Best Smackdown title for a long time
The Road to Wrestlemania stories are excellent. I do like the way that the co-op story doesn't force second play as such. The CAW Story is pretty decent, something i wasn't expecting. Ok, it did worry me just after the Rumble but that was about it.
Ladder Match controls are pretty much the same as previous years, so are the Cage Match controls as such. The biggest difference is that it is now possible to eliminate Superstars in the Royal Rumble first time they are thrown over using the new "Arcade Style" controls, which involve pressing a sequence of buttons instead of just basically "mashing" them all at once, even though this option is available in the Option menu.
Create a Finisher is a great new feature, same as the Create an Entrance Movie. Both give you endless possibilities on creation, with all the tools needed to create something unique. With the CAEM feature, you can add words and "clip art" words to each video, add special effects like split screen and even trim sections down just to show certain parts (camera options available as well). Also returning is the ability to use your own music as an Entrance music.
With all this new, comes a few issues i had.
First one was the creating alternative gear for existing WWE Superstars. Ok, it is possible to create new gear for a CAW character (e.g. creating "Street" gear for him or a completely new Wrestling Attire), but not for WWE stars. All you can do is basically change colours of the existing gear. So all you people wishing to put John Cena in a tutu don't get your hopes up.
Second is the Create a Entrance Movie feature. I'm not sure if it is just for me, but this will not allow videos from different matches to be inserted even if they are saved as "Highlight Reel" videos already. All you can do is create from 1, and only 1 match. (make sure it is a Fatal Four Way or something like that) otherwise all your video could feature is you vs lets say, Festus.
Third is the Lock-On. I was playing a Championship Scramble match, was about to put a move on one guy only to have my character pick-up or put a move on a different guy instead, not the one i intended to attack. It only happens a few times, hopefully a fix will be out for this same goes for the "slowdown" for 1 second at the beginning of a match, which happens once or twice.
Other than that, this is a great title which is well worth playing.