WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 for Xbox 360 WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 lets players take the fight into their own hands with the debut of Superstar Figure
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An Insult to Fans of the Series
As someone who has purchased every THQ wrestling game for years, I had been eagerly anticipating this latest release. Unfortunately, after playing the game I was left with a feeling of disgust instead.
The game is full of bugs. In the 24/7 Mode which represents the game's season mode, more often than not the choices you make will be ignored. For example, at one point I was asked if I wished to relinquish the WWE title. I refused. However, the game reacted as if I had chosen the opposite - and the story progressed as if I had indeed given up the belt. This glitch happened again and again, at numerous points in the game. I can't believe something like this made it past the play-testers.
Other bugs include the lack of pyro on customised entrances for created wrestlers. You can choose to have pyro as part of your entrance when you design it, but when you come out to wrestle it will simply fail to activate. Once again, I have no idea how something like this managed to make it into the game.
Even setting aside the bugs, 24/7 Mode is pretty lousy. The cut-scenes which open shows are often nonsensical in relation to what is meant to be happening in the story. For example, your character might merrily chat with a wrestler he is meant to be in a bitter feud with. At first glance the ability to plan out your wrestler's entire week rather than just playing the matches might seem like a fun concept. However, it quickly becomes tiresome (though players who liked the general manager mode in the previous games might like it better than I did).
The game is plagued with long loading times, which often enhances the frustration of 24/7 Mode. Even selecting one of the non-playable options such as attending an autograph signing (something which involves no animation of any kind - a picture just appears on the screen, along with a message telling you how much popularity rating you gained) forces you to endure more loading time.
In general the new control system was acceptable. However, there does not appear to be any manual control to change your wrestler's focus when in a match against multiple opponents. In theory it happens automatically instead. However, in practical terms the automatic focussing is terrible, meaning that you often stay focussed on one wrestler when intending to attack another. This can lead to a lot of headaches, when you turn from a downed opponent to punch a standing one, but end up performing an elbow drop instead.
For some reason each wrestler now has fewer moves than in previous games in the series. I don't know why they would reduce your number of moves, but they did. Now if you initiate a strong grapple you have the option of 8 regular moves and 2 control moves, whereas in the last game you had 16 regular moves, and I believe 4 control moves. I thought next generation technology meant they could include more material in games, not less...
Flaws from the last game are still present. For example, in a 'last man standing' match the referee will only start his count if the downed wrestler will fail to get up - unlike in 'Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain', where the ref would count anyway, and the wrestler might be able to get up in time to beat the count. This may seem like a small point, but to me it completely ruins the drama of the match if the ref only counts when you're going to win. Imagine if they did that for pinfalls. No more two counts - just a win or no count at all. Surely near falls (or counts in the case of a 'last man standing' match) are an important part of a pro-wrestling match?
Some match types which were present earlier in the series (eg. the slobberknocker, and 3 vs. 3 tables and 'hell in a cell' matches) are no longer available. Once again, I don't see the logic in removing options when improving technology should instead be providing the space for more options. If you try playing as a diva the situation is even worse. Whereas back in 'Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth' they could play any kind of match, now they are severely limited in what they can do.
The commentary is on the whole extremely weak. Most of the time JBL sounds like he was idly reading from the sheet when they recorded it, without even really paying attention to what he was saying. Much of the dialogue is taken directly from the last game, and it quickly becomes repetitive. They could have at least put in more play-by-play (eg. "DDT!", "Brutal powerslam!") to pad it out and make it seem a little less barren.
There's no option to import music on the PS3 version, like there is on the Xbox 360 version. I don't see why this should be the case. If anything it should be the other way around, since the PS3 has a hard disk as standard - whereas the Xbox does not. So, if like me you were hoping to use 'King of Kings' as your entrance theme, or some other track which isn't in the game, you will be disappointed.
These are the problems which most immediately sprang to mind, though I'm sure there are many others which I have neglected to mention. THQ appear to have become lazy with this series. They know that fans will buy each year's title out of hope and habit, so they don't seem inclined to put much effort into game design anymore.
The good, the bad, and the VERY ugly...
After eagerly anticipating the release of the first PS3 WWE title, and after owning the series for the past 5 years, the day finally came... and boy, was I disappointed.
The BAD: Loading, loading and more loading...Every action in the game requires load times. This gets very frustrating. Reduced moveset- with the redesigned controls, although quite a bit easier to use, about 50% of the move choices are gone. In prior games, you had approx 16 strong grapple holds, in 08, a mere 8. Targeting is a big issue as well. A new free-move run style is fun, but quite often leads you standing next to your opponant swigning in the air. There is no way to adjust this. there's a few other minor deletions from previous years- as pointless as it was, I liked customizing the locker room, unlocking toys, statues, posters and memorabilia. All that is gone. The locker room now looks like a back-office store room with poor lighting and no ability to pan around. then there's the roster. Everyone knows it's horrible this year. What's worse is the inability to create missing stars; read on...
