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View Full Version : Smackdown Vs. Raw 2009 Full Review [9/10]



Buddy4point0
November 11th, 2008, 03:05
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Quick Score:

Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
Replay Value: 10/10
Overall: 9/10

Review:

Gameplay: 9/10

I've always loved wresting games.
I've loved them for a very long time and I've played almost all of them. They're definitely one of my favorite genres.
Smackdown Vs. Raw 2009 adds some exciting new features, the first of which is the new "Create a finisher."
You can create you own finisher from 10 different moves put together like video clips, It really creates thousands of possibilitys.
The only problem is that you're limited. As you progress through creating your finisher, you lose move after move of availability. This gets annoying.
New features in 2009 include many gameplay changes.
I think that they did a great job with it, the game seams to move faster now, and I like it!

The new tag team matches are really something. They completely redid the way they're done this time around.
For 2009, both superstars share a momentum bar, which means that you have to cooperate in order to get a good score.
You can actually get counted now, if you're in the ring illegally for too long your team will get disqualified.
The AI on your teammate is smarter, and he'll do things like tag himself in and attack the opponent illegally now.

In SVR 2009's Carer mode, you have more control over who you fight, and for which championship, while at the same times it changes your ability to train and gain money though events, and automates them based on what you do in the ring.
You get a star rating 1-5 for each match, and you have a minimum amount of stars to continue and eventually face the champion.
Carer mode is much simpler this way, and I think the change is for the better.
The addition, "The Road to wrestle mania" modes is really cool. It lets you get into different storylines for each character and Really adds a lot more content to the game.
You can just go through story mode the normal way, only doing the minimum, but there are also optional goals that will allow you to unlock extra content.

Load times are much better in 2009.
Not only are they faster, but they give you a progress bar as well as show you your current stats.

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Smackdown Vs. Raw 2009 features an extensive character creation system but is limited to 16 layers.

Graphics: 7/10

The graphics in SmackDown VS Raw 2009 are improved over the last version, 2008.
Animation is much smoother now and 2009 features all new camera angles that really put a new edge in the game.

This game still has many of the problems that's dubbed the series forever.
Belts clip into people, hats clip though people, objects sit in arms, and you can pick people up without touching them.
Many times objects sit really far off from where they're supposed to be and just don't look very good at all.
The superstars still looks the same, with their decent texture work and slightly blocky bodies, but the divas look better this time.
The divas actually look like girls instead of weird aliens, which is of coarse a nice change.

The crowd during matches looks a little better this year as well.
Previously half the people were low res 2d, and most of the 3d people were the same model, but now the entire crowd is 3d and has quite a variety.
The crowds are much bigger this year, at least 3 or 4 times bigger than they have ever been in the past.
Only problem is, that the 3d crowd still looks bad. They're still blocky and you're better off not looking at them.
This time around there are a few high-poly crowd members, which are equally graphically elegant to the superstars as well as the addition of showing the announcers, but this is only visible during cutscenes and not actual gameplay.

Not much was added to the create a superstar, but there was already a massive selection from 2008.
The same system to create your character is used once again, this is great in terms of content and manipulation of pieces, but leaves you with the same problems such as the limit to 16 layers, and the clipping issues.

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Rey Mysterio makes an entrance

Sound: 7/10

The soundtracks or WWE games have never been very good.
This game improves the always low selection of songs by adding every superstars intro music to the mix.
Although the songs still might not be that great, this helps the variety and I don't get sick of hearing the same song so often.
It's also fun to wrestle to songs actually designed for wresting. Quite the nice change.
There are a few better songs in this game the previous ones, but I still don't care to much for the soundtrack.

The upside of the sound is that everything is voiced over.
Every single line of dialog is completely voiced, which sounds pretty damn good.
Even your name can most likely be voiced over as there are over 100 voiced names you can pick from for the announcers.

Soundtrack
"Addicted" (P.O.D.)
"Better Than Mine" (SiX)
"Dead Man Walking" (Bloodsimple)
"Get Up" (Steriogram)
"Lay Your Money Down" (The Exies)
"Perfect Insanity" (Disturbed)
"Save Me" (Burn Halo)
"SWC" (MURS)
"Taking You Down" (Egypt Central)
"You Make Me Sick" (Egypt Central)
All entrance theme songs

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Announcers fully voiced over

Replay Value: 10/10

Even after you've beaten every story, which will take you a while, there is still a lot of extra content to unlock.
After you've unlocked everything and beaten everyone, with such a wide selection of match types, it's still fun doing random matches.
This game never really gets old.

Overall: 9/10

Excellent game.
Smackdown Vs. Raw 2009 adds plenty of content and changes for the better to make it worth picking up no matter how many other WWE games you have.

Screenshots: Click to enlarge

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More screenshots at the source (http://homebrewheaven.net/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=6371) (DCEmu limits images on page)

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