Smackdown 5: "Here Come The Pain", feelings, thoughts?
 

I'm in San Diego and my whole city is smoldering right now, so I probably won't be able to get this for awhile.

Anyone have this? What are your thoughts on it? I need to live vicariously through you!

just got but working.... will find out in 5 hours.

i got in last night around 8pm, played first blood match and slammed the guy(I forget who picked as the cpu) I was geroge the animal steele, with a chari and ended the match, then I tried out the bra and panty match I lost to Trish, the n I played the elimantion chamber which was great,

Overall if you like SD4, you will love SD5, the body specific damage, is great, I just wish it supported 16x9 and 480p

How's the season mode? That's always my least favorite thing about these games, but a necessary evil to get the unlocks.

Wow.. didn't SD4 just come out not too long ago? :eek:

Whoever came up with "Here comes the Pain" as the title should be shot.

DRG, I haven't played it, going to in about an hour but suppsodely there are over 200 storylines, one for each chacracter

the cons: are no music for the legends
and no ring announcer, or commentary

but there is quite a bit to unlock, I just want OS Undertaker, so I am sure he is last to unlock, plus I want LOD, to play as HAWK and Animal to pay me respects and make them the champions

I think that's Lesnar's entrance music, or catchphrase, or something (much like "Just Bring It" is the Rock's)

I'm considering picking this up. I thought SD:4 was pretty good. Although the season mode was very repetative and got very boring very quickly. I wasn't happy to learn that the legends didn't come out to their original theme music. I know that might sound petty, but presentation means a lot to me in a wrestling game. The Million Dollar Man just can't come out to anything else but the "Million Dollar Rap" and LOD coming out to a generic theme other than "OH What a Rush" seems stupid! From what I've read, this game seems close to identical to SD:4. I will definately rent this one before I buy it. On another note, I just picked up Def Jam Vendetta for $11 today on a blind buy, it is sapose to be great.

viscera, the legends do not come out to muusic at all(well geroge the animal steele at least),, where did you get DJV for $11

Got DJV at a used video game store. A friend of mine works there and hooked me up with his employee discount.

I was actually able to find it downtown (I guess that was the only place where UPS could deliver to).

I've been playing wrestling games for 15 years now. I think this is the best US wrestling game ever! By far! And I think it's better than Fire Pro (haven't played the newer Japanese games though).

I don't really have ANY complaints about it! Things I LOVE:

1) Blood doesn't come easy. You have to WORK at it. It's actually pretty rare! Which is nice... some of the animations that pop up when you bust someone open are pretty cool!

2) Last Man Standing actually WORKS! I mean, the ref doesn't count to "10" in about 2 seconds! I was Rey Mysterio fighting Tajiri, and I had an epic match! I ended up losing in about 30 minutes, but it was a pretty incredible match!

3) It's hard! Well, I shouldn't say that. It's CHALLENGING! I'm playing on easy, and (depending on who I'm wrestling), I have to EARN the win!

Looks like they finally got this game down right!

Yeah because qouthing a title makes more sense :p. 'Here comes the pain' is a phrase found on most Brock Lesnar shirts, and since he is pretty much the center of the SmackDown broadcast he is given the cover.

nodderforamonth, yes this game is very challenging I started a season last night with Undertaker becuase I thought if you won the title you would get the old school undertaker(but that I saw you need $35k to uy him) and I started undertaker with the season stats which start you at 1 for strength, stamina, etc and I lost the first 3 matches, my first match against Brock lasting 10 seconds :). but I didn't know there was diffculty settings, so maybe it will be easier


Yeah I smacked vince with the stairs in a first blood match last night and he was wearing the crimson mask oh so well :)

I think when you start season mode, you can start with the pre-set character stats or zero. I'm RVD, and I started season with full stats and am building on from there. Didn't have to work from scratch.

I started with the preset Rock... and was given a title shot in my second match. HHH kicked my butt. But Iguess I was supposed to lose, since he let me have a rematch at Backlash, but I still can't beat him. He gets his Smackdown within a few moves. Is it harder because it's a championship match, or because I don't know how to fill my meter properly?

nodeer, yeah I know I could start with the preset taker but I fgured what the hell, but it was crazy so I am playing through now as Rey Mysterio, I almost beat it :)

If you ask for a title match, they automatically get a couple Smackdowns filled up at the beginning of the match. I think that's the trade off for getting the title shot without going up through the ranks.

The bigger wrestlers who do more damage (Kane and Brock), fill up the meter faster, because they're more powerful and their hits really hurt.

This is really a strategy game. You got to treat it way different than any other wrestling game (except for Fire Pro). I (as RVD) was able to beat Kane only once or twice out of 5 or 6 times. Since I couldn't pick him up, I had to use my speed and all my kicks and arial moves to wear him down, before using my finisher at the right time (when he was beat up) to get the win.

Very challenging! And this is on Easy mode! Love it!!!

I am a huge fan of Smackdown 4...played it so much I think the cd is starting to melt. After the wait for Smackdown 5...am I satisfied? I don't really know.

There are a few things I'm upset about:
1. Season mode is only 1 year long
2. No commentary or ring announcers
3. No music for legends (and on a side note, no Hogan or Warrior)

I did like that there is a quicker way to unlock stuff (in the old Smackdown you had to win a PPV match. Now you buy extra stuff and legends with money)

I started a season with Goldberg. I'm 3 months into it so far, and still haven't wrestled at a PPV (and I'm the IC champ!) my only major storyline so far was participating in the HHH/Steiner pose contest. Definitely not staying in character. Also there are still only 3 matches to a card. This makes getting on a PPV very hard if your not the world champ, because when you consider 2 out of the 3 matches are for the Raw and Smackdown championships, that only leaves 1 more match for you to possibly be in.

