I wish I could say that Smackdown vs RAW 2010 (SvR) is awesome and it fulfills all my desires as a fan of Create-A-Wrestlers (CAWs) and round-robin tournament season modes. Unfortunately, THQ and Yukes made lots of improvements and then purposely crippled the game in several ways to make those improvements much more useless than they would have been if they'd just treat fans of wrestling games like any other gamer.
First, let's talk about what they did right, though.
SvR has new wrestler models that look great. The pieces in the CAW/CAS mode are all rendered in 3D, and live on the character as a dimensional object rather than being "painted on" like previous years' versions. The end effect of this is that your CAWs look as good as the included WWE superstars when in the ring. Previously, it used to be obvious which was the "real" superstar and which was the CAW in this game. That has been fixed, finally, and it's about time!
The game itself has several modes, including all the expected ones like single match, Royal Rumble, etc. It has a career mode which can use a WWE Superstar or a CAW. It has a Road to Wrestlemania mode which requires one of a small selection of WWE Superstars as your character. It has training right at the main menu and several Create modes, as well.
The Create modes are all much improved. As stated, the CAW mode is a step up from previous years, but I'm also impressed with the Create-A-Finisher mode, in which you can string together moves to make a devastating finisher for your CAWs. It's quite versatile, and you can make some really crazy finishers with it.
The Create-An-Entrance mode is also very nice this year, allowing you to do a simple entrance (just pick one from a list) or an advanced, customized entrance that lets you pick different segments from lists, string them together, control fireworks, smoke, lighting and add entrance music from the included Superstar list, or from your own collection on your XBox 360 hard drive. (Although I'm perplexed as to why they require each song to be in its own playlist on your hard drive, instead of allowing us to make one playlist that has all the music in it.) It's quite satisfying to make a CAW and have him march down to the ring with all the flash and showmanship of a real WWE Superstar.
The actual wrestling is decent, if not as arcade-like as usual. The moves seem bigger and louder, and the impact more crushing than previous versions of the game. There's still a bit of clipping with the models, though, and the AI is abysmally stupid when on lower settings. Playing on the normal difficulty level makes for an easy game, as the computer opponents don't act like real Superstars. Mostly, they just let you pound on them and string moves, with the occasional attempt to break a hold or throw a punch.
The Create-A-Logo mode is pretty cool if you have the patience to work with the XBox controller and a semi-clunky design system. It's versatile, though, and you can pretty much draw anything you want to add to your wrestler.
The Story Design mode is pretty cool. It lets you work out just about any of the standard WWE-style storylines however you want, with whichever Superstars you want. You can type in text for the cutscenes and set up matches to either watch or play. All in all, a decent attempt at adding some dimension to the game.
The online mode is, as usual, only as good as the other people playing. I don't even bother because the cheap button-mashing kids tend to dominate the online realm, and I don't have the patience for them. They don't want to put on a show or watch entrances or play it as if it's a real wrestling match with any kind of pacing--They just rush in and start punching like mad, and it quickly degrades to a messy waste of time. It might be good if you're a button-masher, though, and I give Yukes credit for making the game work well online (finally).
The ability to download other people's CAWs is a much-welcomed addition to the game. The range of CAWs out there is pretty vast, and you can usually find excellent versions of whichever wrestler you're looking for, as well as lots of originals.
Now, here's where I get into what's so very, very WRONG with this game:
The online CAW trading, which effective for swapping CAWs, is crippled severely. The major problem is that you cannot, under ANY circumstances, edit anything you download. That means that you get a lot of CAWs with no music or wrong music in their entrances (user music won't upload or download, so you're stuck with the built in music or nothing at all) and you can't fix this on your end. It's disappointing that we have this technological marvel of a gaming platform, and we're not *allowed* to use one of the best features it offers. I understand not being able to edit downloaded wrestlers (so people don't claim your work as their own), but why not their entrances? That just makes no sense. This one major flaw almost ruins the CAW swapping feature.
The CAW mode itself has a lot of major flaws, too. The biggest one is that there are tons of parts no longer present in the game. Want to make a wrestler who wears camouflage tights? Too bad. They're not here. You can't use the Create-A-Logo mode to make them, either, as THQ is *still* censoring the ability to put any pattern over a CAW's crotch area. Any pattern you make for tights will leave a big, blank gap in the crotch, which if you ask me, looks WORSE and MORE OBVIOUS than if THQ had just let you draw a pattern there! It's incredibly stupid design, and it's about time THQ grew the hell up and let us use the CAW mode as we see fit. If some kids want to doodle naughty bits and put them on tights, so what? The vast majority of us are going to use to to put legitimate logos on the pants or tights.
