WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010
| WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 |
Average Rating:
 Rating: - Multiplayer Heaven, Single-Player PurgatoryConfession - I haven't played the 2008 or 2009 editions of this series. After the 2007 game, I was satisfied enough with what I was given. My favorite mode was the GM Mode, in which I could manage my own brand to take on the other brand for ratings. It forced my creative juices and wannabe-booking insights to step up. But after announcing that a new Story Design mode would be introduced into the 2010, how could I resist? So, after playing this game to death, this is what I've concluded: "WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2010" is a very solid wrestling game, but it's new creativity features aren't kind to the single player anymore. Let me say, first and foremost, multiplayer with "WWE SvR 2010" is going to be a blast. The controls are better overall, and the wealth of options and match modes should make any group of friends have a blast. I don't want to ramble too long about the match modes & features, but let me assure you that they're all very well done. My only gripe is that 3-way Tag Team matches seem to be removed, but that's a minor quibble. The roster is good, but not great. Part of the reason is because some of WWE's biggest stars are no longer with the company (Kurt Angle, Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair). But the other main reason is that some of these selections just suck. There's an overabundance of Divas (The Bella Twins?), and a couple unlockable characters are a letdown. Cowboy Bob Orton comes to mind, as do the "Green" and "Red" training dummies. Seriously? But I want to commend the gamemakers for giving each character a distinctive feel to him/her. Each wrestler and Diva plays like they probably would on TV. The controls are very good. They actually feel simpler than in previous "WWE SvR" titles, and I think that's a good thing. There's only one reversal button, the health bars have been replaced with a tiny meter under the wrestlers' feet, and some of the more complicated moves require fewer button presses (like aerial attacks). It's a lot less cluttered. I don't like the camera angles for when you're competing at ringside, but that's about it. Now, here's my biggest complaint with this game: If you're unable (or unwilling) to experience the multiplayer features, you're going to be disappointed. Single player gaming in this WWE series is slowly dying. Which is a pity, because the best wrestling games tailor to both one-player and multiplayer experiences. So, what do you get if you're playing solo? *** "Road To WrestleMania" are cinematic storylines that are about 12 weeks long. You will choose from 7 wrestlers to play through a unique story. Your choices this year are Mickie James, Shawn Michaels, Edge, Randy Orton, a created wrestler, or a longer one with John Cena & Triple H. These are fun to play through for one time only. *** "Career Mode" is an old-school type. You pick a wrestler, win enough matches (and points) to contend for a championship. You win the title, you pick another belt to go for. I haven't played much of this mode, because it looked kinda repetitive. I'll update the review if I find anything noteworthy to add about this. But my first impression tells me there's not much to it. *** "Story Design" is the big feature for this year. To me, it's a step in the right direction, but it's flawed. You see, this mode will let you control up to 55 scenes & 54 matches in order to create your own storyline. You write the scripts. You choose the camera angles. You choose the matches. You choose the locations. Now, this sounds fun, but here are the problems: ---1. You won't win anything by using this mode. It takes a lot of work to put together a good story, and you have to patient & committed. But when you're done with the story, all you get to do is play it and/or share it. ---2. But the bigger problem I have is I like the unpredictability of playing through storylines. Going back to 2007's GM Mode, I had an opponent to go against, and I had to worry about whether my matches or wrestlers were entertaining my audience. But with this new Story Design mode, I know what's going to happen, and when it's going to happen. The only way to get any kind of satisfaction from this mode is by sharing it with someone, or playing someone else's story. And if you're playing all alone, this mode is kinda worthless, in my opinion. In addition to these modes, you can compete for titles in exhibtion mode, change the allies/rivals for all of the wrestlers, and some more nice tweaks that WWE fans love to have. Bottom line - "WWE SmackDown vs RAW 2010" is a very good wrestling game. It plays very well. It sounds good. It looks good. And it's got enough modes & features to keep people entertained. But if you're gonna