WWE Smackdown vs RAW 2010 (PS3) Review

Posted by Jon Seddon on 11.09.2009

Another iteration in the well received wrestling series gives us more of the same with some pleasant new features.




Gameplay
The thing about sports titles and their yearly updates is that by the time the number of iterations has reached double figures the sheer amount of content they give you is breath taking. Whether you are interested in all of thet content is another matter, but THQ certainly haven't shied away from giving the fans lots of different ways to enjoy this game.

Each new year sees a a fresh set of new features bulleted on the back of the box and THQ have been even more helpful by highlighting every new feature in the menu. The first new feature though when you boot the game up is the training ring, which forms the backdrop to the whole game and allows you to practice your moves before you've even started exploring the multiple menus.

Once again the main mode of the game is Road to Wrestlemania, which allows you to take Edge, Shawn Michaels, Randy Carlton and Mickie James on a pretty decent story path through a season up to and including Wrestlemania, which is celebrating it's 25th year. You can also play the mode co-op with John Cena and Triple H teaming up and you can of course take your created superstar on the same journey.

If you don't want to play through a story there are always the single match options which includes Royal Rumble and Championship Scramble modes which are both enormous fun in their own right.

If however, you prefer to take your wrestling career a little more seriously there's the management modes giving you the chance to manage either a single wrestler or a team or there's the career mode.



New this year is the Story Designer mode, which seems like far too much work for me, but its extremely impressive in terms of what it enables. You can can create complicated character focused stories linking videos, soundtracks and dialogue that you can produce using your chat pad. Whether you think big or small the tools are comprehensive if a little daunting to begin with. The other create modes allow you to create your own wrestler, finishing move, entrace movie or even move set. If you don't feel creative, then you can always grab what other people of done by downloading files from THQ, which might be the quickest way to get Andre the Giant or your other wrestling favorites in your game.

In play the game plays very much like before with only minor changes to the controls. Things have been made a little easier this year with both grapple and strike evades now on the same trigger. The momentum system is also slightly chained this year, appearing as an indicator under your character model now instead of at the top of the screen. The inclusion of the training mode with move set indicators and those slight tweaks to the controls have definitely made the game a little more approachable for the newcomer, but still provides plenty of opportunity for seasoned pros to unleash devastating moves.



Graphics
When compared to the 2009 Xbox 360 version, the graphics look a little washed out and the lighting certainly doesn't seem to cast such a rich glow. After a while though this is forgotten, but it is still unfortunate. What is a little more jarring is how low the polygon count and how low resolution the textures are on the spectators, including the those in the front row. Again, when compared to last year's 360 game it seems like a genuine step backwards. None of this though really affects the gameplay and the animation and wrestler character models are good but never don't match the quality of Yuke's UFC game. Again the clipping in the game, whilst good for a game that was released when PS3 first arrived today seems a little behind the times. Frame rate though is good enough to allow smooth and fair fights with only the ocassional stutter when the camera angle switches.

When viewed against the backdrop of other sports games, the Smackdown engine appears to be getting a little long in the tooth and could do with an update before next year's inevitable game.

Sound
If you enjoy the heavy guitar sounds that accompany each wrestler's entrance to the ring, then you will enjoy the tunes included in this game, but for everyone else you may want to skip those intros. The fight commentary eventually gets old, but then what sports game doesn't end up frustrating you with it's repeated phrases. The sounds of flesh hitting canvas or indeed chair hitting face are all there in Dolby 5.1 audio. In essence, there's nothing wrong with the sound in this game, but it doesn't do anything spectacular either.



Lasting Appeal

As was already mentioned the game is brimming with content and each of the individual modes will take you a little while to get through. Each Road to Wrestlemania story will take a few hours to get through on it's own and then you have the career modes, the one off fights, the multi-player and all the create modes.

For some there is literally a limitless amount of content and reason to carry on coming back to create another wrestler, story, special move or even just to see what the community has put together.

Fun Factor

Even the most cynical player will find fun to be had in this game if they give it a chance. The moveset which is initially daunting is easily picked up to the extent that you will be able to deliver impressive looking combos and certainly things are easier than the average fighter. In fact, you might consider this game my first fighter as it introduces you the concept of attack and defence and the stringing together of moves, but it never requires the twitch reactions of the more advanced fighters.

Whilst the game is initially fun, if you don't have the creative urge you may eventually get bored with the repetitive nature of the fights, but then each character has their own movesets and it's fun to see what each one has to offer.

If you do get bored of playing on your own, the game supports multiplayer co-op and competitive modes both locally and online for up to 4 players.

The 411:

Smackdown is a game that's been continually delivering what fans of the franchise have been asking for and this year isn't any different. This iteration though has a few new features to encourage new players and also provide those that obsess about the sport enough creative freedom to make endless new scenarios.

Whilst the stories are good and the feature list impressive, the gameplay engine is a little behind the curve, but that doesn't stop it being a very pleasant distraction, especially if the rest of the time you're playing a hardcore RPG or other in depth time sink.

Graphics	6.0	Adequate, but doesn't look as good as the 360 version and certainly below par for this generation
Gameplay	8.0	Fun from the moment you watch the first entrance movie
Sound	7.0	The music isn't to everyone's taste and the voice acting isn't top drawer, but it gets the job done
Lasting Appeal	8.0	If you took advantage of all the features in this game, you would be playing for a very long time
Fun Factor	8.0	Its not long before you feel like a 280 lb champion and are enjoying every clothesline
Overall	7.5   [ Good ]

Screenshots
All 14 WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 Screenshots