Of course, they also included the "feature" where you have to play through all the game modes and do specific things to unlock all the characters, parts, and modes. It's stupid, if you ask me, because so many of us don't care about the WWE Superstars, and just want a good wrestling game where we can use our CAWs. Unfortunately, SvR is always biased against CAWs, and this year's no different. Your CAW's skills are all set very low to start, and you have to build them up, sort of like in an RPG. I can't think of any other sports title that does this; Most of them let you train, or assign points as you see fit. In the Fire Pro series, you could make anyone you liked, and assign points however you wished. Unfortunately, the WWE license is what screws up Yukes' efforts for us CAW players.
Another problem is that the Story Design mode is crippled by the fact that you can only have a total of ten appearances by CAWs in it, throughout an entire story. That's not ten different CAWs, but ten *appearances* by CAWs, which basically means your CAWs are only showing up in cameo roles. Forget about making a wrestling event starring only CAWs, because you can't do it-Halfway through the event you run out of slots and you can only choose from the built-in Superstars.
The Career Mode is fundamentally damaged, as well. There's no round-robin, ever-running tournament like in the excellent Fire Pro series. Instead, you're given a selection of three or four guys to fight, and you have to build up "points" by winning to be able to fight the top contender or champ. Your opponents don't seem to be selected from your CAWs, either, but from the built-in WWE Superstars, so if you play as a CAW, you'll be the only one in the entire career mode, most likely. There are no cutscenes in this mode, and it's pretty much just a shorter, cheaper version of Road to Wrestlemania without the voice-overs or focus on Wrestlemania.
The biggest, most unforgivable problem with the game, though, is the way it handles saved games, CAW files, and other data. Unlike *every other XBox 360 game made* you can't use the XBox dashboard to copy or move your WWE SvR 2010 files from one storage unit to another. This means that, unless you get the hard drive migration tool, you can't switch hard drives on your XBox 360 and expect to keep all your own CAWs and saved games. The game flat-out REFUSES to allow you to copy anything without deleting your CAWs. The best you can do, it seems, is to copy the base settings and saved game without any CAWs, which means, essentially, that THQ and Yukes expect you to throw away hours of work because they don't want you to have control over the game's files.
Attempts to copy or move CAWs from one storage device to another from within the game meet with similar problems. The game won't let you do it. CAWs, it seems, are only allowed to exist on the hard drive they were initially saved to.
It's pathetic that THQ crippled the game so much, and made it nearly impossible for someone to migrate to a bigger hard drive without loss of data. I had to purchase a separate drive migration tool in order to keep all my CAWs. If not for this one game, I could have used the XBox 360's built-in storage or an external device to migrate successfully. Every other game I owned, including all the downloaded titles from XBox Live Arcade, were allowed to be moved to a different storage device. It was ONLY SvR that refused to allow this feature to work.
Finally, there are some major glitches in the CAW save system. When you edit a CAW or make additional attires for him, all the data for your Created Entrance is erased and you'll have to do it all over again. I strongly suggest you don't bother making an entrance for any CAW until you're certain you're completely, totally finished editing or copying him, unless you want to go through Create-An-Entrance again.
Once again, THQ and Yukes deliver a game that is loaded with potential, and then spoil it by censoring, limiting, and restricting players. The Fire Pro series existed for years without any of these problems, and I fail to see why SvR can't duplicate that sort of CAW experience. Instead, they choose to treat their customers like we need a nanny to prevent us from doodling on crotches or letting our friends borrow and alter our CAWs. It's several levels of stupidity, and if it weren't for the decent core gameplay, it would be enough for me to give up on this series completely. I already quit once with SvR 2008, but I heard this one was better... And it is. Unfortunately, it's also still restricted and too controlled for a CAW fan.
My advice is to buy this, but don't expect miracles. If you like WWE Superstars, it's a good experience. If you don't care about WWE Superstars and want to focus on CAWs, you'll be a lot less impressed. The gameplay is good, but the personal freedom is almost non-existent once you hit all the unnecessary and artificial roadblocks and limitations they put on the Create modes. If the Fire Pro series ever really comes back and hits America with any decent force, the WWE SvR series is toast.