be playing this game alone, and not use the multiplayer, you'd better just rent this one. Rating: - Better than last years.Every year we get a new Smackdown and last years game was a nice way to restart the franchise but had a boring Career mode with awesome Road to Wreslemania stories which are both back this year. The thing is though the Career mode is optional this year as you can build your created wrestler up in any mode including Road to Wrestlemania. I like the new menus that were implemented this year and I like how you can change the song playing in the background by pressing down L3. There is a ton of wrestlers this year so you should be able to play as anyone you desire and if they are not there thats what Create a Wrestler is for. Sound seems a bit improved over last years version as well. The biggest new feature is obviously the Story Designer mode and it really does deliver a wide variety of things you can do. Think of this as the old Create a PPV but you can literally do what you want. If you want to set up matches and just play them you can. If you want to design something elaborate and watch your storylines fold out you can. My first show I had Goldust and Randy Orton arguing in a pre match segment and then I had them face off in a Steel Cage match. Believe it or not I think the graphics look really good this year. Some models are same as past years but a lot of them looked like they received a lot of attention to detail. The arenas really do look good but unfortunately the fans look like a drawing a kid in pre school could of drawn. The new camera angles are pretty nice as well and I really enjoyed them. Overall I recommend this game to anyone that is a Smackdown or WWE fan and still loves to play there good old PS2. Theres a lot to customize here and it maybe missing a few features the Next Gen versions have but this is a serious contender for one of the best wrestling games made for the PS2. Rating: - overall, a great game with a couple minor irksfirst thing is first, I do not play wrestling games for any of the stuff like create a wrestler, finisher, or move. so this review is based simply on the roster, matches, create-a-story, and gameplay. SVR 2010. I must say, the game is pretty solid overall. the gameplay and graphics are pretty much the same as 09's as far as i could tell. alot of the display is the same except for the lack of damage meters and the finisher system has been taken back to how it was in the n64 games where you constanly build momentum instead of storing moves. this game has the most perfect roster of any SVR since 06's at least.(maybe even shut your mouth)all the top favorites return, plus great additions such as THE brian kendrick, ezekiel jackson, swagger, kozlov, ziggler, knox, r-truth and the return of my favorite wwe superstar, Christian. Legends make a semi-return. it is great to have The Rock back. the red and green dummy unlockables are pitiful though. only a 10 year old would find them amusing at best. why couldn't we have ric flair, stone cold, roddy piper, or ricky steamboat? the entrances are all dead on. there's no music here that a superstar has not used. Y2J has his REAL music this time, unlike SVR 09. the create a story is cool. think of a more detailed create a PPV from past games. you get 50 slots or something to create any type of WWE show you want basically. want to relive the attitude days? this is your chance. i kind of wish it played more like a more detailed version of SVR 06's GM mode though. oh well can't win them all. the matches still play the same, except for some small irks. for one, it really disappointed me that belts cannot be defended in the Chamber match anymore as, to me, that was one of the most fun ways to play. it is cool that they got rid of the annoyance that was climbing the chamber walls.(since the dumb AI would always destroy themselves that way) you can still reach the top of the pod from the turnbuckle though. next, there really is no point to the mixed tag match as you get DQ'd if a male attacks female or female attacks male. not to mention, no divas vs. guys on this game whatsoever. royal rumbles have been revamped, probably the best rumbles that any smackdown game has seen. still doesn't beat wwe no mercy's first blood hardcore rumbles, but it's still super fun. the scramble matches are pretty fun too, but very hard once the ring gets full. it's nice to still have have first blood, backstage and inferno matches, but why can't there be 4-6 man(possibly elimination) ones? there's only so much you can do with a 1 on 1 contest before it gets old. did i mention that by now, there should be an elimination option in the 6 man hell in a cell? as you can see, i am a fan of elimination matches. the storylines are cool for the RTW mode. i do miss the crazy ones like taker's and jericho's from 09's, but since i only play these things to unlock items, i cannot