WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw

"The SmackDown! Series Seems Tired..."

Wrestling... Over these past three years, it has become nothing but mere story plot repetitions, and mediocrity-ridden personalities. From a highly respect multi-billion dollar organisation, into nothing but a constantly disappointing form of sports and entertainment, it has certainly begun heading on a downward spiral. But luckily, this one series that has held it's consistancy over the past half a decade continues to do so, once again presenting another hit, this time entitled WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW.

It may seem to some like a simple rehash of last year's wrestling revolution, WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain, but really, it does offer more than some do realise. This year's edition includes a first-ever, in wrestling games, being the online mode. It also has a respectable and an updated roster, including another impressive list of wrestling legends including Andre the Giant, and Bret 'the Hitman' Hart. And returning from the smash-hit, WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role, is the Create-A-PPV and Create-A-Belt modes, where you're able to relive classic pay-per-view memories, and you can create past championships which have since been retired, these are two valuable additions to this game, for sure.

The Season Mode, which is obviously equivilant to any other game's 'story mode', is a huge factor in this game. But unfortunately, it doesn't do as much for the game as it probably should. With some very poor storylines (much like the real-life counterpart, kind of funny), and generally average character paths, it turned out to be quite repetitive and boring. One feature which had huge potential, but was executed with seemingly no effort at all, was the superstar voice-overs. This had been missing from the series for three years, and unfortunately, just when it was meant to be the huge feature, and send the series on it's way to immortality, it is executed very poorly. It's extremely disappointing, I mean, only a slim percentage of rostered superstars even have full voice-overs in the game, and even most only have a few phrases, which is kind of sad, really.

As far as the gameplay goes, it's much like past SmackDown! games, except some vague updates have been made. It still includes all the bone-shattering impact slams from the past five games, hell, even some of the original move animations from the first game are included, as slack as that sounds, it's true. But what more would you expect from a company who is fond of repeating old material? But that's easily overlooked. This time around, the bouts begin with a variety of momentum building situations, including staredowns, shoving contests, things of that sort. In these situations, it is vital that you manage to press the suggested button quickly to gain the upperhand, and win the confrontation. These are probably very unnecessary, but they do make things interesting sometimes, but they do nothing to shape the contest at all, they're very easy to 'comeback' from.

Other inclusions to the gameplay include more situations, such as 'turnbuckle bouts', where you and your opponent take turns of trying to gain the striking advantage, this is where a small wheel gauge appears on-screen, and you're required to stop the marker within a small space to perform a successful punch, these can be challenging and are often fluked to win, but really, this is once again really unneeded, but adds just that little bit that people can enjoy. An almost identical feature is used in the divas' exclusive contests, the Bra and Panties matches, where a spanking move is replaced with the turnbuckle face-off.

And luckily, alot of flaws from WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain have been removed from this year's game, and let's face it, that's always a good thing. It's safe to say that this game is just about error free, from my observations, which were brief, but really, how far can you delve into a sports game looking for flaws. So, looks like a tick for Yuke's, when it comes to flaws and errors inside the game.

Sound was never a big factor when it comes to sports games, but of course, this isn't entirely sport. And sound, in this case, is a huge factor in the SmackDown! series. But sadly, as in past games, not all of the entrance themes were managed to be licensed, there are those few that are mere generic remakes or 'sound-a-likes' of the real themes, which is very disappointing. But luckily, that's only the case for some of the lower classed superstars who would be rarely used in the game, anyway. As far as the commentary goes, it's really just the same as the other games in the series, it doesn't flow, and it is repetitive.

The voice overs, as mentioned before, were also very poorly executed, and that does hurt the score badly, just because it could have been done so much better. The only character who seemed to have put some emotion into their voice over, was probably Vince McMahon, and he only appears every now and then, and he sounded quite professional. The next best would probably be Kurt Angle, who does the voicing for all of his lines, so those two deserve some credit. But generally, the sound in this game was let down quite badly due to the attempted voice-overs.

But really, when it comes to the WWE SmackDown! series, this is almost one of the best, but unfortunately just falls short in some of the games most important aspects, and is let down badly by a few of the attempted features. With a poor season mode, and a disasterous voice-over engine. The only thing holding this game above a respectable score is the fact that it's quite possibly the last of the series to be seen on the PlayStation 2, and really, how much more could they have revolutionized the series? It's still a great game, there's no doubt about that, but really, it's not much different from previous games, but in some strange way, it is?

It doesn't make sense, but hey, what does these days. I'd recommend this, if you're a die-hard fan of the series, if not, rent and test it out for yourself.

Graphics - A great improvement from Here Comes the Pain, the muscle tension can actually be seen this time around. Looks amazing. 91%
Sound - With official licensed tracks being played in the menu, this is really let down by poor voice-over acting. 75%
Gameplay - Much like previous games, but with some very new features to just make it a refreshing and enjoyable game. 86%
Replay Value - With so many create modes, this game has alot of potential to last a long time. And the online mode, too, makes it endlessly fun. 90%

Overall - It can be seen two ways, as a simple rehash which offers nothing to anyone, except for die-hard fans. Or it can be seen as a refreshingly similiar game that fans of the series can look at and have memories of the entire series, because it contains elements from them all. 89%

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 12/14/04