Three stars, mostly because it's still fun to play, even if you can't play it your way.
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I've had this game since the 17th, and have already maxed it out on achievements. This game is definitly an easy achievement game, a lot easier than 07, 08 or 09. If you're interested in a quick 1000, this could definitly be up your alley.
I will assume most people looking at this review have played at least one of the last 3 year's games (07,08 and 09). Having played all of them, I can easily say this is the best in the series. They made a ton of tiny changes, that make the game more realistic (More reversal animations, leap-frogging or ducking a running opponent, red marks on your chest/back after taking a Ric Flair-patented chop).
What's better this year in comparion to '09? Well pretty much everything. There's nothing '09 had '10 doesn't that makes a difference. The gameplay is almost identical, yes so much better with the addition of the tapping out system, the flipping bodys over. The only thing I miss about '09 was the two-button reversal. ('09 had a reversal system where LT was pushed to reverse strikes, and RT to reverse Grapples. Now pressing RT and timing it correctly will reverse both).
Create a superstar is SO MUCH BETTER. Looking online to see creations that were up, I saw "The Flash" from DC Comics fame, and it looked identical. Suicide from TNA was also found, and again that was almost identical to the real life version. I know I'll be having fun with this feature, months down the line. The loading times are almost gone entirely too.
Road to Wrestlemania bothered me a bit. They basically took old storylines, and added new twists, and remade the cast. For example, Edge's RTWM is a re-hash of the "La Familia" storyline that took place last year, however instead of it being Vicky Guerrero, it was WWE Diva Maria. The stories aren't identical, there are new changes, and new twists, but I already saw this storyline. I wanted something ENTIRELY brand new. There was a lot of "Holy crap" and "LMAO" moments. For anyone who doesn't mind playing through old storylines with new twists this isn't a problem. The stories aren't half-bad at least.
The soundtrack to the game has most of the WWE superstars tracks, but it does have a few songs that were very good. For a true WWE fan the soundtrack is perfect.
The videos in the game, like the opening cutscene to anybody's RTWM is crystal clear. Amazing quality, as are the entrace videos. These literally blew me away.
Scramble matches, intergender tag matches, Divas can now play pretty much every match type, interfereces were some nice new additions as well. I was surprised and happy to see unlockables in the game such as THE ROCK, and TRISH STRATUS. However dissapointed with pointless characters like the Red and Green dummies.
Lastly, the biggest mode in the game. What most were waiting for. The addition of Create-a-storyline. I do not believe this is as User-friendly as they wanted it to be, but once you start learning what to do, this will be the most used feature in my opinion. Not as many choices concerning promos, but for a first year attempt this was amazing. Hardcore WWE fans will go nuts over this. Now that I've maxed it out in achievements, I will be spending my time making stories, and putting them on youtube, in between matches with my other WWE-crazed fans.
Many people complain that any game that has a yearly installment is a rip-off. Not many changes are implemented, and that it's basically a $60 roster-update you're purchasing. I've heard this said for MLB, NBA, NFL games as well. With Smackdown 10, it's nowhere near the case. If you liked '09 in the slightest, or just felt that it had potential, well 2010 is what you've been waiting for.
Best Deals for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 - Xbox 360
As a WWE nut, the closest me or anyone really could get to being in the world of the WWE is through the SmackDown vs RAW games and it's creator content. Since the "2006" game, however, the franchise has been dwindling steadily downhill, with the game getting worse and worse and worse every year, by THQ either taking out content such as match types or wrestling moves for custom movesets, limiting players abilities to do things like give Created Superstars attributes without going through a whole song-and-dance routine, or by simply not giving us enough of what we want, like a full WWE roster (jobbers and midcarders, included). Last year's game was so cheap and barebones, I didn't even keep it. And a lot of people were just as unsatisfied, as well. This year's game's "Gimmick" seems to be all about the user-created content. "But isn't that weird?" you might ask, considering that the games have *always* had this. What makes things better this year? ARE things even better?
