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From TheSmartMarks.com Movies / TV  For those not keeping score, this is the fourth game in THQ�s Smackdown series. The Smackdown series is known for its arcade-like controls, awesome create-a-wrestler mode, and simply HORRIBLE commentary. Does Shut Your Mouth improve upon the previous installments in the series? Read on to find out! The Roster:  I don't have video capture, but hey, I have a digital camera! Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth features a pretty full roster, though there are quite a few people missing. Paul Heyman, Jamie Noble, Chavo Guererro Jr., Funaki, John Cena, Rey Mysterio Jr., Eric Bischoff, Chris Nowinski, Three Minute Warning, Tommy Dreamer and Shannon Moore are all absent from the game for whatever reason. You can, however, unlock some of their movesets like in past Smackdown games and create them in the EPIC (and I mean EPIC) Create a Wrestler mode. Here�s the full roster: Al Snow Albert Big Show The Big Valbowski Billy Gunn Billy Kidman Booker T Bradshaw Brock Lesnar Bubba Ray Dudley Chris Benoit Chris Jericho Christian Chuck Palumbo DDP D-Von Eddy Guererro Edge Faarooq Goldust Hardcore Holly Hollywood Hulk Hogan Hurricane Ivory Jazz Jeff Hardy Kane Kevin Nash Kurt Angle Lance Storm Lita Mark Henry Matt Hardy Maven Molly Holly Randy Orton Raven Rhyno Ric Flair Rico Rikishi Rob Van Dam The Rock Scotty 2 Hotty Shawn Michaels Shawn Stasiak Spike Dudley Stacy Keibler Stephanie McMahon Stone Cold Steve Austin Tajiri Tazz Torrie Wilson Trish Stratus Undertaker Vince McMahon William Regal X-Pac That�s a pretty impressive list. Every wrestler has an alternate outfit that has to be unlocked in the Season Mode. Some wrestlers have alternate themes (like Real American for Hulk Hogan, for instance). It�s pretty kick ass to have Real American available in a WWE game again, I must admit. ****� Gameplay The Smackdown series has always been famous for its arcade style controls. That hasn�t changed much in this game, so if you hate the SD engine, you probably won�t like this game much more than past Smackdown games. However, the gameplay has improved quite a bit this year. The reversals have been improved this year. In Smackdown 3, a typical match would involve about 29038891374892398472389742394729387 reversals. That has toned down in SYM (Thank god), and new reversals have been added, some of which are very cool. Reversing moves are based more on timing this time around than mindless button mashing, though mindless button mashing will still work pretty well for reversing moves. Another addition is the ability to reverse finishers, though this takes KEEN timing. I�ve only done it once. The psychology is more realistic this time around as well. If you work on a single part of the body for the match, your opponent will start to show the effects of injury. Let�s say you�re working on the leg. Your opponent will stumble a little bit, and when they get knocked down, they�ll clutch their knee in pain. This is a nice way to set up for a submission finish as well. If you�re working on the leg, slap on a big time leg submission when you�ve got a lot of momentum, and your opponent will tap out in pain. This is a big step up in terms of realism. Standing finishers are hard as hell to pull off at times, whereas top rope and submission finishers are easy to pull off. This gives guys like Kurt Angle, Jeff Hardy, Rob Van Dam and others with submission or high flying finishers a big advantage. The main problem with standing finishers is that stunning an opponent is rather inconsistent. It seems like only certain punches, kicks or reversals will work to stun an opponent. It can get quite frustrating at times, which often leads me to saying �fuck the finisher, I�ll just finish him off with a Northern Lights Suplex,� or something like that. The dreadful submission system has barely been improved; the main improvement being that when your opponent submits, he actually TAPS OUT, which is pretty cool looking. Otherwise, the submission is locked in for about 3 seconds just like in past games. This is my main gripe with the gameplay. The Royal Rumble mode has improved greatly too. In Smackdown 3, it was nearly impossible to win the Royal Rumble, because you could EASILY be thrown out by the worst of competitors (Stephanie McMahon, in particular, HEY ZEUS I would get pissed when she threw me out) at any time. It�s harder to be eliminated this time around, making the Rumble mode playable once again. Also, only 6 people are allowed on screen at a time this time around (probably due to more polygons on the wrestlers and scenery); so if you do get thrown out, you don�t have to wait about 8 hours to get back in the match. Weapons and sets are a lot more interactive in Shut Your Mouth. You can pull off a Van Daminator, DDTs through chairs, and you can even dive off of certain sets. Want to pull a moonsault off of the Smackdown fist? Go right ahead! Want to take RVD to the top of the King of the Ring chair and pull off a Five Star Frog Splash? Take to the sky, my friend. The backstage area itself isn�t much bigger than the last game, but its easier to navigate, a simple push of R1 while standing on a blue triangle