that he lost his arm. Unfortunately the AI didn’t seem to mind all that much and continued to be aggressive towards me even though he kept falling down from the pain..

It also seemed like the character playing the referee was always out to get me no matter what. I need to look into whether this new game includes a reputation system that works and whether or not wronged opponents remember you misdeeds..

More to come.. in the interim, download the demo at www.mdickie.com