Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 Preview
- October 29, 2008 14:18 PM PST
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Like every yearly installment, Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 will feature subtle improvements over previous titles. This year, it looks like everything is falling into place -- especially with new storylines, better submissions, and a ton of multiplayer-friendly match types.
Like the Madden and NBA 2K franchises, WWE Smackdown games are released every season, making various, small adjustments from past installments. With the WWE Smackdown vs. Raw series (or SvR), a lot of things simply haven't made the cut in recent years. Tag team matches were a joke, with A.I. that often ranged from unhelpful to unresponsive. Last year's confusing 24/7 Mode introduced complicated roster management, disorganized story elements, and jobber-quality voice acting. Last but not least, the always not-quite-there collusion detection and wrestling animations needed a coat of polish.
Thankfully, Yuke's and THQ are hard at work fixing these problems in Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, their tenth game in this long-running series.
Getting the Hot Tag
More than anything, SvR 2009 looks like it's finally improved on tag team matches. In past games, if you played a tag team match by yourself, you were often hung out to dry by an uncooperative A.I. partner. In multiplayer, you would often shut out our real-life partner by refusing to tag (or being unable to do so). Now, if you're the illegal man, you can tag your partner as long as they're close enough to ringside. Even better, you have more opportunities to swing the momentum of a match due to tag team partners now sharing one special meter. This means that if you're pummeling the other team's partner on the mat, it'll only help your man in the ring.
Also new is the Road to Wrestlemania addition, which essentially replaces the greatly flawed 24/7 mode from SvR 2008. Now, instead of choosing a single wrestler or other WWE personality from your roster, you'll be presented with six different storylines starring CM Punk, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, MVP, Chris Jericho, and John Cena, in addition to a seventh angle with the tag team of Batista and Rey Mysterio. THQ also assures us that while the stories are fairly linear, players will see different twists depending on their actions in the game. For example, certain challenges and conditions will arise before a match, such as having to pin your opponent within a time limit, or being drafted into aiding a fellow wrestler during a handicap bout.
Go Out In Style
As usual, more than a few things will make a return to the SvR series from 2008. Create-A-Wrestler will let you alter everything from the eyelashes to their bootlaces on your custom WWE superstars, Create-A-Move-Set helps you build a crowd-pleasing grappling style from scratch, and Create-An-Entrance gives you the ability to edit the fireworks, lighting, and camera angles you see when you walk down the ramp. All the choices that you're given are standard SvR fare, but the new Create-A-Finisher mode should keep many WWE fans tethered to their console for an extra hour or two. With Create-A-Finisher, you can choose from hundreds of animations, chaining a series of moves into your own custom finisher. In our demo, we noticed that these moves also let you defy physics, such as enabling a petite WWE Diva like Maria to body slam the monstrous Undertaker. Even with that small bit of nitpicking, it looks like a good concept, especially if you're looking for some variation in your matches.
Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 will descend early this November, so check back soon for our review to see if this game is worth dusting off the ring rust.
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- Oct 30 2008 at 01:37:21:AM PST
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I might pick it up since I didn't get last years. Which is like the only one I've never gotten. But it's 2 days after Gears of War 2 comes out.
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