sends you to the next room. Things are set up more sensibly this time around too, as everything is in a circle inside the arena. Double team moves are a lot easier to pull off this time around too. They�re done in the same manner as in the past games; by pressing the same buttons at the same time, but you seemingly get more opportunities to use the double team moves this time around (especially in the Royal Rumble). Multiplayer mode (up to 6 people) is always a blast, as the CPU is still relatively easy to beat. If you�re a Smackdown, vet, you�ll have no trouble winning matches, so 1 player mode can get a bit tedious. Grab a buddy who�s got some skills in the Smackdown series, and have a blast. **** Graphics  The NUUUUUUUUUUUUU World Heavyweight Champion This is a real mixed bag. At times, (like during the intros) the graphics can be stunning. At other times, the graphics are really choppy. This is one area where THQ should have taken a big step up. The game doesn�t look that much different from Smackdown 3. Some of the character models don�t look too swift either, particularly Kurt Angle. Seriously, I can barely play as him, because he looks so horrible at times. Lance Storm doesn�t look too great either. Steve Austin looks pretty awkward for some reason, I just can�t place my finger on it. He looks almost like the Pillsbury dough boy. Some of the models do, however, look pretty damned good, like Booker T, Goldust, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, etc.  The man, the myth, the legend Now, this is by no means an ugly game, but they could have easily done a better job to compete with some of the other wrestling games out there like RAW for X-Box and the upcoming Legends of Wrestling 2. I guess we�ll have to wait until the next game to see what THQ comes up with in this department.  10 years and still RAW The arenas are simply amazing to look at. All of them are modeled after the sets of last year�s pay per views. The current RAW and Smackdown arenas are in too. Everything from the Smackdown fist to the King of the Ring Chair, to the gigantic Wrestlemania X-8 set are in. This is one area where the game really shines.  Oh, let me say, this time around, the menus are awesome looking. The main screen has a highlight video looping in the background, with all the wrestlers posing. A definite update from the past menus. *** Season Mode: This is the one aspect of Smackdown games that has pretty much blew donkeys in all of the past Smackdown games; though it had always shown promise. This year�s game brings a mixture of Smackdown: Just Bring It�s flashy presentation and storyline based career mode and the more match based, less epic season mode in Know Your Role. At the start of Season mode, you choose who you want to compete as. I chose Chris Benoit (much to all of your surprises, I bet :D). The season officially starts with the draft. You can choose to run RAW as Ric Flair, or Smackdown as Vince McMahon. I went with Smackdown. You can choose to run the draft manually (you get 10 picks, the rest are done by lottery), or just have the computer handle it. I handled my own draft, and my roster kicks the shit out of RAW�s roster, much like in real life. I have Angle, Benoit, Jericho, Booker T, Storm, Goldust, Guererro and Matt Hardy to name a few. Anyway, right after that, you have generic meeting with Vince McMahon where he tells you �If you keep up the good work, you could have a title shot in line.� The first show then starts. You are transported to the backstage area, in first person view. You can walk around and talk to the other wrestlers, check out what�s going on in the boss�s office (and even ask for a title shot!), interfere in the other matches on the card, and of course, wrestle whatever match is booked for you. Winning matches gains you Superstar points, and when you have enough you�ll qualify for a King of the Ring spot, a title shot, or something else along those lines. Ah, I forgot to mention what belts are in the game: Undisputed WWE Title Intercontinental Title European Title Tag Team Titles Hardcore Title Sorry, no World Title, for all you trophy title fans...  When you talk to the other wrestlers, you can easily piss them off, and sometimes they�ll request a match with you, or even interfere in one of your matches. This is a very cool feature.  AHHHH! My fucking quad! Running in on other guy�s matches is fun too. For instance, Billy Gunn and Chris Jericho were having a KOTR qualifier match, so I ran down to make sure Gunn didn�t eliminate Jericho. You can double team the other guy, beat the living hell out of the referee, reach under the ring for the steel chair and wreck house, whatever you want. Awesome. There�s a shitload of stuff to unlock, and this time around it will take a HELL of a long time to unlock everything. There are about 5 or 6 things (alternate outfits, create a wrestler outfits, highlight videos, PPV arenas, which are all authentic. You only start with the RAW, Smackdown and Heat arenas) to unlock at each PPV, and you can only unlock one thing per show (or, if you win the Undisputed title, then you unlock something as well). This will actually make this year�s game feel like something of an accomplishment when