WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain

"One of the most disappointing wrestling games in quite some time."

Yukes’ SmackDown series has always been one of wasted potential. They’ve been solid games for the most part, but each game in it could have been so much more than it ended up being. There was a brief glimpse of hope that this trend would end with the fourth game, but sadly, it is back with a vengeance in the fifth installment of the series, entitled WWE SmackDown: Here Comes the Pain.

Take the addition of WWE legends for example. Here you have something that could have worked out wonderfully, with their inclusion bringing back floods of memories of days gone by, and letting you replicate some of their greatest matches to boot. Well, sadly, that probably won’t happen. For one thing, their inclusion seems a bit half-hearted, as none of them have their entrance music, which, for some, was a key part of their characters. Also, they all come down to the ring in mini-ring carts, much like competitors at WrestleMania III did, and don‘t really have authentic entrances due to this. Also, there is no reason given at all as to why they are legends, what their contributions were to the sport, or even why they are in the game. They just seem to be fodder added in to sell a few more copies of the game, and they deserve better than that.

However, being able to have dream matches with them is a joy. The Road Warriors vs. the Dudley Boyz, one of the greatest teams of all time against one of the best modern teams out there, something that has never, and due to the tragic passing of Mike “Hawk” Hegstrand, never will happen. Having the ability to have this match, or other matches like it in the game makes it worth the price of admission. With all of that said, I’m glad to see the legends in the game, I’m thankful that Yukes put them in, but as a long-time wrestling fan, I just wish there was more care put into them. A simple highlight reel for each legend as a bit of bonus footage would have gone a long way towards making their addition to the game seem important, if legends are put into the next SD game, I hope something like that is done.

I think I’m done ranting about the treatment of the legends (for at least another paragraph or two), so lets move onto the other big addition to the game that seems a bit half-hearted: the new grappling system that completely changes the gameplay for the SD series. I hope you weren’t a fan of the old grappling system, as it has been thrown to the wayside in favor of a grappling system that (gasp) involves actually grappling with your opponent. There are some advantages and disadvantages to this new system. For one thing, doing moves through tables while on top of them is a bit of a chore (read: impossible) unless you have every one of the four front grapple types set to the collar-and-elbow tie-up. This shouldn’t be an issue in the game, as every tie-up should let you do the same amount of moves. Thankfully, it’s a fixable flaw, but one that shouldn’t be there to begin with. Also, each of the four grappling types (power, quick, submission, and signature) features an allotment of moves that are more or less unique to that grappling type. Now, in theory, this can be a good thing. However, in execution, it results in limiting what moves a wrestler does, as you might have to pick and choose which moves your wrestler can do, when you would be able to do all of them if every move was made available for every grappling type. This whole problem is compounded thanks to the removal of some key moves for the wrestlers as non-special moves, such as Eddie Guerrero’s front grappling splash mountain power bomb, or the non-special ankle lock for Kurt Angle.

I think the game would be much better off had the new grappling system been included by charging up the circle button, which would allow all of the old grappling stuff in the series to be done, on top of new stuff as well. Also, I would have rather seen the four grappling types just given generic names (IE- Grapple 1, 2, etc.) if it would have allowed the player to have more moves available to them when they can actually use them.

I wish I could say that the negative stuff about the game ends there, but I can’t. The series’ tradition of not showing any kind of damage for missing a move off of the top rope rears its ugly head, although thankfully, the “flopping around like a fish” animation used for falling off of high places in SYM has been toned down. This kind of unrealistic garbage has no place in a wrestling game, and it tends to really deflate the importance of any top rope stuff. Why bother with anything remotely resembling correct body placement when there really isn’t a consequence for missing? Unless you plan on doing stuff off of the top of the glass chambers in the elimination chamber, or the top of cell in a Hell in a Cell match, there isn’t.

