WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth

"Time to beat your opponent..."

Another great hit from THQ has arrived! All the updated wrestlers are in, and if you don't like them, CREATE YOUR OWN. This time the create a wrestler has even more options than ever as well. Here's what there is in this game.

Graphics: Yes, they look good. What's even better to know is that the gameplay is still as good as its prequels. The graphics have been improved so it's looking even better than before. The graphics to me look close to reality. The entrances make you look in amazement at how real everything looks.

Gameplay: If you've played the prequels, you're set for this game pretty much. If not, get out that instruction manual and learn the basics. It'll take a little getting used to, but afterwards it gets really fun. Sooner or later, you'll be able to beat down the guys and have a blast.

AI Challenge: The AI in this game can be set to your difficulty. There's Easy, Normal, Hard, and SMACKDOWN for the hardcore.

Match Types: All the classic match types have bee added from its prequels. There are other match types as well to choose from that have been added.

Multiplayer: If you have a multitap, bring a bunch of friends over. It's six players maximum. This allows many of the matches to be played without computer AI to be in on it. There are no internet capabilities though, as many people have asked for.

Controls: The controlling is a little weird, only for those who haven't played the prequels. Anyone who has played past Smackdown games will be right in and bashing up the opponents in no time. Same deal with the controls in this game.

SuperStar Roster: The Roster is fairly updated this time around. There's really not much to say on this. All the wrestlers have everything from their wrestling style, to their trademark moves as well.

Create: There are many creating options in this game.You can create wrestlers and taunts and customize them as you wish. Almost everything can be customizable. The taunts can be made and used on the wrestler you make. You can make the taunt almost exactly what you think you want him or her to do as well. The creating options this game has are unbelieveable. There is so much that can be done with these options. The good thing is that you can store a lot of created stuff to the memory card without it taking up a lot of space at all.

Create a Wrestler: Wrestlers can be made to almost the perfection of what you put into your mind on what to look like. The wrestler becomes as great as you make him or her. The details that can be put into the wrestlers is amazing. Anything from clothing designs, patterns, and other prints, tattoo designs, and so on. After creating the designs, you must decide his status attributes and determine his strengths and weaknesses. You are given a limited amount of status points to add to your wrestler. This will mean that he cannot be ultimate. All wrestlers will have some form of a weakness and some form of a strength. After you decide your status points, you can decide his move sets. There you can decide all the moves your wrestler can have. All the moves are determined by your taste. You decide every single move, straight down to the finishers. You can also place any created taunts you have made in here and apply them to your wrestler.

Create a taunt: The create a taunt isn't exactly perfectly simple, however, with work can be used effectively to make good taunts. There isn't too much to say on this except to read the instruction manual before attempting this. It can be a little complicated at first. With practice though, this can make some good looking taunts.

Season Mode: The season mode seems to be one of the major improvements of the game. Almost the target off progression for the developers from what it seems. Even on the back of the cover it shows all the goodness of their season mode. The season mode, unlike the past games, is much improved this time around. You can choose a wrestler, even your created wrestlers, and put them in the roster and enjoy the fun. Even though the season mode has one gripe for me(it's inability to insert players such as a second player during the roster) was present, I was still fine with it. The season contains much much storyline with decision making and title shots. It's almost a full simulation of what you see on television. This makes the season mode excellent and very fun to play through. You can choose sides of Vince or Ric for Smackdown or Raw and play through each side as well as include your tag team partner for tag matches and compete for whatever titles you can earn. You can also choose how you want your character displayed. If you earn a trophy, you can hold it high, or smash it on the ground to show what kind of a character you are. As you progress through the story, you can even earn your ways into Pay-Per-View events and compete on those. If you win a Pay-Pre_view event, you can gain an unlockable. You cannot gain all of them though by playing through one season. This encourages replay value on the season mode.

Downfalls: There are a number of glitches in this game. I start doing mounted punches to nothing and my opponents gets hurt because he somehow slid off and on the table I was punching him in and such. Weird glitches that make no sense. Going in the crowd was also removed from it's prequel.

Summary: WWE: Smackdown Shut Your Mouth is a great game title for any wrestling fan with a Playstation 2. Anyone with a Playstation 2 will enjoy all that is has to offer. New match types, create a wrestler, create a taunt, multiplayer exhibitions, newly improved graphics, and its newly big season mode. Overall, this game can be fun for any wrestling fan to enjoy. It also does not require a big amount of time or commitment. The most commitment involved is in the ''Create'' options. If you are absolutely positively not into creating, you can just get a regular wrestler from the up to date roster that this game has. All people's favorites and hatreds are in it.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 09/07/03