WWF SmackDown!

"One of the most hyped video games I've seen in a while doesn't live up to expectations, yet it's still one hell of a game."

WWF Smackdown was one of the most hyped games in WWF video gaming history. I will be the first to admit that even with the special ref, storyline, great graphics, etc., it still wasn't able to live up to the hype. However, if it did it'd be the best wrestbing game of all time, bar none.

GAMEPLAY
The roster of WWF superstars is extrordinary. There are many of the great main eventers like Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Vince McMahon, The Undertaker, Kane, and The Rock to midcarders like Edge, Christian, the Hardys, Chris Jericho, and Shane McMahon and of course hidden characters. If you want to call them that. You really don't get hidden characters. You get the items in the create a wrestler that allows you to create them. Couple this with that only 4 hidden characters are allowed at a time, and you're really getting screwed. Why couldn't THQ just put the hidden characters in themselves instead of letting me just piece Stephanie, Prince Albert, Ivory, Jacqualin, Mideon, Jerold Brisco, Pat Patterson, and Viscirra together, and then try to give them the correct moves, entrance video, etc.
There are many game modes that you can do in a match. First of all, you have your typical Vs. and tag team matches. Then there are special stipulation matches such as hardcore, anywhere falls %that, I quit, steel cage, handicap, and my favorite mode, the special referee mode. This is especially good in multiplayer. If you have three players, two friends can battle each other, and a third friend can be the speciaguest referee. I found it this usually ends up in pillow fights, hardcore matches in real life, etc.. One time, my brother pedigreed The Big Show, I counted a quick 2, but I never counted 3. Insteadi stunned him, Big Show hit the chokeslam, and I counted a fast 3. That was great.
So career mode was one of the big hyped features of Smackdown. You start out as any wrestler of your choice at April 2000. Then you go on a career with a storyline, rivalries, etc.. However, it was a bit overhyped. You see the same things like, ''I wonder what insert wrestler and insert wrestler are talking about.'' Also, this career mode is begging for voice acting such as, ''Undertaker, I'll kick your ass right now!''
The create a wrestler was a major disapointment. Instead of Attitude's many customizable options, you get to do more with statistics. Of course, you can pick cool stuff such as ageand home town, but you need a degree in advanced engineering to understand all of the move lists and stuff. It took forever for me to get the concept, and my created wrestler still wasn't anything special.. There is also a create a PPV, and it is almost the same as Attitude. Not much new here.
The game Smackdown works on the Tukkon Redsuden engine. Usually a direction and a button will execute the move. This seems to be much preferred by the majority rather than Attitude's and Warzone's Mortal Kombat like button combination method of doing moves. I preferred the Attitude engine, this one is also pretty good. Every finisher is down by pressing L1 at the appropreate time and when you have one Smackdown dot highlighted. The controls are very basic and easy to learn.
GAMEPLAY SCORE: 9.1/10

GRAPHICS
The graphics are the best on the Playstation in any wrestling game. The wrestlers' are hand drawn, so the collision detection is better than Attitude and Warzone. A few of the characters, like Test and Chris Jericho, however, look very weird andunlike themselves. But for the most part, the characters are great. The frame rate is also a bige music is great. The background music during the game is much better than the crappy stuff that all sounded the same in Nitro and Thunder, and a lot better than the generic jun you heard in Wrestlemania 2000. It's a kind of heavy metal, however, I do like the music to be at a minimum during matches, so it doesn't destract me. Also, every wrestler has their up-to-date entrance music, from Christian's volume 4 music that he never uses to Chyna's new ''Treat Me For Who I Am'' music. I just wish the intros were e music is great. The background music during the game is much better than the crappy stuff that all sounded the same in Nitro and Thunder, and a lot better than the generic jun you heard in Wrestlemania 2000. It's a kind of heavy metal, however, I do like the music to be at a minimum during matches, so it doesn't destract me. Also, every wrestler has their up-to-date entrance music, from Christian's volume 4 music that he never uses to Chyna's new ''Treat Me For Who I Am'' music. I just wish the intros were longer so I could hear more of the music. Even little stuff like the music in the Y2J countdown.
The sound effects, however, are a different story. The crowd sounds real enough, and the ring sounds perfect, but there are drawbacks. There is no talking whatsoever. Not even little snips of commentary like in Nitro and Thunder, not introductions for the wrestler, and no wrestler voice acting. The career mode is the game and just begging for some voice acting, and so am I. Instead of Vince putting a special stipulation on the match on the screen like a Final Fantasy, it'd be great to hear ''So tonight. In, this, very, ring, it will be'' blah blah blah. Also some commentary would be greatly appreciated. This is the major drawback of the sound department, no voices. The rest of the sound effects are good.
MUSIC/sound EFFECTS: 8.5/10

DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM
The game is easy on easy medion on medium, and hard on hard. Very good difficulty settings. I can now win the WWF title and keep it for all eternity on easy, but medium is only kind of hard. I'll probably have the game on hard pretty soon, but medium gives a slight challenge, and hard gives good challenge, whereas easy gives really no challenge at all once you've mastered the basics of the game.

REPLAY VALUE: HIGH
With no career being alike, you'll want to go on it over, and over, and over, and over again. Also the multiplayer is fantastic, because of all the greatness it will bring with a few friends. Especially the special referee mode.

OTHER GAME INFORMATION

RENT/buy?: DEFINITE BUY
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 4
GENRE: PRO WRESTLING
PUBLISHER: THQ

OVERALL SCORE: 9.3/10
This game is really good. You should buy it the first chance you get. It opens a whole new door for the pro wrestling game genre, and it's definitely worth a purchase.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/00, Updated 06/03/00