On the upside, there is now a counter for aerial moves, and what a shock, it’s extremely generic. Somehow, as if by magic, a flying legdrop is now countered by raising your legs into the person executing the move’s abdominal region. Oh, and the unrealistic countering doesn’t stop there, oh no. There are just two separate counters for ground grappling moves done to the legs, a figure four reversal, and just kicking your foe away with your legs. Somehow, those two counters don’t cut it for the dozens of submissions that could and should have unique counters. Also, generic counters are used for, well, everything. If you go for a front grapple, and suddenly find that you can now do a side headlock without having one in your move set, you are falling victim to the whopping one counter for front grapple initiations. If you’re a fan of counter wrestling, you will be greatly disappointed by the mundane selection of counters and reversals in this game.

Another thing that I’m disappointed to see back in this series is the perfect selling of many moves in the game. Now, this might seem like a good thing, and in theory, much like the sectioned grappling system, it is. However, this kind of selling is also highly unrealistic for most of the moves that use it, as very few moves are ever sold the same way every single time it connects. The odd part about this is when this perfect selling isn’t used for a move in the game, the selling looks horrible, and underscores the damage done by it. When it is used, the damage done by it is seemingly negated, as it is sold the exact same way regardless of when the move was hit during the match, or (at times) where it was done on the opponent. You could go for a double axe handle off of the top rope while aiming for the back of the head and neck and suddenly find yourself hitting them from the front. Yet another thing that seems half-hearted. I’m noticing a trend…

As the same thing goes for submission maneuvers. An all-new submission system has been placed in the game, quite possibly the most user-intensive one ever. A system that requires you to pound buttons to really grind in the submission hold on your foe. This system really captures the drama of what a submission should be. However, like seemingly everything else in the game, there is a catch. You see, only about half of the submission moves in the game even use this new system. The rest just use the old system of “hold the move on for half a second and release.” What’s worse is that you can’t tell which moves use what system when selecting them in the create-a-wrestler mode, so it’s more blind luck than anything else in regards to what kind of submission system you’ll end up using in a match. How great is that folks?

Thankfully, an all-new body damage system has been placed in this game, which is done pretty well. A miniature wrestler outline now appears next to a wrestler’s name, and as a body part goes from blue to red indicating damage, you know how damaged your foe is. Blue is the starting color, when a limb is shown as being blue, it’s healthy. Yellow is the second-healthiest, , orange signifies the second-highest amount of damage done and a limb in red is the most damaged. This new system really showcases the new submission system wonderfully, and all moves done to a limb will eventually be shown as having done damage to it.

However, unlike WM XIX, the wrestlers don’t always convey pain by gripping at a limb after it has been attacked, so it’s good to have this new system in place to show that damage is indeed being done. One problem I have with this system is that moves done with a limb that is listed as being in the red, and in theory, should be highly damaged, still do as much damage as a healthy limb. For example, a super kick will do the same amount of damage whether or not the legs are healthy or severely injured. This isn’t the least bit realistic. This is a problem that has always plagued the genre, but this would have given Yukes a perfect opportunity to finally implement it in the game.

Also, the fact that wrestlers don’t react to damage throughout the match is disheartening. If a wrestler’s neck has been worked on for five or so minutes, and is in the red, he should react to the pain for the rest of the match. Instead, the wrestler will just hold his neck for a few seconds, and go right back on the attack, quite a disappointment given the potential of the new damage system.
To add to the half-hearted cavalcade of new “features” in the series, we have weight detection. Oh goodie. Here’s something that adds to the gameplay in some ways, yet also takes away from it as well. Now, if you’re a smaller wrestler, you can’t do most lifting moves on a bigger man. So if you’re Rey Mysterio, you won’t be lifting up Brock Lesnar, unless you do something like that as a finishing move, which will magically allow you to muster up the strength to lift him up. Now, this new system does add a bit of strategy to the mix, but that’s only if you’re not getting completely killed by the bigger superstars, which can happen easily, as they can just slam you, lift you up, and repeat the process. You, as a smaller wrestler, are left to fly around the ring in hopes of connecting with enough moves to garner a win. This system is unrealistic because not all smaller wrestlers rely on high-flying moves, yet you are pretty much forced to do them in this game if you are a smaller superstar and want to win a bout against a large wrestler. Also, the fact that the weight detection system is thrown out the window for finishing moves is pretty unrealistic as well.

