Gaming WWE Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain

[Jinzouningen17]

Well, I just thought I'd give a little review on this awesome game. I just gave a review on this on another set of forums, so I'm just gonna post the same thing I posted there on here. Anyway, here's my review on what possibly is the hottest wrestling game to come out this year.

Anyway, I got this game last Tuesday night right when we opened up our box of recievings, and I also must say that this is quite possibly the hottest wrestling game this year. Maybe the best of all of the Smackdowns.

The only flaws that I see with this game are these though. 1, theres no commentators or announcers like there was in the previous 2 Smackdowns(Just Bring It and Shut Your Mouth). 2, you cant do entrances on Hell in a Cell matches and the Elimination Chamber matches. And 3, some of the guys are using their old themes instead of their current ones, such as RVD, the Dudleys, and a few others.. Oh, and the "create a superstar" is a pain. Takes forever just to create 1 guy. I started creating one person the night I got it for about 2 hours or so, saved most of the character, went to bed and woke up the next mornin and took me about another hour just to finish it, and the guy STILL isnt perfect. You have to put sooo much detail into the character just to make it look right. And after that hour the next day, I just said the hell with it and gave him just a bunch of regular moves.

But enough with those little flaws, the game itself is friggen lovely. Especially season mode. I've been playin season mode ever since Thursday night(with RVD of course) and man, sure its the hardest season mode of all of the SD's, but its the funnest. I mean goodness, you get to have so many feuds, plus you get a title shot soo early. I won 1 match, I went to Eric Bischoff's office and demanded an IC title match and he gave it to me with my second match. And I was able to defeat Christian for the IC title just like that. I was able to keep that IC title for about 4 months in season mode until I lost it...well, had it stolen from Stone Cold Steve Austin in a friggen 4 Way Battle Royal(or like I like to call it, a 4 Way Dance). But 2 weeks later I demanded a rematch against Austin and whooped his behind in less the 2 minutes. They should know better by now then to put RVD in a no DQ match up. lol Hell, give me a chair and thats it. Hit ya wit that Vandaminator, and its all over. Plus I love hall they have it where you can set up your own stable within season mode. Plus, they give you a tag partner thats actually gonna be worth somethin if you're going to try and get the tag titles(which is before you go to create a stable). I'm tellin yall, season mode is BANGIN. Yall definetly need to play that thing if you get the game.

And man, I'm sooo glad that they finally put blood into the game. Its about time for them to put blood in an SD. I still wish they would've put it in SD 4, but hey, now is better then never. And it takes as long as it does in actual wrestling for them to start bleeding. I swear, you gotta hit someone over the head atleast 10 to 15 times with a chair or somethin before they start bleeding. And the best part about that is, if you get them good enough, the blood will start drippin. And plus if they get back up and you hit them over the head with a chair, blood will fly off of their head as they're goin to hit the ground. Now you cant tell me that thats not realistic.

But on the real though, this game is friggen hot. I'm about to play it again in a few minutes. Hopefully I'll have another match like I had last night when I was usin RVD and I fought Kane, HBK, and Stone Cold in the longest, bloodiest, hottest TLC belt match of all time. I swear, it took me atleast 30 minutes or more to win that match up, but I had fun playin it all the way through.

But yeah, if you havent played it yet, GO KHOP THAT NOW! Its definetly well worth gettin. The best wrestling game to come out this year.

I give this game definetly a 9.5/10. Definetly well worth buyin. So go to your local blockbuster or where ever you buy games and GO KHOP THIS! ^_^

[Charles]

I was tempted to create a thread dedicated to this game, so it's good that someone else got around to it. Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain is a truly wonderful game.

Wrestling titles, in most cases, are enjoyable albeit disappointing. The genre enjoyed its renaissance on the Nintendo 64--domestically speaking. Prior to AKI's foray in developing wrestling games, fans were hard-pressed to get their hands on a quality game that captured the pageantry and athleticism of the business. Acclaim's console offerings were gimmicky and marred by poor button-mashing mechanics.

Admittedly, their stabs at simulation style grappling were refreshing. The WWF Warzone and WWF Attitude games set a new standard in what fans came to expect from create-a-wresler modes. I'd like to think they're where Yukes drew their inspiration from in regards to the front-end of the SmackDown titles. What Acclaim's titles brought to the table in terms of presentation value, was largely diminished by their ineptitude at coding a tolerable gameplay engine.

That's where AKi came in. I enjoyed WCW vs. The World, for the original Playstation. Of course, that's an understatement though, considering I bought a Nintendo 64 largely because of Aki's wrestling releases. WCW/nWo World Tour sold me on it. It wasn't as pretty as Attitude or Warzone--but the animation was fluid, the engine was solid--and [i]it was fun to play![/i]

Later releases on the N64 were simply evolutions of the same successful formula that manages to draw praise to this very day. In fact, the eventual pinnacle of their N64 development, WWF No Mercy is still highly regarded as the best wrestling game on the market.

Let's put this into perspective: It released years ago on a system that can't even touch what's on the market today in terms of technical capabilities. Yet, No Mercy had many features that are [i]still[/i] lacking in today's crop of wrestling games and that HCTP is just now introducing. Blood, location specific damage, sixteen front grapples, wrestling editing, and weight detection are all found in this year's SmackDown--but it took them five games to do it. lol

Games like Wrestlemania XIX and Raw 2 lack not only most of those features--but backstage fighting as well.

