Steps In The Right Direction
Smackdown vs Raw 2007-2010 have been been pretty worthless beyond a rental. Even as a huge wrestling fan, I found the games to be ultimately disappointing.
Smackdown vs Raw 2010 is a step in the right direction. Lots of complaints about previous versions were addressed and there are some new good ideas. But, in the end there is still room to improve.
The game is being promoted for its CAW system. It's not quite as different as some of the previews would have you believe, but, it is definitely an improvement. A lot of the previous clipping issues seem to be resolved and the CAWs look like they belong within the world of the actual wrestlers.
The really enjoyable part about the CAW system though now is that you don't actually have to use it. Being able to download characters that other people obviously spent hours on in seconds is really great. Not being able to actually edit those CAW after downloading them sucks (especially the entrances, because there are some great downloads that have terrible entrances)., but I understand that this was a Microsoft issue and not a THQ issue. Leveling the characters up is once again a chore I'd rather not go through at all, but it's much improved over any of the previous versions, as you can now level them up just by randomly using them.
This works really well with the new storyline designer. You can download stories other people created, and create your own and upload them. Some of these have been pretty creative. I haven't really created stories for the consumption of other people, but I've found it's a good replacement for "Create a PPV" modes present in some of the earlier generations of the game.
Little additions like "allies" and expanded create-a-finisher didn't get much hype, but were interesting. The roster is great! Lots of characters and mostly all the good ones are open from the start. There's the usual batch of guys who were fired before the game came out, but by sheer size for the first time in a while you h ave everyone in the game who's currently involved in a major storyline in the WWE right now.
There are some bad things though. Road To Wrestlemania was one of the only redeemable parts of 2009, but takes a step back here. The stories, for the most part, were a lot less imaginative. And the reliance of all the modes of placing you into triple threat and handicap matches is very frustrating due to control limitations. Last year unlocking stuff was fun, this year it's once again a chore.
Controls and a terrible AI remain huge issues for this game. While I'd say that just about every version features an AI that is better at regular matches. But they seem to get even worse at the the specialty matches. I did a non-player Money in the Bank match and it took the computer almost two hours to complete the match. This really highlights the lack of challenge in these sorts of matches because the computer can never really win, it can only do things to irritate you.
The controls aren't that different from last year. In fact they added the ability to finally manually select your targets again. The problem is that it doesn't really work, so multiplayer matches, especially against computer opponents, remain exercises in patience not fun or skill.
Ultimately this is a much better game than last year, and the best out of this generation. Hopefully next year they will start hammering out some of these control and AI issues that have long plagued the series. Yet, there is a lot of replay value with the improved CAW and the Create A Story features.
