WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It

"Ho-Hum Wrestling Update from THQ...had the potential of a 10 Rating.."

Smackdown!: Just Bring It Review

The Game that has been anticipated extremely high since E3 of this Year...THQ promised Massive improvements over the Mediocre Smackdown 2: Know Your Role. Now the Critics are beginning to strike...did THQ really deliver on it's first Playstation 2 Wrestling Offering? Or is it just another meaningless sequel? Let's Break it down, shall we?

Presentation
The Opening Intro is very nice...but.. unlike the previous 2 Smackdowns, they used graphically enhanced models instead of real video of Smackdown events...very odd. The Menus are OK... although the Main Menu makes the game look bear. The Load Times are significantly improved over the Plauged Smackdown 2. However, it seems saving to your 8MB Card takes about a century... it also takes up half your card to save as well. Only 12 Slots too...
Rating: 6/10

Graphics
Beautiful. Just Beatiful. The Models look marvelous and close to reality, even though some are just updated Smackdown 2 Models. But there's one kink in this graphical armor....none of the models have teeth. This kind of makes people like Edge look funny, and makes people like him look like toothless hicks...Outside the models, stuff like the Rings and sets are about as real as computer models can make them. The Titantron Videos, beautifully streamed, are often off center in any arene besides the Standard RAW Arena...
Rating: 7/10

Sound
The Music Quality is CD as it should. The Sound effects of slams and stretches of ropes is great. The Background Music is much better than the previous Smackdowns..but one thing kills the games otherwise great sound..The Commentary. The Commentary in this game is absolutly horrible. It makes the WCW Commentary in WCW Nitro look marvelous. Saying it's bad is an Understatement. Micheal Cole and Tazz do incredibly idiotic commentary such as naming each move scientifically...and they name the moves by odd names as it is.... What we all know as the Sidewalk Slam or Sideslam, they call the Sidebuster... They try to call every jab or kick...Sometimes they'll call a move when nothing like it happened...Like once I punched Durst as Taker...and Cole said I just executed a Last Ride. Also, it's not Stringed together right either.. stuff like ''KURT ANGLE! is the best World Wrestling Federation......................Intercontienental!............ Champion we've ever had!''.. It's really that bad... If they want to continue with the commentary, bring in JR and Lawler and do something like Acclaim did. Acclaim's Games were OK with commentary, repetitive due to lack of space. With a DVD, they could attempt to avoid that.. Commentary is a hard thing to do for wrestling games, but this attempt is just plain Sad.
Rating: 5/10

Gameplay
The Controls are generally the same as the first 2 Smackdowns, which is'nt too bad, In my opinion, the Smackdown is the 2nd Best American Wrestling Game engine, only second to AKI's No Mercy Series. They did a great job making it mucho more realistic with wrestlers selling moves much like they do every week on Raw. Wrestlers, when they are beaten to a bloody pulp(eventhough there's no blood), act like there dead, taking forever to get up, and being pinned after something as simple as a Clothesline.The Animations flow well, and just don't snap like they did in Smackdown 2. They added a terrific reversal system, which makes it more like a WRESTLING game than a ''punch-em silly and throw him a few times to win'' that Smackdown 2 had. The AI is also improved, like in Elimination matches, they no longer break every pin, like they did in Smackdown 2. Other than what I've Mentioned, It's Smackdown 2 improved. So-So Improvement.
Rating: 7/10

Features
Smackdown is featured to death. It does honestly boast 70 Match Types, eventhough most of them as varied with stuff such as 4-8 People in a Match. Added from SD2 are IronMan Submission Matches, Last Man Standing Matches, 6-Man Tag Team Matches, as well as multiple wrestler SD2 Match types. It has about 40 Wrestlers, but oddly leave out some people like X-Pac, Justin Credible, but add true jobbers like Billy Gunn and Dean Melenko. The Entrances are well done, eventhough there is a flash from mid ramp to the apron in most entrances. The Story Mode in the Other hand, is horrible. The Storylines are bad, it's over way to quick, and it's not as Interactive as THQ claimed. I did'nt like first person for it, it just looked funny. THQ needs to rework it big time for the next game. If they mixed WM2K's Career with more cutscenes, it would be a perfect career, just changing it from 1 year to forever in Periods of time. The CAW is just as awesome as SD2's. Of course, there's just one huge positive... YOU CAN BEAT THE LIVING CRAP OUT OF FRED DURST.
Rating: 8/10

Overall: 6.6/10
It appears to be just another Ho-Hum Sequel. Wrestling Fanatics should buy, Casual Fans should rent. The Game could have benefitted greatly from an Improved Story Mode and not so-crappy commentary. If THQ fixes those major flaws, they could have a seriously killer game next year.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/25/01, Updated 11/25/01