WWE: SmackDown! VS RAW
It’s not perfect, just like WWE is nowadays.
The Game
The sixth installment of the PlayStation WWE games, and there’s a good history lesson during the game’s intro too. And if you’ve played any of the previous games, you pretty much know what to expect here: More of the same, with an updated roster and some gameplay tweaks.
Gameplay
There are TONS of match types to choose from, just like the previous games. Amongst the improvements in the game is the sped up Season Mode. You can finish the Season Mode faster now since you don’t have to play four matches before every PPV, but two now instead. But now you can ONLY play your matches. All other matches on the card are automatically skipped to yours, so there’s no way of protecting a certain character to hold a title belt by playing as him to keep the belt on or get it off them before your match.
The big gameplay addition to the controls are the mini-game type chop and shove challenges, which kills your momentum more than it helps. I really could have done without this and thankfully you can switch them off in the options.
Another big addition is the ability to pick up your opponent to a sitting position, just like in the King of Colosseum games. This really isn’t a big deal as there really isn’t much you can do from there, other than maybe a sleeper or a strike. It also gets in the way of just wanting to pick up your opponent so you can slam them down again. In KOC you could pick them up straight away, but here you gotta put them in the sitting position, THEN pick them up again. Maybe next game they’ll add in the “pick them up to a kneeling position” too?
Also added is a new “Face/Heel” meter. Filling out those meters with various face/heel tactics like low-blows and such will give you the ability to pull off somekind of super move, though it’s not really a big deal. One gripe I do have is that being a heel or a face doesn’t have any impact on the game whatsoever. I played through the game as JBL, the biggest current heel on SmackDown, yet I’m interacting with The Undertaker and Rey Mysterio like their my best buddies! So it really makes no difference what your allegiance is, which is a big disappointment for me.
They also brought back the "Create A PPV" mode, and added a "Create A Title" mode, but the titles you create can only be defended on created PPVs.
Theres also a new "Challenge Mode", where you are given a set of tasks to accomplish in your match to earn points. Sounds like the Vow system from Rumble Roses. And if somebody could drop me a line on how to actually play one of these challenges, it would be much appreciated since no matter what button I press when highlighting a challenge, I can't get it to play!
Graphics & Sound
There really isn’t much improvement in the graphical department from the previous “Here Comes The Pain” game. Most of the characters look great like their real life counterparts, then there are those like Molly Holly who I think looks NOTHING like the real one. Seriously, she’s just hideous here!
The music for intros are all good and lifted off the original themes, and so have most of the ring entrances. For some reason, Yukes couldn’t give JBL his limo intro, even though they managed to give it to Lady-X in Rumble Roses!
The ring-side commentary has also been brought back along with the ring announcers. The commentary might be good for awhile, but it’s just so scripted. They could have at least tried to add some emotion to what they are saying based on the in ring action instead of just blurting out random facts because a certain guy is leading the match. They should take a queue from King of Colosseum where the announcer is screaming at the top of his lungs when you kick out of a finisher or pull a big move.
And to make things worse, the wrestlers actually speak during the story mode scenes! For some reason, the guys who pull some of the best promos in the business are just so lousy at doing their job here! Everything sounds so scripted, it’s beyond bad acting!
The crowd noise is also pretty dead. You get the same wave sounding crowds like every other SmackDown game. Def Jam: Fight for New York seriously OWNS WWE in this department.
Miscellaneous
The roster may be updated, but not really after all the cuts WWE made a few weeks back. And you have to question why a jobber like Chuck Palumbo, who’s no longer with the company, was put in the game but guys like The Hurricane (who was in the last few games) and Rosey were left out. The roster also does seem limited when it’s easy to notice a lot of missing names like Eugene, Tyson Tomko, Luther Reigns, Paul London, Gail Kim (why not since Palumbo is in the game?), and La Resistance. I really would have preferred more wrestling Divas and cruiserweights this time around too since they had a descent roster of them when the game was in development.
One thing I would have liked to see them copy from the King of Colosseum games is the template system for CAWs. Sure you can unlock move sets, but I would rather have been given the option to instantly create a character in a few moves than pour through TONS of body parts and such to create a wrestler that most of the time will look NOTHING like the actual wrestler unless you really have A LOT of patience to look through everything to get it just right.
Overall
A lot of the improvements here should have been in Here Comes the Pain in the first place. It’s a good game, but your not missing much other than a few new wrestler you could just create in HCTP and not really a whole lot of control improvements.
