It was actually odd, growing up as a fan of pro wrestling, because I didn't know a single person (no exaggeration here) who liked it. Nobody in my family, none of my friends. It wasn't until I was 23 that I met somebody who liked wrestling. I went on a business trip with Damon, and we're sitting in the hotel room playing cards on Monday night, and he says, "I hope you don't mind, but Raw's coming on." I stared at him for a moment, a little slack-jawed, and he thought I was offended. I was hasty to correct the assumption, explaining that I too loved wrestling. We spent the rest of the night talking about old matches and storylines. That was a great night.
Of course, now we have things like the Internet and social websites, so it's easy for me to find places to discuss wrestling.
I say all that to get to my point: I've been playing wrestling games since the Nintendo. It's far and away my favorite game genre, and is perenially the game I sink most hours into. Since THQ has gone down to one yearly wrestling franchise, WWE games are the only ones that I can pick up once a year and will play consistently for the whole year. Prior to the whole one-title thing they do now, when THQ had competition from EA's WCW games, there would be several game releases in one year, which was very exciting for me, but I make do with only one per year.
Yes, for those of you that pay attention, up-and-comer TNA released a game a couple of months ago, but that was a really bad game. It's gameplay mechanics were around 10 years ago. Yes it had shiny graphics and surprisingly fluid animations, but it didn't have solid game play or AI to back it up. Maybe next year.
So today, I'll focus on the current champion of the virtual squared circle, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009. The series started out as WWE Smackdown when it was a PS2 exclusive. THQ was then running 3 brands of sports games (Raw on XBox, and something-something on the GameCube). I am a loyal XBox owner, but the Raw games blew my ass. Towards the end of the XBox's life cycle, THQ released Wrestlemania 21, made by Studio Gigante who had made one whopping video game prior to WM21, and that was a terrible, terrible fighting game (the name of which escapes me). Suffice it to say that WM21 was the worst wrestling game I've ever played (and that includes the old 8-bit ones).
After a string of XBox failures, THQ finally decided to move the awesome Smackdown franchise over to the XBox 360, much to my delight. The renamed it Smackdown vs Raw and suddenly the 360 had an awesome wrestling title. Every year since then, the series has just improved, and this year is no exception.
The first thing most people will notice is the improved visuals. The wrestlers look more realistic than they ever have before. The arenas look great (though I'm disappointed they didn't recreate the Orange Bowl for the WM24 arena), the fireworks look awesome too. The crowd is still a low point though. I tend to care very little about this, however, as I'm usually too busy looking at the goings-on in the ring to notice.
The music selection has also improved, leaning more heavily towards superstars' themes rather than no-name licensed music. Don't get me wrong, there's still plenty of that, but hearing Motorhead when I'm creating my wrestler is far cooler than some stock rap track.
Which brings me to the create modes. The create-a-wrestler is still deep and fun to use. They've trimmed some of the options down a bit, which is slightly off-putting. I have a tendency to bring my created wrestlers over from previous versions, and when details of those go away, it tends to annoy me. There are some odd bugs this year, ones that it seems to me never should have made it through testing. One example of this is is with the wristband length. If you choose, say, wristband #1 and try to shrink it down to be just on the wrist instead of the whole arm, it will only go down to just below the elbow. This has never been an issue in previous versions, and it strikes me as weird that it is an issue now. Who broke it? Moving on... the textures for the outfits, hair, and skin have also been upgraded and now look far more realistic than they have before. Gone is the plastic-y look from previous years.
Create an Entrance is the same as ever, just updated with better visuals and newer effects to match those currently being used. On the Create a Moveset end of things, many moves have been reanimated and a plethora of new ones have been added. When you start, a good number of the moves are locked (something that has always bothered me to a degree), but you can unlock them in the Road to Wrestlemania mode (though you'll probably want to reference a guide for that).
The big new addition this year comes in the form of Create a Finisher. I know this is something that I've always wanted to do, and I'm sure most people who play these games have as well. I just love this idea, but in execution, it's readily apparent that more work is needed. It's fun going in there and exploring the plethora of options, and some of the moves are really cool. It does have it's plaws though. In order for me to explain what's wrong with it, I have to tell you how it works. There are 10 steps. On each step, you can assign a specific move peice. For example, you can do your steps like this:
- Punch to head
- Punch to gut
- Kick in nuts
- Powerbomb clutch
- Powerbomb lift
- 360 spin
- Powerbomb drop
- Powerbomb impact
- Blank
- Blank
Once you have created your wrestler, complete with an entrance and moveset, you can't manually assign stats. You must take your superstar through Career Mode, which is where your superstar fights to acquire as many titles as possible. There are no cut scenes or stories, just match, match, match, number one contender match, title match. Wash, rinse, repeat. At the end of each match, your created dude gains stat points based on how many moves from each category you performed during the match. If you whack your opponent in the head with a steel chair over and over, your hardcore stat goes up. If you jump off the turnbuckle a lot, your speed goes up.
Last year, created superstars were assigned special abilities based on what kind of superstar they were. If you created a Showman, then your superstar could steal taunts and finishers. This year, special abilities are assigned based on meeting certain criteria in Career Mode. The criteria for each ability are not given to you until you earn it. Your created dude has 6 ability slots, and once your superstar earns an ability, you cannot remove it or change it.
Let me tell you why this whole mode is frustrating to me. First, I like to have a stable of created guys, and spending hours of play for each to increase stats is a lot to ask. Second, until you know how to unlock all the special abilities, you're stuck playing matches and hoping you don't end up with anything stupid. For example, one of my created guys is a face, yet he has a dirty pin as a special move. Given that faces never use dirty pins, this makes zero sense and the fact that I can't go back and change it is just plain idiotic. Not to mention, the stats go up very slowly. I'm 3/4 of the way done with career mode with one guy, and his overall is in the mid 50s. Given that he starts at a 32, this is insane.
IGN reports that THQ apparently realized their mistake and are working on a patch that will allow you to assign stats manually to every created character after you beat career mode once. There is no word on editing abilities, so I can only wait. That wait could potentially be a long one, though, as THQ has only said that it will be available sometime before January 31, 2009.
To be fair, that is my one major gripe with the game. But I love creating wrestlers, so it's a huge gripe.
Anyway, this year introduces the new Road to Wrestlemania mode, where you choose from 7 superstars and play through an actual storyline. Even given the limited wrestler choices you have, this mode is awesome. Not since WWF No Mercy have you been able to play through a really well-scripted story with branching paths and realistic characterizations. The play-by-play, which is annoying-at-best during regular matches, is actually entertaining in this mode, as they are always commenting on the goings-on in the story. My only real wish for this mode is that Orton had a playable story, but perhaps next year.
Overall, this is the best wrestling game I've played on any XBox system. Its great how far the series has come, and the directions its being taken make me want to drool in anticipation. Yes, I have some gripes (most of which should be fixed by 1/31/09), but overall, the game is immense fun, and a grand step up from previous iterations.
My score: 9.3/10
Still to come: Fallout 3, plus other rantings, ravings, and random thoughts. Woot!
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