Games To Dust
A Weekly Look Into Video Game Culture From A Casual Point Of View
By: Bren Inou
WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010
Just for the record, I`m a huge fan of the WWE. My favorite wrestler? The Undertaker. Watching him bash skulls in and breaking necks with his devastating Tomb Stone Pile Driver would send me into a whirl wind of imagination and day dreaming that was probably not good for a 26 year old Inou Bren. Thats what backyard wrestling is for, anyway. THQ just released its 2010 edition of its Smackdown Vs. Raw series.
The first thing I noticed is the trainning facility when you start the game. It really does help when you are new to the series but reading the instruction manual also works too. so pressing the start button brings you to several menus that are pretty easy to navigate. The game is really reliant on user created content. Be it a created superstar (My guy`s name is Mr. Wiggles), Createing your own WWE storyline. Meaning you can offically create a story line better then TNA wrestling. TNA wrestling is stupid*. Or createing your awesome entrance (I love the Wiggle Dance!). You can create almost anything in this game, Except better ratings for TNA wrestling, No one can create that.
The matches themselves work really well and have the feeling of wrestling in a real WWE live event. If you have not done so yet check out WWE.com for great deals on WWE merchandise and the latest news in the WWE universe. The ring announcers and color commentators tend to blend after a while. But after watching me as Gail Kim beat the good gravy out of Kelly Kelly for ten minutes I guess Michael Cole could not think of another way to describe Gail Kim`s finishing move. All hail gail!
My favorite thing is the fact you can defend the belts in exhabition mode and don`t have to unlock them or anything. Meaning I don`t really need to play through the Road To Wrestlemania and the career mode to achieve anything I want. Except maybe to play as the “Million Dollar Man” himself. Most people will want to unlock all the superstars so I imagine people will play through the various story modes.
The Royal Rumble, one of my favorite annual matches. Really is awesome to play through. Some wrestlers even have special Royal Rumble entrances. Batista`s entrance is by far my favorite. Cage matches are pretty simplistic but by far I think won too easily. The money in the bank ladder match is really cool. I never played Raw Vs. Smackdown 2009 so I`m not all too sure what the technical updates are but I imagine if it has “New” written next to it I`m sure its new to the 2010 edition.
Multiplayer is of course one of the funnest things you can do with this game. Try to get as many friends as you can for a ladder match or an extreme rules match. Which reminds me…I really miss the old ECW. I did have a problem trying to send my created guy from my Xbox 360 to a friends so I`m not too sure if I did it right or not. Anyway this is one game I really do recommend you play with a buddy. At least you now have a tag-team partner for tag matches!
All in all. WWE Raw Vs. Smackdown 2010 really is one of the funnest games I have played on the Xbox 360. Now, I know I`am leaving out certain details like who is on the roster and all. But I`m just telling about my own personal experience with the game. If I could change one thing though, It would have to be just letting me start with a full roster. But maybe next year right? For the best wrestling in the world though. Check out DDT wrestling in Japan. Nakazawa Michael and President Ramu are my two favorite wrestlers there. Ring Of Honor? “American Dragon” Bryan Danielson. (Sorry if I misspelled his name).
* To be fair, I will review TNA Impact next time for the Xbox 360