The point of this rant is--that although no wrestling release is at the standard it could be, the genre has finally caught up to Aki's benchmark (on the Playstation 2, that is).

WWE SmackDown: Here Comes the Pain is the first wrestling title [i]really[/i] worth buying in quite a while--as it's the first to top a three year old game.

I'll now try to address the points of your post directly.

--I was a bit disappointed that commentary was removed because it was taking a step backward. In comparison to other sports games, the commentary in SmackDown products was pitiful but it was improving. I'd have liked to see that improvement every year instead of seeing it entirely removed. It's as if Yukes just decided to give up instead of making it better. That's hardly the answer.

--The old themes are due to licensing problems. It's not laziness on the part of the developer--it's just something you have to put up with. I loved ripping tracks in Raw 2 and keeping my wrestlers up-to-date, but the characters have so much personality (something Raw is void of in comparison) that it's not such a big loss for me.

--The Create-A-Wrestler mode is a slight disappointment. It offers little over last year's edition and some things were omitted. There really wasn't much to improve upon.

I don't mind taking the time to get the characters right. It's only because of the amazing amount of customization at your disposal. I've managed to create a fairly perfect replica of Hogan. It took me quite a while but I'm satisfied with the results. I could post the formula if you're interested.

I just hope that next year's improves the quality of the textures and clothing on the created wrestlers. As the actual in-game models improve, the created versions begin to appear more and more ridiculous. The textures are low resolution and clothing is pasted on. Plus, they don't even have teeth.

Hopefully this will all be addressed next year.

--The season mode is very similar to last year's. The writing isn't great and there are a lot of typos. Plus, the wrestlers rarely speak as they would on television unless you encounter them backstage. It also seems like many of the angles (such as the milk truck) were recycled. Still, it's enjoyable.

I've completed one season and it's apparent that, while you'll encounter variations in the angles here and there, you're largely going to experience the same season every year. I'll most likely earn all the points I need to unlock everything and never touch that mode again. lol

It might be different as a created wrestler though, so who knows.

As a side note, the roster was slightly lacking. The list of legends is paltry and questionable. Where are Bret and Owen Hart? Jake Roberts? Classy Freddie Blassie? Bob Backlund? The British Bulldog? Yokozuna? Dynamite Kid? Randy Savage? And, the ones that are there don't even have authentic entrances due to the lack of theme music and animation. I would have much preferred the inclusion of more present-day talent. Most of the major players in the women's division are missing in action, as is Billy Kidman, Spike Dudley, La Resistance, The FBI, Shannon Moore, etc.

Overall, I'm very happy with the game, though. The AI is the best I've ever seen in a wrestling game and the matches actually look like real matches.

The reworking of the grappling system was sorely needed, as was the tweaking of the submission system. You know, since submissions were virtually useless before. They only lasted two seconds and rarely made anyone quit. Because of these enhancements and wrestlers selling moves properly, this year's SmackDown feels like a simulation-based grappler instead of an arcadey mess.

Now, I hope they just being to release this game on every system instead of offering lesser products to GameCube and Xbox owners. I don't see the logic with how they do things now.

[PWNED]

This is my third WWE related thread, this time asking what your tactic an a match in Here comes the pain.

What is your tactic in, first of all, Royal Rumbles, Hell in a Cell, Cage, normal matches, tag matches etc. And could you please explain the tactic fully and which Wrestler this works best with.

My tactic in Royal Rumbles would have to be running around like a blibbering idiot hitting people in the back then running away, I do this best with any Cruiserweights.

In Hell in a Cell matches I choose to get out of the ring as quickly as possible and oto the roof to DDT someone through, This is best done by my created wrestler (Road Dogg).

With me Cage Matches are best done by constantly pounding away at the opponent the going for a pin or give up. I do the best with Chris Benoit.

Normal Mathces are best done by beat downs then any other condition of winning. I do this best with John Cena because I have pumped his stats up in season mode and made alterations to his moveset.

In tag matches I call in my partner constantly to annoy my friend as well as always peforming double team moves against him. My ideal team is John Cena and The Undertaker.

That is all for now, I have to get off the computer.

[Guest Ireland Raven]

Royal rumble= throw them against the ropes,followed by the low kick,repeat until all are eliminated,its no fun this way though.

Cage,throw them into a turnbuckle which has had its padding removed and climb

hell in a cell=get out of it!!!

elimination chambre=constantly run away until all are eliminated

normal=i never play as they are boring,but while completing season i worked on one body part and utilaized a devastating submission on it

tag=constantly call in partner,whip into corner with removed turnbuckles

[Guest bigdaddycraig]

Lets see....

Royal Rumble - Just start throwing people and if I get thrown out, so be it.

Cage - Just pound them until their whole body is in the red and then climb out or pin.

Hell In A Cell - Just throw em off the top a whole lot and that'll end it real quick like.

Elimination Chamber - Just beat em, throw em into the chambers and steel chains. Makes it very easy to do.

Normal - Just hit them with every front grapple move I have and then make them tap out to a Sharpshooter.

Tag - Constant double teams

[Ashura]

I was just wondering whether people think I should get Here Comes the Pain, or Shut Your Mouth? Which do you guys believe is the better game (keep in mind that I actually like the amount of time you have to invest into creating a character, and the blood doesn't faze me either way)?