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Ring of Honor: Unchained 2017

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Cover featuring Adam Cole

Cover featuring Adam Cole

Ring of Honor: Unchained 2017 is a 3D professional wrestling game developed by Headrush Games and published by ACS. It is based on the American wrestling promotion Ring of Honor. Released for PlayStation 4, Xbox ONE, PC and the Samsung Zeo. The game is the first licensed video game based on Ring of Honor and the first installment of the Ring of Honor: Unchained series of wrestling games.

Ring of Honor: Unchained 2017 runs on the Unreal Engine 4, allowing for highly detailed in-game graphics and realistic character models.

Gameplay[]

The gameplay is primarily based on a heavily modified gameplay engine based on ACS' previous wrestling game, Pipeworks Studios' IPWX Danger Zone, which most of the game's development team had previously worked on. It emphasizes the use of tieups and weak/strong grapples, but also includes additional elements from other wrestling games.

The game uses a conventional control scheme common in most wrestling games: punches, kicks, grapples, picking up weapons and entering/exiting the ring are relegated to the face buttons, while running, reversals and modifiers are mapped on the shoulder buttons, switching focus is done via the d-pad, movement is done with the left stick, and the right stick is used for taunting. The game incorporates both quick and strong grapples, which depends on whether the player pressed the grapple button alongside the attack modifier button.

Each players' HUD consists of the Heat meter, which increases as the player successfully attacks their opponent and decreases as they receive significant damage, the Momentum meter, an EKG-esque meter which slowly changes color from green to red depending on who has the upper hand during the match, and the body damage indicator, a body-shaped diagram segmented into four parts: head, body, arms and legs, which flashes for a short time to indicate which body part gets damaged following a certain attack and changes color from green, to yellow, to orange, and finally to red, to indicate which body part is severely weakened.

When the Heat meter is filled to its maximum level, the player can activate "Unchained Mode", During Unchained Mode, the player gains certain advantages, such as added power, speed and reversal success rate, and when the right conditions are fullfilled, can perform one of their finishing moves. Each wrestler has two finishers, but the player can only select one of each per match; for example, Christopher Daniels has both his Angel's Wings and B.M.E. finishers in the game. Unchained Mode is activated either by taunting or performing one of the wrestler's signature moves, both of which can only be done as the Heat meter is maxed out. The player can also opt to save a finisher for later use instead. However, saved finishers are much weaker than regular finishers.

The game utilizes a tug-of-war submission system where the attacker and must mash buttons in order to make the defender tap out, while the defender can do the same to escape from the hold. The more damage in the targeted body part, the less opportunity there is for the defender to escape (for example: locking an opponent with severely damaged arms in an armbar will cause the escape marker to start a few inches near rhe "Submit" end of the meter). Similarly, pins can be escaped from by timing a moving dot into a marked space in the middle. The more damage a player receives, the smaller the space becomes, and the harder it is to kick out. The player can also used an instant-kick out in exchange for their saved finisher, but this may only be done once during the match.

The game includes certain match types as seen in ROH television such as single and tag modes, as well as support for up to eight players on-screen. In-game commentary is provided by Kevin Kelly.

Wrestling Styles[]

Each wrestler in the game is classified under five Wrestling Styles: Power, Shoot, Catch, Hold and Lucha, each with their own stance, strengths and weaknesses. Wrestling styles also dictate the moves that the wrestler can use at their disposal. For example, Lucha wrestlers cannot perform power moves like powerbombs, chokeslams and press slams, while Power wrestlers cannot use high-flying moves like hurricanranas, sunset flips and most top rope and springboard moves.

  • Power: Specializes in strong grapples.
  • Shoot: Specialzes in striking moves.
  • Catch: Specializes in counters & quick grapples.
  • Hold: Specializes in submission holds.
  • Lucha: Specializes in high-flying maneuvers.

Modes[]

The available game modes are as follows: Quick Match, Main Event, Tournament, Career, Create and Options.

Quick Match[]

Quick Match mode allows players to start a single match against a random opponent, without the need for setting up rules or choosing an opponent.

Main Event[]

In Main Event mode, players can create a single match of their choice against the CPU or other players. Available match types are as follows:

  • Single
  • Triangle
  • 4-Corner Survival
  • Battle Royal (4-Man, 6-Man, 8-Man)
  • Tag Team (Normal, Tornado Tag)
  • Handicap (1 vs. 2, 1 vs. 3, 2 vs. 3)
  • Handicap Tag (1 vs. 2, 1 vs. 3, 2 vs. 3)
  • Cage (Single, Tornado Tag)
  • Scramble Cage (Single, Tornado Tag)
  • Tap-Out
  • Ladder

In some match types, players are able to choose between several rulesets that alter the rules of the game, making them much stricter or more loose.

  • Normal
  • Pure Wrestling
  • Fight Without Honor

Tournament[]

Tournament mode, as its name suggests, allows players to set up a tournament of their own against the CPU or other players. Based on ROH's annual Survival of the Fittest tournament, wrestlers compete in a variety of "qualifying" matches, with the winner of each match later advancing to an elimination match. The last remaining competitor would be deemed the Survival of the Fittest winner.

Career[]

The game features an in-depth Career Mode, which allows players to take on the life and career of either a default wrestler from the game's roster or their own created wrestler. Players start off as a jobber, working on house shows. Once they garner enough popularity (achieved by winning matches and getting a high performance level), they would be elevated to rookie status and appear on the main television program, Ring of Honor Wrestling.

From here, the player would continue to increase their popularity until they reach a certain rank and reach popularity levels required to compete for a title. Midcarders are allowed to go for the ROH World Television Championship, while reaching main eventer status would grant players the chance to compete for the ROH World Championship. The player can also form a tag team with another wrestler and compete for the ROH World Tag Team Championship. Storylines are also included in the game, and are intertwined in the career mode.

Career Mode is presented in a calendar format, where the player's progress is shown by a calendar that shows the current date and when they would perform. Also in Career Mode is Relationships. Depending on their interactions with the wrestlers, they could become Friends that can help the player out and, later on, hire as tag partners and/or managers, or Enemies, whom the player feuds with and occasionally ambushes them in certain times.

Create[]

The game includes an extensive Create-a-Wrestler Mode which not only allows the players to create their own wrestlers, but also includes options for editing an existing wrestler's appearance, profile and moveset, among others. The game also includes a wide variety of wrestling moves, including moves and gestures used by both ROH alumni and other wrestlers working outside ROH, allowing players to create wrestlers from outside promotions such as WWE and Impact Wrestling, among others. The game includes 50 CAW slots available, with each slot including three outfits.

Roster[]

Roster accurate as of September 12, 2016

Wrestlers[]

Pre-Order Bonus[]

Default Champions[]

Soundtracks[]

Ring of Honor: Unchained 2017 features 12 licensed hip-hop and rock/metal songs from various artists and bands.

Sequel[]

A sequel to the game, Ring of Honor: Unchained 2018, was released in 2017 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox ONE, PC and the Zeo.

Trivia[]

  • The game's cover features then-current ROH World Champion Adam Cole.
  • ROH and NJPW wrestler Kenny Omega was included in the pre-order editions of the game, which was entitled the "Bullet Club Edition".
  • The game was first unveiled in E3 2015 under the early name "Ring of Honor Wrestling", with a trailer that prominently featured AJ Styles. AJ wound up being cut from the final game, as he had signed with the WWE by January 2016.
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