Well, I can tell you that while still not where it needs to be, especially for a 2010 game, WWE SmackDown! vs RAW 2010 is a step in the right direction and a (slight) improvement over last year's game enough so to be an improvement. Great, no. Not by a long shot. But good... meh, I guess if you compared to "2007", "2008", and "2009". It seems pretty much impossible by now that THQ and Cory Ledesma (the guy in charge of the WWE SmackDown! vs RAW video games) will give us what we truly want. They're very much strict on letting us players actually customize whatever we want or do whatever we want. Every year we're forced to play "their" way and to do things by "their" rules, instead of having full, unlimited customization, access and gameplay. But at least 2010 gives us more than what we've had in the past.
STORYLINES/SEASON MODE
As far as storylines go, the Road To Wrestlemania is back. And it's pretty much the exact same thing. That sucks, I guess, depending on if you liked last year's RtW storyline or not. It's more of the same thing. You take a specific WWE Superstar through a storyline, that leads up to Wrestlemania and them winning (or not winning) the top belt. I guess this year, they tried to give you more choices and options in the mode, resulting in alternate paths in the Road to Wrestlemania for one guy. The problem is, if you're NOT a fan of Cena, Edge, or Randy Orton, playing through their mode (to complete the game and unlock things) can be quite the chore. It's only as fun as your personal preference to the superstar.
GM MODE/STORY DESIGNER
Next, there's the STORY DESIGNER. At last, I can finally say General Manager's Mode is BACK! Only this year, it's named the "Story Designer" and allows for more imagination than what the GM Modes of past games offered. Okay, so it's not *technically* GM Mode. But it works similar to it, minus the nitty-gritty details like budgets, injuries and superstar morale. You can edit and create just a lot of unique WWE scenarios using this new Story Designer. Type in dialogue, and watch your superstars say it on-screen (through words, not actual voices, even though that would be so cool!) Customize the camera angles, choose your cast and watch it play out on TV. There ARE some limitations; some ignorable, some outright insane. The biggest one being how restricting they are with your Created Superstars. You can only use them a few times in any given story, and cannot mix genders in storylines that aren't romantic based. This very sadly means, no creating your own alternate WWE Universe with an entire roster of your own created WWE Talent. Yes, you will have to use John Cena and the real superstars the majority of the time because you're very much limited with Created Superstars in the Story Designer. At first I didn't know why they did this, but then I've figured out it's because you can export your created stories onto the web. So what that means is instead of being able to use your created people an infinite number of times, they instead only allow you to "clone" them, up to ten times per story, so that it's possible to export them off your game without affecting your "real" created superstar. I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be nearly as much limitations on them if they had just decided you'd rather record them and post them on YouTube than actually exporting them off the game, itself. Yeah, this sucks big time and it's annoying, but if you can get past that, you really can create your own WWE Universe (you'll just have to stick to using the real-life WWE Superstars and the small number of preset animations given.)
CREATE A SUPERSTAR
The Create A Superstar mode (unoffically referred to as 'CAW' or 'Create-a-Wrestler') is somewhat beefed up now and you can create more than ever before. Unfortunately, THQ still motion scans all of their superstars in the game, meaning no matter WHAT you do and how hard you spend editing your superstars, they'll still look like phony, created digital people with detection issues rather than the realer looking WWE Superstars. The 3D Objects help make them look "less fake" but they still only look "less fake" and not actually "real" even if you're trying to create someone real and not 'The Joshinator' kid from the TV commercials. The problem with creating superstars is that there seems to be some kind of psuedo-realistic limitation to how much stuff you can put on one guy, due to the 3D limiations of the technology. You're given "points" to spend on clothes and objects, and the more points means the more complicated the superstar's wardrobe is, which of course, means restrictions. 48 points seems fair enough, but the major issue is that hair can take up to 32 out of those 48 points! Yes, just the hair! (If you want a guy to be wearing a fancy business suit, you'd best make him bald!) Also, the Hairstyles in this game still suck, as they ALWAYS have! Unless you're creating a White male age 18-30, don't expect any good hair choices here. Even women's hairstyles in this game are limited. Maybe they (incorrectly) figured not too many people make created divas?
I should also point out, there is a HUGE problem with creating Divas. The good news is, they can compete in most any of the formerly Male-only matches. The BAD news is, no more Divas against Superstars! No more Women vs Men. Why, man?!? This sucks, for sure! I can understand real WWE Divas don't fight Superstars too often, but this KILLS Created Superstar-Diva interaction, which is really the true fun of these games. But maybe THQ did it to be more realistic? Or perhaps to cater to the PG-WWE audience that has plagued WWE for the past year and a half now? I don't know, but it blows. The "no intergender matches" and "ten created superstars per story" are the two biggest issues in this game and those two alone take away one and a half (if not two) whole stars from this game's review. It's THAT bad.