Game Ratings:
Graphics – 7
Sound – 6
Gameplay – 7
Lifespan – 7
Overall – 7
The Game
The sixth installment of the PlayStation WWE games, and there’s a good history lesson during the game’s intro too. And if you’ve played any of the previous games, you pretty much know what to expect here: More of the same, with an updated roster and some gameplay tweaks.
Gameplay
There are TONS of match types to choose from, just like the previous games. Amongst the improvements in the game is the sped up Season Mode. You can finish the Season Mode faster now since you don’t have to play four matches before every PPV, but two now instead. But now you can ONLY play your matches. All other matches on the card are automatically skipped to yours, so there’s no way of protecting a certain character to hold a title belt by playing as him to keep the belt on or get it off them before your match.
The big gameplay addition to the controls are the mini-game type chop and shove challenges, which kills your momentum more than it helps. I really could have done without this and thankfully you can switch them off in the options.
Another big addition is the ability to pick up your opponent to a sitting position, just like in the King of Colosseum games. This really isn’t a big deal as there really isn’t much you can do from there, other than maybe a sleeper or a strike. It also gets in the way of just wanting to pick up your opponent so you can slam them down again. In KOC you could pick them up straight away, but here you gotta put them in the sitting position, THEN pick them up again. Maybe next game they’ll add in the “pick them up to a kneeling position” too?
Also added is a new “Face/Heel” meter. Filling out those meters with various face/heel tactics like low-blows and such will give you the ability to pull off somekind of super move, though it’s not really a big deal. One gripe I do have is that being a heel or a face doesn’t have any impact on the game whatsoever. I played through the game as JBL, the biggest current heel on SmackDown, yet I’m interacting with The Undertaker and Rey Mysterio like their my best buddies! So it really makes no difference what your allegiance is, which is a big disappointment for me.
They also brought back the "Create A PPV" mode, and added a "Create A Title" mode, but the titles you create can only be defended on created PPVs.
Theres also a new "Challenge Mode", where you are given a set of tasks to accomplish in your match to earn points. Sounds like the Vow system from Rumble Roses. And if somebody could drop me a line on how to actually play one of these challenges, it would be much appreciated since no matter what button I press when highlighting a challenge, I can't get it to play!
Graphics & Sound
There really isn’t much improvement in the graphical department from the previous “Here Comes The Pain” game. Most of the characters look great like their real life counterparts, then there are those like Molly Holly who I think looks NOTHING like the real one. Seriously, she’s just hideous here!
The music for intros are all good and lifted off the original themes, and so have most of the ring entrances. For some reason, Yukes couldn’t give JBL his limo intro, even though they managed to give it to Lady-X in Rumble Roses!
The ring-side commentary has also been brought back along with the ring announcers. The commentary might be good for awhile, but it’s just so scripted. They could have at least tried to add some emotion to what they are saying based on the in ring action instead of just blurting out random facts because a certain guy is leading the match. They should take a queue from King of Colosseum where the announcer is screaming at the top of his lungs when you kick out of a finisher or pull a big move.
And to make things worse, the wrestlers actually speak during the story mode scenes! For some reason, the guys who pull some of the best promos in the business are just so lousy at doing their job here! Everything sounds so scripted, it’s beyond bad acting!
The crowd noise is also pretty dead. You get the same wave sounding crowds like every other SmackDown game. Def Jam: Fight for New York seriously OWNS WWE in this department.
Miscellaneous
The roster may be updated, but not really after all the cuts WWE made a few weeks back. And you have to question why a jobber like Chuck Palumbo, who’s no longer with the company, was put in the game but guys like The Hurricane (who was in the last few games) and Rosey were left out. The roster also does seem limited when it’s easy to notice a lot of missing names like Eugene, Tyson Tomko, Luther Reigns, Paul London, Gail Kim (why not since Palumbo is in the game?), and La Resistance. I really would have preferred more wrestling Divas and cruiserweights this time around too since they had a descent roster of them when the game was in development.
One thing I would have liked to see them copy from the King of Colosseum games is the template system for CAWs. Sure you can unlock move sets, but I would rather have been given the option to instantly create a character in a few moves than pour through TONS of body parts and such to create a wrestler that most of the time will look NOTHING like the actual wrestler unless you really have A LOT of patience to look through everything to get it just right.
Overall
A lot of the improvements here should have been in Here Comes the Pain in the first place. It’s a good game, but your not missing much other than a few new wrestler you could just create in HCTP and not really a whole lot of control improvements.
Game Ratings:
Graphics – 7
Sound – 6
Gameplay – 7
Lifespan – 7
Overall – 7
posted by Eric Extreme at 11/29/2004 04:26:00 PM
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