There stuff wrong with it, but not a bad first try I guess.
Pros
Cons
Last year Skate was released. Offering some much needed competition to the sport of skateboarding in the video game world, in which Tony Hawk has ruled for some time.
Similar could be said now.
WWE Wrestling Games have had practically zero competition and over the years has kind of just rested on it's laurels, offering incremental updates of the previous years game as opposed to much of real substance.
Should the Smackdown v Raw series sit up and take note now?
Personally I don't think so.
The games story mode has you playing a wrestler named Suicide, or formally known as Suicide anyway - as in the games intro where you find yourself on top of the TNA Wrestling World, you get taken out and dumped in Mexico with amnesia.
Apparently they did quite a number on you, so a couple of plastic surgeons that found you apparently offer to fix you up, which leads into the games create a character mode.
Unfortunately the CAW isn't up to scratch when compared to the WWE's or pretty much any CAC mode from any sports game in the past few years, it has a very limited amount of customization you can make, both in terms of cosmetics and attacks which is quite a shame.
The game opens up with you wrestling in Mexico to get some scratch and the opportunity to be shipped to the US, which is where TNA takes note of you after winning some fights in an air force base or some such.
The wrestling itself is solid, though again there isn't a large variety of moves you can perform from what I've seen.
The game moves along much faster then a round of Smackdown would.
Even when you get pretty tired your seldom down long unlike in Smackdown where you can be waiting forever if your foe doesn't pick you up and god forbid both of you should fall over, tired in that game or yeah.. It's torturous waiting for them to get up.
Not so painful in TNA.
No stamina to worrying about either, so you aren't stopping every few minutes for a breather. I personally don't mind that aspect of the WWE games, but I know it's garnered complaints from some who'll be pleased to know this game lives up to it's promise of Total Nonstop Action
I'm not sure I'd say the TNA games look as good as WWE's, but they animate better.
Not quite so robotic in comparison to the competition. Guys get knocked over and they tumble, wobble, it looks real in comparison to pretty much just falling over straight you get in the WWE games.
And I guess one of the advantages of having limited customization and body types is theres less occurrences of clipping. Theres still some, but not to the large degree thats been a distraction in Smackdown games for years and years.
Theres not a large range of match types.
Perhaps representative of TNA itself, I don't know.
Don't really get TNA down here except some PPV's and I'm not payin'.
But there isn't a whole lot to do.
The Ultimate X match would be the only stand out match type, where you climb across some cables above the ring to grab a large X thats hanging.. Above the ring, heh.
It adds some variety, but not enough.
And before I end just a quick note on the tag partners AI.
Sometimes it seems like it doesn't exist.
When a pinning situation occurs, the partners are meant to run into the ring and either A) stop it from occurring if your partners in trouble or B) stop the other guy from stopping the pin if your partners just a three count away from victory.
Sometimes this happens as it should and it's no problem.
Most of the time however your partner just stands dumbly on the side of the ring, watching you get your arse handed too you. Or sometimes he'll come in, propel himself at the enemy and miss - which ends with you losing. This latter condition is preferable to the standing dumbly, because at least then he's doing something - but it'd be more tolerable if the enemy's partner was just as fallible because it seems whenever you're going to pin his partner, unless YOUR partner actually does his job for change - well then he'll get you off him, delaying your victory further.
I've lost numerous matches because my partners an idiot.
Unlike the WWE games it doesn't seem like theres the option to bring in a human player to the story mode either. So you're pretty much resigned to grit your teeth and bear it, praying to the gaming GODS that the AI will hold up.
It's a solid enough first entry, I s'pose.
But if there is another game and they are looking to emulate the success of the WWE games, then they've got some pretty big holes to patch up before they hit the mark in my book.
- It plays faster then the competition, if the slower speed of the WWE games bothered you.
- TNA Wrestlers faithfully recreated.
- Story is slightly more interesting then you'd expect from a wrestling game.
Cons
- Create A Wrestler is pretty crap, both in terms of cosmetics and moves you can assign.
