WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain (Ps2) 2003
While every Smackdown game had been gradually getting better, Here Comes the Pain was another massive step forward. It was the first game not to feature a catchphrase from the Rock in the title instead taking the saying from wrestlings new "Big Thing" Brock Lesnar. The big changes weren't just in the branding with gameplay getting a complete overhaul. Wrestling was still fast but a whole new grappling system changed everything for the franchise. Now, combining the Circle button with a direction allowed you to choose a style of grapple you wanted to perform. For example UP and Circle was a power grapple, while other directions were for submissions and other grapple types. After choosing a grapple, pressing another direction then executed a move. This new technique allowed for more tactics, including focusing on certain body parts to weaken them for submission moves. Wrestlers now rated in 5 categories: Strength, Submission, Stamina, Technique and Speed. This made everything a whole lot more realistic with high flying wrestlers relying on speed over strength and technical wrestlers favouring submissions and wearing down their opponents. The new emphasis on weight and strength also meant that tiny wrestlers could no longer easily pick up bigger ones, further adding to the tactics involved. This was negated however when performing a finisher. While older games relied on battering Square to reverse moves, Here Comes the Pain introduced a two button system, one for strikes and one for grapples, that made the game much more enjoyable to play. Not stopping at the gameplay, Here Comes the Pain was improved in almost every area. It was the first WWE game to feature the Elimination Chamber, complete with breaking glass pods and also introduced Bra and Panties matches for those who liked disrobing virtual ladies by force. Additionally it was the first in the Smackdown series to include a "Legends" roster including stars like Jimmy Snuka, Roddy Piper and the LOD though none of them had authentic entrance music. It was the first game appearance for eventual stars Batista, John Cena and Rey Mysterio and to my knowledge the only WWE gaming appearance of the legendary Ultimo Dragon. Visually, it was easily the best Smackdown game yet. They redid a huge amount of the moves with the new animations making things look fantastic. Pyro and lighting was improved upon yet again, and entrances were as close as they ever were to TV. Compared to its rivals, Smackdown now had the biggest roster of 65 compared to Raw's close second of 64 and Wrestlemania 19 lagging behind at 45. Every wrestler was faithfully represented from entrance to move set in the most accurate depiction of the sport yet. Maybe the biggest and best improvement was in the games season mode. While the game before it did a decent job of recreating WWE TV, Here Comes the Pain finally knocked it out of the park. It boasted over 200 unique storylines that could be activated in various ways and was written by genuine WWE writers. THQ Squeezed an insane amount of storylines old and new into this game, including some of the biggest moments from WWE past. It did only last a year on each play through, but starting a new one gave you the option to import all your details from the previous one. The only problem was how often the stories would repeat themselves. While every play would throw up different stories, you'd more often than not end up repeating a lot of previous stories just to get to the new ones. If you can put up with the amount of repeats though, you were rewarded with tonnes of content. Other fun additions included all new backstage areas which had loads of interactive portions which smashed more and more as you used them. It also had a number of vehicles and climbable portions, even including the hanging ladder of a hovering helicopter. Create a Wrestler was the best it had ever been, including the chance to morph almost every part of your wrestler's body in 3D, making everything accurate to the smallest detail. For the first time, you could also choose bits of attire that would only be worn during the entrance. Here Comes the Pain was another major step forward in WWE games, with THQ happily refusing to rest on their laurels. It improved upon almost everything that the previous game had done well. It did a lot to prove that Smackdown was the top dog at the time despite competition from Microsoft and Nintendo. While the gameplay tweaks didn't seem huge at the time, looking back it's easy to see just how important they were to the Smackdown series in the long run. Those improvements and its impressive take on Story Mode made Here Comes the Pain the choice WWE game at the time and it remains one of the best games that they ever produced.