WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw

"Many good additions, but too many mistakes as well"

THQ has made quality wrestling games ever since WCW Vs The World almost ten years ago. These games have made THQ the big game company it is today. The biggest franchise THQ has is without a doubt the Smackdown franchise on the Playstation systems. THQ has now released the sixth entry in this franchise, SmackDown! Vs RAW.

This game adds many fresh new elements that have not been in a Smackdown game before. The Create-A-Belt lets you design whatever belt you could want to make. Also, SmackDown! Vs RAW is the first wrestling game to have an online feature. While these changes are definitely a welcome addition, unfortunately, it takes away other things that have made the Smackdown series as good as it is.

Gameplay: 8/10: The gameplay in this year's game is almost exactly identical to last year's entry, Here Comes The Pain. People who have played HCTP before will be familiar already with the control scheme. People new to the series will pick it up fairly easy, but it does take some practice. The biggest change in gameplay is the various meters that have been added to matches. When you throw your opponent into a turnbuckle, sometimes you will have a chop meter. This meter uses a system similar to kicking field goals in EA's Madden football games. You charge up the power of a chop, and then try to get an accurate chop by stopping the meter on green. There are other meter like this, such as a spanking meter and a meter for the Royal Rumble match. While these meters do make matches much more realistic, it can be distracting sometimes. THQ also added some mini games before matches. These include shoving matches and test of strength. I think these are a complete waste of time and only for those who like tedious mini games like those found in Nintendo's Mario Party games. Overall, gameplay is as solid as last year's game, but the extra things are not necessary.

Graphics: 10/10: By far, this has the most realistic-looking graphics for a wrestling game ever. Each wrestler looks as identical as their real life counterparts do. THQ obviously put a lot of their time into making this game be as realistic as possible and it shows in the graphical presentation of this game.

Sound: 1/10: Before this game was released, one of the things THQ pushed about this game was the inclusion of licensed music. While that music is very good and a welcome addition to the game, THQ still forgot the music that mattered most: every wrestler's accurate theme song. Over the years, THQ has screwed this part of the game up. If they want licensed music, then they NEED every wrestler's theme first and for most before worrying about menu music. As usual, THQ dropped the ball. Big names such as Stacy Keibler and Jimmy Snuka have washed down, generic version of their themes. This is inexcusable, considering they spent a ton of money to get licensed music. All of the sound effects in the game, however, are very well done. One other aspect of sound now in the game is voice-overs of some of the wrestlers for story mode. While some of the voices are very well done, such as Vince McMahon and Kurt Angle, others such as RVD sound very grainy and not very much like themselves.

Story: 9/10: Story mode in this game has become shorter than normal, which is a huge improvement in my opinion. Story mode is primarily made up of some cut scenes involving voice-overs as previously mentioned, followed by a match. You keep going until you finish the year off at Wrestlemania. I found story mode to be excellent as it usually is in a Smackdown game.

Replay 8/10: The replay value for this installment of the franchise is as high as you would expect. All of the specialty matches from last year are back this year with the inclusion of the Parking Lot Brawl, which is primarily a hardcore match surrounded by cars that you can throw your opponent into. Also Create-A-Wrestler is still very well done, except for the fact that it is nearly impossible to turn any clothes black. As mentioned earlier, this game has an online feature, so you can go head to head with a friend that lives on the other side of the country. This is a well-welcomed feature, but needs a lot of work. Online mode consists of only one-on-one matches and the bra-and-panties match. I feel that this online mode is only to wet the appetites of online gamers for next year's game, where I am sure much more will be included. Overall, this game will give gamers hours of fun.

Overall: 7/10: THQ made a fairly good game in the Smackdown franchise, but did not deliver a performance that equaled or exceeded the last 2 entries in the franchise. THQ did an amazing job on the Story Mode and the graphics, which is not surprising. However, THQ totally blew it in the sound department, which needs to be fixed, especially since they are throwing that much money around for licensed music. The online aspect is welcomed, but needs some improvement. Overall, it is a worthy addition to the Smackdown franchise, but pales in comparison to the last couple of entries in the series.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/11/04, Updated 11/23/04