WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 (DS)

Over-the-top melodrama and online action. But where's the guy who can defeat 10,000 elephants?
11/19/2008 12:00 AM | 1 Comments | Page 1 of 2

On the debut of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009, I was thinking that the history of wrestling is steeped in so many stories that suck you in and don't let go. If you love soap opera-like narrative, you can move through a cooperative story mode in SVR 2009 that's full of twists and turns. But in the latest SmackDown commercial, the graphics showed realistic wrestling in the ring with human-like bodies and faces scrunching up in pain. There were no fireworks-filled entrances or puffery in the ad, just a voiceover touting cooperative play.

The latest game in THQ's SmackDown series is in fact rife with brand-new features, the most notable of which may be the ability to play online. Plus, there are new tweaks to the artificial intelligence, along with the you-make-it-raw Create-A-Finisher option.

But like Madden, Mortal Kombat and any other franchise that releases a new iteration each and every year, shouldn't there be something mo' better and utterly ooh-ahh in SmackDown vs. Raw? We're in the most foul, soul-sucking economic meltdown that most gamers have ever seen, and this is the 11th year in which THQ has foisted a wrestling game upon us -- this time, in seven formats (if you include the mobile phone version) -- so shouldn't there be more meat? Is it worth $30 for the DS version? Or should you just forego the experience altogether?

In last year's DS game, you couldn't use the d-pad to move around the ring as you can this year, just the stylus; plus, the Career Mode was more like a weekend at wrestling camp, nothing too deep. But while SVR 2009 on the DS is somewhat better, it still doesn't score a pinfall in any sense of the word.

The undefeated, six-time champion Undertaker looks partially otherworldly, full of extraordinarily detailed tattoos -- even when the game takes out many, many pixels so it'll fit on the Nintendo DS handheld. The graphics that make up the wrestlers in the ring are grittily impressive (although the crowds in the backgrounds are horrid). And you have to like the fact that the game gets your yearning to play fast. There are no extended cut scenes, just the interface giving you many kinds of wrestling matches, venues and, of course, the 29 wrestlers.

The AI? You can fake out many of the Superstars who aren't in the Top 10. For instance, I used the d-pad to move out of Rey Mysterio's way when he was attempting anything -- from a grapple to a running move off the ropes -- and the dude never caught on. On the other hand, use a top sports entertainer like Triple H, and this won't happen. Often, he'll come right at you and cut off your escape if you try to move away from him.

But it's in the controls that SVR 2009 begins to fail badly. To make the simplest of moves, you have to really wail on the touch-screen. Get knocked down? You'll only get up if you move the stylus left to right on the touch-screen as if you're trying to erase a note from your office lover before someone on your team comes in to see it. You're supposed to begin a grapple by drawing a circle on the touch-screen, a good idea, but one that fails in execution. Half the time, drawing that circle did nothing for me.