WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 Xbox 360 Review

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009

Xbox 360 Review
Developer: Yuke’s Media Creations
Publisher: THQ
Players: 1-4 (1-4 Online)

Another year has gone back, and we are ready to hit the squared-circle yet again for WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 from Yuke’s Media Creations.  The WWE SvR series has always been a fan-favorite and has been praised year after year by critics as well.  So is this year any different, or will the champion hold the belt going into 2010?

Wrestling video games have always been a blast to play with the great games back on the Nintendo 64 right up to the more recent Smackdown vs. Raw series of games.

This year is no different, as WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 does just enough to innovate things while maintaining the same enjoyable gameplay experience from top to bottom.

The biggest thing you are going to notice is that Yuke’s definitely spent a lot of time trying to tweak the entire gameplay from last year to make it far more realistic and enjoyable.  The end result is a far better game that plays out just like a real WWE match would.  The responsiveness of the controls are very well-done as you can once again do all types of normal grapples and strong grapples using the right analog stick.

There have been some innovations this year as well that we did not see a year ago, including the improvement in the tag team matches.

The coolest addition this year has to be the hot tags feature, which allows your partner standing on the apron to hype the crowd up to get a hot tag, allowing you to come in with the tag and complete a little mini-game of sorts to fire up yourself and your partner.

Other minor additions have made it into the game as well such as the default setting for the stamina bar being set to off to keep the action going at a fast pace.  This all ends up in what is a far more enjoyable experience.

The other area where Yuke’s nailed things once again is with the whole WWE presentation.  All of the voicework has been done by the actual wrestlers, and the ring entrances, as well as the way in which the wrestlers’ move around is done with amazing realism and accuracy, to the point where it is almost scary.

The whole visual presentation of the game, including the new outside of the ring camera, is a big step up from a year ago with some nice animations allowing you to experience a game that has a great deal of flow to it.

As for the variations in matches and such, the big new match type added in this year on top of everything last year is the Inferno Match, which is quite cool.  The whole ring is surrounded by fire and you wrestle to try and the temperature of the ring, building up the flames.  Once they reach a certain point, you can actually try to throw your opponent into the flames to win the match.

Getting into the main single-player modes, you have Road to WrestleMania as well as the ordinary career mode.  Road to WrestleMania is your story-based mode and is extremely in-depth, while Career mode is more for your created superstar to build up stats.

There is also a Tournament mode, along with plenty of exhibition and online stuff.

Speaking of online, you can compete with up to four players online in all different types of matches.  The online worked very well, with the tag matches being the big highlight for me.

In terms of creation features, gone is the create-a-belt feature, which I was bummed out about.

What they did add though was the ability to create your own finishing move for your created character, which could be the best addition in years to the franchise as you can do so many different finishers and take them online it is ridiculous.

Couple the finisher along with creating a wrestler and his cool entrance, and you end up with a  totally unique grappler to wrestle online with.

Yuke’s has done a fantastic job with WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 on the Xbox 360 as the game packs some great new features such as the create-a-finisher mode and Road to WrestleMania.  With all of the features and such added in, this is a dream game for wrestling fans!

Graphics: 8.0  The visuals are a step up from a year ago, as the animations and such look solid.  The wrestlers could be a bit more detailed though, as could the crowd animations.

Sound: 8.5 The announcing still needs work, but the soundtrack and sound effects are well-done.

Gameplay: 8.7 This is the best wrestling game from a gameplay perspective in years, everything has been tweaked and improved over a year ago.

Replay Value: 8.7 Tons of replay value with the single-player modes, and online stuff.  Where did the create-a-belt feature go???

Final Score: 8.7

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