SmackDown!

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010
$49.99
The good news about this game is that it is very similar to the full fledged versions on the other consoles. Create-a-Story, Create-a-Finisher, and the full Road To Wrestle-mania storyline is there. The Create-a-Wrestler also seems to be as in depth as the other games.

Unfortunately, that still does not take away from the fact that this game has some significant game play issues.

Control:

No more Waggle. Sounds great right? It would have been if the controls were implemented appropriately and the action wasn't so ridiculously clustered. If you have a match that involves more than three players, this is going to be chaotic. There is no strategy involved besides just keep pressing right on the right control stick to quick grapple.

Essentially, to have all the varied options you would have without waggle controls, THQ forces you to use the classic controller or the gamecube controller. This is all fine with me, except the controls are just strange.

If you want to use the gamecube controller, strong grapple is done by pressing on the (c) stick and holding down Z. Not fun and a little awkward. Why not just a button press. (I know this is how it is on the other versions, but those controls just bug me too).

The use of the B button to pick up ladders and other items is also really inappropriate. Half the time it doesn't register, or picks up the wrong item.

I still have no idea why they don't go back to No Mercy gamecube controls. I hate the fact you have to grapple with the control stick.

Reversing is almost impossible, as well. They took out the idea of reversing grapples with one button, and reversing strikes with another. Perhaps to make up for that, Pinpoint accurate timing is needed.

This means, your best bet at winning is to stay on the offensive as the other players are going to have a really difficult time doing anything about it.


Mini-games:
This was a nice add-on. Whether you're eliminating someone in the Royal Rumble or just trying to kick out of a pin attempt, the mini-games add a little more to the experience. They involved hitting a green bar at the right time, or hitting buttons in sequential order. It adds a little more fun to the game and means you don't have to keep smashing the A button (though that is also an option if you don't want to play the minigames).

HUD:
There is a lack of HUD, which I thought I would like at first. However, after playing without the HUD, it's actually quite annoying. Your health meter is not apparent, and the game turns into a bit of a convuluted mess.

Good luck with a ladder match involving 6 wrestlers. It took 45 minutes to finish a match, and that is only after 20 minutes in, my roommate and I decided to hang outside the ring and let the computer try to win the match. It took four computer players 25 minutes to win the match.

Conclusion:
There is some fun to be had... but the controls and lack of strategy is just horrible. Dang it THQ -- just put in old No Mercy/Day of Reckoning controls. We've waited 15 years for you to get your heads out of your butt.

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010
$29.99
For a DS game, SvR 2010 is pretty decent. If this was a console game, fans would probably hate it. I've played some of the recent SvR games on the PSP, which play identically to the console games. The only real difference is the graphics and lack of a 2nd analog stick and 2 shoulder buttons. I'll admit that I was quite disappointed when I started messing around with SvR 2010's controls. The game initially felt very clunky and repetitive. It's starting to grow on me, though, since I've mastered the controls and played many different match types. In some ways, the console versions could learn a lot from the DS game, but the DS version still could use more variety and interactivity during the actual matches.

Good:
- Many moves and animations are ripped straight from the older Smackdown games, so they look decent.

- The roster is huge and includes basically every major star from all 3 brands, minus a few lower mid-carders and divas. There are even a few surprises like Kennedy and Umaga.

- The graphics are great, especially the character models and most have fairly recent attires, with Matt Hardy being a notable exception (he has his pre-Wrestlemania attire, and no facepaint for Jeff).

- Speciality matches/backstage matches are really well done. The mini games for climbing the ladders, cages, grabbing belts, closing the ambulance doors, etc are innovative and sometimes better than the console mini-games. These matches (in addition to the card system) are what really make this game unique.

- Card system is simple, but a good addtion. If you use the abilities at the right time, you can really turn a match around.

- Full entrances with accurate theme music are included. The entrance animations are also ripped from the console SvR games, so they look great.

- The controls are easy to learn and remind me in many ways of the Gamecube WWE games (not nearly as fluid, though).

- Story mode seems good so far, you can tell they put a decent amount of work into this mode. I haven't played much of it, but I like what I see. I also haven't messed with the CAW much but I can tell it's a very basic version of the old SvR games. Again, it seems adequate for a DS game.


The Bad:
- The moves might look good, but the basic grappling engine needs a lot of work. There are only 3 weak front/back grapples and 3 strong front/back grapples. There's 1 ground grapple at the feet facing up and 1 facing down. Same with the head. You can irish whip, but there are NO irish whip grapples and only 1 irish whip strike. No springboard moves, apron moves, NO moves off the turnbuckle to the outside, only 1 turnbuckle grapple, 1 signature, and (from what I can tell) only 1 fininsher.

- The reversal system is practically non-existent. You can reverse from the initial strong and weak grapple positions, but you can't reverse finishers or really anything else during the move itself.

- There is no selling. You opponent will just get up immediately if they're fresh, or lay there still for a while if they're hurt. There are a LOT of collision detection issues, and some moves don't feel like they connect at all.

If any of you ever played the WWF War Zone/Attitude games, everything feels just as clunky here at times, but the animations are much better of course, and the game is much more simple to play. You know how TNA Impact felt like it needed about triple the amount of moves/animations to make it a good wrestling game? Same concept here. They did so many things right this year, but the in-ring gameplay is lacking. If they can add more grapple positions, more moves, more animations, and more reversals, then we'll see a truly great WWE game on the DS.

