Another year another clunky wrestling game
The smackdown vs raw series has been around for quite some time now. The very first one hit the PS2 back in the year of 04. Ever since then THQ and Yukes has had quite the roller coaster of a ride with this series. It is like they can't make up their minds sometimes. One year they add things, the next year they strip them away for new things, and the year after that they might even take away all of those things for and entirely new thing that may or may not work. Last years edition was all about the tag team, while this years editions seems to be all about the creations; that feature is well done, it is the rest of the game that lacks.
Graphics.
Graphically. Smackdown vs Raw looks pretty well done. For the most part the superstars look like their real life characters and the arenas all look like their real life counter parts. The menus this year are amazing, allowing you to quickly select your way through game modes, match times, options etc, etc. The two downsides I did find to the graphics are the Divas and the Crowd. The crowd has an improvement but once again the card bord esq crowed feels and looks horrible and the WWE Divas look like they could of used some more time in the polishing department.
Sound.
Probably one of the worst parts of Smackdown vs Raw. The menu sound tracks are ok, they are a mix of some of the very many WWE superstar's songs and other songs taken from WWE PPV(Pay per views) and shows. It is when you dig a little deeper and you start to listen to the flat, boring and down right horrible commentary and voice overs, that is when the sound gets ugly. The SVR games have been recycling the same commentary for about the last 5+ years, which is pretty damn sad if you ask me. This could be excused if the commentary was spot on and riveting, but sadly it is not, in fact it is down right atrocious. For example, I was playing a tables match and Good ol JR:Jim Ross(Who is actually the worst commentator in the game, which is odd since he is the best at the real thing) states and I quote"Oh my god, he put his opponent right through a table, but this isn't even a tables match" Or another time when I was playing a ladder match and it was like a broken record over and over and over again he kept saying "And a ladder is coming into the mix" it was terrible and lazy on all levels. Then you have the wrestlers voice overs for the road to Wrestlemania events. Most of them sound pre recorded else where but some such as the Miz and John Morrison's sound spot on and actually go in sync with their character models. The actual grunts and groans the supers stars make while attacking are also pretty bad and recycled. Although the female grunts are just down right creepy, sounding like and old doll baby.
Gameplay.
The gameplay with smackdown vs raw is a great hit and miss situation. On one hand being able to pull off the moves of your favorite WWE superstar is pretty cool and easy to do, on the other hand the gameplay is still very, VERY clunky and needs a major overhaul. The controls are easy to pick up and get into but it is when you actually get into that action that after awhile you start to see the laziness oooz out of the game. This engine is probably older than dirt now and HD graphics don't cover that up. Clipping and other problems are here to the max. The fast and fluid pace of the WWE is not here at all, everything at times feels , slow, stiff and even a little arthritic at times. Also when it comes to item specific matches such as the tables match. You would think like older WWE games you could just have a blast slamming your opponents through the tables, but with this game you need to grapple them, and put them onto the table to perform a finisher or irish whip them into a table in the corner. Why can't I just body slam a dude through the table? Ladder matches are even worst. Lining up the ladder under the brief case is a pain and the slow annoying mini game you need to play to get the brief case is just as bad. You need to hold down one or both of the stick until you can pull it down. It is an improvement over the "Push any button" but not by much. One of the biggest and best gameplay changes is the Royal rumble. Past games the Rumble was really annoying to play, well not this year. This you the rumble has a lot of variety and different was you can eliminate your opponent . This year instead of "Push any a button" to eliminate your foe, you press a series of buttons that pop up on the screen. Press the right buttons on time and you will eliminate the dude. You can do this on the ropes, in the corner, heck, they even included a new mini game for when they try to slip under the ropes and hang on, although it is a lot harder, it involves hitting the line at the right moment. The last and coolest part of the rumble improvements are the rumble finishers. You can now store up a finisher and these bad boys will instantly take your opponent out of the rumble. We are talking code breakers, RKO, Sweet chin music, hell, even a pedigree!
Features.
What the game lacks in gameplay and sound it makes up for in actual features. There are a ton of things for you to do in this game. The game features over 60 wwe superstars and divas to play as.Create a wrestler is back had has improved by miles, more items, more accessories, more everything for you to create the ultimate wrestler or Guile if you'd like. There is also create a finisher which now lets you create a dive move from the top rope, create a highlight reel which now allows you to save clips from matches and put them into a titantron video for create superstars or regular ones. The biggest create a mode is probably the addition of the create a story mode. This mode allows you to create any storyline you want featuring the superstars you want doing and saying anything you want. This mode allows you to choose the matches, drama, scenes and everything else. Just set the place, what will happen and write the lines and boom you are done. You can also choose lighting, camera views and other production esq features. The best part about ALL of these create modes is you can now upload them online and let other people view your masterpieces. You can also download other superstars, moves and storylines which is almost like free DLC. The game also feature an extensive training area which you will be able to use as soon as you boot up the game, hell it is sorta part of the menu. Road to wrestlemania is back and features storylines for your created superstar, Edge, HBK, Randy orton and more. All are sorta fun to play, me I got bored of them after awhile since the storylines are really mediocre. Career mode is also back and lets you challenge for the belts. The game has a ton of features to keep you busy.
Online.
Sadly besides the easy to use character creation share portion, the rest of the online is pure garbage once again. This year the actual fighting one another is laggier than ever. In fact, this game is one of if not the laggiest online game I've ever played and the max amount of people playing is 4, yes ladies and gentleman 4. The game requires precise button timing and presses and it is impossible to do online. So I just wanted to add to this review that the online, besides the community share option, is pretty worthless.
All in Smackdown vs raw 2010 is a good game if you are a wrestling fan and you love to create things, sadly us WWE fans have to get use to this kind of treatment, stuff the game full of features but don't change the gameplay for the better. THQ and YUKES love to recycle things, maybe they should finally throw away that engine and get a new one going. With that being said though, the create features, sharing them with other people around the world and trying to make this feel like an actual WWE program is a step in the right direction. Heres to 2011 keeping these good features and adding even more.
