If No Mercy kept you up until 5 AM for an entire summer, SDVR2006 will keep you up, exhaust you and not apologize.
Although Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson never replied to Yukes’ memo asking, “Just how do you lay the smack down?” it seems that they did discover what made titles like “WWF: Wrestlemania 2000” or “WWF: No Mercy” for the Nintendo 64 so popular; customization, control and spirit. In other words, they replicated everything that makes a “Madden NFL” title worth buying.
I will forever be dumbfounded by the fact that Yukes has completely ignored what fans of their series have been telling them for years and only now pulled out all the stops. Every addition to the gameplay this year came from suggestions that have been floating around message boards since “WWF: No Mercy.” No longer is the gameplay arcade-like button mashing nonsense. Superstars have blood, sweat and tears and you’d best be ready to manage them during a match. When you bleed, pools of blood will form around the mat and drain you down. When you run around too much or try to pull off big moves too early, a new stamina meter will begin to deplete rapidly. Eventually you’ll be drowning in exhaustion and praying for some Red Bull instead of being the super-human from the past several titles (how many installments does it take to realize stamina is important?).
To get back in the match, you’ll have to play with the crowd like any WWE superstar. If you fight dirty, you’ll need to complain to the ref or deliver a few shots to the lower extremities. If you fight clean, you pretty much just need to survive and the fans will swoon. If you follow these guidelines and manage the stamina meter using a good variety of moves, your momentum meter will climax and allow about 15 seconds to execute a signature move. Storing the finisher for later can lead to new features like possum pins (acting dead and then rolling them up), stealing taunts (completely depletes an opponent’s momentum) or a variety of other situations like stealing finishers or escaping a throw-out attempt during a royal rumble. The stamina and momentum meters are great additions that help shape a new theme of realism that fans have wanted for years. Giving these 3D models hearts, lungs and charisma can also make for long, grueling matches with intense finishes. And best of all, if you disagree with this entire paragraph, just turn it off under options. Customization dominates and Yukes finally learned this.
Yukes also answered another long-awaited fan request: mini-games during matches. Most notably, some submission moves come with mini-games requiring you to either apply pressure to the hold or, if on the receiving end, play a meter mini-game to escape. Cage matches also have a new meter mini-game when trying to climb out or escape through the door (another long-awaited feature). The newest match type, the Buried Alive match, involves a sometimes frustrating yet still entertaining mini-game when trying to, naturally, bury your opponent. The classic sleeper hold “arm raising knockout check” has finally been implemented, but unfortunately it can be frighteningly easy to give up if your reflexes forget to show up at ringside. Fans of Wario Ware, however, will be more than pleased to enjoy all of these new gameplay enhancements that constantly keep players on their toes, never knowing what to expect or how to react next.
The loyal WWE fan who thinks John Cena is actually entertaining is wondering in his/her head right now, “What about all the old problems?” Unfortunately, still present are the collision flaws, animation flaws (still choppy framerates and grappling that looks like monkeys trying to hug), AI stupidity (referees disqualifying you after he gets in the way) and weapons only spontaneously dealing damage like weapons should. Worst of all (and reason enough for me not to buy it), the latest installment somehow makes it impossible to ever pull off a top-rope finisher because opponents will never stay down long enough. While the game does give the player control over AI strategies and how damaging certain moves are, it still seems ridiculous that the game makes you figure out how to make the gameplay realistic yourself. The game also doesn’t help in figuring out how to do some of the mini-games and forces you to hunt down what button to mash on your own. So although “SDVR2006” brings a blitzkrieg of new material to the series, fans of the previous titles should certainly expect old flaws and new ones alike.
Sweaty men and stamina meters aren’t what make the WWE what it is, however. This year’s season mode finally proves that Yukes is made up of pro wrestling fans and that the WWE spirit is really what it’s all about. The voice acting is far better than it has ever been (aside from the atrocious commentary that should be disabled immediately) and the superstars make it hard to tell whether or not you’re watching T.V. or playing a game. On top of that, the scripted storylines play out as brilliantly as some of the older WWE storylines, with camera angles and motion capture enhancing every cut-scene. Although there’s still no option to branch off and take different routes like in earlier installments, seeing Yukes execute the spirit of the WWE so well makes it worth the sacrifice. If you’ve played “Madden NFL” before, then you know what it’s like when the realism makes the experience. Yukes has finally done that and no longer should the “Smackdown” series be seen as simply an arcade beat-em-up with no spirit.
