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WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010
November 16, 2009 | 9:40 AM PST
Kombo's Review Policy: Our reviews are written for you. Our goal is to write honest, to-the-point reviews that don't waste your time. This is why we've split our reviews into four sections: What the Game's About, What's Hot, What's Not and Final Word, so that you can easily find the information you want from our reviews.
What the Game's About
WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 marks the tenth anniversary and 11th game (two were released in 2000) in the long-running and successful World Wrestling Entertainment series created by the partnership between THQ and Yuke's. As a yearly franchise, it tries to improve what came before it in the years prior, build further upon it, and of course update it to more closely reflect what fans have seen on television over the past year.
What's Hot
One of the most important aspects of a game based on a franchise like the WWE is presentation, and SvR2010 delivers. The graphics are for the most part excellent; they do not deliver photo-realistic representations of the wrestling Superstars people tune in for week after week, but seem to carry a style that is almost like a realistic painting or modern comic book version of the athletes and others that it portrays. This style was likely helpful in developing their revamped Create-a-Superstar mode, which allows for user-created wrestlers who don't look like they were superimposed over footage of a wrestling match. Save for when you have three blonde Divas wearing pink and black outfits, recognizing who is in the ring is almost never a problem. Even then, if that is a point of contention, this year's new "Superstar Threads" feature allows you to at least tweak the colors on the outfits of any Superstar or Diva on the roster to whatever color you may desire.
Beyond appearances, the game has plenty of variety in what to do and how to play. Numerous match types, ranging from the Elimination Chamber to Inferno Matches to Money in the Bank to the new Championship Scramble are included, as well as the Road to WrestleMania story mode, which allows you to experience 12 weeks in the life of a WWE Superstar as you take either Edge, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Mickie James, a Created Superstar to WrestleMania, not to mention the actual RtWM "Brand Warfare" showdown between SmackDown's Triple H (as he was when the story was written) and Raw's John Cena. While not reflecting what has happened on television over the past year, the scenarios are arguably better for it, instead using the cast of characters to create original storylines. While I did take some issue with the Create-a-Superstar's RtWM, I found the others were as entertaining, perhaps even a little more, as anything seen on Monday nights.
And speaking of the Royal Rumble, it has received a significant overhaul this year, and seems to mimic the annual event much more closely, with struggles between competitors taking place across different areas of the ring, from the corners to the center of the ropes. In addition, you can try to knock them over the ropes, pry them off the ropes, or even kick them off the apron using a series of quicktime event-like button presses. Normally, I'm not a fan of QTEs, but these actually weren't bad, as the four face-button map was displayed on the screen, with the button necessary to succeed highlighted. From there, it's basically button-mashing to send an opponent plummeting to the floor below and back to the locker room.
The biggest change this year comes in the user creation tools. In addition to creating your own Superstar, complete with a created finishing move and entrance, you can create your own stories as well. Of course, how well this turns out depends on the users. Fortunately, unlike other user-created content games such as LittleBigPlanet or Mega Man Powered Up where numerous peoples' creativity peaks at remaking the first level of Mario or Castlevania, the tools here are less about creating stages and more about setting up various scenarios. Time will tell how much cream is able to rise above the crop.
What's Not
Unfortunately, while the Create-a-Superstar feature is very robust, it also felt somewhat limiting, as I had trouble getting quite the look going on that I was going for (imagine a sort of Batman/Snake-Eyes-ish sort of character). Some things gave me trouble, such as adjusting the color palette: when I would go to make some items yellow, for example, placing the cursor over the yellow part of the color field would give me another color entirely, thus leading to having to figure out which color was indeed necessary to make the item "yellow." Furthermore, while the game is supposed to allow you to swap layers, I found that it did not work for several of the items I attempted to use. Likewise, setting up a ninja-like costume which didn't leave an exposed neck was difficult to do. Down the road, I found out that the Create-a-Superstar mode just doesn't work for some character types leading to more disappointment. Further more, Create-a-Superstar Road to WrestleMania doesn't really fit all characters, and that could lead to some disappointment. Combine that with a twist in the storyline and you may find yourself feeling like you're working with the developer's vision, rather than your own.
