|
|
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
The R-Evolution of SmackDown!, 16 Nov 2005
SmackDown! vs. RAW was great, no doubt the best grappler out on any of the consoles. But it simply lacked in too many areas. There were only 4 official championships in the game, though you could create titles, and you could only fight for them on season. Changing Superstar on season would result in the titles reverting back to their orginal owners (JBL, Booker T, Randy Orton & Chris Jericho). The matches were very short and easy to win, even on Legend difficulty. Superstars did not have all of their proper moves (i.e. Batista's Spinebuster, Angle's Super Angle Slam etc.) and they didn't all have official Entrance movies, moves and themes. Voice-overs were very poor and commentary was limited.SVR 06 changes the entire world of virtual wrestling. Now all characters look very close to how they do in real life, with even those like Hurricane and Conway looking good. Everybody, as far as I am aware, has their correct move-list (though you have to assign Batista's Lethian Spine Buster in place of Lesnar's version. The Stamina bar can be turned on or off, so people who hate the idea can play with the same feel as all the other SmackDown! games. Entrances, including moves, movie and music, are nearly spot-on and look great (with the acception of Batista's firework timing!). The new showing of 'newly aqquired' Finishers (not 'stored') shows you just how cool some of them are. Casket matches are not individual matches but instead are joined up with a truck full of dirt to give you a very gratifying Buried Alive stipulation. People like Undertaker can perform special Last Rides/ JBL Powerbombs into the Casket to gain a quick win (stored finisher and full momentum needed), whereas the other Superstars have a simple Powerbomb. This makes Buried Alive matches quite hard to predict if you're playing against a friend. If you don't want a quick win then you can try to push them in with the submission-style bar and then slam the lid of the casket down on them. Special Referees are not limited to tag team, singles and Ironman matches any more, because they can be used in a Steel Cage, Hell-in-a-Cell, tag team, singles, Ironman etc. Battle Royals are no longer pin/ submission eliminations only and you can chose either pin/ submit eliminations or over-the-top rope eliminations. Royal Rumbles can also be for 10, 15, 20, 25 or 30 Superstars, and so you can play a quicker Rumble if you haven't much time. The arenas are amazingly realistic and vary in size and popularity (for GM mode). They include: RAW, SmackDown!, Heat, Velocity, WrestleMania IX, Unforgiven 04, No Mercy 04, Survivor Series 04, Armageddon 04, New Year's Revolution, Royal Rumble 05, No Way Out 05, WrestleMania 21, Backlash 05, Judgment Day 05, Vengeance 05, ECW: One Night Stand, Great American Bash 05, SummerSlam 05. Championships can be defended on exhibition, as well as season mode, and titles are not reverted when changing Superstar on season. Cena and Austin wear their 'spinning'/ 'Smoking Skull' WWE title if they are the WWE champ and the new GM mode gives you a great sense of power over the Superstars you hate. GM mode allows you to control an entire year in RAW or SmackDown!, with you creating the matches, advertising to get finances, hyping matches to get better ratings than the other show, and hyping the return of injured Superstars. Those wrestlers that don't like your method may jump to the other show, so you need to get them involved in expensive matches and title shots, or give them a title that has been vacated due to a champion's injuries. You also have to pay to keep them in your contract else they become a 'free agent' and you must rehire them at full price. Create-an-Entrance (from GamesCube's WrestleMania X8 & XIX and Day of Reckoning 1 & 2) makes an appearance, with some great tracks to chose for your theme music. Create-a-PPV has stayed, so has the Crea |