The UGLY- Create a Wrestler mode is TERRIBLE! This is a big part of the game as I looked forward to using my created wrestlers in various attires to compete online. However, once again, PS3 falls way-side to X Box as it's limited to 32 layers (again) while 360 has 64 (again!) Likewise, a lot of the logo's and designs are non-compatable with online play. In other words, short of using the basic pre-designed tattoos, if you try to be creative, you can't use this CAW online. And a personal gripe of mine- they took out the "Rated R Superstar" logo- that's an easy 4 layers to create each time manually. In 07 it was a 1 layer option. (Not that it could be used online anyway now, very disappointing.) 24/7 mode is cumbursom. Repetitive, load times and not very responsive. Storylines develope themselves regardless of your input.
The GOOD (yes, there's some...) graphics are much better, not quite what I'd hoped, but for the 1st time on a PS3, it's a huge improvement from 07. More weapons and hot spots. I'm still amazed by some of the new weapon movements, articulations and scene's. Give THQ credit for that improvement. The new fighting style controls are a welcomed adjustment. It allows each character to be more unique and has simplified the controls exponentially. No longer press R2, hold for an 1/8 of a second, tap triangle and move the right analog stick praying it works. The controls are much simpler and more effective, although that comes at the previously mentioned loss of move quantity. Online play is better than last year, PS3 users can now use CAWS online without getting disconnected (although, again, the CAW mode is seriously lacking.) One of the best features, (again, back to the CAW mode) is the addition of new hair styles. For those of us who use this mode, it's a Godsend to finally have long hair options for male wrestlers that look authentic.
All-in-all, it's an OK game. With the advanced technology of the PS3 it's a real shamw THQ didn't take advantage of it with it's first release. With 80 gigs of hard drive and 8 processors, it should load faster, and hold more content. Theres an abundant amout of material missing from previous years, this version seems stripped down, almost like a demo. Next year, perhaps THQ will listen more to it's gaming fans, in the mean time, I'm gonna check of Midway's TNA wrestling game... perhaps that'll pick up where THQ left off!
A Step Back In The Series
I have to say that with this years installment of the WWE Smackdown series I am kind of disappointed as it displays a true step back in the progression of the overall series. Here are a few pro's and con's about the game that I think anyone should consider before buying the game.
Pro: They have overhauled the control system and fighting styles, for example if you're a high flyer like Rey Mysterio you can pull off some of his very spectacular moves with just a one button push simplifying it so anyone can play it like a pro. The hardcore fighting style also gives you an extensive controlling system when pulling off weapon offense, for example if you are a hardcore wrestler you can have a chair and do the classic pillmanizing move of placing an opponents ankle within the chair and stomping on it in an attempt to break your opponents ankle. Flaming tables have also made their debut and this is truly the best looking thing about it as when you're playing an ECW extreme rules match you can recreate some classic moments.
Con: The roster is very very disappointing this year with the exclusion of the former tag team champs London and Kendrick or Kevin Thorn to make room for lackluster diva's that let's be honest nobody will play as. This is always a major criticism I have every year with the WWE games as there are always big stars that you would naturally expect to be in but aren't. If you don't include DX which aren't playable from the very start you only actually have 1 tag team in Cryme Tyme which as I'm sure you can imagine if pretty stupid when you have 2 separate tag team championships.
Pro: The Legends roster. Where THQ let you down with the main roster they make it up to you with the legends roster as every year they take votes from fans as to which legends they would love to see in future games and this year shows that they haven't ignored the fans. Focusing a lot on ECW they have Foley, Terry Funk & Sabu as ECW legends (Rightly so). Then we have the returning Rock, Austin, Shane O Mac, Piper & Bret Hart and 2 new additions with "Ravishing" Rick Rude and the Returning Mr. McMahon.
Con: WWE 24/7 Mode. This is honestly a big disappointment for the game. THQ promised us a brand new mode that combined Season Mode and GM Mode, they also promised us it would be brilliant and exciting but all we got was repetition and boredom. There are however new additions to the mode that make it sort of interesting, they give you the option on your days off to do things like rest yourself up after a hard days work or do some promotional work like a press conference or commercials. You also have the option to star in a movie for a day (Honestly how many movies do you know that are filmed in a day?) Doing such things like resting yourself up to lower your fatigue however seriously damage your popularity, so to balance the both are extremely difficult.
All in all it is a good, entertaining game that is worth at least a purchase and a few rounds on your PS3. I haven't had much go of the online mode yet but the ranking system seems pretty easy to understand and simplistic so honestly get it and decide for yourself whether you want to keep it or not.
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