WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain

"Finally a Smackdown! game without a Rock catchphrase in the title.."

The Playstation and Playstation 2 has been the dominate source for anything wrestling since it game out. There are tons of GREAT wrestling games for both consoles the Smackdown! series, the old ECW (Hardcore Revolution and Anarchy Rulz) and WCW (Mayhem and Backstage assault and WWF (War zone and Attitude) games, and even Backyard Wrestling. All of these games were great in their time. But, can the newest WWE game, WWE Smackdown!: Here Comes the Pain be better than its predecessors?

Something that the Smackdown! games have always been good in is the game play, they always seem to come out with new things. Which I think is what makes the Smackdown! series the best wrestling series to date. Anyways, in the season mode you can pick your favorite wrestler to use in the season mode. The season mode is just like the WWE TV show. You can win titles, run in on your most hated enemy's matches, and make friends and enemies. This by far is the best wrestling game to date. There are also many new features in Here Comes the Pain such as the anticipated 'Bra & Panties match' and the Elimination Chamber! There is also a much better grapple system, this basically means the smaller wrestlers cannot pick up some of the larger ones. Finally Rey Mysterio cannot choke slam the Big Show! There is also an upgraded submission system, this means that if you keep on working on your opponents arm and it begins to turn red he will start to hold his arm, stopping him from chokeslaming or something similar.

In the past Smackdown! games the story has been out dated storylines from the past year, which sort of took away some of the fun. Finally, in Here Comes the Pain, the real WWE storyline writers put their thinking caps on and come up with original WWE storylines just for the game! Which defiantly makes the game MUCH more fun to play. The season mode works just like all of the other Smackdown! games, you play matches, make friends, make enemies, and win the prestigious WWE gold.

The graphics and sound in Here Comes the Pain is a step above the rest. Nice and smooth graphics anything you could ever want in a wrestling game. The graphics and sound is also very life like it makes you feel like you are in the ring wrestling a real WWE wrestler. The annoying announcers are fixed. No more weird announcing lines such as, 'ROCK BOTTOM ROCK BOTTOM ROCK BOTTOM' when the Rock isn't even in the match. The music in the game music is pretty good, unlike the others. It gets you pumped up for the upcoming match. Although, the legend's entrance music is a disappointment, none of them have their authentic music.

The CAW (Create A Wrestler) mode in Here Comes the Pain is just a carbon copy of the last Smackdown! game, Shut Your Mouth. All it is, is the exact same CAW mode but with a few added parts but, the new parts are just other wrestler's alternate costumes and parts. Although, Shut Your Mouth's Create A Wrestler mode was nothing to shake a stick at. I just don't understand why the developers didn't upgrade one of the game's most popular features.

The roster in Here Comes the Pain is one of its few downsides. It leaves out ALOT of wrestlers and new gimmicks. Some of these wrestlers include, Molly Holly, Gail Kim, Nunzio, William Regal, Jamie Noble, and Shane McMahon just to name a few. I can't believe that they left out half of the women's roster because they said that ''the divas will be playing a bigger part in Here Comes the Pain than in the past Smackdown games''.

The Replay value in Here Comes the Pain is great! I mean, what do you expect? It's basically opened ended you can do basically anything in the exhibition mode. You could do the coolest stunts that you've seen one Pay Per Views or on TV you can play almost any wrestler in almost any match, which is great. So it would be pretty hard to get bored of this game, especially if you are a die hard wrestling fan.

This game would be much better if the developers updated the Create a Wrestler mode and added more wrestlers. But, overall its a great game and should make a great addition to anyone who is wrestler fan's video game collection.
I think that you should buy this game because it is a really great game and a good time waster with tons of wrestlers and options.

Pros:

+ Semi updated Roster
+ No more annoying announcers
+ Better graphics
+ New Grapple System
+ New Submission System
+ Better Game play mechanics
+ New match types such as Bra and Panties and Elimination Chamber

Cons:

- Left out a lot of wrestlers
- Didn't update the CAW mode
- Legends don't have their original music.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 11/13/03