you finally unlock everything. A definite step up. All is not well, though. The translations from Japanese to English are still pretty bad, a few words were obviously lost in the translation. I never understood why they haven�t been able to nail this one down, they could easily have an English speaking person look over the game and change whatever needed to be changed, so the in game dialogue looks like it was written by a half literate person. The preshow segments get old fast too. Before every show, you have to wait for this stupid segment to load up, which takes a few seconds. That may not sound like a lot, but after 8000 times of hearing JR and Lawler welcome you to the show and tell you where they�re broadcasting from, it gets rather annoying. It�s nice to look at the first few times, but once you�ve played the game a bit, you get sick of waiting for this to load up. Oh well, at least there are no pointless inteviews and angles to sit through that have nothing to do with your character like there were in the last game. Still, as far as Smackdown games go, this year�s season mode is the total package. ***1/4 Sound One thing that�s always sucked about Smackdown games is the commentary. The first two games didn�t have it, and after hearing the commentary from the third game, you�ll wish you hadn�t (well, actually, you�ll probably be quoting it, as I do to this day). This time around, Michael Cole (HURRY! HURRY! He really is a nice person. I hear THE ROCK... has... a great... THE PEOPLES ELBOW!) And Tazz (Jericho is straight out of Beverly Hills! I�m gonna blow you away. The Undertaker... was GREAT LAST NIGHT!) are gone, in favor of the senile Jim Ross, and the over the hill, perverted, and unfunny Jerry Lawler. The commentary is VERY SLIGHTLY improved this time around. How is it improved? Easily, Lawler and Ross don�t say much. Every now and then, Ross will chirp in and call a move, or Lawler will salivate over the WWE divas. Otherwise, they�re pretty quiet for much of the match, forcing you to listen to the in game music. The music that plays during the matches isn�t half bad, it�s just generic rock, like in all the past games. A cool update this time around is Finkel�s ring announcing, which has improved greatly in this game. He announces the wrestler�s hometown, weight, and if they hold a title, which adds to the authenticity of the game. The wrestler�s still don�t talk (except for Ric Flair�s WOOO taunt), but judging from the horrible job they do with commentary, I�m sure it�s for the best.  The Version 1.0 music or intro sadly are not in the game. There�s a big question mark with the themes though. Some wrestlers, like Tajiri, Rhyno and The Hardys have slight variations of their themes as their intro music, which is pretty weird. Stacy Keibler and Kane�s music are absent, but I don�t think it�s due to owning the rights to the music, as Voodoo Child, Whatever, and lots of other themes done by bands are in the game. Themes may not add much to the gameplay, but it adds to the atmosphere of the game. I don�t see what they were thinking here. *** Create A Wrestler Wow. I didn�t think they could make the CAW any more epic than it already was, but THQ and Yukes really surprised me. The create a wrestler mode is almost... too complicated. There are so many options this time around, you can edit the shape of your wrestler�s face in so many ways, that with enough tweaking, you could make a wrestler model that would put THQ to shame. Hell, you could probably make a better Kurt Angle than THQ did with the CAW mode. Everything, and I mean everything is completely customizable. There are so many options here that you won�t even know where to begin. There are hundreds and hundreds of moves in this year�s game as well, so your create a wrestler�s moveset will be pretty damned realistic. Returning this year is the create a taunt mode, which is somewhat confusing, but I�m sure it�s a blast once you figure out how to get it going (and I haven�t yet). Once you�ve completed the Season mode, the Create a Wrestler mode will provide a lot of replay value. Brilliance, sheer brilliance... I don�t see how they can possibly improve upon this next year. However, I just know THQ and Yukes will surprise me again next year. ***** Bottom Line While Shut Your Mouth is by NO MEANS perfect, it is by far the best game in the Smackdown series. The graphics engine needs to be revamped, the season mode needs a few more tweaks, the commentary needs to either be trashed as a whole or improved, and they really need to cover all bases with themes and titantrons. If Yukes and THQ can pull this off for the next Smackdown game, we�ll have a pretty flawless game. If you�re a wrestling fan (and if you�re reading this site, you most likely are), then you�ll love this game, and it will keep you occupied for a very long time to come with the extra long season mode and the multiplayer mode. I�d call WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth the current Undisputed Champion of Wrestling games. If you own a PS2 and are a wrestling fan, you�ll most likely love Shut Your Mouth. ****1/4 Peter "FakeRazor" Ramon As always, you can reach me here. whacked Out wrestling © Copyright by TheSmartMarks.com |