Publisher
THQ

Developer
Yuke's Media Creations

Released: November 2, 2004
Genre: Sports
Players: 6
ESRB: Teen

9
10
8
8
8.7

Supported Features:

As the sixth installment of the Smackdown series, Smackdown! vs. RAW adds to its already impressive resume and pushes the envelope even further by giving the world its first online wrestling title. With hardly any lag or slowdowns, this new facet of the Smackdown franchise handles very well and shows a very promising future for its fans. Of course, this wasn’t the only improvement to the series.

Yuke’s Media Creations, the Japanese developer, has upped the ante for nearly every aspect that made the game so incredible. The graphics have shown improvement, the moves list has slightly expanded, and this latest addition has some RPG elements that are sure to add to the overall experience. And while the list of characters has dropped since last year’s Here Comes the Pain, this latest effort will definitely prove to be among the year’s best wrestlers.

The game sports the same deep career mode as before that starts the gamer as either a user-created rookie or an already established wrestler. Almost immediately the drama begins to unfold backstage as the main star is approached by another colleague and propositioned. Vs. Raw also sports voiceovers, unlike the earlier versions, that compliment the visual realism and allow the player to truly “know their role.” After the user chooses his or her responses, it’s time to experience the first bout, which is where the fun literally erupts.

One of the coolest new features in Smackdown! vs. RAW is the implementation of several new mini games that start one of the wrestlers off with the coveted first-move advantage. Yuke has really changed wrestling for the better here as players will be given on-screen instructions just before the first bell. Players will be forced to compete in one of five short battles commonly seen on television.

One of the most simple is the First Strike game that gives the first hit to the first one to press X when prompted. Also, the Stare Down battle is particularly fun to watch as well as each brawler taunts and shoves the other until the match begins. Wrestling fans familiar with EA’s popular football sims will enjoy the use of the famous kickoff meter and you professional button mashers (or those of you cheaters with turbo buttons) will excel in Smackdown’s quick tap interface. All of these provide an exceptional diversity that make each game slightly different and keep things interesting. With any luck, there will be more of these in the next installment.

While the new features are indeed fun, we mustn’t forget the heart of every wrestler lies in the fight. This year, WWE’s fighting system remains the same for the most part, with just a few small differences. Of course, this is by no means a bad thing since the series had already shown solid improvements since the first installment and since last year’s Bring on the Pain achieved such incredible results, less is definitely more in this case.

What the developer has changed, however, is the use of a more realistic physics system. Now that Yuke has created a more detailed weight class, ranging from Diva weight to Ultra Heavyweight, players’ throws will definitely show the difference between classes. For example, this year a cruiserweight won’t be able to use their finishing move on say, the Big Show simply because it’s his move. Now player will be forced to use other methods of bringing down the big dogs, making it the most realistic wrestler yet.

This year also boasts the all new clean and dirty meter that’ll reflect the audiences’ perception of your fighter. Some wrestlers that are considered honorable will display a clean meter, while those less respected will have a dirty meter. The difference is clean fighters will be rewarded for doing high flying moves and taunts, eventually making them invincible and twice as powerful, while dirty wrestlers will be rewarded an illegal move for misbehaving. The coolest thing about this new facet is that strategies for building up these meters are different, which will make gamers play more to their character’s style. Rather clever addition in my opinion.

Finally, despite cutting the total wrestlers by 25%, Yuke has given us the opportunity to build the remaining player’s attributes. All players have the same categories in which to improve. Strength, submission, durability, technique, speed, and charisma are all matched up with the total experience points to give the most specific qualities we’ve ever seen in a wrestling game. Lose too many matches in the long career mode and your character will definitely feel the difference. This allows us to improve our wrestlers’ in a way we couldn’t before, so practice those moves you never use to properly sculpt a well-rounded fighting machine or else you won’t be wearing that coveted built, unless it’s slapped across your head backstage by the real champ.

Equally impressive this year are the expressions shown by each brawler. The emotion comes alive on nearly every face, whether we’re talking Triple H or the veteran hottie Sable. Of course, those of you who insist on using a user created wrestler won’t get the same luxury, but even Tiger Woods 2005 has its issues in this department. Besides I’m willing to bet that players will be so excited to play the most realistic versions of their faves yet, that they’ll simply pass on this year’s CAW mode.

And while we’re talking about realism, just watch those ladies on the titles screen move, that’s practically worth the fifty bucks right there. Simply put, I’ve got zero complaints in the graphics department, period.

As far as the voice acting is concern I consider Smackdown’s voice-overs to be bittersweet most of the time. The acting can get pretty mediocre, but considering we spent most our Smackdown career reading subtitles while the characters swayed back and forth, it’s a much appreciated addition to have them at all. Plus, considering the career mode is pretty deep I have to commend Yuke on a rather long script. Also, since it would be far too difficult and expensive to have every wrestler’s own voice in the game, I thought the generic voices used worked with almost every wrestler. Well done.

Hopefully by the next year Yuke will have established some sort of bragging rights in the form of stat-tracking, but I probably should guarantee anything. Aside from this shortcoming, the online play is very smooth and responsive and Yuke should definitely received props for bringing a whole to sport to the World Wide Web.

So if you’re a wrestling or a Smackdown fan, you’ll go nuts over this year’s Smackdown! vs. RAW. However, if you’re looking for an in-depth, stat-tracking online wrestling title, you’ll want to hold off for future installments and simply rent this one.