Hulk Hogan’s Main Event is a different kind of wrestling game. It’s more about the showboating antics that go on during TV wrestling matches. Use your arms, legs, and whole body to perform entrance poses, dodge attacks, and pin down opponents!

First you must create your own wrestler. Choose a body type, hair, skin and clothes from a huge selection, and you’ll unlock more parts as you play. In Career Mode you’ll rise in the ranks as you progress through a series of wrestling challenges hosted by the Hulkster himself. You can also play any of the events you’ve unlocked in Quick Play, or go against a friend in Multiplayer.

A typical wresting match has a handful of smaller events you must do. First you must strike some cool poses for your entrance. Then you might have to dodge attacks by leaning or blocking, and then unleash a flurry of punches when there’s an opening. Watch the on screen directions to grab your opponent and pick him up to perform body slams in another event, or punch and trip your foe as he bounces and runs around the ropes in the ring. Luckily there are always picture cues on the bottom of the screen to show you what action you need to perform.

Really the only problem with the game is you have to perform those actions rather quickly to successfully complete a move. The Kinect always has a slight delay, so you only have a second to make the pose shown on the screen. The game does a good job of sensing exactly what you want to do, but you just have to be very quick. It would be nice if it were a little more forgiving, as the difficulty ramps up pretty fast otherwise.

Kid Factor:

Hulk Hogan’s Main Event is rated T for Teen with an ESRB descriptor of Violence. It’s true that you do punch, kick, and slam your opponents to the ground. It looks especially bad when you wail on the other wrestler as he lay motionless. But, all the characters in the game have a stylized look about them, so it just looks like action figures are fighting each other. I’d be OK with kids younger than teens playing this, especially if their parents are OK with them being wrestling fans. And kids are fascinated by this stuff, let’s face it. Even when I was a kid, they sold plush dolls that looked like pro wrestlers that little boys could play rough with. Reading skill is helpful for the text instructions, but there are picture cues to tell you what to do. But younger gamers and players not as quick on the draw might get frustrated at the game’s difficulty.

Tags: Game Reviews