The selection of entrance music for a created wrestler is, well, terrible. With the possible exception of some songs which are locked, every song either belongs to another wrestler, or is used for one of their television shows, such as Raw or ECW. It seems all right when you decide to settle on Jeff Hardy's music, since he's not using it any more, until you reach the point that you remember that while he's no longer in WWE, he's still in the game. Then you both come out to the same music, and it just has that sort of awkwardness that you sometimes see on TV where two women show up to a party wearing the same dress.
The action can get a little too chaotic for its own good when there are more than two legal men in the ring. The chaos that ensues highlights one of the game's problems: the fighting engine doesn't handle six people in the ring very well. There were plenty of times I wound up hitting the wrong person, even while trying to shift my focus. One match I played seemed to drag on forever, thanks to everyone breaking up pinfalls and everything; clearing the ring for long enough to do anything seemed nearly impossible. I literally got up, hit the washroom, grabbed myself something to drink, and the match was still going on when I got back.
Gimmick matches aren't all bad, though; some are quite fun, but sometimes you may find yourself ill-equipped to play them with gameplay quirks that permeate the matches. The Money in the Bank match I played was one such match, as some interesting physics would push the ladder I was on away from the center of the ring. The whole match carried on for almost half an hour, and honestly got a little boring--tedious even, before the end. This wasn't helped by it being the one time wear-and-tear really seems to affect the wrestlers, including yours. You'll often find yourself seemingly helpless while the match continues on, literally unable to do anything. Inferno Matches, in which the ring is surrounded by flames which rise as you beat on your opponents are another place where pointing out the flaws is easy. In most matches, throwing the opponent where they need to be is simple enough, but those tactics don't work here. I had to reference an FAQ for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 to learn that a strong grapple is necessary to drag the opponent to where they need to be; I could not find the information in the game or the manual when I needed it. Once that technique was discovered, however, ending the match was a simple matter.
The game's controls are good, but a touch finicky. This year, counters have been reduced to a single button, simplifying things, but unfortunately, the prompts show up and disappear so quickly that reacting to them requires almost a sort of precognition to hit the button in time. Likewise, hitting the button to perform a finishing move or signature can be very finicky, with the prompt likewise being difficult to find. It will sometimes be there one second, and gone the next, perhaps requiring you to be in too precise a position to pull it off. It seems to vary from move to move, however. I realize that Finishing Moves are supposed to be the be-all, end-all moves in a match and not thrown around lightly, but they could probably be implemented better, as finishing a match without using one (unless prompted to in certain modes/conditions) really detracts from the satisfaction.
On the visual side of things, while many of the characters look and sound near-perfect, others don't always seem to have done as well; sometimes Michael Cole looks like a zombie, and it seems that several Superstars have been touched-up a bit; in some Divas cases, without naming names, it seems some have been slimmed down to more "ideal" proportions, which is unfortunate for fans of wrestlers who don't have the whole Barbie look nailed down. It seems to count for male Superstars, too, as I'm pretty sure some don't look as ripped and defined in the ring as they do in the game.
On audio, while many of the announcers and wrestlers sounded quite genuine in reading their lines, even improvising a bit for their characters' quirks (as evidenced by the subtitles not always matching the dialogue), it really felt like Shane McMahon had phoned it in. I know he can do better, as he has on television, but maybe he was already feeling whatever it was which led him to resign from the company a few weeks ago when he recorded his lines. Mickie James sounds like a baby crying or a cat meowing or something while she fights. It got a little weird at that point.
Finally, as an aside, this title might have been better served with the title "WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009," as the development cycle unfortunately makes the overall product reflect the last year of WWE television, perhaps earlier. Of course, much of this is from WWE releasing or elevating new stars well after development had set in, as well as practically waiting for the game to come out before changing the theme songs of both SmackDown and Raw, changing Pay Per View names and themes, and more. Even WrestleMania is distinctly the 25th Anniversary, which occurred in March earlier this year. It's difficult to fault the developers for this; they worked with what is available and crafted a fine game from it, but one can't help but think that WWE didn't wait until the night before to start changing its product, and could have helped alert the developers to it with enough time to make the changes needed for the product to feel more like 2010 than 2009.
Final Word
WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 may have its flaws, but it is still overall a very fun, entertaining, and perhaps even addictive experience. Even when experiencing some of the problems noted above, none of it was ever enough to turn me off of the game. Admittedly, some cursing would occur, but I would keep at it and persevere, especially in the Road to WrestleMania mode. While we can hope that if THQ and Yuke's get to create a WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 next year (see here for why they might miss that year), they might improve upon these points, there is still a solid and fun wrestling game here for fans to enjoy.