Season mode is brief, however, and instead of dazing at the menu screen pondering about globalization, there’s a new treat from Yukes that is sure to tickle someone’s fancy…for a brief period as well. Yukes gave in to the online craze of promotional simulators and finally included a “GM Mode” similar to owner mode in the “Madden NFL” series. The mode allows you to control either Raw or Smackdown and book matches, sign contracts, make trades, attempt to manage rivalries (frustration city) and manage the well being of your roster while competing for fan support. There are certainly far more in-depth versions of this mode that can be found online and after one “season” of it, you’ll probably abandon it entirely. It unfortunately requires far too much work on your part to keep rivalries going as all of your main stars decide to be injured for months. There is a lot to be polished in this first attempt at an “owner mode” and anyone who was hoping this addition would be reason enough to buy this year’s installment had best go find pictures of Stacy Keibler and wait until next year.
Fortunately for gamers and unfortunately for the omniscient writer, the freshness doesn’t stop there. Yukes went under the ring and pulled out a slew of new modes for customization; a create-a-title mode, a create-an-entrance mode, an even more in-depth create-a-player mode that allows different costumes for different situations (in-ring, cut-scenes, etc.) and a create-a-pay-per-view mode that is as pointless as it gets, but still more meat to this tasty new sandwich. With the ability to edit AI frequencies and how damaging certain moves are during gameplay, Yukes has finally given the power back to the player. Although you may never even use any of these, the hardcore fans of the series will be overjoyed in childish excitement at the sight of the word “create.”
But what about the ridiculously terrible online component from last year? As the ancient Internet society once said, “OMG, WTF happened?” The lag has decreased quite a bit, almost all of the match types from the offline mode are playable and you can even trade money/created superstars with other players. There’s no headset compatibility, but after playing one too many multiplayer games with headsets, I’ve come to the conclusion that gamers should never interact…ever. There’s still no leagues or a way to make sure you don’t fight a created wrestler that takes you out in a second, but it’s nice to finally play against some decent AI. With the PS3 having to compete with the powerhouse that is XBOX Live, Yukes is probably spending a lot of time giving their next title an even greater makeover with online play.
To put the icing on the cake and the slice on the umbilical chord, Yukes delivered the most polished visual presentation yet. Although they took a step towards the GameCube title “Day of Reckoning” and its slightly action figure like appearance, everything seems to stand out beautifully and it’s hard to complain when you feel like the Undertaker is in the room with you. Yukes made a wise decision in pushing the PS2 hardware one last time before showing what they can do on the PS3 most likely this fall.
Yet, there’s always a catch; just look at how much text is hulking above this paragraph. It’s monstrous, colossal, Frankie Muniz on crack. It’s insane. It’s over a thousand descriptive words. How many of those features (some of which were not even mentioned to keep your attention) do you think a WWE casual gamer is going to use in a one-week rental? Some of those casual gamers might even buy the game simply because of that long list of features on the back of the box. Unfortunately, new features do not mean greatness and within every paragraph above you will find gameplay flaws.
Nevertheless, the most impressive realization and holy revelation that any reader should come to notice is that all of these additions are being layered atop an already great and critically acclaimed series. And when it comes down to it, every drop of freshness that Yukes pumped into “SDVR2006” is at its worst decent. As we’ve pulled apart each piece, you’ll notice the flaws and inevitable imperfections that Yukes still can’t overcome. However, there’s no doubt that Yukes has finally become the Aki of the Nintedo 64 era and after five impressive years of “Smackdown” titles on the PS2, we can finally say that they have successfully “laid the smack down” on all our candy…if you know the rest, good for you. If not, Google “Torrie Wilson” and don’t tell your parents.