- Not a great diversity in match types.
- Stupid Tag Team AI.
- Doesn't appear the Knock Out division is represented. To you that might be a good thing, but to me it just reeks of lack of effort and lets face it, I'm sure a good deal of folk only have interest in wrestling when it's associated with pretty women.
Last year Skate was released. Offering some much needed competition to the sport of skateboarding in the video game world, in which Tony Hawk has ruled for some time.
Similar could be said now.
WWE Wrestling Games have had practically zero competition and over the years has kind of just rested on it's laurels, offering incremental updates of the previous years game as opposed to much of real substance.
Should the Smackdown v Raw series sit up and take note now?
Personally I don't think so.
The games story mode has you playing a wrestler named Suicide, or formally known as Suicide anyway - as in the games intro where you find yourself on top of the TNA Wrestling World, you get taken out and dumped in Mexico with amnesia.
Apparently they did quite a number on you, so a couple of plastic surgeons that found you apparently offer to fix you up, which leads into the games create a character mode.
Unfortunately the CAW isn't up to scratch when compared to the WWE's or pretty much any CAC mode from any sports game in the past few years, it has a very limited amount of customization you can make, both in terms of cosmetics and attacks which is quite a shame.
The game opens up with you wrestling in Mexico to get some scratch and the opportunity to be shipped to the US, which is where TNA takes note of you after winning some fights in an air force base or some such.
The wrestling itself is solid, though again there isn't a large variety of moves you can perform from what I've seen.
The game moves along much faster then a round of Smackdown would.
Even when you get pretty tired your seldom down long unlike in Smackdown where you can be waiting forever if your foe doesn't pick you up and god forbid both of you should fall over, tired in that game or yeah.. It's torturous waiting for them to get up.
Not so painful in TNA.
No stamina to worrying about either, so you aren't stopping every few minutes for a breather. I personally don't mind that aspect of the WWE games, but I know it's garnered complaints from some who'll be pleased to know this game lives up to it's promise of Total Nonstop Action
I'm not sure I'd say the TNA games look as good as WWE's, but they animate better.
Not quite so robotic in comparison to the competition. Guys get knocked over and they tumble, wobble, it looks real in comparison to pretty much just falling over straight you get in the WWE games.
And I guess one of the advantages of having limited customization and body types is theres less occurrences of clipping. Theres still some, but not to the large degree thats been a distraction in Smackdown games for years and years.
Theres not a large range of match types.
Perhaps representative of TNA itself, I don't know.
Don't really get TNA down here except some PPV's and I'm not payin'.
But there isn't a whole lot to do.
The Ultimate X match would be the only stand out match type, where you climb across some cables above the ring to grab a large X thats hanging.. Above the ring, heh.
It adds some variety, but not enough.
And before I end just a quick note on the tag partners AI.
Sometimes it seems like it doesn't exist.
When a pinning situation occurs, the partners are meant to run into the ring and either A) stop it from occurring if your partners in trouble or B) stop the other guy from stopping the pin if your partners just a three count away from victory.
Sometimes this happens as it should and it's no problem.
Most of the time however your partner just stands dumbly on the side of the ring, watching you get your arse handed too you. Or sometimes he'll come in, propel himself at the enemy and miss - which ends with you losing. This latter condition is preferable to the standing dumbly, because at least then he's doing something - but it'd be more tolerable if the enemy's partner was just as fallible because it seems whenever you're going to pin his partner, unless YOUR partner actually does his job for change - well then he'll get you off him, delaying your victory further.
I've lost numerous matches because my partners an idiot.
Unlike the WWE games it doesn't seem like theres the option to bring in a human player to the story mode either. So you're pretty much resigned to grit your teeth and bear it, praying to the gaming GODS that the AI will hold up.
It's a solid enough first entry, I s'pose.
But if there is another game and they are looking to emulate the success of the WWE games, then they've got some pretty big holes to patch up before they hit the mark in my book.
