WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010 thoughts

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I’ve been a fan of the series since its first entry, and I always felt they hit the perfect balance between arcade and sim.

The last Smackdown Vs. Raw game I played was 2007.

I felt that at the time Yukes was “evolving” the game well, with more dynamic block/reversal systems, submission mini-games and body zone damage systems (you could focus your moves on an arm, leg, head, etc.).

I took a few years off from the franchise mainly because I wasn’t thrilled with the rosters (not enough of my favorite heels present in 2008 and 2009).

After seeing the line-up of wrasslers slated for 2010 I decided to give the series another try, and after a day of playing both online and off, I must say that I’m sorely disappointed in the direction the series has gone.

It seems like Yukes has second-guessed all of the additions/evolutions they made to the play engine since 2007 (or maybe they stripped these things in 2008 or 2009 and I wasn’t around to see):

• On-screen HUDs have been completely stripped (no body zone damage display, and momentum is now in a circle around the players feet)

• There is no “stamina/recovery” meter required when chaining (or spamming) huge strings of moves together … which absolutely ruins online matches, opponents can now do the same move over and over with no stamina consequences.

• There are no submission mini-games

• You can no longer “stock” a finisher

• The reversal system which had evolved in previous entries to the popular No Mercy style – one button for strike reversals one button for grapple reversals is now just ONE button for everything, and I find it to be woefully inaccurate/difficult to time

I imagine that most of this has to do with the (sometimes overly) vocal community that the series has garnered over the years. As I’ve been taking time off from the series, I also haven’t followed the internet activity of the Smackdown community … they’ve probably demanded a simplification of a lot of the evolutions (frankly I found that they were never “happy” with anything) … and if that is the case, Yukes has done the series a major disservice by following their requests.

My time spent online was even more frustrating as the changes that have been made are NOT conducive to balanced online matches … people are already taking advantage of the fact that you don’t have to recover stamina by spamming the hell out of single moves over and over. I also had trouble finding any matches with a decent enough connection to support a lag-free match, so the already problematic “one button reversal” system became a timing nightmare which is essentially broken online.

I was really looking forward to getting back into this series, but I don’t think I’ll be spending any extended time with Smackdown Vs Raw 2010.

And before people feel the need to respond to this with the standard/requisite wrestling game thread responses, I’ll save you the trouble.

• Yes “No Mercy” for N64 was the greatest wrestling game evaaaaaaaaar.

• Yes wrestling sucks and/or is fake.

• Yes (insert title here) was the best game in the Smackdown series, this new one is clearly not as good as that one.

[kupomogli]

• Yes “No Mercy” for N64 was the greatest wrestling game evaaaaaaaaar

I actually liked Wrestlemania 2000 better than No Mercy. In No Mercy you could only change the appearance of an already created wrestler and set a custom name under that "costume." You couldn't set an entire movelist, etc.

In Wrestlemania 2000 you could create the look and all the attacks of the wrestlers. That way you can also use the unused taunts in the game to create Hulk Hogan, Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner, the Giant, etc. Also created a bunch of other wrestlers that no longer fought or only fought for a short period of time(made Mr. T with the attacks he used the small amount of time he fought with the WWF.)

But yeah. How they're releasing Perfect Dark for the 360. They should release Wrestlemania 2000 or No Mercy on the PSN or XBL with online. That'd be a definite sale for me.

[ubersaurus]

I'm having fun with it. My friends and I gave up on the series after the first Smackdown vs. Raw because we didn't like the direction the series was taking, and how difficult it was to make an effective roster of created characters. Anyone who knows me knows that nearly all the fun we have with those games does not involve the actual game roster. Combined with a less crazy fighting system, I wasn't thrilled with the last few.

I do, however, like the simplified controls and lessened amount of minigames that are in this one. The lack of stamina meter is a blessing, considering how I had to constantly recharge that after running around or doing anything, it got old real fast. Really my only issues with the game are little things, like a limit of 10 created character appearances in story mode, and the point system for the aforementioned characters' outfits. Neither of these are really dealbreakers for me though. What DOES suck is that you can no longer make a female character who is as strong as, and can go up against, male characters in the more hardcore matches. Previous games let you work around that limitation or just plain didn't care, but it looks like somewhere along the line they changed that. Guess that means Puffy gets deported back to Japan :(

[YoshiM]

I actually liked Wrestlemania 2000 better than No Mercy. In No Mercy you could only change the appearance of an already created wrestler and set a custom name under that "costume." You couldn't set an entire movelist, etc.
be
In Wrestlemania 2000 you could create the look and all the attacks of the wrestlers. That way you can also use the unused taunts in the game to create Hulk Hogan, Big Poppa Pump Scott Steiner, the Giant, etc. Also created a bunch of other wrestlers that no longer fought or only fought for a short period of time(made Mr. T with the attacks he used the small amount of time he fought with the WWF.)

Actually, you could create the WCW stars in No Mercy. All the taunts are there because a friend and I painstakingly created our favorites with the same move sets. Even taunts like DDP's can be found.