Oh yes. Addding stat attributes is now much easier than before. Mostly, all you do is have Created Superstars compete in matches and they earn "Experience Points" in that way. You can then use the points to boost whatever stats you wish. And this works even if you don't play with them yourself, and let the computer do all the work for you, while you watch TV. Of course, the irony in "cheating" by letting the computer earn the points for you is that you'll have to make sure they'll be put into a match type they can win, despite their weak stats, like a two-on-one handicap match, for example. In fact, doing handicap matches is a good way to boost two created superstars points, at once. Another way is to have them fight against another created superstar whose stats are even lower than theirs.
Create-A-Finisher is also back. And this time, you can do diving finishers. I have to say the diving finishers are a lot more fun and creative than the Front Grapple finishers (I only make striking finishers out of them, such as punch combos) but ultimately, using the premade ones that already exist are probably better, as again, Create A Finisher most of the time, will only let you create most moves that already exist in one way or another, anyhow. So even IF you create your own custom powerbomb, there'll probably already be a move like that or similar to it in the game's huge animated moveset. The only fun really that you'll get out of them is by getting to name your finishers. Or, if you can pull off something totally bizarre and truly unique using it.
ENTRANCES & PRESENTATION
The Highlight Reel Create-An-Entrance is back now and this year, you can actually MAKE entrances with it now! Go figure. What really surprises me is how User Friendly the Highlight Reel is. No, you don't have to know AfterEffects to make your own, cool entrance video. You DO, however, have to fish for footage during matches, though, and save them for later when you actually create the video. It'd be a lot simplier if you cold just make whatever match scenario you wanted IN the mode, instead of having to get footage now, and edit it later. But I'm not really complaining. The Highlight Reel IS cool and actually adds more replay value overall to the game. The more creation modes, the better the game gets, overall, and this helps, big time.
The Create an Entrance options are still more of the same, though. Most are just recyled animations of former WWE Superstars or older, outdated animations of current ones like Randy Orton's old Legend Killer one, or Chris Jericho's Y2J Pose entrance. The names for Created Superstars are long gone now, sadly. Why?!? No more "Chris" or "Christina", but instead you now get 'The Superstar' and 'Thunder!' That sounds fun! (Not.) THQ, please bring back actual names for our Created Superstars! I very much dislike my guy having to be called The Prince.
Overall, the graphics are still bad (for 2010) because we've now got games that approach photo-realism in the way they look. SvR '10 does not look even remotely close to "realistic." Most the time, I don't care about graphics in the games, though. But what really makes the presentation stand out this year is the *attention to detail* in realism. While the Created Superstars still get the shaft as they've always have, the overall look tries to recreate the feel of a WWE Match as realistic as THQ can pull off. This includes camera angles, WWE copyright logos at the end of the show, and commercial breaks between events in Story Designer (Minus the actual commercials, of course). Even the Heads-Up Display, which shows you your health and all, has been redone so that it's now just a shadow halo under your Superstar. Overall (bad graphics aside) it tries to re-create the real WWE TV feel as much as THQ can pull off, although I'm sure they'll do a much better job in the future.
MATCHES
I don't know how many actual new matches there are available seeing as I ditched 2009's game, but the look, feel, and the play of the matches have all been improved! The Royal Rumble and Superstar Scramble are just two of the matches which have been upgraded and enhanced for a better playing experience. Also, Divas can now participate in the more extreme matches, as well. Sadly, as I sad before though, the option of females versus males has been eliminated! That sucks balls for any create-a-character fan! Half of them created are female, so that's quite a hurdle to overcome in match diversity and all! I should also mention, the blood mechanics have been reworked. It'll start from a tiny burst-open gush of blood, to a full-on red shower. Blood will also splatter on the mat and other superstars, as well. Sweat is also included and will glisten a superstar or diva in and after a match. It's more realistic, this time around.
