WWF Smackdown! Just Bring It by THQ
for Playstation 2
Review
by: Russ
Ray
WWF
Smackdown: Just Bring It
is the long-awaited next-generation platform game in the successful
line of WWF video games for the Playstation. The major things
you always look for in a next-generation sequel is improvement
on the original and the technology of new features. Just
Bring It has those features in loads, and it is probably
the most realistic pro wrestling game out there. The game
boasts a roster of about 40 wrestlers, which is undersized
in comparison to the Nintendo 64 games that THQ produced.
However, there are unlockable characters of late roster additions
such as Tajiri, Rhyno, Spike Dudley, and Jerry Lynn. Each
character has only one set of ring attire and then a set of
backstage attire.
The customization
of matches is probably one of the big attractions that fans
will have for this game. You can compete in straight singles,
tag team, and 6-man tag team matches. You can pull out the
hardware for gimmick matches such as the hardcore match, the
falls count anywhere match (which really ought to be combined
with hardcore), the TLC match, the cage match, the ladder
match, the table match, and the Hell in a Cell (complete with
breakaway walls and ceiling). There are other specialty matches
like Ultimate Submission Matches, Ironman Matches, Last Man
Standing Matches, and the 3 Levels of Hell, a 2/3 falls match
with different gimmicks per fall. The game allows up to nine
characters in the ring at once (a la Royal Rumble for
Dreamcast). However, the referee is often the ninth man in
the ring. The most I've seen in the ring at one time is 8
men for the 8-man Survival battle royal matches.
 Another
big attraction of the game is how similar it looks to the
television show. Titantron videos, authentic chyrons (for
once), facial expressions, poses, pyro, clear-sounding entrance
music and taunts are all here. Stone Cold argues with fans
in the aisle as he walks to the ring. The Rock poses on the
turnbuckle with his hand in the air, and then sneers down
at the floor at his opponents. Triple H spits on the ring
apron, then the camera pulls back to show all the flash bulbs
go off as he poses on the corner turnbuckle. Thankfully, they
also fixed that annoying tag team bug that No Mercy
(my personal wrestling game of choice) had with separate introductions
for members of the same team. Teammates and team names are
automatically programmed in as "stables", which
is especially cool for teams such as the Hardys and Dudleys
that do dual poses in their ring entrances. You can also break
apart these stables and form new ones to keep up with current
storylines. Long hair is probably the only thing that the
game doesn't display very well, as it usually looks like an
immovable, pointy helmet and not wavy and organic.
On a playability
scale, that's where the game really starts to suffer. A straight
singles or tag team match isn't so bad, but when you start
throwing in 6-man tags and matches with managers that pull
you out of the ring and battle royals, it's difficult to shift
your character’s focus between opponents, and it often leaves
you open for double-teaming. It's also hard to figure out
who your character is focusing on at any single time, and
the time it takes to focus on the nearest opponent takes an
eternity in comparison to the speed of gameplay. The key to
victory is to work over one guy at a time, although it's not
an incredibly interesting tactic. In addition, you can only
play your character, and if you tag out, you’re out of the
match until you get tagged back in. Fortunately, you can still
get into the ring and attack illegal, but the referee will
argue with you until you get out again.
It's also
difficult to execute maneuvers on tables, because opponents
slide off so easy. The plane that they're using for the table
surface isn't large enough to accomodate two characters at
once except in extreme situations. In fact, sometimes there's
enough room to set up a move, but not execute it. Again, both
guys end up sliding off the table.
 The
game features several backstage areas, including a lobby,
two dressing rooms, Commissioner Regal's office, WWF New York,
the parking lot, the street, the boiler room, the APA office,
and Vince McMahon's office. One of the things I wish they
had made into a background was the arena floor. The way the
game works is that if you're fighting outside the ring and
you throw an opponent into one of the side barricades, he
flips over and you can follow him into the crowd. The problem
is that you have two three-dimensional characters fighting
in front of a bunch of paper-thin flat characters that get
out of the way rather comically. It was an admirable feature
to include, but not well executed: it should either have been
left out or made into a separate fighting area as the backstage
areas are.
The story
modes are rather weak too. It seems that stories are only
told in two or three chapters, as opposed to 7 and 9 chapters
for No Mercy and the “season” mode of the previous
Smackdown! games. It's difficult to predict how characters
will react to certain events, and you end up repeating many
of the same things over and over. However, there are some
really great take-offs of actual events, such as Kurt Angle
driving to the ring in a milk truck and throwing cartons of
milk into the ring and a scene where you meet with William
Regal and Tajiri with Tajiri saying something nonsensical
in Japanese. Completing stories and defending titles allows
you to earn trading cards that unlock new arenas, characters,
and wrestler creation features.
There's
no blood in this version, which is disappointing. I've heard
that Raw Is War for XBox leaves blood on the canvas,
which is just an awesome idea. Not only that, but the commentary
from Michael Cole and Tazz is ATROCIOUS. I recommend you turn
that off in the options right away. You also lose the ring
announcing from Howard Finkel if you do that as well, but
trust me, it's a good trade-off. The commentary is so generic
and the sentences are so halting that it makes you wonder
why they did it at all. They make such clever statements as,
"Kurt Angle... is really working over... Y2J. Can anyone stop...
The Rock?" Well, on second thought, I guess it is about on
par with their lousy television commentary.
Yes, there's
also a wrestler creation mode, and THQ has finally paired
their exhaustive move configuration in their creation mode
with the physical customization of characters that Acclaim’s
WWF Attitude once had. You can make characters fat,
skinny, hairy, ripped, pear-shaped, out-of-proportion, and
multi-colored. They finally allow you to make real masks,
and not those goofy paint jobs from No Mercy. You can
have Mexican-style wrestling masks with the embroidered designs
on the front as well as Japanese-style masks with horns.
For a
first try on Playstation 2, THQ really did a great job. Hopefully
they'll take what they've learned was wrong with this game,
as well as what they did right on Raw Is War and the
upcoming Gamecube release and boost this franchise in the
coming year. Still, wrestling fans can't go wrong with a pick-up
of Just Bring It.
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