WWF SmackDown!

"Smackdown lays the SMACKDOWN on PlayStation"

For the first Smack-down game in an ongoing successful gaming series, it was a very good game. The roster was awesome, the backstage areas were great and everything else was excellent and than some. And exactly why could this game be one of the greatest wrestling games of all time and evolve later on in time to become on the most popular and best selling professional wrestling video games of all time? Let's take a look at some of the aspects in this game as we would do with any video game.

Game-play 9/10 - The game-play of WWF Smack-down is awesome. It's very easy to handle and get used to and it makes the game extremely entertaining. Performing grapple moves, punching and kicking, tossing the opponent into the ring ropes, it is all very easy to do. Even the specials, called Smack-down moves, are easy. Once you get your spirit meter one hundred percent filled, you gain one smack-down slot for a smack-down move and once the opponent is in a groggy state, simply tap L1! It's that easy! The game-play in this game is excellent and easy and so therefore I give the game-play department a 9/10 easily.

Sound 10/10 - From the sound of the bodies hitting the mat to the sound of the cheer from the crowd. The sounds that are in WWF Smack-down are simply amazing. Even on surfaces other than the ring mat, it sounds awesome. Like if you were fighting your opponent on a concrete surface, and you slammed the opponent on the concrete with let's say a sup-lex, it will actually sound like you're slamming the opponent onto concrete rather than adopting the sound of the ring mat. Easily, the sound section WWF Smack-down gets a high rating of 10/10.

Graphics 8/10 - Now we talk about the graphics, quite possibly the only negative part of this brilliant game, if it can even be considered a bad thing. The character models in this game are superb and are beautifully done. The surrounding environments are also awesome looking. The environments backstage are also very impressive looking. Even the Created Wrestlers that you can create look like in game character models. But the graphics department has its flaws although it's very very tough to point it out exactly. I give the graphics in this game a rating of 8/10 respectively.

Fun Factor 7/10 - This game is a very entertaining video game. If you really like wrestling, you will definitely enjoy playing this video game, as this game has a lot of features to make playing this game one of the most enjoyable experiences you will ever have when playing a video game. It misses a few things that would make the Fun Factor a definite 10/10, like no blood and no weight detection, meaning smaller wrestlers wouldn't be able to life bigger wrestlers. Because of these nice features not being implemented into WWF Smack-down, I give the Fun Factor a rating of 7/10.

Replay value 8/10 - This game is an absolute brilliant game and is a very fun play. It has championship belts and a truly awesome ranking system. I won't go into further detail with the ranking system but it really is an extremely awesome feature that was implemented into the game. I can almost guarantee that you will find yourself going back to your Play-Station gaming console and playing this game frequently for hours and hours because it really and truly is that fun. I give the replay value of this game easily a rating of 8/10.

Rent or buy Buy - Simply put, you would pretty much waste your money if you rented this game. This game is definitely a buy. This game is so much fun and has a lot of truly awesome features implemented into it. The controls are very easy to understand and it is also simple to perform your special, and in this case Smack-down, move to your opponent, something that has been rather difficult to do in other wrestling games. Because of all these features and all the fun you'll have playing this game, it is without a doubt a game you would want to buy.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 09/16/04