GAMEPLAY
The gameplay is pretty much the same, more or less. While a total rehaul of all these ancient old moveset animations would be nice, it's at least progress to see some new animations in there amongst the same old ones we've been seeing for the past ten years or so. The countering is now done with one button, instead of the Counter Strike/Reversal Grapple situation we've had for forever, now. The only problem with this one button system is, they've seemed to work in a rule that you won't be able to counter all the time, now. Even IF you counter it, perfectly. Roughly one out of five times, you won't have the ability to counter a move, even if you manage to hit the button with perfect timing. I guess this was added in to make sure people don't over-abuse the system and give grapples and strikes an actual chance to connect sometimes (what with one button countering almost making things much too easy), but it SUCKS when you can't counter, even if you DID counter with perfect timing. Esepcially against the computer on Legend difficulty. And you also can't counter some things at all, like certain enviromental grapples the computer does on you, or the ever-so-dreaded "ground and pound" punches you'll NEVER be able to counter. Never-ever-ever! If a computer opponent starts bashing you in the face while you're on the mat, you'll just be utterly helpless to do anything to stop it, and you are at their mercy for ten strikes to the face (which can KILL all your momentum, by the way.) I HATE it when they do that, SO SO much!!! Of course, they can counter it effortlessly, literally before you even start hitting them, even if it's set on Easy! You'll almost never make it to the full ten punches you can do up to. Most of the time, you'll be lucky if you get four in.
OVERALL
WWE SmackDown! vs RAW 2010 is NOT a perfect game. It is NOT the Nintendo 64 "WWF No Mercy" killer, nor is it the "No Mercy" of our time. I would even say, it's still not as good as the best SmackDown! vs RAW game, the 2006 edition. However, it IS one step in the right direction for THQ and us fans. The game franchise has been on life support for years now, and in this year's installment, we finally get a glimmer of life breathing back into the once-stale "SmackDown! vs RAW" game franchise. The game has a LOT more replay value when you add in Story Designer, the Highlight Reel, Create a Finisher, and the kinda-tedious, kinda-fun goal of leveling up all your Created Superstars and Divas, even if you have 30 of them like me.
I think that this year's game, will very much be Hit or Miss. You'll either love it to death and call it "the best SmackDown! vs RAW game ever"! Or you'll be like me and still feel somewhat jaded about not having that "Dream Game" we've been waiting for, for literally years. On the creative side, No, you will not be in control of your own "WWE Universe" as they claimed you would be. But The Story Designer definitely brings you somewhat close to being your own Vince McMahon, if you have the creativity and drive. The Create A Superstar limitations are what hurts Story Designer very much though.
But if you want to know, put quite simply, if this is a WWE SmackDown! vs RAW game you should buy? I say... BUY IT. But maybe not for anything over fifty dollars. Wait for the price to maybe drop, first. It's no "No Mercy" killer, but it is one of the best SmackDown! vs RAW games in years. The Story Designer, Highlight Reel, and Create Modes will keep you playing long after you complete all the Road To Wrestlemania storylines in your first two weeks or so. Which is a lot more than what SmackDown! vs RAW 2009 could say.
Honest reviews on WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 - Xbox 360
I haven't purchased a wrestling game since the the first WWF Day of Wreckoning for the Gamecube, and before that I used to play all of the THQ wrestling games for the Nintendo 64. I'm reviewing this game based on personal experiences while playing the game.
When I first received WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2010 in the mail I was quite excited from all the videos I'd seen on youtube and reviews i'd read about how in depth the Create-A-Wrestler (CAW) system is. In fact i'll start with the CAW system.
Create A Wrestler System
When I first entered the CAW screen I felt overwhelmed with all the options I was confronted with. Sizings, logos, types of body part adjustments and accessories. After about 15 minutes of messing around it wasn't very difficult at all though, it was the typical THQ CAW mode. It's very limiting in a few areas. You can't choose your body size, your height affects your weight (weight class) for instance. You can pick your body TYPE but they don't offer many. Like if you wanted to make an authentic Yokozuma for instance, this system won't allow you to. All the "fat" characters you try to make, end up looking very husky yet powerfully strong. Very disappointing I must say. Also you can't make a very round face, if anyone of you have a very circular face, you won't be able to make yourself to the "T" in this game. Also the forehead adjustment actually adjusts the scalp. So everyone you make's forehead will always have the same area of space. The only setting I noticed that affected the actual forehead was the depth setting. There is a problem with cheeks as well, I was trying to make someone with puffy cheeks, it's not gonna happen in this game. They only go so big, and once again, you always end up looking muscley. If I went in depth about the restrictions of the CAW system this review would be several pages long, so I wont go that in depth. Overall I give it a 3 out of 5, it's pretty authentic, you can get people to look pretty close to like they do, but there is always that one thing that you are trying to fix but can never get right to make it just perfect.
