Reviewed: December 19, 2005
Reviewed by: Tyler Whitney

Publisher
THQ

Developer
Yuke's Media Creations

Released: November 15, 2005
Genre: Sports
Players: 1-6
ESRB: Teen

8
9
8
8
8.4

Supported Features:

WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006 continues this fine tradition, and is brought to us by industry veteran THQ, and some of the best developers in the wrestling arena, with Yuke’s Media Creations.

To further go along with the ability to tweak your experience, is the ever important Create-A-Wrestler and create and entrance mode. I really had a riot creating my personal “dealer of pain”; just about every imaginable facet can be changed or adjusted. But even more special than that, is the aforementioned create an entrance feature. You can add all kinds of pyrotechnics, music and more, befitting of athletes with such large egos as these.

Along with this, there is a GM mode, giving you total control. You can change rosters, create new challenges or matches, and much more. It is a pretty expansive mode, and something pretty unique to the wrestling genre.

The gameplay itself consists of a few new features, apparently. First, the addition of a stamina and momentum meter, add more strategy to the game. You can’t just lay into wrestlers, you have to be cautious and converse your energy. Each combatant has a wide away of moves, from savage body slams, grapples, chokes, eye gouges, close-lines and more. There is some new move called the “Power Irish Whip” for some freaking inane reason or another, but basically, it’s a pretty nifty move that can toss guys around, especially out of the ring.

And if you don’t like a particular grapple move, well hell, you can edit your assortment of attacks to your hearts content. Reversals are also a pretty interesting affair. You have to be on your toes, because at any moment a sure pin or grapple technique will be flipped around on you, crushing your dreams. Through a series of chained movies and expert timing, you too can dismantle your foe.

The arenas add some interesting functions too. The Buried Alive (a.k.a casket) match will send chills down your spine, and bring back visions of the Undertaker of the late 90s, menacingly standing around symbols of death. The Bra and Panties debacle also arouses some interesting physical responses, as you try and tear asunder these already scantily clad ladies. Don’t forget the all important Cage match too, which yet again reminds me of the infamous chant, from Mad Max 3:Beyond Thunderdome- “2 man enter, one man leave-2 man enter, one man leave!” Sadly, no Tina Turner here…

The A.I. of your opponents is fairly lacking however, despite the great presentation. You can continually dominate, setting them up for some devastating moves and takedowns. They plain whiff on you on several occasions, with weapons or fists, but don’t get too cocky out there, or you might just get up-ended by some young punk. Some of your foes and playable characters alike range from (Warning HUGE list approaching), Batista, The Big Show, Booker T, John Cena, Scotty 2 Hotty, Shawn Michaels, Kane, Chavo Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Kurt Angle, Chris Jericho, Stacy Keibler, Torrie Wilson, Triple H, Eddie Guerrero, Trish Stratus, Edge, Rey Mysterio, The Undertaker, and (finally) the “Golden Boy” himself, Ric Flair I still had to leave out about 10-12 wrestlers, whom frankly I had no clue who they are. Doug Basham? Eugene who?

The nimble, acrobatic wrestlers perform as such, while the lumbering giants will make you cringe, but remember, “the bigger they are…” They also move silky smooth as well, pulling off signature moves, like devastating pile drivers, chokes and submissions. Occasionally the collision or sparring animations will be a tad out of sync, a misplaced hand here, or a clipped through leg there, but overall, it’s a pretty tight piece of work.

This game is not for the meek either, many bright flashes of blood will accompany most fights, perhaps embellishing a bit on the reality but heh, can’t complain about that too much now can we? The numerous cut scenes are pretty sharp as well, helping to convey the high profile matches. Frame-rates also perform nicely, even with a full out brawl in the ring.

The soundtrack is filled with an abundance of hip-hop, as well as several rock tunes to bang your head to. Some of the artists range from Megadeth, Bumpy Knuckles, Dillinger Escape Plan and more. The voice overs are also dang good, really capturing that unique mix of drama and zany fun.

There are a lot of options at your disposable, from the infamous tag team bouts, to the frenetic backstage brawls. THQ and Yuke’s also add a cool feature of stat tracking online- belts won, win-loss, background info and more. Worthy of note, is the lack of USB headset support, an odd thing these days.