WWE: Smackdown vs RAW 2011 Review

3 Nov, 2010

The Smackdown vs RAW (SvR) franchise is a juggernaut in the gaming landscape, and in the past few years Yuke’s and THQ have really been pushing the series to give the fans the best and closest experience possible to the WWE television programs.  Last year I felt they had pushed the game beyond what fans expected and delivered a product that stood up to the might of classics like WWF: No Mercy or Day of Reckoning 2.  The scope found in SvR 2011 is the greatest yet, but they seem to have tripped up on ambition with their execution.

This iteration of WWE: Smackdown vs RAW is delivering more than 70 Superstars, Divas and Legends, along with a plethora of match types and options.  While most features in the suite are what you remember from last year — Extreme Rules, Championship Scramble and storyline creator — that doesn’t mean this year has rested on its laurels.  Many additions and tweaks have come in an attempt to not only streamline the core mechanics, but try to make the WWE Universe your universe.

The most ambitious mode is WWE Universe.  Combining old exhibition mode and the career structure, a new hybrid has been created.  An infinite WWE calendar is generated with RAW, Smackdown, Superstars and pay-per-view shows set up like how you see each week in real life.  It creates cards for each show based on rivalries and rankings and you decide to play which matches you want.  If you don’t like what you see, you’re free to change the card however you like.

You can’t just put any Superstar (created or real) into a title match however — that must be earned by climbing the WWE rankings and winning a No. 1 Contender match.  As you play matches, winners and losers ranking positions change, rivalries and friendships morph and this all leads to Universe events.  At anytime, a random cutscene can happen that could change somebody’s night.  Maybe somebody runs in and interferes with your match, or Vince McMahon decides you have a second opponent to face.

WWE Universe mode is a cool idea that should remind fans of when they were kids and they had their own storylines in their heads playing with the games or action figures.  This mode makes that a reality, as the Universe is always watching to organically grow and dynamically change.  The commentators even speak of past events which helps sell the illusion of it being a real show.  Although you can play endlessly with a highly customisable toy box, it is ultimately empty as storylines never become full on angles.  Besides the occasional cutscene or run-in between rivals, you’re not getting a full on WWE experience unless you imagine it.

If you’re looking for such an experience, Road to WrestleMania returns and has seen its first face lift since its creation in 2009.  You choose one of five stories and play the weeks leading up to that Superstar’s match at WrestleMania.  What is different is that you can now explore the backstage area to sell the WWE experience.  Most shows require you to talk to somebody and there are side-quests to take part in if you so choose to.  If you wish, you can just go to the gorilla position and continue with your match, but for the full experience you can listen in on conversations, take part in backstage fights and other tasks to earn Superstar points to level up your Superstar.

To call pro-wrestling fake is erroneous, it is kayfabe and this is what RTWM tries to push this illusion.  Everybody backstage is in character and the storylines now go beyond what happens in the ring.  In theory all this sounds like a good idea, but the execution is rough to say the least.  Leveling up is worthless, as the stats barely account for anything and the only way to earn points outside of matches is to pick fights backstage.  Backstage fights take place in silence and take far too long to finish making what was a cool feature something you wish to avoid when possible.  The free-roaming is a good idea, but it leaves a lot to be desired.  Although all the Superstars are voiced, mouths flap without lip-sync as if we’re stuck in the PS2-era and the environments are barren making it monotonous to explore.

Surprising though despite these rather annoying faults, Road to WrestleMania is still an enjoyable mode to invest in.  Each storyline is great on their own merits and they have obviously been written and directed by actual WWE writers so they are believable and engaging.  The true star is the “.Vs Undertaker” storyline, which sees you attempt to break The Undertaker’s legendary winning streak at WrestleMania.  Without spoilers, the plot went to places that you wouldn’t expect them to go and although it can be cheesy, it sells the unholy power that the Undertaker possesses.

Yuke’s has kept the gameplay in SvR mostly the same that fans will remember, some small tweaks have been made but the biggest change is that the strong grapple modifier no longer exists.  The game takes note of the damage you have delivered to your opponent and scales what attacks you can do as a result.  The idea seemed to be to make matches flow more like they do on TV, but the system is fundamentally flawed to which can see longtime fans respond negatively to this year’s game.