What the Game's About
WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 marks the tenth anniversary and 11th game (two were released in 2000) in the long-running and successful World Wrestling Entertainment series created by the partnership between THQ and Yuke's. As a yearly franchise, it tries to improve what came before it in the years prior, build further upon it, and of course update it to more closely reflect what fans have seen on television over the past year.
What's Hot
One of the most important aspects of a game based on a franchise like the WWE is presentation, and SvR2010 delivers. The graphics are for the most part excellent; they do not deliver photo-realistic representations of the wrestling Superstars people tune in for week after week, but seem to carry a style that is almost like a realistic painting or modern comic book version of the athletes and others that it portrays. This style was likely helpful in developing their revamped Create-a-Superstar mode, which allows for user-created wrestlers who don't look like they were superimposed over footage of a wrestling match. Save for when you have three blonde Divas wearing pink and black outfits, recognizing who is in the ring is almost never a problem. Even then, if that is a point of contention, this year's new "Superstar Threads" feature allows you to at least tweak the colors on the outfits of any Superstar or Diva on the roster to whatever color you may desire.
Beyond appearances, the game has plenty of variety in what to do and how to play. Numerous match types, ranging from the Elimination Chamber to Inferno Matches to Money in the Bank to the new Championship Scramble are included, as well as the Road to WrestleMania story mode, which allows you to experience 12 weeks in the life of a WWE Superstar as you take either Edge, Shawn Michaels, Randy Orton, Mickie James, a Created Superstar to WrestleMania, not to mention the actual RtWM "Brand Warfare" showdown between SmackDown's Triple H (as he was when the story was written) and Raw's John Cena. While not reflecting what has happened on television over the past year, the scenarios are arguably better for it, instead using the cast of characters to create original storylines. While I did take some issue with the Create-a-Superstar's RtWM, I found the others were as entertaining, perhaps even a little more, as anything seen on Monday nights.
And speaking of the Royal Rumble, it has received a significant overhaul this year, and seems to mimic the annual event much more closely, with struggles between competitors taking place across different areas of the ring, from the corners to the center of the ropes. In addition, you can try to knock them over the ropes, pry them off the ropes, or even kick them off the apron using a series of quicktime event-like button presses. Normally, I'm not a fan of QTEs, but these actually weren't bad, as the four face-button map was displayed on the screen, with the button necessary to succeed highlighted. From there, it's basically button-mashing to send an opponent plummeting to the floor below and back to the locker room.
The biggest change this year comes in the user creation tools. In addition to creating your own Superstar, complete with a created finishing move and entrance, you can create your own stories as well. Of course, how well this turns out depends on the users. Fortunately, unlike other user-created content games such as LittleBigPlanet or Mega Man Powered Up where numerous peoples' creativity peaks at remaking the first level of Mario or Castlevania, the tools here are less about creating stages and more about setting up various scenarios. Time will tell how much cream is able to rise above the crop.
What's Not
Unfortunately, while the Create-a-Superstar feature is very robust, it also felt somewhat limiting, as I had trouble getting quite the look going on that I was going for (imagine a sort of Batman/Snake-Eyes-ish sort of character). Some things gave me trouble, such as adjusting the color palette: when I would go to make some items yellow, for example, placing the cursor over the yellow part of the color field would give me another color entirely, thus leading to having to figure out which color was indeed necessary to make the item "yellow." Furthermore, while the game is supposed to allow you to swap layers, I found that it did not work for several of the items I attempted to use. Likewise, setting up a ninja-like costume which didn't leave an exposed neck was difficult to do. Down the road, I found out that the Create-a-Superstar mode just doesn't work for some character types leading to more disappointment. Further more, Create-a-Superstar Road to WrestleMania doesn't really fit all characters, and that could lead to some disappointment. Combine that with a twist in the storyline and you may find yourself feeling like you're working with the developer's vision, rather than your own.
The selection of entrance music for a created wrestler is, well, terrible. With the possible exception of some songs which are locked, every song either belongs to another wrestler, or is used for one of their television shows, such as Raw or ECW. It seems all right when you decide to settle on Jeff Hardy's music, since he's not using it any more, until you reach the point that you remember that while he's no longer in WWE, he's still in the game. Then you both come out to the same music, and it just has that sort of awkwardness that you sometimes see on TV where two women show up to a party wearing the same dress.
