Smackdown! Vs RAW.

[Summers]

Is this game worth £25 to buy? I haven't had a Smackdown! game in a while now, and I was thinkinng of getting HCTP, but I thought why not get the new one? So, to those of you who have played it, what do you think of it, is it worth it?

[apsham]

I love the game, and if you havn't played one of the games in a while, there's the main argument of any nay-sayers gone right there, the "it doesn't change year by year" one. But since you have played one of the games before, you know what to expect and you'll get it.

[Cole]

I have it, it's worth the cash IMO.

[AJ]

I'd say no. Maybe a tenner from ebay or something but not 25 quid. It was out-of-date almost from the get-go was it not? Which is quite important, at least to me.

[Summers]

I don't "do" ebay.

[Cactus Drags]

You should. Way cheaper. Anyway, my main gripe with it was that pretty much fuck all had changed since HCTP. But if you haven't got HCTP, it won't be so bad. It's single player mode is fucking shite though, my career stories kept repeating all the time. The single backstage area is lame too, but multiplayer keeps it alive.

[writeeagle]

It depends on what you play for. I happened to buy it from EB Games about a week ago for fuckin $45 as a PRE-OWNED. According to the guy at the counter, it is still extremely popular and has kept that price point for a while.

If you are looking for a good single-player game, I'd go with Here Comes the Pain. The story mode in HCTP far surpasses the story mode in SVR. Hell ... The story mode in any SD game surpasses the story mode in SVR. SVR's story mode is repetitive every season. Don't get me wrong, HCTP is repetitive too, but in HCTP, the wrestlers are random and change often. In SVR, you fight the same exact match every season. (Unless you do something different, e.g.: win more, win less, win a title.) However, SVR does have a challenge mode with like 60 challenges that you have to beat to win WWE cash and unlockables. I'm about halfway through all of them, and I've unlocked Jimmy Snuka and Roddy Piper without going to Shopzone. However, that soon gets boring too, so I'd much prefer the single player of HCTP.

SVR's CAW system is more in depth, but some people might say too much in depth. It takes a good 10-15 minutes minimum to make one CAW.

SVR has seen the return of Create a PPV and Create a Belt. Create a PPV is cool. You can pick the arena, the title, the brand, and the announcers, and then you make your matches. Create a Belt is different, because you actually have to create it, and then purchase it. I've seen them go anywhere between $8,000 and $300,000. And when you create your belt, you can only defend it on a Create a PPV and against either a computer or human player. However, you have to have 2 memory cards to defend against another human. And if you lose, your belt transfers onto the other memory card. That is a huge plus, especially if you know a lot of people who have the game. I currently have won three belts. Yep, The Eagle is the FTW Champion, Cruiserweight Champion, and World Heavyweight Champion. A huge drawback is that belts can only be defended in 1 on 1 matches. Also, the a Create a Belt is not attributed to a single wrestler, but the memory card, so it won't show up in exhibition or season mode. I don't know if you can defend belts online, if someone could answer me that, I'd appreciate it. I've heard many people say different things regarding that.

So, if you're looking for a game with a long-lasting, non-repetitive season, buy Here Comes the Pain.

Anything else, even at such a high price point, buy Smackdown vs RAW.

[Cactus Drags]

The Create a PPV/Belt modes were long overdue, but they're half-assed efforts. You can only pick standard WWE arenas for example. Can't even change aprons or lighting. THPS has create a skatepark, why not a true arena creator for SDvR? And titles, created or otherwise, should be defendable in exhibition matches. The memory card/1 on 1 title match only/Create PPV defence only issues really irritate me. It wouldn't take a great deal to create a fantastic arcade wrestling game from the SD engine, but each year's new version seems more of a rush job than the previous one. They REALLY need to sort out the story mode, it's fucking awful as is.

[Summers]

I've ordered it. Thanks for the comments and opinions. : )

I might pick up HCTP very cheap if the storymode of SVR becomes boring.

[Guest Majick]

HCTP was the best SD game.

The create-a-belt on SDVR was rushed, and the voice acting is weak. That doesn't bother me too much, but...

You can't use legends in Season mode (Why? I guess because you can't have a Legend defending a belt if you change characters at the end of the season, but you could simply make it so it resets back to the default holder, or back to the previous holder or whatever.)

The Tag Team, Cruiserweight and Women's titles are out. Why?

The seasons are shorter, as each brand only has eight PPVs. Also, there are far fewer storylines to be involved in - about twenty, I think.

You always have to fight for Stacy's affections, and the final match is a Battle Royal that Undertaker or Triple H always wins.

Why bother with Create A Belt when a half-decent belt costs six figures?

And, not really a bitch at THQ, but:

Out: Lesnar, Goldberg, Austin, Hurricane, Rock (season)

In: Dupree, Grenier, Rico, A-Train, Brutus Beefcake

But:

Great music

Bret Hart!

Hopefully the new one will be better...

[FunkAsPuck]

I was going to get Smackdown VS Raw, but the fact that Smackdown is basically becoming a FIFA style affair, with each new release offering small new features that are flawed or make no fucking difference.

[Guest Leeleemu]

Smackdown v Raw is a great and fun multi-player game, it is also a good and challenging game individually if you put the difficulty on Legend, but in total, the game is pretty much like the others and gets a bit boring, I bought it from GAMESTATION then took it back after 9 days and got my money back, you can do all you want to do with it within a week.

The career mode is also disappointing with the same path every time you start a new career - CAW isnt that good and Create a Belt was definitely a rush even though it is fun challenging your mates for your and their belts.

[Cactus Drags]

CAW needs an overhaul, I want to make realistic-looking wrestlers, not goofy twats with stupid haircuts and flowery shirts.

[Kaney]

CAW needs an overhaul, I want to make realistic-looking wrestlers, not goofy twats with stupid haircuts and flowery shirts.

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In SDvR? The CAW is spot on :|

You can make near picture perfect wrestlers, if you know what you're doing. They look a lot better than before graphics wise too, the only problem I can see is that it's pretty limited in certain ways. If they added all the different option types from previous games it'd be one of the best CAWs around.

[Cactus Drags]

Hairstyles are fucking stupid. Who wants to make a wrestler with a fucking rainbow afro? Granted not everyone wants to make serious-looking wrestlers, but there needs to be some sort of balance.

[Kaney]

Who wants to make a wrestler with a fucking rainbow afro?

←

If you don't want to make a wrestler with a rainbow coloured afro then uh, don't

But thats what I was saying, they took a whole lot of stuff out kept a lot of silly stuff. But again, if you know what you're doing then you can make awesome wrestlers. If you've got a cheat disc then you can 'hack' the CAW to give them two hairstyles, which causes some sort of amalgamation which can look good if you do it right. But to the average pick-up-and-play player then yes, it is kinda bad.

[Cactus Drags]

You made fun of my point...and then agreed with it. Nice.

I've come up with a few decent CAWs, but there's always one aspect that I think of that I can't manage in it, usually because of those fucking flowery textures that are compeltely useless. I swear, out of the 40 or so textures available, I've used maybe 5, 7 at a push. It'd also be nice if CAWs didn't stick out like a sore thumb, like if they actually looked as part of the game as the real wrestlers.