When the match starts, you are forced to simple armbars and headlocks, then you chain grapple your way to a slightly bigger move like a scoop slam.  The fault is that reversing moves is easier than ever with just one button and a bigger window of opportunity to press the button on time.  This can lead to matches against both the CPU and human opponents become a chain grappling contest and break down into a striking competition until you earn stronger moves.  It can become frustrating to hit a finishing move during a fifteen minute match only for my opponent to reverse the pin attempt because the window is simply too large.  There are balancing issues that need to be addressed either with a patch or in next year’s game.

It can take some time to like SvR 2011, but the good additions and improvements can make the initial frustration worth it when you finally wrap your head around the new gameplay mechanic.  Hell in a Cell has been recreated by expanding the size of the cell and adding weapons under the ring to make the match more hardcore and bloody as we came to expect before WWE went TV-PG.

The different hardcore matches on offer help show off the newly integrated Havoc physics engine.  Weapons involved in matches now have their own weight factors and respond when wrestlers come into contact with them instead of having their own fixed hit-box like in previous games.  This may sound small, but when you knock somebody off a ladder and watch him crash through a table, or slamming somebody into the steel steps all without fixed animations that you come to expect from Smackdown, you will notice how much better the game is for it.

The online mode in WWE: Smackdown vs RAW 2011 has been given an upgrade.  For the first time, every match is available to be played online including the Royal Rumble.  The Royal Rumble is set for 12 players but only six can be in the ring at one time, so the six waiting take part in mini-games to keep involved.  Everything you do online links with the Prestige system.  Playing matches, rating or creating user generated content has you earning points that goes to your online rank.

This is a good idea that has worked in other games to keep players interested in competing online.  However like last year, lag still seems to be a bit of an issue.  Playing on the Playstation Network and the netcode performance seemed to be hit and miss.  Some matches ran smoothly and others were a mess.  THQ claims the first week saw maintenance take place on their servers, so hopefully this improves as time marches on.

Frankly, there’s so much stuff in WWE: Smackdown vs RAW 2011 that if I was to rate and comment on everything you would still be reading same time tomorrow.  Create a Wrestler, Create a Finisher and other staples in the creative suite are all there and the same as last year, which is not a bad thing when the suite is so powerful and deep.  The Storyline Designer returns and has loosened the restrictions on using created Superstars which is nice.  Inferno matches, Championship Scramble and Extreme Rules returns also and it’s the same as last time.

Graphics and presentation falls short this year which was surprising.  The character models of the Superstars and Divas are still well detailed and realistic, but texture quality seems to be lower in arenas and the crowd — this is most obvious backstage in RTWM.  The commentary has been cut down this year, instead of both a Smackdown and RAW announce team, all we have are RAW’s Michael Cole and Jerry “The King” Lawler.  There is more dialogue than before recorded this time, but the lines still feel read from a script and can feel disjointed as ever.  The Superstar dialogue in cutscenes is not much better, but they have no problem supplying the B-movie cheese that has its charm in wrestling.

WWE: Smackdown vs RAW 2011 is a mixed bag.  In an attempt to give the fans the biggest, deepest and truest representation of sports-entertainment, their ambition has gotten in the way and a lack of polish that the past few games had; shows to clearly be missing.  Your first impression is likely to be that THQ has ruined their biggest franchise, but this isn’t the case.  The game is not at all bad, but it struggles to hold the weight it carries on its shoulders from the WWE Universe.  For the first time in three years, it seems the team has taken a wrong step in advancing the series, which makes it hard to recommend to people who buy the game every year, as 2010 is the better game.

If you can’t wait and feel like you can look past the shortcomings, there is a very good game here that pays tribute and respect to the WWE and its fans.  After sinking about 20 hours into the game for this review, I still felt like playing more which is a sign that the game is still a lot of fun.  Maybe next year THQ and Yuke’s can resolve the problems and get the series back to where it deserves to be.

[Rating:3/5]