JohnSlider

Is anyone else a fan of this video game series? I've been a member here for quite a while and have yet to see any threads dedicate to one of the games (don't hold me to that, I don't wonder into this part of the forum often!).

I think it's an awesome series, even if you are not a fan of professional wrestling. Just as fighting game in general. You have so many wrestlers (fighters) who have such different moves and attacks that you could have the same match (Battle) countless times and not see the exact same thing. You also have all the different match types and weapons. I just see it as the ultimate fighter game, even for people who aren't fans of the sport itself.

Anyways, IGN is ramping up their big session of updates for the latest installment in the series, including introducing a new match type to the series this Wednesday (not the previously announced Inferno Match, something new)!

BravesMG

I usually pick this up every year, but it's just gotten so stale that I'm going to give TNA Impact a shot. Impact isn't as loaded with features and match types, but hopefully the actual gameplay will be polished and it will be nice to have a new roster for a change.

JohnSlider

I will be giving TNA iMPACT a rent, but all the videos I've been watching seem to only have 5-6 moves done in a match, granted they're each used 10-15 times. Hopefully it is just poor AI and there are actually a lot more moves not shown in the gameplay videos.

Tarantino

The Smackdown games keep getting worse every year. If this one gets good reviews, I may pick it up, as last year was the first I'd skipped since the games started coming out.

= J

dx23

Ditto. This video games series is getting as stale as the product. THQ "innovations" are worse every year. The controls suck, period. For PS3, we had to use both L3 and R3 to do almost every move and it got complicated and repetitive. The stamina is the worst part. You are beating the snot out of someone and then your wrestler falls down dead tire.

I have said this a thousand times before but it bears repeating: THQ has to go back to the N64 No Mercy engine. It's not the graphics or the crap features they add, is the fucking gameplay that makes a wrestling game good. The AKI/THQ series of games, starting with WCW vs the World, Revenge, Wrestlemania 2000, Virtual Pro Wrestling 1 and 2 and No Mercy, are games that have withstood the test of time and are exactly what a wrestling fan and casual game player looks for.

dadaluholla

I'm still playing Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain. I tried the original SmackDown! vs. Raw back in 2004(?) but hated it, so I just kept playing HCTP.

I've been curious to try the latest version though.

fujishig

Just bring Firepro over already. Oh wait, they already did at a budget price, and nobody bought it. Shoot.

I enjoy the series, but I didn't even open last year's version, so I doubt I'm going to get this year's. And while TNA Impact's game is tempting, I'm going to take a wait-and-see approach, especially since if it's a good game and does well, we'll (hopefully) get a better version next year with a more complete roster.

As an aside, I liked that they had Joe and Styles commenting on the game in that little demo clip.

The Dude

Mmmmm...Firepro-D, oh so awesome on the Dreamcast, with a (at the time) thriving CAW community.

Never played the PS2 edition, but if they released one for the 360, I'd buy it tomorrow.

DeanoBKN

The Smackdown games seem to get worse and worse as the years go by. Lately I feel they put more effort into the graphics and entrance clips then the actual gameplay or game modes.

Anybody who played last year's could tell you exactly how broken the season mode was. Let's not even get into the GM mode, which gives you the freedom of booking a 52 week show with a very small roster. Oh, and if you're lucky in the draft, your women's division will consist of 2 wrestlers.

Brent L

I wish they'd just put it up for download on XBLA or the PSN and maybe tack on online play.

I was going to get the TNA game instead this year, but then earlier today I saw the following from GamingRing:

BravesMG

I'd wait until the final build is out there for the TNA reviews, I know there are a lot of erroneous reports floating around.

Brent L

Trust me, I hope most of that turns out to not be true. I've really, really been looking forward to the TNA game. I love the SD series as much as anyone else, but I'd really like something a bit different for a change.

DthRdrX

There was a rumor floating around last year that they were going to redo No Mercy with updated the rosters and put it on Wiiware. I personally miss the old engine.

JPeeples

The SD series definitely gets worse in some ways year after year - however, it usually offers up enough improvements and gameplay variety for me to get my money's worth each year. '08 tested that theory out more than any other though, by nixing HALF of the amount of front grapples and UCMs you can do, on top of '07 halfing the amount of back grapples that can be done.

Nothing I've seen of the TNA game beyond some of the reversals has me very impressed. I'm not impressed by move animations (which, like the SD/SvR series, seems to be full of canned animations that can't be skipped), or the selling, or the collision detection (which looks spotty even in the clips TNA's using to promote the game on their show). Right now, it's a rental at best if I don't get it for review, at least until it hits the bargain bin. There simply isn't enough meat to the game for me to be willing to shell out $60 on it (or spend $40 on the inferior PS2 version).

FPR is absolutely amazing, and more than worth its low $10/$15/$20 price depending on where you buy it. It offers up the best wrestling experience available in the U.S. in years and years, and it makes for a perfectly fine MMA games at times, too. Heck, as a TNA game, I wouldn't be shocked if it does a better job of representing the TNA roster than the official game - at least FPR allows you to use a Sting and Angle that can use their respective submission moves.

dx23

I posted that rumor from 1up. There hasn't been any mention of that project since. Still, that would be the best way to get a good wrestling game with an updated roster.

Tarantino

I did.

= J

boredsilly

I wanted this, but it came out about 2 months after I sold my PS2. Like someone else said, I wish it could be put on XBL or something.

nateman

The first game in the series was fresh and new. WWF SmackDown 2!: Just Bring It was different from the first and really showed signs of greater games in the series. WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth and WWE SmackDown! Here Come the Pain turned out to be the two best games in the SmackDown! series. When it went to SmackDown! vs. Raw it started to fall apart. The first one wasn't bad, the 2006 version was playable yet forgettable and the 2007 game (the last one I bought) improved a bit from 2006, but still not very innovated. I played the 2008 version at a friend's place and it was awful.

I will wait for reviews, but I'm doubtful. I hope the series turns itself around, but it'll be hard.

thelwig14

I am not a wrestling fan.

But I spent many, many hours playing World, Revenge, 2000, and No Mercy. Until that system gets implemented again, I won't buy another wrestling game. Those games were perfect!

BravesMG

Apologies to Brent... IGN just posted this Q&A: http://ps3.ign.com/articles/906/906229p1.html that basically confirms almost all of the points from his post above.

This sucks. I'm still desperate enough for a new roster and wrestling gameplay style that I'm going to drop $60 on this, but it's looking like a dumb move. That dude must have said 30 times "not in this version."

Brent L

They better have some of the best wrestling gameplay ever in that TNA game or it's going to be a massive failure because of all of those "not in this version" statements.

JohnSlider

It's going to suck big time, Ultimate X even looks very limited. I think I will wait until the next "version".

JohnSlider

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Wow... Smackdown! Vs. RAW is one of the few game series that I buy (the others being Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid, Socom, and Twisted Metal) I simply cannot wait for this game! I'm such a fan boy. ^_^

Tarantino

That 'Create-A-Finisher' feature looks pretty cool.

= J

nodeerforamonth

The TNA game doesn't have any blood, either.

It's a pretty good game for a first time effort though. I've played it.

Also played the SvR2009 at the Comic-Con. Seemed like they fine tuned 2008's version. I didn't like 2008, but 2009 played pretty well (at least against other humans who also didn't really know what they were doing). Hopefully the AI will be kind of half way decent.