The unrealistic aspects of this game just don’t cut it anymore, especially not when Yukes did a fantastic job on WWE WrestleMania XIX on the GameCube, a game that featured realistic, diverse damage being shown through the body language of the wrestlers. It also featured a great amount of counter wrestling to boot. In terms of core, wrestling-based gameplay, WrestleMania XIX has this game down for the count. I’d love to see the next SD game feature WM-series gameplay with the move selection of the SD series, as that would be the best of both worlds, and fix quite a few of the problems for each series as well.

In terms of modes, however, HCtP beats pretty much everything out there. This is not without some controversy, however, as one of the SD series’ best modes, the I Quit match, has gone the way of the dodo for no good reason. Keep in mind, this mode is gone, while the never-before-done Slobberknocker mode was left in, and the all-but-worthless bra and panties match was included. Thankfully, most of the modes that made the transition from SYM to HCtP are left intact, which is usually a good thing, as SYM did a great job with most of the modes it featured. However, the elimination tag team match has been messed with quite a bit, and no longer allows you to screw around with your opponents while on the arena floor. This takes away quite a bit of fun from that mode, and also adds in a bit of needless strategy to the mix as well. Plus, it makes it very difficult to cheat to win as the Guerreros.

The season mode is more or less the same as it was in SYM. Go through a season, win titles, unlock things, rinse and repeat until you’ve unlocked everything. As per usual, expect to go through rehashes of memorable WWF/E storylines and events. Some of the rehashes are fun to play through, others aren’t, especially since some of them were already done to death in the second SD game. Still though, the mode does (sadly) provide you with the only way to create champions in the game, and it’s the only way to get your created wrestler’s stats up to anything remotely resembling decent. It serves its purpose, but gets old rather quickly. Thank goodness for being able to skip through the cut scenes.

The backstage areas, which have historically been a great feature in the SD series, seem like a mere afterthought now. There is very little in them that hasn’t been done before in the series, and done better at that. The level of interactivity in them is increased from SYM, yet decreased from SD 2, which featured the most backstage areas, and the most interactive ones as well. It’s sad to see how poorly done they are, with some just being wide open spaces to attack in, how exciting. Also, the assortment of weapons has gone way down when compared to any of the previous SD games. There are maybe a dozen weapons at your disposal in them, a far cry from the seemingly endless assortment of them in the past.

The biggest new addition for HCtP in terms of modes lies in the all-new Elimination Chamber bout. This bout can best be described as War Games meets the Royal Rumble. The time-based method of wrestlers entering the bout is much like War Games, while the every-man-for-himself mentality of the Royal Rumble is also featured. This kind of bout takes place in a gargantuan chain-link dome. Inside of it lie four glass chambers that will release a wrestler at a random time interval. Nearly every part of this structure can be used to torture your foe, and to destroy you as well. The level of interaction with this structure is surreal. You can whip your foes head-first into either the glass, the chain-link area, or into the ring. You can also rake your foes’ faces across the chain-link and bust them wide open. Diving off of the chambers can be done as well, and is another area where the shoddy selling of aerial moves comes into play. If you happen to do a move that doesn’t have a contrived looking sell to it, you will take massive damage. Also, the illogical counters rear their ugly way in this game as well, with a back body drop into the ring always being done to counter a front grapple attempt when your back is to the ring. Aside from those two flaws though, this mode is done about as well as could be expected.

Thankfully, HCtP features fantastic controls, which make some of the faults with the gameplay tolerable. The series’ usual control scheme has been retooled a bit, and with mixed results. The new control scheme makes countering more like the GC’s WrestleMania series, and less like the SD series, which is certainly a good thing. Sadly, the redone controls also extend to weapon usage, which has cost gamers the brutal-looking sideways-swinging chairshot from the last game. Aside from that, the new controls are easy to adapt to if you take the time to read the manual and pay attention to the control-listing loading screens. The responsive controls should only help you out in the game, and once you get the hang of them, you can start getting the most out of the game.