complain. overall, the irks are truly minor and this game should please rabid wwe fans and casual wrestling fans alike. i give the game a B since it has room for improvement, but once you come to terms with the irks, it is a great game. Rating:  - The Best Wrestling Game Ever On The PS2?WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010 builds nicely on the 2009 edition and has made some key additions. The Royal Rumble match has always been a favorite of mine and this year there are several new ways to eliminate your opponents. With some characters you can incorporate your finisher into an elimination. The wrestlers entering and leaving the Rumble match are displayed in a much more realistic way than in previous versions of the game. A lot of move animations have been redone such as moves off the top rope, irish whips, taunts, and entrances. Most of the bumps that are taken look more realistic than last year, and they weren't bad before. The commentary is the best it's ever been in a game. Of course it can be annoying at times but at least they are calling the action accurately and with good timing. The roster is stronger than it has been in several years including the return of Legends (not many, but Very significant ones i.e. Stone Cold and The Rock). I haven't gotten far into the storylines but there is so much to customize in this game such as Create-a-Superstar, moves, and the actual stories. You can use your created wrestler in the Road To Wrestlemania mode. The presentation and detail of the game are tremendously strong as well. It will take time to determine exactly how good this game is compared to its predecessors. But the fact that this caliber game is still being made for the PS2 gives hope to those trying to avoid the costs of current generation gaming. Rating: - Very Good Game!I just got the game today and I have to say that I was a little disapointed with the create a superstar mode. It's exactly the same as the 2009! I heard THQ was going to put some new stuff in the CAW mode, like new clothing, hats etc. But I found out that it was for the new gen systems. I felt somewhat jipped at that. But if you can get past that the game is pretty good. The newest and coolest feature is the create a story mode. You'll have a blast with that. The roster is good and large. And the graphics look a little better than the 2009. There is no HUD in this game, except a momentum meter located at the bottom of your superstar's feet. To tell if your opponent is severly damaged you'll have to focus on the body language. (like if he's holding his stomach)The abilities are still here but they've taken out Submission, K.O., Cage Match, Ladder Match, & Table Match. And replaced them with 5 new ones... Ring escape, Exploder Turnbuckle attack, Strong Strike, Pull Back Attacks, & Fired Up! (Fired Up is the best one, because you can do 3 finishes in a row!) The Royal Rumble has vastly improved as well. This game there's more than one way to eliminate your opponent. There is mini games to eliminating them as well. (which is more realistic) Like if your opponent is laying on the apron there is a mini game you can do to kick him out to the floor. They also brought back the interfernce option for matches. (I missed that) I guess THQ wanted to make it so it looked like WWE programming, which I think brings a new element into the game. Also building up your CAW isn't a long bore like it was in the 2009 edition. No longer do you have to sit through a long and boring career mode for your caw.Now THQ has it so that you can build up your caw outside of career mode. And I also found out that when you go to the create a move set for your CAW you can assign abilties to him/her right off the bat. Some are already unlocked, some of them you have to unlock such as Durability, Resiliency, kip Up, Hardcore Resurrection, Fan Favorite, Lock Pick, Exploder TB Attack, Fired Up, Object Specialist,and Strong Strike.(but don't fret it's nothing at all like the 2009)In order to unlock these abilities you have to get certain attribute scores and certain overalls. Which I think is a nice, and much easier touch to the game. And the move set itself is very impressive with a ton of new moves! The reversal system in this game is only 1 button for both grapple and strike attacks. Which I feel makes it less confusing. Although you might find reversals a little more difficult to execute, you'll get the hang of it with practice. The road to wrestlemania is back with more new stories and even a diva & CAW story. This game has really taken it up a big notch from previous titles, and I highly recommend this version. It's not as good as the new gen systems versions which offer more than this version does, but if you're still holding on to your PS2 this isn't a bad buy at all. 
|
| More Products |
| Popular Products |
| Digital SLR Cameras, LifeDrive PDA, Casio Exilim Camera, Tag Heuer Watch |