This situation happens far too often to be mere chance as well, which makes the game far more frustrating than it should be. In fact, the more punishment your opponent takes, then the more annoying they seem to become, as just as you think you can finish them off they start countering more frequently and pulling off their own big moves. Obviously the main highlight of any match should be a finisher - to bring your opponent to their knees - but it takes so long to pull one off that you usually get attacked before they can kick in. The opponent AI is also pretty brutal, even on easy, and will pull off counters at the drop of a hat, whereas the timing for you to counter anything seems improbably small and possibly even luck based. This is certainly a nice change from the more strategy-based stamina system that you'd find in the annual WWE games, however, the game never quite gets around to telling you how certain moves link together and it usually comes down to a lot of trial and error (or furious button bashing – I admit it) before you begin to understand the basics. The action itself revolves around combos and chains of moves to whittle away your opponent's health, with well-timed strings of blows doing a ton of damage sprinkled in between. The real problem with the game is that it's not quite as simple as it'd lead you to believe. With bulging biceps and signature moves that would probably kill Chuck Norris - as well as defy all the laws of physics - WWE All Stars is more about pizzazz than the series combat that you'd expect from THQ's yearly WWE outing – or so you would think.

The characters and action in All Stars look superb and are complimented with some delightfully tongue-in-cheek commentary. Yes, the franchise that has over-the-top down to an art form has been made even more so. This time around though, you can expect an in-your-face fighter, with beefed-up versions of some WWE greats performing all of the moves you would expect. Legends of Wrestlemania in 2009 tried something similar but never really got off the ground, as it was almost too easy in some respects. The idea behind All Stars was to strip all of that away and create a simplified fighter that could apply to everyone, as well as giving us an excuse to use Andre the frickin' Giant.

It's fair to say that recent wrestling games have become somewhat bogged down by lengthy career modes and move-sets that would make Street Fighter blush.

Wwe all stars xbox one