Graphically, HCtP is yet another mixed bag. While the character models for nearly everyone in the game look great (barring Jimmy Snuka‘s, as he is wearing BOOTS, and a pair of trunks I‘ve never seen him wear), some of the move animations are suspect, such as the fantastic German suplex that features a Kurt Angle taunt at the end of it, something I’d hoped wouldn’t be in this game. Also, some of the worst move animations from the first 3D wrestling game ever, Yukes’ Toukon Retsuden are still in this game. For whatever reason, the God-awful camel clutch and Boston crab from TR are intact, while other move animations have been taken out, such as a Twist of Fate, a Diamond Cutter, two ankle locks, and an Angle slam. Thankfully, most of the moves that are in the game feature nice, smooth animation. The sheer variety of them is daunting, and combined with the fantastic animation that adorns many of them, it’s almost awe-inspiring.

Compare this to WrestleMania XIX, which featured great looking character models with a bit less of a realistic look to them, while at the same time allowing for CAWs to look good enough that they looked like they belonged in the game. Another key problem I have with the graphics lies in how few characters have more than one attire. Some, like HHH and RVD have three, which is nice, but most only have one. Randy Orton should not be forced to only wear the shorts he hasn’t worn in nearly a year when almost all of the women in the game have two attires, plus the ever-so-needed multiple panty colors. The lack of logic in this aspect of the game is just mind boggling. Also, the characters now have a very shiny, phony look to them right off the bat, which eliminates the neat pseudo-sweating effect from the last game, and makes some of the attires, like the cape of the Ultimo Dragon, look ridiculous. I don’t mind a shiny look when it is just done to attires, but when the entire body of a wrestler appears to be wrapped up in plastic wrap, it really looks horrible.

Sonically, HCtP is a disappointment. First, the positives, the horrid ring introductions and in-game commentary are gone. Also, the in-game music sounds pretty good. Sadly, things go downhill from there. As I mentioned earlier, the legends don’t have their own themes, which is simply inexcusable. On top of that, the themes that are featured in the game are roughly half the length of the full songs, which, again, is inexcusable. The SD series is the only one with hacked-up themes, and there is really no reason for it. I don’t have much of a problem with some of the regular roster wrestlers not having their correct themes, as they either have themes they have used in the past, or themes close to their themes in their place. The sound effects for the game are sub-par, at least compared to Yukes’ own WrestleMania XIX, which featured nice, loud, sound effects that got across the impact of a move. HCtP features sound effects that seem muted by comparison, as very few moves seem to have any real impact, and some sound effects are downright illogical. Doing a move on the steel walkway in the elimination chamber shouldn’t sound like it’s being done on cement. Also, theme songs seem a bit stifled in this game when compared to WM XIX, as do crowd noises, although unlike WM XIX’s crowd, this one doesn’t seem to be tone deaf.

HCtP’s replay value, despite the flaws in the game, is still pretty high. Also, the season mode can be fun the first time or two through, and it is great to be able to give guys title belts that I’ve always wanted to see them wear, such as Shawn Michaels wearing the new-ish World tag team title belt (which looks a lot like the WWF tag title belt design used during 1985.) It’s a shame that the ability to defend titles outside of the season mode has seemingly died for the series. I loved how it was done in the first SD game, and even more so in the second game. It truly added a lot of replay value to the game, replay value that is sadly missing from this game. Thankfully, being able to change every move for the roster adds tons to the replay value, although the limiting move selection for front grapples enhances the game less than it ever has before.

In the end, WWE SmackDown: Here Comes the Pain is fun, yet it could have been so much more. The game features so many great things about it that are just never fully realized, and the game suffers as a result. Yukes went for a lot of new things in this release, which I commend them for, however, so few of them end up well that it’s hard to call this game anything but a disappointment. While the game has many flaws that simply shouldn’t be there, it is a step in the right direction. Hopefully, the next game will live up to its full potential. If you’re looking for a nice, fun wrestling game, and don’t mind the lack of realism, you’ll love this game. However, if you expect some deep wrestling in your wrestling game, you’ll be very disappointed.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/12/03, Updated 11/14/03