The lack of commentary is horrible and makes the game feel kinda empty. I loved hearing Howard Finkel call my name as I entered the ring, and JR and The King's comments every now and then. In Smackdown 4 I was wrestling at a PPV for the world title in a steel cage. I gave my opponent my finisher, and JR started screaming "Give it to him! Give it to him!". Commentary just gives the matches a little more energy.

I guess maybe I just had my hopes up to a point where I was expecting perfection. I still enjoy the game and will play season mode many times over just to check out everything it has to offer. I just hope the next Smackdown has commentary and a longer season mode.

Dean

I thought the commentary in #4 was worthless. They don't really say anything. Just a sentence every once in awhile. In fact, I wouldn't even have the sound on when playing that one.

I don't care about music for legends because I never even watch the entrances. I do admit the ones I've seen for #5 were amazing, but I only need to see them once (unless it's Matt Hardy, since the facts change).

I do believe the season mode lets you continue after a year, if you want. (though some of the scenarios repeat if you do that). Haven't made it there yet.

Maybe you're doing something wrong in season mode? I'm in November now, and I've been in a match/PPV every single week except for 2 weeks. That's about 33 out of 35 times. I've been in every PPV, I think. Without a title. Try chatting it up with wrestlers backstage more often.

All the above aside, I think the challenge and playability of the wrestling matches are amazing!

Something about this game feels empty to me. The excitement isn't there. The new grapple system, although a great implementation, just doesn't fit with the rest of the game. The new submission tug o war style is only for a select few moves. One figure four leg lock lets go in 2 seconds, the other implements the tug o war. But the other version is Ric Flair's long drawn out taunt and leg lock. The changes to the game engine just don't fit in this game.

The pace of the match has also been slowed down alot, but now the match flow doesn't seem to fit the WWE wrestlers. Of course you can create a slew of wrestlers yourself, but I've always thought Smackdown had the worse edit mode, and its not different in this revision.

Then we still have the horribly arcadey aspects, like the limited number of moves in the spotty positions, like on the barricade, off the hiac, near the cage, on the ladder. Additionally we still cant stand on the apron, and they haven't fixed the awkward animation of the springboard moves, or that absoutely moronic looking irish whip from the corner into the same corner.

One of the new features, the crowd chants, is done pretty damn terrible. You get 3 chants of whatever word applies to the match, and it just gets out. There's no build up or slow down like some other wrestling games.

Counters for every wrestler appear to be the same, unlike Wrestlemania XIX where there was a huge variance of counters for each move, even finishers.

Smackdown: HCTP is a great game that builds on the prior versions, but those changes are causing the game to teeter between arcadey fighting game and hardcore wrestling sim.

It has tons of match types and features, but the core gameplay is nowhere near as exciting as Wrestlemania XIX. IF your looking for a US wrestling game this is the game to get f you didn't like Wrestlemania XIX. Even if you did, the gameplay in this is different enough to make owning both games an enjoyable experience.

I like the game, I think it has a great engine and very easy to play. Currently I playing as Scott Steiner and am feuding with Test. The only thing I hate was I got a PPV Match vs. Test and it was a cage match. The matched started and Test already had a Smackdown he hit me with the Test Drive and climbed out to the cage in 30seconds. Now that is BS. Otherwise I am happy well worth the purchase.

last night I unlocked Ted Dibase, OS Undertaker, and Sgt. Slaughter, no I am starting a season mode with OS Taker, but I have to play 24/7 mode in epsn 2k4

damn you TRU :)

This game is a big step down from it's predecessor.

The new ranking system is retarded and skewed heavily in favor of the superstar " faces ". All the big time " faces " are the best wrestlers, are all powerful, and can manhandle the lesser stars. From what I've seen, friggin' Goldberg appears to be the best wrestler in the game. I guess all the big time " faces " were made into Gods to please the " marks " out there. I'm almost afraid to have a match with someone like Charlies Haas against say, Kevin Nash. There's a big problem in your wrestling game when Bill " I only have 3 wrestling moves " Goldberg can win a match in under two minutes. I'm not a gung ho " face " hater, but damn, a little equality here would be nice. What was the point of this new ranking system anyway? This isn't an RPG.

The contols are lame now.The grappling system is awkward and feels hit-or-miss most of the time. There was nothing wrong with the grappling in last year's version. It felt fast and responsive, and pulling off multiple grapples was simple. The excellent controls of Shut Your Mouth have been messed with and now controlling the wrestlers feels slow as hell and messy.

Remember last year when you could quickly get back to your feet after being knocked down and deliver a punch to the other guy, and easily do reversals ? That option is gone. Instead, you have to reach for the two shoulder buttons to do reversals. Feels real convenient constanly tapping the shoulder buttons during a match.

And my biggest complaint....................the Iron Man match has been edited down to ten minutes. My favorite match type. The ultimate test of endurance. Ten...........minutes. Yeah, that's more than enough time for a quality test of the stamina of two wrestlers. Gone are the days of battling it out with your friend for thirty minutes to see who gets the most pins. The Hardcore Time Limit battle has also been shrunken to ten minutes. How fun.


The only nice things I have to say about this game are the graphics are nice, and you get to play as John Cena. Wait, the other match types are still cool, too. 6 Man Tag is still badass. Still, this game is a huge let down.

To hell with this game. I'm going to play Shut Your Mouth. Word Life.

Wow, I didn't realise iron man got cut down to 10 minutes. Basically this makes the match just like any normal match, since pulling off 2 pinfalls that quick is hard unless its a squash. This was one of my favorite modes in prior games.