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| Title |
Smackdown! vs Raw |
7 |
| Publisher |
THQ |
| Developer |
Yukes |
| Genre |
Wrestling |
| Players |
1-6 |
| Version |
UK PAL |
Should be a hit
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It?s that time of year again. People kiss under the mistletoe, the snow falls in the night and games companies release their annual update (sorry I mean new instalment) of their largest selling games. 2005 sees the obvious comings of EAs latest sports titles, but it isn?t just EA who stick to this formula. This year THQ release another Smackdown game for the PS2, much to the delight of fans, but does this instalment continue the improvement trend we have seen over the last few years?
There is no denying that fans of the Smackdown series are never satisfied. No matter how much developers Yukes gives them they always want more. And rightly so ? it keeps Yukes in business after all. Smackdown vs Raw seems like quite a meagre upgrade however after last years Here Comes the Pain, possibly the most celebrated WWE game to date. Admittedly Here Comes the Pain set the bar quite high, with improved animations a huge roster and the inclusion of many new game modes (the Elimination Chamber and Bra and Panties for instance). Smackdown vs Raw suffers a little in this regard. In a sense it is echoing the poor state the WWE itself is in right now. There are no new game modes, the animation appears relatively unchanged (and coming off rather dated now, but more on that later), a cut down story mode and a particularly weak roster. As with the changing of the times, gone now are Austin, The Rock (apart from a legend version), Hogan, Goldberg, Lesnar and Ultimo Dragon. Such losses obviously can?t be helped, but they are big names that will be sure to be missed by fans. The majority of the current roster rears their ugly heads though, although with glaring omissions of Lita and Paul London.
Speaking of the story mode, it should be noted that this has seen a change in structure again. It seems Yukes are still struggling to find the right formula here. Here Comes the Pain had a fairly good story mode in all honesty, and this years, while enjoyable while it lasts, doesn?t have the depth of last years and only encompasses a single year. Now the mode is very structured with you taking a superstar along a path that is predetermined, to an extent, but you have the ability to alter outcomes through the occasional choice given to you (such as joining with Vince McMahon or going against him) or winning or losing a match. Most of the time it is easy to win your matches, although there are times when you simply can?t win due to the odds stacked against you. It should be noted though that Smackdown vs Raw does include superstar voices for those superstars who appear largely in your quest. These range from the general managers of Kurt Angle (yes it isn?t quite up to date here) and Eric Bischoff to champs JBL and Triple H to the big man himself, Vince McMahon. This is more than likely the reason why there isn?t as much freedom to the story mode as there once was, as otherwise the entire disc would be full of all the possible superstars saying all the possible lines. The story mode in itself is actually quite fun and no longer will you see PPV main events such as The Undertaker vs Torrie Wilson, which could occur in the previous games from time to time.
Story mode aside there has been little changed to the dynamics of the previous games. There is a new alignment mode now though in which you can choose whether your wrestler is clean, neutral or dirty. Neutral will make your wrestler as previous games, but the clean and dirty option affects how you play the game. In theory. The idea is that if you are a clean wrestler you must perform acts that a babyface wrestler would do, such as pose to the crowd and beat the other wrestler with fair moves. The dirty wrestler would do things such as complain to the ref after a long two count or use weapons during play. Performing the right actions for your alignment will see your alignment gauge fill. When this is full you can perform a pose and you will be invulnerable for a few moments and your finishing move will do twice the damage. However, I found little point in this system as it was never needed to beat the opponent and so a clean wrestler could fight dirty and win just as easily. It could be good for fans who like to role play, but otherwise not crucial to winning. I like the idea here, but think maybe a better way of rewarding the player is needed in order to make it a useful strategy.
This year does include many more legends as was seen last year, however, which in my eyes is only a good thing. Also, gone are the generic entrances from before, instead each legend is given their own proper entrance, with their actual original soundtrack (well most have their original music). New additions include Andre the Giant, the Legion of Doom and the great Hitman, Bret Hart. My only concern with the legends, apart from their movesets not quite being right, is that not enough attention was paid to their faces. Each original superstar has had loving detail paid to them to have them look just as they do in real life, whereas the legends look like they were created in the Create a Superstar mode.
