Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

My experience with “professional” wrestling is limited to an obscure cartoon in the 1980’s featuring wrestling personalities like Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant, Jimmy “Mouth of the South” Hart, and some guy who had a bunch of rubber bands all over his body.  You can’t escape some names like Sable, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, and The Rock because of their acting careers or out-of-the-ring antics.

Wrestling games have been around since the original “Pro Wrestling” for the original Nintendo Entertainment System.  This year the WWE has given fans with a PSP the opportunity to take some wrestling action on the road with WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2006.

Most of the graphics for SvR actually look pretty good.  The textures for the wrestlers include tattoos and muscles, and their costumes match their real counterparts.  During the wrestlers’ entrances, you see a video of the actual wrestler on the jumbotron screen.  They even swagger realistically and play to the crowd.

SvR has a large number of arenas available, each with their own subtle touches.  The biggest difference in the arena is the entrance where the wrestlers walk out of.  The rings have different settings as well, whether ropes or pipes or fencing.  Unfortunately the crowd models are flat paper people with no depth.  While it’s not distracting during a match, it is rather odd during the walk-in.  The signs the crowd holds are rather humorous at times, but you’d expect them at one of these matches.

In the ring, the characters look fine, but up close you can see the low polygon counts on the models.  As the match goes on, you will see blood get on the mat and on the faces of the wrestlers.  The closer you get to the models, the issues with the textures increase, making them look even worse.  Also, the animations aren’t always smooth, with character movements jumpy.  A few clipping issues hinder the graphics score as well.  Still, the graphics are impressive for a PSP game.

The music in SvP has a heavy rock metal beat.  These tunes are performed by groups such as Bumpy Knuckles, Billy Ray, and Dark New Day.  If you have ever caught part of a wrestling program, you have an idea of what to expect.  These songs are not only a part of the menu screens but during the wrestler introductions as well.

In the ring you have your traditional sounds of hitting the mat and the ringing of the bell.  While you don’t have any major grunts from hits, you really don’t miss them.  Commentary from the announcers is limited to before and after matches, but they really aren’t missed during the actual wrestling.

Previous WWE wrestling games haven’t had voice acting by the wrestlers.  This year that oversight has been rectified, and the amount of voice work is astounding.  The Season Mode has a storyline and the lines of dialogue are spoken, making the game feel more real.

Trying to explain the controls for SvR is difficult because the buttons do something different depending on the position and situation.  Generally striking attacks are performed with the X and a direction on the D-pad, while Circle and the D-pad perform grapple attacks.  Reversals and counters are done with the L or R button, depending on which button is prompted.

The controls do take some getting used to because SvR is not a button masher like some fighting games.  SvR is built more on timing and finesse.  There are instances where you can try to hit the buttons in rapid succession and wonder why you aren’t getting a response from the character.  Once you get the timing down and understand how to make the moves, the game gets easier.

Another issue with the controls is that you can transfer momentum to your stamina using the Select button.  It’s too easy to hit the Start button or miss the Select button all together.

SvR has a lot of modes available for you to play.  Exhibition matches let you play a practice match.  These matches include single, tag team, triple threat, four way, and Royal Rumble.  Arcade mode has some of the more interesting games.  They are Texas Hold’em, Eugene Airplane Race, and a Game Show mode that has you answering WWE trivia questions.  The Game Modes have a Season mode, General Manager Mode, and PPV Mode where you play a PPV Match that you can create or has been already created for you.  The PPV matches include Royal Rumble, Judgement Day, and WrestleMania 21.

A Create mode is available to create a WWE Superstar, create a move set, create an entrance, create a stable, or create a championship.  These modes are extensive, in particular the Superstar mode.  In the Superstar mode you can create a new profile, head, body, outfit, layers such as clothing and tattoos, and fighting styles.  Unfortunately, waiting to view the changes made to your Superstar take a long time to view because they are loaded from the UMD.  This also makes the button response time seem off.

The Locker Room lets you look at the accomplishments you have completed in the game.  Here you can also unlock wrestling legends, extra costumes, and legend belts.  You can also check out what challenges there are in the game and which ones have been cleared.

While all of these features are nice to have, they don’t mean anything if the gameplay in the ring sucks more air than the wrestlers let out during their challenge tirades.  Thankfully, SvR delivers the goods.

The wrestling in SvR is a balancing match of momentum and stamina.  During the match you gain momentum with each hit and grapple you successfully perform.  When the momentum meter fills up, you can perform a Finisher move that does a lot of damage.  You can also save the Finisher move and perform a Second Finisher if you are able to fill your momentum meter.

During the match you lose stamina as you make hits and grapples.  This causes your wrestler to become sluggish.  If this happens, you can transfer energy from you momentum to your stamina.  This balancing act makes you think about how often you make your moves.

As you get hit, a figure next to your momentum bar shows the damage to your wrestler.  The figure is separated into different areas and will go from yellow to orange to red the more damage each takes.  The more damage the figure shows, the more likely it will be pinned.

Each wrestler has a large number of moves available.  Even the animations for the simple hits and grapples change depending on your character.  Some of the animations are shared between characters, but each character has their own signature moves.  Performing a Finisher move changes the camera to show the move from a more cinematic angle.

Because of the balance between the different modes and the challenge of the opponents, you can have matches last five or ten minutes or stretch to a half hour.  If you play the game, be prepared to have some time on your hands because of the length of the matches and the load times for the game.

The story in the season mode can take a while to finish, as well as the number of achievements and wrestlers to unlock.  You can also play it with different players and try to win different matches to see how the season might unfold differently.  You can also try to be a General Manager for SmackDown or Raw and increase the fan base which can keep you occupied for a while.

You can also play exhibition matches, title matches, or the arcade games online with up to three others online.  The only problem might be the fact that it’s difficult to find other players online.

Fans of wrestling who want a game on the go for the PSP should definitely pick up SmackDown vs Raw 2006.  The game is incredibly deep with a lot of different modes to keep you busy for a while with high production values.  The controls take a little getting used to if you expect a simple fighting game, but once you are adjusted you recognize when to make moves and what kind of moves to make, and everything clicks.  While the load times do take a little while to get into the wrestling, the game itself has a lot of value and a lot of fun.

Gaming Trend Score

82

1. Graphics: 78
2. Audio: 85
3. Controls: 80
4. Gameplay: 82
5. Value/Replay: 86
6. OVERALL:82