WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010
PS3/PS2/PSP/Xbox 360/Wii/DS

THQ

7.0 out of 10

Graphically the game is gorgeous. Every wrestler is a near perfect replicate with few (visible) jagged edges to spot. The arenas are spot on; however they could take a lesson from other sporting games when it comes to the fans. If you’re going to make them visible, make them look good (though the dueling chants are a nice touch). The animation is generally solid throughout, all the moves are executed near perfect, but you will notice that during  top rope moves that there is a magically transported effect going on with it.

One can’t help but notice that this is the weakest roster ever for a WWE game; however that’s more an indictment of the current WWE than the developers.

Returning from last year’s game, Road to WrestleMania storylines allows you to take control of a specific character’s storyline and control what happens on your way to “the showcase of the immortals.” This year’s storylines let you control Shawn Michaels, HHH, John Cena, Randy Orton, the Undertaker, and for the first time a WWE Diva, Mickie James.  All are well written with more care and detail than the current WWE Creative does.  One new feature borrowed from the Legends of WrestleMania game is match specific objectives, such as diving off the cage or putting your opponent through the announce table. This was a great in LOW but loses some of its fun factor here because you’re not playing classic matches. That’s what made this feature worthwhile.

The customization for Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 has been touched up a lot. Whereas past games provided you with unrealistic character models and modification, this year’s designs makes them easily blend in with the real WWE Superstars. As a wrestling fiend, I definitely can appreciate some of the authenticity of non-WWE Superstar moves (count ‘em 11 shinning wizard variations, love that move) and a ton of TNA moves. Do wish they still had that heel hook ankle lock though!

Aesthetic upgrades and improvements aside, Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 is still more of the same. The Story Designer mode may be a fantasy bookers wet dream, however once you run through it for a couple hours, you’ll realize it’s a tedious and limited feature akin to Owner/GM modes found in baseball, basketball, and football sims. Yeah, you do get to plot out tons of storylines and script what there going to say, but this isn’t a screenwriter’s sim, it’s a wrestling sim. Worse they limit you to 10 scenes for all CAWS throughout your created story arc. The only positive is you can skip all this and download someone else’s Storyline from Xbox Live and play through theirs which ultimately is what everyone is going to do.

All of that creative energy could have been put into overhauling the stale wrestling engine. Maybe THQ is tired of hearing about how awesome the No Mercy gaming engine was; this game won’t silence those critics. Gameplay itself is better than previous installments, as they made adjustments to the stamina and counter system that let’s the matches flow better, however it’s the pulling of the matches. The grapple and submission moves are mapped to the right stick, which are still difficult to pull off. Call me old school, but what is wrong with button mashing to execute the critical maneuvers. The right stick is not an improvement and out of old habit, you’ll instinctively go to the face buttons to pull off the moves. Further where’s the realism to actual matches. How is it possible to knock your opponent off the top of a Hell in a Cell cage, only for them to pop up three seconds later. This is the same company that made the awesome UFC game, yet you have to hit multiple DDTs, Powerbombs, and then maybe two finishers in order to get the pin.

Overall, Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 boosts a ton of graphic improvements and offers a fun online match play with its number of match options choose from –Royal Rumble anyone. Ultimately, you feel a since of déjà vu with minimal adjusts to the in-ring gameplay. Not horrible by any stretch of the imagination, but you just know THQ has a great WWE game in them. –A. Kennedy

Tags: thq, video games, Wrestling, WWE

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 10:08 am by The Notorious BJP and is filed under DS, Games, PS3, PSP, Wii, XBOX 360. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.