Speaking of which, the Create a Superstar mode is back and has seen a thorough overhaul. Its quite possible to create any freak you may want, although I did find it fairly difficult creating some wrestlers that I wanted. Yukes, being a Japanese company, always includes many attributes in their Create a Superstar mode from Japanese puroresu wrestlers. However it seems they have only added in some parts for specific wrestlers whilst leaving out a number of other ones to complete the set. For instance, I wanted to create Jushin ?Thunder? Liger, a big Japanese star, but while the mask design for him was there, his actual mask shape was not. Also nowhere to be seen were designs to create his attire. It seems strange that they would add in some but leave out others. It may just have been my impatience though and such a creation might be possible with more time and effort.
Along with the create a superstar mode we are gifted with the much sort after create a title and create a Pay Per View modes. It is now possible to design and name your own belt as well as defend it in your own pay per view events. Defending the belt gives it more value allowing you to sell it later to create better looking titles. It is also possible to defend these belts against another player, but they must have their own memory card in order for the title switch to take place. It is a strange system where it isn?t the wrestler that holds the belt, rather the actual player. Unfortunately created belts cannot be defended in Exhibition mode, nor do wrestlers wear said belts in these modes. Maybe in the next version?
The user interface has seen a large shake up though. As the game is both Smackdown and Raw orientated, rather than as before when it was mainly Smackdown, the title screens can be styled in either Raw or Smackdown modes, with two divas from each show dancing for you depending on your choice (Stacy and Trish for Raw and Torrie and Sable for Smackdown). Also depending on your choice is the commentary that plays over the matches. If your choice was Raw you get JR and The King commentating your matches with a Smackdown choice seeing Michael Cole and Tazz. Thankfully your choice of title screen does not have to correspond with your commentary. I found the mix of Raw titles with Smackdown commentary most to my liking.
There isn?t really that much that has changed graphically. Wrestlers now shine a little more than they did previously, but I would have expected a bit more from the successor to Here Comes the Pain. Animations also remain largely the same and I feel it is possibly time to embrace a new system. The animation in the Smackdown series, while extensive, contains many graphical bugs and has been far surpassed by games such as Def Jam Vendetta. The wrestlers don?t feel as solid as EAs wrestling game and I think this is another reason why an old PS1 animation system needs to be scrapped. Will THQ ever allow Yukes to scrap such an engine though? I think not ? but slowly but surely, the engine will fall behind competitors. I?d like to see Smackdown embrace the future rather than be sucked dry and left to wither.
One area that has seen a GREAT improvement, however, is the sound. Not only does the crowd sound as realistic as I?ve ever heard in a wrestling game, but the commentaries included are now better than they have ever been. Previous games that have featured either the Raw team or Smackdown team have been poor at best, but this version includes BOTH teams and each commentator does an outstanding job. Superstar voices are also included in the story mode, as mentioned before, and for their part they do their job well. My only concern would be when they speak on the mic in the arena they sound more like they are in an empty stairwell than an arena packed to the rafters with screaming fans. I?d have liked to have seen Yukes do more than just put a bad reverb filter on the audio tracks here as the microphone effect is terrible an spoils the illusion greatly.
On the whole Smackdown vs Raw is a good game, but not quite the sequel to the mighty Here Comes the Pain everyone was hoping for. The story mode will probably keep you playing for a few hours and you may want to play through again upon completion with a different wrestler to explore other avenues. It is a shame that only the main title and sub title (ie WWE title and US title for Smackdown and World title and Intercontinental title for Raw) are on offer in this mode, with no Tag titles, cruiserweight title or women?s title on offer, but there should be enough options for at least a couple of run throughs. The unlockable options are a little on the thin side, with only one extra costume and only a few legends of any note to unlock. The others are just arenas and various diva options that are really of no use. I didn?t get an opportunity to test the online mode, but it appears that only a single match is possible. Not really much to write home about but I hear it is relatively lag free. At least it is a start I suppose.
If you are a fan of the Smackdown series and must always have the most up to date roster to play with, then you can?t go wrong with Smackdown vs Raw. It doesn?t really do anything wrong for its part, but isn?t quite up to being the successor to Here Comes the Pain which is really the more complete game of the two. If you own the previous title then I can?t wholeheartedly recommend this version, but if this is your first Smackdown game then you be pleasantly surprised.
Seth Powell |
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