[Foxglove9]

Having not played a WWE wrestling game since Here Comes the Pain! I am eagerly looking forward to Smackdown Raw 2010. It's on my xmas list, in the meantime I just picked up TNA Impact and loving that WAY more than I thought I would (though story mode sucks bad).

[Porksta]

Anybody watch last night's South Park? Hehe.

[BHvrd]

I completely disagree with pretty much everything you have said. Imo, this is the one of the best ones ever.

The interfeace is more clean, it runs better, looks better and plays, yes plays better. You complain about a one button reversal system then say it's too hard to time, make up your mind.

They made the game more challenging and most of all they took out cheap moves like the freeze glitch and the punch cheat known as fist of fury so people can no longer use those moves to cheat online. Body Damage was a joke and an easy way out for cheap players. Especially in 2007 they could just throw you off the cage and BOOM instant red. It wasn't needed, this is wrestling not paint by numbers and the less is shown the more real it seems.

I love the game cause it has taken away all the arcade bull crap and tried to make it just pure fun wrestling which it is. WWE 2010 is better than 2007-2009 hands down. Although 2009 was pretty good also.

[vivaeljason]

I've only played for a little bit, but I like 2010 a hell of a lot more than I've liked any other games in the series. It's much more fun than previous editions and more difficult to boot. I like the removing of the HUDs, since it was just too easy. There's working a body part, and then there's purposely focusing on the legs to make sure they get in the red for that submission as fast as possible.

And for the record, No Mercy was, in fact, the best wrestling game evaaaaaar. :)

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

The interfeace is more clean, it runs better, looks better and plays, yes plays better. You complain about a one button reversal system then say it's too hard to time, make up your mind.

There's a one button reversal system AND the reveral timing seems to be imperfect/unbalanced.

One button. Too hard to time.

There's nothing conflicting in my statement that requires "making up my mind". I preferred the separation of strike and grapple reversals and I felt that previous installments had tighter, more consistent timing on reversals.

It's cool that people are enjoying 2010 for all of its lean mean streamlined gameplay, but I personally enjoyed all of the accoutrements, HUDs, stamina meters, and mini-games of the previous installments and I'm sad to see them go. I thought that they kept online play more "fun" in terms of making cheap players have to jump through more hoops to be cheap.

My primary focus with a Smackdown game is online play, and every online match I've played in 2010 has consisted of people spamming the same 1-2 moves over and over with no consequence of having to pause to regain stamina, I don't see how that makes for a more balanced or fun experience.

Fixing glitched moves is great, and I'm all for that, but I see that the CAW Tazz jumping Headbutt strike is still present and still nearly impossible to block even if your timing is perfect.

[The 1 2 P]

I haven't picked this up yet but I will once it drops in price. It will be the first Smackdown title I've played in years, despite having a sealed copy of 2008 in my collection.

[kupomogli]

Does THQ drop online support on the Smackdown vs Raw games when the next one comes out, sortof like how when a new game is released by EA all online support is removed for the previous title in the franchise?

If you can still go play their oldest versions on the PS360 and still go online then I'll probably pick this up once it gets a pretty big price drop as it does have alot of features that I like.

I think the create a storyline mode has to be one of the coolest modes added to a wrestling title though. Atleast in how it sounds. I used to be a pretty big wrestling fan so I think it'd be kindof cool to recreate the actual events of WWF at the dates they were in real life. It'd just be awesome to recreate a full 10 year cycle of a period in WWF or WWE(to me it'd be better when it was WWF because it was far better back in that period than it is now.)

[rpepper9]

My thoughts: Wrestling = poo!

[Nirvana]

I actually love this game. I've been putting nonstop hours into it since it came out, not to mention I got the Macho Man DVD at Best Buy for 5 bucks along with the purchase. :) Also, someone on GameFaQs had an extra Stone Cold code and they posted it, and I was able to snag it before they deleted the topic. So I got the best of both worlds.

Anyway, I do like how the reversal system is. You actually can't just mash RT and hope for the best. It is pretty precise. I like the CAW system, although I absolutely hate how when you download other peoples CAWS online it won't let you edit them. That really sucks. The CAS system is pretty cool. I know it's limited, but they gave you a decent amount of options. I do hate how it censors some words. It censors "titles" just because it has the word "tit" in it. Ridiculous.

Gameplay is great though, I love how you can stack tables or set them on fire. Great game overall, IMO.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

Yeah, looks like I'm in the minority in my opinion as the game seems to be garnering above-average reviews.

Good for it. Should at least guarantee the immediate future of the series, and maybe I'll enjoy the next one more.

[alec006]

It actually looks like a pretty good game,and I will get it since I do own every Smackdown! to date! I'm still waiting on the create an arena option hopefully someday,or just bring back the fist or ovaltron Smackdown arenas,not to mention the Raw Is War arenas!

[Nirvana]

If they can fix the targeting system, I'd appreciate it. I've never been a fan of the Auto targetting, although in this one you kinda have to keep it on auto. One thing I liked from HCTP and most Smackdowns before this one was that when you had it on Manual, you could just hold the change target button and it will go to the closest person. In this one, you actually have to cycle through everyone on the screen; there's no proximity option for targetting. Kinda sucks, but otherwise it's a great game regardless.