Reviews - All

And flex, yes that's it.. mmmmmmm.

I haven’t played a WWE game since the 2007 instalment (though I did play a few before that), and I haven’t watched the show since 1999. I am in no way any sort of wrestling expert and am probably deeply underqualified to write this review. What I am is a glutton for punishment. I will willingly sit through shitty games for your enjoyment, dear reader. Just so I can tell you how awful they are so you won’t buy them. Though some of you may not be aware, I actually asked Von if I could review Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust for you guys. He denied me this act of community service, but rest assured I will endeavour to continue to bring you reviews and tales of CG abortions that some cynic at marketing was willing to call a ‘game’ and release upon the community.

Anyway, that’s pretty much how I ended up with this review. No one else wanted to touch it; wrestling games are roundly mocked amongst many gamers and especially so here at Gamerz Ink. But would it be as atrocious as I worried? Read on and discover.

Anyone who is remotely familiar with the WWE will be aware of just how ludicrous the average story arcs of the series are, and how embarrassing they are to anyone who isn’t a rabid WWE fan. This category mostly consists of boys under the age of 12 or deeply emotionally stunted/inbred/waste of space adults. Perhaps the most exciting thing about the story mode in this particular game is that you can finally create your very own story! I’m sure the vast majority of WWE fans who purchased this game had a joy explosion upon discovering this feature. Now YOU can write your own contrived story in friends become enemies, enemies become friends and your hero learns some valuable life lessons etc etc etc. And all without ever having to do anything resembling a creative writing class!

On a more serious note, I had no idea as to who roughly ¾ of these wrestlers were. Jeff Hardy also now looks like he’s a member of Satyricon circa 1993. All the wrestlers I used to hate ten years ago are now the stars....

"Why am I in this game, noooooooooo!"

Visuals are adequate, though they will never win any sort of ‘good graphics’ prize. Well, at least not at Gamerzink. Sure, it’ll look okay on an HDTV but those of you still stuck in CRT land really aren’t missing any sort of amazing detail. Character models are uniformly ugly. Not like in the Tony Hawk games where you’ll feel a bit ill after playing for too long. More in the “gee...I guess that kind of looks like (insert wrestler X here) if they’d spent too long in the water.”

Shitty animations are a common complaint in regard to wrestling games. Is this one different? Does it buck the trend? Distinguish itself from the pack? Hells no! Clipping and framerate issues make themselves present at an alarming rate. Clipping issues are especially prevalent amongst custom-made characters; not a particularly uncommon flaw in games that allow custom characters but you think they’d make a little bit more of an effort...especially when it’s such an integral feature of the game for diehard fans.

All of this said, there are positives too. The ring intros are nicely done, and effort has obviously been made to give players the impression that they’re fully integrated into the whole match experience. Camera works decently too, which is a vital feature in any game, but particularly so in a game based on a franchise which prides itself on its tension and drama.

Overall, I can say without any doubt in my mind that the visuals in this game are a resounding ...ordinary.

"You can't tell I've had plastic surgery at all, can you?"

Sound...well, sound sucks in this game to put it lightly. The soundtrack consists primarily of grunts/yells/hot oil being massaged onto pecs and crappy hard rock/NWO/AHM garbage. There’s a bit of rap, but let’s face it: The less anyone says about rap, the better the world is for it. If you like the intro songs and general background music of the WWE TV show you’ll be in heaven though. This is a bit depressing, if you think about it.

The commentary, one of the major drawcards of the TV series, lacks depth and repeats itself frequently over the course of a match. It is voiced with substantial gusto, though for all I know it’s just been cribbed directly from the TV show. Would you know any different? I suspect not.

Sigh...not much else to say really. I guess it would be okay on the Xbox 360, because you can have custom soundtracks. No such love for the PS3. So give it a 10 if you own the 360 version and can listen to all your own favourite songs.

"Wait buddy, I though this was fake... I don't want to fight."

This game is substantially more fun than the following summary would suggest on initial reading. It is truly an example of something being more than the sum of its parts, much like Gamerz Ink's review philosophy. So make sure you read through to the bottom of this section before you click on.

The word “clunky” gets thrown around a lot when referring to the controls of video games, but few have typified it so well as the wrestling genre. My memories of 2007’s instalment would also include the words “obtuse” and “ulcerating” were I to expand on that assessment a bit. “Not fun at all” if we were going to go even further into the realm of using *gasp* phrases as descriptors.

2010 is much, much better. Controls have been greatly simplified (much to the chagrin of the purists, I’m sure), making it much more accessible for the new folk playing the game. The unfortunate side effect of this simplification is that many special or environmental moves have been reduced to Quick Time Events. They’re much more fun than most QTEs, and it’s understandable given that a control pad can’t cover every given situation that might occur in the ring, but it doesn’t compare with the enjoyment of something like God of War.

The HUD is a nice touch. Instead of clunky stamina/health bars and a million other useless objects, the HUD has been reduced to a simple, semi-translucent ring around your character which will shift in colour depending on something or other. I wasn’t paying a lot of attention as to how it works exactly. I just know it’s better than ’07.

Your character moves so slowly it’s painful. I know you can run but it wears your character out and it rarely gives you an advantage. Hits are not varied enough and executing grapples is more trouble than it’s frequently worth. Perhaps there’s a subtlety to all of these apparently random fight controls that I’m overlooking, but somehow I don’t think so. A multimillion dollar sports organisation would never put out a shoddy, half-baked product just because they knew most of its fans would buy it...would they?

In spite of all of this, WWE is oddly compelling to play. If only to crush your feeble opponent before your feet, or get the opportunity to smash their head into a metal staircase. I enjoyed the actual matches, and you can see my score below. But I couldn’t explain to you why I liked it exactly; on paper it sounds like one of the worst fighting games you’d ever play.

"I'll hit you and you pretend it hurts, ok?"

How many friends do you have who enjoy wrestling and would play a videogame related to it? That’s the only question you need to ask yourself when considering this game for purchase. You’ll get a lot of mileage out of it if you enjoy wrestling and have friends to play with. Or a decent internet connection. Single player will keep you busy for a while, but the true longevity will be found in multiplayer for the casual player.

The story mode in particular is a fantastic idea; it’s almost a shame that more sports games don’t include anything similar. I’m sure that as the franchise continues we’ll see more tweaks and improvements, even if it never reaches its full potential.

The included Trophies/Achievements are a bit ordinary. While there’s 25ish of them to claim, they’re all a bit obscure. Only for the truly dedicated.

"I can pay it, what, do you think these $ signs are just for show!"

WWE Vs. Smackdown 2010 is yet another wrestling game. That’s all that needs to be said really. If you like wrestling games you’ll like this one; if you don’t, there isn’t anything here that’s going to change your mind. As for myself? Well, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t the shitfest I had expected; it was more like the old ones on the PSone that I played as a youth. But paying cash money for it beyond a rental? Probably not. Adjust the below score to your own tastes depending on how much of a wrestling fan/unfan you are.