WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain

"Smackdown 5: My Two Cents"

For years and years, I really was the a huge wrestling fan. However, once the WCW/ECW Invasion occured, I turned off... the reason? There was nothing to be satisfied with anymore. The games were terrible, and there was nothing but merchandise nobody cares about everywhere.
But this past holiday season, something occured that made even me (who HATED pro-wrestling at the time)a total wrestling freak again... and that my friends was the release of Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain.

Graphics:
The graphics in Smackdown are plumb-loco. I've never seen characters look more like their real-life counter parts... from the moment you enter the character select menu, you'll be blown away. Nearly everyone available looks just like themselves. There's very little to complain about here, save that a few wrestlers (namely John Cena, Sean O'Haire, and Rodney Mack) don't look quite right... be it due to body size or SLIGHT (and I mean that) facial dissimilarities. Other than that, there's very little to complain about.
The Crowd looks quit realistic (although you still can't fight in it); particularly the front row, which is composed of actual bodies rather than well animated ''cut-outs''.
The arenas themselves are much more detailed than they ever have been; you can even see the rafters.
Graphically, the only real problem comes from collision and surface detection. More often than not, your charcter's clip through EVERYTHING during a high-impact slam... the ring, the ropes, EACH-OTHER... luckily, it's sometimes hard to spot due to camera angles. This is only truly annoying when you attempt certain moves on characters WAY smaller than you. For example, I recently made and began using Andre the Giant... his chokeslam, however, places his hand about a foot over his opponent's head.

Sound:
This is one of the few areas I have a complaint about. Most of the sound rules; for the most part, wrestler entrance musics are intact and presented here with great quality. The crowd's chants are quite clear, and they have very well-done reactions to the goings-on in the ring. However, some of the entrance musics are completly out of date (Most note-worthy is Rob Van Dam, though there are several others).
Also, there is NO COMMENTARY whatsoever. This just begs the question WHY??? If the Nintendo 64 could do it, the Playstation can too... it just doesn't.

Control:
Dead-on. What more can I say? The new grappling system allows for more manuevers per character than ever before... this allows many wrestlers to have all of their signature moves. I haven't experienced a single problem with the controls yet.
However, there is somewhat of a learning curve in terms of gameplay with these controls, especially if you're used to other Smackdown games (or so I'm told). Don't be suprised if you lose quite a few matches early on due to this... it's totally natural.

Gameplay:
The gameplay can range from ''The Greatest Wrestling Game Ever'' to ''Oh My God, Why Am I Still Playing This?''. I'm not joking when I say this either. There are times when I want to just throw my controller against a wall. That isn't to say that this game is infuriating... it's AI is simply ''cheap''.
As stated before, there is a learning curve for this game. The grappling system takes some getting used to, and the game will prey on this. You WILL lose several matches starting out. However, once you get used to it, you'll be Tombstoning people like there's no tomorrow.
On the other hand, there are a LOT of tough opponents in this game (Kurt Angle being my most hated, but Brock Lesner, Triple H, The Undertaker, and a few others coming to mind as well)... and for some obscure reason, you'll sometimes face them INCREDIBLY early on. One personal memory involves my newly created Sabu facing off against Kevin Nash in only his second match.

Replay:
Tons of it. Seriously, if you can enjoy the WWE storylines at all, you'll enjoy this game forever. I've been playing it religiously since I bought it at the beginning of December, and I'm STILL not tired of it yet. The reason? The game comes as close to generating it's own storylines as anyone has yet. There are apparantly more than 200 different story events in the game (or so it's been REPEATEDLY reported), and the chances of you running into them all are quite slim.
Story mode rules simply because, though sometimes difficult or annoying, it never ceases to get old.
Also, due to the INTENSE CAW mode, if you ever do get bored, you can just make a new character. Then the fun begins anew!
Also, there is plenty to unlock and work towards... your CAWs have to be used consistently to build up their stats (that is, if you EVER want them to be worth anything), and to unlock many of the game's bonuses, you must purchase them in the Shopzone. Thus, you have to play a lot, win lots of money, and save up. These items include new loading screens, moves, Costumes, and even legendary characters.

So in closing, let's look at some of the pros and cons:
My Pros:
-The game plays great
-The graphics rule
-The selection of wrestlers is sweet, though not perfect.
-The replay value makes this one a TOTAL KEEPER.
-It's awesome enough to turn anyone around to the WWE(even a heartbroken ECW fan like myself).
-Elimination Chamber is F-U-N to play with your friends.
-The Bra and Panties match has been included... so uh, most guys will enjoy that too.

Cons:
-The Sound is quite lacking.
-The list of characters is missing some that makes you say ''What?!''
-I wouldn't exactly call Hillbilly Jim, George ''The Animal'' Steele, and Nicholai Volkoff ''legends''... but to each his own I guess...
-Some moves (which could be used to make CAWs more realistic) are missing/removed.
-Some items missing from CAW mode (the ability to make a towel for Taz comes to mind... so Kane gets one but I don't?!?!?!)

So as you can see, most of the complaints come from the CAW Mode (which is still the best in existence). That isn't NEARLY enough to detract someone from at the very least renting this game.

I promise you won't regret it.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 02/14/04