The pain has been brought! Raw 2 has soiled its’ pants and Wrestlemania 19 ran out of gas on the way to the competition. HCTP brandishes an arsenal of features that have completely buried all other wrestling game franchises. Needless to say, the old No Mercy has become as obsolete as Hulk Hogan’s Leg Drop of Doom! HCTP has adopted a control scheme that should satisfy those “tie-up-before-every-move” No Mercy fanatics and daringly attempted to incorporate a much needed weight/power balance system. Surprisingly, the graphics are nearly on a par with that of Raw 2, while successfully straying from the embarrassingly robotic movement of its’ X-Box counterpart. Given that the Smackdown series has the most impressive library of moves out it’s’ contemporaries, the reworking and recreation of the bulk of these same moves has dramatically added to the visual appeal of the 2003 installment. Now that I’ve sufficiently “polished the apple”, I feel that I must address the blatant shortcomings of HCTP. 1) Where has the spontaneity gone? Gut kick to a DDT! Hello, people! When was the last time you saw a wrestler having to “tie-up” before executing such a quick maneuver? The implementation of the Groggy 1 state was imperative to maintaining the swift brutality that separated the Smackdown series from the overtly mechanical grappling of other franchises. The least they could have done was to make the gut kick lead into a different category of grapple. 2) Why did they decide to remove the most popular CAW parts, namely those of the real Bret Hart and Sting outfits? They must really hate the fans that still harbor some loyalty to such these particular WWE outsiders. Shut Your Mouth had the most accurate versions of the two costumes that are absent from HCTP. Instead, they kept shabby imitations of each component that make up the costumes. Lastly, what was the point of keeping Ultimate Warrior’s moves if you can’t even create a decent version of him? I know they couldn’t include Warrior because of licensing conflicts, but is it so hard to add tasseled clothing to the CAW selection? They would just have to make it work like their hair system. 3) I’ll try to make the rest of these complaints brief. Where’s the edit/create-an-entrance feature? The other franchises have it! Get with the times, Smackdown! 4) John Cena looks uncharacteristically scrawny and cross-eyed. Did they actually watch enough telecasts to see how he actually looks like? 5) The power/weight balance system didn’t quite stay true to logic. Given that John Cena can execute the F-U on anybody, he sure as heck can’t powerbomb the Big Show! The power/weight balance system should also operate on a move-specific basis. Well, that’s all I can think of as far as game quirks and outright mistakes. Overall, you’ll find yourself enjoying HCTP for hours on end, whether you’re alone or surrounded by your fellow wrestling fans. It doesn’t take too much work to master the gameplay and as long as they keep up with the canned animations, everyone will be happy!
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