When I was a kid the Smackdown! games were better.
User Rating: 4.3 | WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw PS2
Maybe I shouldn't or maybe those who give this game highs marks should compare it to those that came before it. I have been an avid fan of this franchise since the very first game. Hell, I had grown out of watching wrestling in the mid 90's but the original was just to good to put down. It was the second Smackdown! game that got me back into watching wrestling. But since the jump to PS2 this franchise has done nothing. Yeah it's prettier than the PS1 games, but what else has it done? Lets look at this years three biggest "upgrades" Voice-over - this is plain awful. You could tell most of the wrestlers didn't want to be bothered with this. Online - I tried 6 times to play a game online. They all dropped with the close to playing being a shoving match. Create-a-PPV. - That was a feature in SD!2. 5 Years later it makes it back into the game? That innovation? The game has so much potenial to be a great game like it once was. Instead it's a 5-day rental and you'll only need 2 todays to find out how shallow career mode is and be sick of pixel Divas. The game is weak and getting weaker. I'll take less flashy graphics for stellar game-play. Gameplay- While I do like the body damage, and blood, The reversal system feels more like button mashing than timed. And when are we going to suplex someone thru a table or on a chair without interacting with the weapon first? Graphics- This is the one area were I give SD! a high grade, though I still don't think the Divas are very acurate. That wouldn't be a big deal if I didn't have to see them every other show. Sound - As mentioned above the voice-over is terrible. Adding licensed non-wrestler specific music was a nice touch, but with the hours of music in the WWE library why do I have to listen to a rix mix of a ten year old song. Value- If you rent it the value is an 5 buying it's a 3 so I'll make it a 4. The game is to shallow and has next to no replay value. Tilt- This game keeps going backwards every year. If you really want to play a wrestling game with substance, play SD2! for the PS1. It's cheap and the gameplay is much stronger. And it even has that ground-breaking Create-a-PPV mode, and even the old CAP is better. 
