WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain

"It may become boring rather quickly but it is the 'total package'"

Yep, the ever hyped and awaited Smackdown game is finally here but is it any good? First, let me point out to veterans of the game that although it's kind of different, and there are a few sorta new things, it's all the same basic game it has been over the past 4 releases.

Smackdown 5 is yet again just an update of a past Smackdown game. Not only that but it's basically all the previous Smackdowns combined into one. Let's start with the Season mode that everyone hopes is going to get better and, well, it never does. Although a bit of a stride forward is made here, it still isn't anything worth playing as many times as the season mode requires you to play it.

You can look at your wrestlers win/loss record and you can do the same thing with all the rest. Cool idea. You can also make your wrestler better with attribute points. Thing about that is, you don't get a whole lot of experience points after matches (EXP is what you need to gain to increase attributes), which is fine early on, but as you increase in superstar ratings and your stats are suddenly stonewalled thanks to the experience points needed to increase skyrocketing...it's not a good thing. Think about Brock Lesnar in a handicap match against Rey Mysterio and Ultimo Dragon. Sure the odds are 'equal' but chances are Brock is still going to brutalize them, that's what your matches will suddenly become if you're going through with a CAW.

The A.I. in this game is the cheapest it has been in years. The game randomly decides to not acknowledge your pressing of the correct block button, especially when your computer opponent is getting squashed and is making a comeback. I completely obliterated Edge all over the arena and back, having almost every part of his body in the red and not having a single red portion on me yet he would kick out of EVERY pin. Hit him with my finisher? Never happened, he kicked out of that like I had just slapped him in the face and he accidently tripped on something. He then hit me with HIS finisher and since he apparently had the power of GOD HIMSELF on his side, I was knocked out cold and got pinned 1...2...3...

It's not so much that I'm upset about Season having a certain degree of cheapness too it, it's still enjoyable for a while even when you're losing, the whole thing is that you earn money after each win and when you don't win, you make very little money. Money is how you unlock extra legends, movesets, and whatnot but if you keep losing, it'll take forever to get some of the more pricey unlockables.

BTW, another Season mode annoyance is the Star Points. Again, not a bad idea in theory, but considering the fact that when you choose to roam the backstage area before an event, depending who you run into and what action you take, you can lose star points. Some circumstances make absolutely no sense at all for losing a star point yet it still happens. It's like they're trying to keep you from going backstage and experiencing all there is to offer behind the scenes.

The sound is pretty awful. The music they chose for the main menu is grating not only on your ears but on your nerves. The in-game music is mediocre at best and since there are basically no voices at all you're stuck with a horrible sound with not much to make up for it. Even sounds like getting slammed or punched are dull since the music pretty much cancels it out.

So you can turn down the music, alright, here's more to solidify why the sound is bad. The legends have no theme songs, even though as far as I know WWE owns rights to the songs. Unlocking Ted DiBiase and not hearing 'Money, money, money, money, moneeeeyyyyy' kind of defeats the purpose of having him in the game. Also, no matter what you jump off of, you get the turnbuckle noise. I don't want to jump off a truck and have the turnbuckle sound...IT'S NOT A FREAKING TURNBUCKLE!

The way your character controls is the same as the old Smackdowns. Yeah some of the buttons have been switched around for what I guess they assumed would make for depth but it's really a kind of pathetic cover up for them being too lazy to bother with anything new. Also, having to watch the same grapple animation everytime you want to do a simple powerslam is just too much. If I want to do a powerslam, I want to do a powerslam, I don't want to watch the guy get kneed in the gut every time I try it.

The graphics are decent. Yeah, everyone says they're stellar but all they are in the end is Smackdown 4 with a bit of polish (literally). The backstage environments for the most part will bore you to tears much like they have in every Smackdown game since the original. Speaking of which, the original Smackdown I couldn't get enough of the backstage areas but for some reason from Smackdown 2 and on they've just been sorta shoddy. Not necessarily in terms of design but what use is it going to the next room? Oh, I can throw my opponent into something and get another weapon that they'll just steal from me anyways? Yeah, exciting.

Speaking of stealing weapons, countering moves is again a main focal point in this game. If your counter button decides it hates you then you're guarenteed to lose. Period. You don't have a choice, either you counter like a man possessed or you're screwed, bad. Personally, having to counter 90% of every match has gotten really old, it's been a big thing in every wrestling game in the series since Smackdown 2 and I just can't take it anymore. It isn't fun. I don't like it. Give me something new.

Oh my, look at that, I forgot to mention CAW. Think Smackdown 4, with tons more clothing options, females with wacked out necks, and slightly different customization abilities and tada. Yeah it's better but you can tell where they sabotaged it to make you get the next game in the series. Also, once your attribute points go up, they never go down. You want customization of your wrestlers stats? Too bad, unless you want to go through season mode 32 times and change every female into a male temporarily you're pretty much stuck.

Overall, is this game worth buying? If you don't own a Smackdown game and have a PS2, absolutely. All of the recycled material and stupid things they couldn't be bothered to fix will be barely noticable to you and really the game is pretty fun. But it is nowhere near being a classic and if you own Smackdown 4 then you've basically played this game (except you had less moves to use per match). Rent first, buy later when the price drops.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/04/03, Updated 12/09/03