Can you smell what The Rock is cooking? Oh wait,
he isn’t
The Rock anymore he is Dwayne Johnson, about to play a tooth fairy in
an upcoming movie. Can you believe it? The days of “The Rock” and
“Stone Cold Steve Austin” were the great wrestling days. Now its 2010
with a bunch of new guys circling the ring ready to lay the Smackdown
in WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2010.
The new release by THQ gives you
the choice of over 60 superstars, with more emphasis this year placed
on rising through the ranks with your own created superstar.
There
are also a number of standard matches that can be chosen from the main
menu; One of One, Two on Two, Triple Threat, Fatal 4-Way, 6-Man and
Handicap.
With the introduction in 2010 of the Royal Rumble
and
Championship Scramble, involving a lot of fun, chaos and mayhem. There
is also career mode whereby defeating opponents earns you stars, the
more stars you gain, the higher you rise in WWE ranks. The other mode
is “The Road to Wrestlemania”.
Introduced in last year’s release,
The Road to Wrestlemania was a raving success. The wrestling nuts down
at THQ have improved this section of the game to the admiration of fans
everywhere. To quote some of the WWE Superstars “This is where it all
comes together, Wrestlemania is bigger than life”.
There are six
superstars to choose from in “Road to Wrestlemania” including: Edge,
Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Triple H, John Cena and the smokin’ diva
Mickie James. Co-op is available and can be heaps of fun. Team up with
a mate and reach the pinnacle of any wrestlers professional life. It’s
available with Triple H and John Cena.
Kicking off 83 days before
Wrestlemania, your objective is to follow the path and reach the
ultimate stage. And hey, with the option of using your own created
superstar, it could be you standing in front of thousands of crazy fans.
Create
a Superstar is one aspect of this game that the creators have paid
extra attention to. Introducing this for the 2010 version enables
gamers to develop their own characters, upload them on the net or even
win WWE / SMACKDOWN championship titles. Everything can be managed
including finishers, an entrance, move sets and entrance movies (a new
installment for 2010).
For the creative minds out there, the
brand new WWE Story designer allows gamers to create their own story
experiences. Choose anything from location of the set, the animation,
actors/wrestlers and even the text for the story. The Story designer
allows gamers to create up to ten years of WWE television experience.
This, however, is very time consuming, and the fun of it does make way to
boredom fairly quickly.
Now, lets get inside the ring and the
actual game play. Initially the controls are tricky to get the hang of,
with the only move in your repertoire seeming to be either a slap
across the chest or a throwing of your opponent into the ropes. But as
you continue to play, you gradually become acclimatised to the controls.
This
is where the training facility comes in handy. Learn all the basic
moves, and then excel into the tricky stuff, once you're ready. The
training checklist is an extremely helpful tool, ticking off the moves
once you have completed them.
The game runs smoothly and looks
pretty good, the characters look like the wrestlers they are
portraying. At times however, during the cut scenes or introductions,
the graphics do look a little bit “disjointed”.
The commentary
and the crowd are great in this game, with the crowd reaction always
seemingly timed to perfection. The only negative aspects encountered
seemed to be:
The lasting appeal, it just doesn’t hold the attention for too long. The
combat isn’t fantastic. Only
true wrestling fans will appreciate the new aspects including the Story
Designer.
WWE
Smackdown Vs Raw is a game die hard wrestling fans will adore with a
passion, regular fans will get a thrill, but not a lasting one.
The lasting appeal, it just doesn’t hold the attention for too long.