Entrance Music, Titantrons, Announcements,Etc..
This is awesome, you can use the music you saved on your console hard drive and use it for your own custom entrance theme! I really REALLY like that feature. I always hated having my character coming down the ramp to stone cold or the rocks entrance. The actual superstar wrestlers music is totally authentic and very high quality, there is no crackling or static. Fireworks sound very good as well. And the announcements are very VERY authentic sounding. You can select from a variable cornucopia of city's and states to set as your characters hometown, and besides the superstars names, you can pick about 20 or so other names to be called when you enter the arena (ex. The superstar, The disaster, etc..). So you'll hear the name you select to be called, your hometown/state, if you're holding a championship title, all that sort of stuff you'd hear on a real wrestling tv show, like the type of match and rules as well. Also the ring & surrounding area will be set up for the match you're pursuing. The actual superstars have their own authentic titantron just like on TV, it's the same exact ones they have when they wrestle on TV, no animation, pure video. You can make custom videos for your CAW as well, utilizing the highlight reel. After every match you have the option to watch certain highlights, you can save them and use the create a highlight reel to make a custom video that you can later use to make an entrance video. Which is pretty cool if you ask me. However the only problem i've encountered is that you cannot edit in any way shape or form, downloaded CAW from the XBOX Live network, even entrances or music, which stinks!! Like I have Bret "The Hitman" Hart, and cannot use his actual entrance music that I have on my PC because the game bars you from selecting them in the Create an Entrance Video screen, you'll just hear a bonging sound if you try to select them. Very disappointing indeed. The entrances are really cool though, you can customize from a HUGE variety of movements, camera angles, lighting, effects, and fireworks. It's very customizable, of course you cannot make your own entrance movements etc, but there are so many to choose from you really don't need to. You can also choose 4 signs the crowd will hold for you as you wrestle, they are pre-made, there are LOTS of them, some are locked at first too.
Crowd.
Crowd is absolutely phenominal, the first 3D crowd i've ever seen. They hold signs YOU pick for your character. Up close they look like crap, but when you wrestle or when the camera angle changes to show the entire colluseum, it really looks amazing. They'll snap pictures and flash at just the right time, during finishers/signature moves etc. They chant so many things, they boo, they cheer, they get excited when you do certain things. The crowd, is the best i've seen in any game, ever.
Ring, Props, Wrestlers.
The ring looks very authentic, customized of course to the arena you're battling in. If you're playing a TLC match or cage match for instance, during your entrance you'll see all the props in place as you would on TV. The wrestlers look very authentic, as do the finishers. The finishing moves do a slow-motion, black and white, crowd camera flashing thing that looks just EPIC, very cool, will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up it's just awesome. Everything looks really good, graphical wise this game gets a 8/10. And it gets an 8 because with all the technology the developers have now a days, they could of done some more things to make it look as good as say, fable 2 or assassins creed 2.
Playing The Actual Game.
