A Step Down For the Series
posted by DaMikeSC (COLUMBIA, SC) Dec 6, 2007
Member since Jul 2007
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I have been a fan of wrestling for years and wrestling games for a little less time than that, but a pretty long time nonetheless. I remember NES Pro Wrestling with fondness, the WWF RAW/Royal Rumble games, the N64 classics --- and I've always liked Smackdown and the later Smackdown v RAW.
This year's game, though, is weak.
Now, create-a-wrestler, which is always a favorite of mine, is as robust as ever. The move list is still ridiculously long and it is fun to make a guy with all of the cool spots in a match.
The problem is that the controls are messed up. Every year, Yuke's seems to try something new, and this year, the new effort tanked.
Grappling is a massive annoyance in the game. The quick grapples are easy, but no matter how much you beat on an opponent, the more powerful attacks tend to be a pain to hit. They reverse absurdly well and, outside of your finisher, anything rougher than an armdrag just isn't going to be hit often. The submission system was always a weakness and in their attempt to address it, I think Yuke's turned it all the way into a liability. Keeping a submission hold applied is a headache, but reversing it for you is equally agonizing and irritating.
The commentary has gotten worse as well, as you hear a few quips repeated ad infinitum. The voice acting of the wrestlers is minimal, at best, and the storyline is pretty much bare bones --- but watching WWE as of late, that is likely for the best as the writers are basically hacks as it is.
The game isn't bad, but it's the worst of the SD v RAW games to date. It's worth a look, but Yuke's is moving further away from correcting the problems, not closer to the solution. Which is a bit sad, really.
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