Rating Preview
Graphics		7.8
Sound		8.6
Story		9.2
Control		8.0
Gameplay		7.7
Longetivity		5.0

So I picked up my copy of Smackdown vs. RAW 2010 the weekend after it was released, and I will say that it has its good moments, as well as its bad moments. The theme this year is creativity—as in, you can create your own world in this one. Last year, as we all know, it was based on Tag Team specialty, so you can play with a friend and do all kinds of tag team goodies. But this year, let’s dive into the new theme first, starting with the ever-so-popular, Create a Superstar. Also, keep in mind this is the PS2 version I’m reviewing, as I don’t have a next-gen console just yet.

 

The clothes are basically the exact same as they have been the past 3 years. Which means, not much. They have a few new accessories for the head, and some of the same old hairstyles we’ve been seeing. Not much new here. The worst part about it is that they have removed a good majority of the Announcer Names. Thus, most of the names available (only about 4 pages worth) have the word “The” at the beginning. Names like Travis and Paul and Philip and Christina are all gone now – so if you make yourself in the game, be prepared to call yourself Omega or something, because that’s about all you’ll get. Also the voices for your characters are back, but only for Road to Wrestlemania, which allows you the option to pick at the beginning of each CAW storyline.

 

Create an Entrance is obviously limited with the PS2, compared to PS3 and 360, since in those consoles you can add your own music and videos. One thing I can praise, though, is the new soundtrack this year. Far better, with songs by Adelita’s Way and Trivium in the soundtrack. There’s two by Skillet that I’m liking very well. Perhaps I’ll use them as my entrance music themes.

 

But wait—what’s this? All those special custom songs that have been a part of the Smackdown universe since the beginning are gone. They have the entrance theme for the superstars, as well as the shows themselves. But no custom music. I suppose I could get over it—after all, for the third time, this is the PS2 version. So you can’t expect much. A few new entrance moves are available, thanks to our growing roster. So I guess that’s okay.

 

Story Designer is the newest feature that the series has to offer, and might I say, it’s a genius option. You can pick a month to start, and make it reflect on any show of your choice. You can choose the animation, the location, and the cast, as well as setting up the scene length. There are two available already by default, plus one more you can unlock through Road to Wrestlemania, which is a Santino Marella story. But no one cares about him or his unibrow.

 

 

 

 

 

A few gameplay changes have occurred, too. Royal Rumble now has a new elimination system that requires you to tap a series of buttons in their order to get someone out, instead of just tapping Circle like last year. In a way, it kind of takes the challenge from it if button pressing is your specialty.

 

Last year’s system worked well when you beat them senseless and you had help from another Superstar to eliminate someone. This time, it’s just “x-x-x-x-square-square-square-square-x-x-x-x-circle-circle-circle-square-square-square-square” and so on and so forth. As long as you hit the right buttons, your opponent is out of the match. Yeah—just like that. And how do I know? I was number 5 in the Royal Rumble in my Created Superstar RTW, and I eliminated everyone. Just like that. There are more methods to eliminating Superstars, too – my least favorite being the grounded Superstar removal. You have to make the bar stop in the middle at the right time, which is possible, but a pain in the ass.

 

 

 

There’s also Royal Rumble finishers, which require you to hit Triangle at the right moment when your Momentum bar is at least 75% full. You usually get about 4 – there’s two rope finishers, and there’s two apron finishers. Make sure they’re groggy and your momentum is decent for this to work; otherwise, you get the Button Game, which literally takes 10 seconds to eliminate someone if you’re good at paying attention.