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010
$39.99
This game has a Bunch of new Features. You could create a superstar,His/her moves,finishers & entrance. You Could also create your very own storyline...Very cool. I probaly spent over an Hour creating stuff. The Royal Rumble also has new features where you could throw guys out of ring in new ways. They also made a bunch of new realistic actions. The Road to wrestlemania Created superstar addition was Fun.

The only thing i didnt like was that there was no commentary during the matches, just music.

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010
$59.99
As a proud owner of SDvR 2007, I was skeptical of the new game. Being that I haven't bought another game in this series since then, I decided to buy the game pretty much based off of the new Create a Story mode.

Sad to say, I've found this game to be MAJORLY subpar, and MAJORLY flawed. I hope that they build on this, but if you have noticed the subtile sub-text of my first paragraph, you'll notice my restrain on hoping for THQ/Yukes to BUILD and IMPROVE on this game (They have a tendancy to flip-flop on KEEPING awesome game modes *coughGMMODEcough*).

1) The kept the damned "CAW building"
I.E.- I believe that they've started phasing out the Ulimited Attributes for CAWs in 2008. I've seen this as a HUGE mistake then, and now it is WORSE. They've tried to soften this up by allowing you to "build" your CAW's attributes in any time they're is a match. But there is a point where a developer must "give up the ghost" on an idea, and this is one of them.

This "building" becomes SO tedious that it does the OPPOSITE of what it was intended to do, it becomes disheartening as opposed to keeping you wanting to play the game more. Let's put it this way, if this made me want to go BACK to SDvR 2007, there is something wrong.

I know I would hear people saying that this doesn't bother them. But to me, time is important, I am in the military, and I only have so much time in the day to "unwind". If I have spend hour-upon-hour of trying to tediously "level" up my CAW, then I would rather NOT do that and stick to a game that would allow me to have some fun with it.

2) The Create a Story Mode and CAW modes are limited

Again, there is a problem when you want to REVERT to a previous title in a series, this is one of them.

They had LIMITED the CAW mode. They took out the Patterns that made me LOVE the 07 game. They've even gone as far as taking out CHOOSING how much your wrestler weights!

The patterns could be excused, as they redesigned the CAW mode and the CAW's look AMAZING and life-like. But to say that you can't have your guy weight 220 lbs WITHOUT choosing a body-type is ludacris!

The Create a Story mode is even MORE limited. They limit the amount of times you could input a CAW, and you have limited amounts of cut-scenes you could use. So, if you want to recreate a Rock/Stone Cold WM 17 blood fued, you will be GREATLY disapointed. I know this is the inital input of the Create a Story mode, and they would be WISE to keep it in the game (Or, better yet, bring back GM Mode and allow you to use this mode in it),so let's hope that they decide to WORK with an idea and BUILD on it as opposed to "rebuilding the wheel" like they tend to do.

3) Online issues

Where to start, I think I'll pick three main ones:

a) There is an AMAZING amount of lag in the online wrestling mode. Almost a minute long! This KILLS me wanting to play this mode

b) The online censor is WAY too strict. Like for your Create a Story, it will NOT let you upload your story for ANY word in the game it deems to be bad. I'm presuming that it's using key words and phrases, but it gets to a point where it becomes REDICULOUS. I created a story that didn't get uploaded, and there was NO cussing in the verbage. There's a point where something kills the want to create an original story, and this does it.

c) They decided to go the route of FNR4 with this. But they forgot one tiny thing... FNR4's CAW downloads you could modify the HELL out of the original.

You don't get this luxury in this game. As opposed to getting a guy whom you could costomize the look, attire, entrance, attributes, etc. You get a guy that is 300+ doing Lucha moves, who looks off, and who has the wrong entrance. This is doubly wrong when you can't give a guy like the classic Ric Flair/Sting/Bret Hart the attibutes he deserves.

4) Missing modes

THQ/Yukes KEEPS dropping the ball on this. They have a sweet mode in the game, then after a year, or two, it's inexplicibly gone.

For all of you expecting a revamped GM Mode, hate to break it to you. You might as well go back to 07, because it's not in this game.

If you were expecting a decent CAW journey through a Career mode of some sort. Take a number, it's no where in this game.

If you were expecting to fight for a created title online (Which COULD'VE been a HUGE perk for this game), hate to "burst your bubble" again. You CAN'T create a sweet looking title and fight for it in the laggy online world.

Heck, they even took out a PPV and Tournament Mode in this game.

Like I said, this game has MAJOR promise. But it's been 11 years with this developer/producer combo, and everytime they seem to be progressing, they shoot themselves in the foot the next year.
You have nicely revamped animations, they added onto the Create a Finisher mode, they upped the RtWM mode by a couple. There is a TON of things they did right with this game to make it a solid game; but it's been 11 years.

They have done REALLY well with going the EA route, and having a mode-before-the-mode where you can practice on a character to get better. But, EA listens to the consumer, THQ ignores, FNR4 is the best FN of the series, this year's SDvR is a solid game, but there is no definate on whether they'll build on it (like they should have done on 07).

So, I'll give it a 3/5, solid game, fun game, but this SHOULD'VE been THE game of the series, instead of a "building block".

Final Verdict: Rent-to-Own/Buy it used, otherise you'll be dissapointed with spending $60 on a new one.