Every SmackDown! Video Game Ranked From Worst To Best
6. WWE SmackDown Vs. RAW
The Good: The original SVR had immensely-improved graphics, making a wrestler’s body, attire, and face look far more realistic and detailed than ever before. The game was darker in overall color tone, making color contrast much more pronounced than in previous games.
The addition of voice-overs, while still limited and basic in its implementation, was a huge leap forward for in-game realism, as opposed to the traditional subtitles that dominated most of the game’s predecessors. The additions of challenge mode and create-a-belt were huge steps that added to the single player experience. Finally, the online multiplayer feature was a significant transformation in the multiplayer experience.
The Bad: Apart from those changes, the game was in some ways inferior to its predecessor, ‘Here Comes the Pain’. Create-A-Move-Set messed up the main grapple features, leaving a wrestler’s ‘signature’ grapples (which are supposed to be that wrestler’s most important moves) incredibly limited, putting far too much attention on power moves.
The storyline was also particularly uninspiring, being far too streamlined and repetitive, especially when compared to both HCTP and SVR 2006. The game lacked in replayability, especially since achieving all of the game’s key milestones and requirements were much easier than in previous games.
That said, this game was good, but lacked some of the essential elements of previous and future games.