Gameplay and controls are pretty straight foward once you get used to them. Took me about 30 minutes of playing to become accustomed to the Type A default control setting, although there are a few to choose from. There are many matches to choose from, every type of match that is available in the WWE is presented well in this game. Now with that said, it doesn't mean the gameplay is the best ever made. There are many glitches, unfair situations, and AI trouble with this game. In fact, i'd have to say it's probably the most frustratin wrestling game i've ever played. The N64 versions were actually much more fair and realistic, sadly. For instance you cant put your opponent onto a table in the table match, you have to use a predetermined finisher for the table, it's usually a lame finisher as well. If you toss your opponent onto the announcer tables, it doesn't mean he/she will remain on it. The characters get pushed around on the tables like it's some sort of ice skating rink. For instance if you do a grapple on the table, the characters will slide and might fall off the table. In my opinion, the table should be an area that you can fight in without worrying about going to the edge and just floating off, I mean game makers can do so much in this new era we're in, yet THQ and Jakks pacific cannot get their wrestling games right after making them for WELL over 10 years. The gameplay is either too hard, or too easy, there is no in between, even with all the balancing tweaks they offer in the game options. The career mode, is extremely frustrating, for instance, I was playing for the past 4 days and had my character overall to around 70, for some reason I logged on today and he was back down to 45, I always save and never turn the system off during gameplay. Stuff like that will upset you during the gameplay. Also the ladder matches are extremely unfair, another instance where I was just playing Rey Mysterio about 10 minutes ago. A 20 minute ladder match ended with me losing, after giving Rey 4 finishers (including his own), numerous KO hits to his face with the ladder, and even interference finishers. How did he win you wonder? Well in the ladder matches in this game, when you hit top, you hold the LS or RS button up to reach, a red suitcase appears and as you hold the suitcase image will deplete red and turn black, obviously showing you how much further you have, it would take about 1 minute or so of continuous holding to reach and win. I had it down to the very bottom, maybe another second when Rey reached the top of the ladder and fought me, he tossed me off, reached up for a second and won. Yes so it doesn't matter who reaches, the suitcase reach status image will deplete and stay at it's percentage drained no matter if it's you or your opponent reaching. So you can get it all the way down, then he can climb up for a microsecond and win, really unfair, and kinda stupid I must say. The glitches are just numerous, I mean you have to wonder, did the developers test the game before they released it? It's a really shotty display of finalizing a game, either that or just pure laziness. The wrestlers AI is horrid, they are totally overpowered, they will reverse so much during career mode it's not even funny. I dont think i've gotten a strong grapple move off during career mode yet, it's really lame. And my settings are on difficulty normal, and i've had to lower the AI reversal rate because it was getting too ridiculous, long store short i lowered it down to about 15% in all AI reversal areas, and they still reverse just about every strong grapple. Also the road to wrestlemania really blows. You have to choose either a CAW or something like 4 or 5 current wrestlers that the game tells you to. So you can choose from like Edge, Ortiz, etc. Really lame, i'm an old school wrestling fan, I dont like some of these guys, I never liked edge to begin with, am I supposed to like him now because he is the Champion? Hell no I wanna choose Rock, or Stone Cold (which by the way you have to buy Stone Cold in the online store for 80 microsoft points because these theives didn't include him with the basic game unless you pre-ordered it, which then you get a one time use code to enter to get stone cold). I haven't played any online matches so I cannot comment on that portion of the game. I'm assuming it'd be pretty cool playing with someone across the country/world as a tagteam or one on one. Sounds awesome!
Overall i'll give this game 3/5 stars. THQ has been on the right track for years, they ALWAYS lack the final push when they make their games though. They always forget to include those 1 or 2 cool things that will put the game over the edge. In this case they must of forgot to test the game because of the huge variety of bugs that are in the game. I mean hell offer an update or something to fix the game, I haven't seen one yet. If you're still wondering if you should buy this or not, first, look at the date, if it's close to 2011 just wait, a new one will come out, maybe they will fix some of the stuff. 2, if you really cant decide, just get it, it's like $29.99 now, plus with amazon's free super saver shipping it will be $29.99 total cost. Hope this helped, I've had this game for 4 days roughly and can honestly say i'm glad I bought it. I look forward to playing it, but after about 45 min or an hour each session I usually get pissed lol because the AI isn't as good as it could be, like I said earlier, the AI is too overpowered.
EDIT 5/22/2010:
Found this link for SVR 2011, Maybe this time they'll get it right, we'll have to wait and see().
Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 - Xbox 360
After years of disappointing releases in the series, THQ/Yukes finally stepped up their game, pun not intended. While the game still has a ways to go, it's definitely bringing the series in the right direction.
Pros
-Alt attires for both CAWS and to In-game Superstars.
-New CAF position
-Upgrade points can be gotten in any match
-Create a Logo tool
-Graphics
-Highlight Reels can be used as entrance videos
-3d CAW parts
Cons
-AI is rather stupid
-CAF is limited and transitions are spotty
-Grinding, while improved, is still a pain
-3d CAW parts take up alot of points
-Hair and clothing options for CAWs have been cut
-Numerous moves cut
-Lack of submission moves
-Career mode lacks any real appeal
-Poor unlockables
Overall the pros outweigh the cons and the AI, while stupid, is able to be overlooked if the sliders are changed.