The action can get a little too chaotic for its own good when there are more than two legal men in the ring. The chaos that ensues highlights one of the game's problems: the fighting engine doesn't handle six people in the ring very well. There were plenty of times I wound up hitting the wrong person, even while trying to shift my focus. One match I played seemed to drag on forever, thanks to everyone breaking up pinfalls and everything; clearing the ring for long enough to do anything seemed nearly impossible. I literally got up, hit the washroom, grabbed myself something to drink, and the match was still going on when I got back.
Gimmick matches aren't all bad, though; some are quite fun, but sometimes you may find yourself ill-equipped to play them with gameplay quirks that permeate the matches. The Money in the Bank match I played was one such match, as some interesting physics would push the ladder I was on away from the center of the ring. The whole match carried on for almost half an hour, and honestly got a little boring--tedious even, before the end. This wasn't helped by it being the one time wear-and-tear really seems to affect the wrestlers, including yours. You'll often find yourself seemingly helpless while the match continues on, literally unable to do anything. Inferno Matches, in which the ring is surrounded by flames which rise as you beat on your opponents are another place where pointing out the flaws is easy. In most matches, throwing the opponent where they need to be is simple enough, but those tactics don't work here. I had to reference an FAQ for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 to learn that a strong grapple is necessary to drag the opponent to where they need to be; I could not find the information in the game or the manual when I needed it. Once that technique was discovered, however, ending the match was a simple matter.
The game's controls are good, but a touch finicky. This year, counters have been reduced to a single button, simplifying things, but unfortunately, the prompts show up and disappear so quickly that reacting to them requires almost a sort of precognition to hit the button in time. Likewise, hitting the button to perform a finishing move or signature can be very finicky, with the prompt likewise being difficult to find. It will sometimes be there one second, and gone the next, perhaps requiring you to be in too precise a position to pull it off. It seems to vary from move to move, however. I realize that Finishing Moves are supposed to be the be-all, end-all moves in a match and not thrown around lightly, but they could probably be implemented better, as finishing a match without using one (unless prompted to in certain modes/conditions) really detracts from the satisfaction.
On the visual side of things, while many of the characters look and sound near-perfect, others don't always seem to have done as well; sometimes Michael Cole looks like a zombie, and it seems that several Superstars have been touched-up a bit; in some Divas cases, without naming names, it seems some have been slimmed down to more "ideal" proportions, which is unfortunate for fans of wrestlers who don't have the whole Barbie look nailed down. It seems to count for male Superstars, too, as I'm pretty sure some don't look as ripped and defined in the ring as they do in the game.
On audio, while many of the announcers and wrestlers sounded quite genuine in reading their lines, even improvising a bit for their characters' quirks (as evidenced by the subtitles not always matching the dialogue), it really felt like Shane McMahon had phoned it in. I know he can do better, as he has on television, but maybe he was already feeling whatever it was which led him to resign from the company a few weeks ago when he recorded his lines. Mickie James sounds like a baby crying or a cat meowing or something while she fights. It got a little weird at that point.
Finally, as an aside, this title might have been better served with the title "WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009," as the development cycle unfortunately makes the overall product reflect the last year of WWE television, perhaps earlier. Of course, much of this is from WWE releasing or elevating new stars well after development had set in, as well as practically waiting for the game to come out before changing the theme songs of both SmackDown and Raw, changing Pay Per View names and themes, and more. Even WrestleMania is distinctly the 25th Anniversary, which occurred in March earlier this year. It's difficult to fault the developers for this; they worked with what is available and crafted a fine game from it, but one can't help but think that WWE didn't wait until the night before to start changing its product, and could have helped alert the developers to it with enough time to make the changes needed for the product to feel more like 2010 than 2009.
Final Word
WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 may have its flaws, but it is still overall a very fun, entertaining, and perhaps even addictive experience. Even when experiencing some of the problems noted above, none of it was ever enough to turn me off of the game. Admittedly, some cursing would occur, but I would keep at it and persevere, especially in the Road to WrestleMania mode. While we can hope that if THQ and Yuke's get to create a WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011 next year (see here for why they might miss that year), they might improve upon these points, there is still a solid and fun wrestling game here for fans to enjoy.
February 8, 2010
