WWE Smackdown!:SYM Pics Pt.2

[Guest Just call me Dan]

IOWGames.com has a live request going on as we speak with a lot of new movies and screenshots. My processor sucks, so I can't see the movies, they just show still screens for about 30 seconds and the music plays all the way through. It sucks. Maybe if someone posted a link to them in a post and I clicked that it would work, probably not.

 

Anyway, check it out if you want to see some cool media for the new game.

[Guest edotherocket]

I always liked the little things in the Smackdown series. Smackdown3's Hulk Hogan CAW default position was his hands on his knees, doubled over in exhaustion.

 

Reading about the game over at WWFWrestlingGames.com, I see that Shawn Michaels has the sharpshooter in his movelist.

 

Tee hee.

 

I imagine Hogan actually stands upright in this one.

[Guest KingOfOldSchool]

Over at the IGN Boards, I stumbled onto an "SD: Shut Your Mouth" FAQ-type thing, where some writers who have had the chance to play the game answer a few pages worth of questions.

 

A lot of the questions asked are virtually the same, but there's some informative stuff in there, things which weren't clear in the past. And thankfully, you do not have to have IGN Insider in order to view it. So if you're curious, go here - http://boards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=29505604.

[Guest Banky]

32 CAW slots? Holy FUCKING Shit. Thats so cool its sickening. Time to start formulating who I am gonna create.

[Guest Kingpk]

Good, it only takes up 300KB on the MC. That's a hell of a lot better than the 4 MB it took for the last game.

 

But I read that Rey still isn't in the game at this point (not officially anyway) so that's a bit of a bummer.

[Guest Pop Culture God]

A Quick Note: Did anyone notice how easy it was to create Jushin Lyger in SD! 3? The guys at THQ really like Puro.

 

 

Rey Rey and Jamie Knoble will be sample superstars in CAW mode. Hopefully there will be a clone forScott Steiner.

[Guest SuperTonyJaymz]

quick someway related question: how much does a emory card suually cost or does it come with the ps2? Im getting a ps2 next week so I wanna know what I should get with it

[Guest Kingpk]

They go for about $20 - 25, I think.

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Will Shawn have his HBK outfit?

 

 

I hope so.

[Guest Banky]

Yes he does, you have to unlock it though.

[Guest crandamaniac]

quick someway related question: how much does a emory card suually cost or does it come with the ps2? Im getting a ps2 next week so I wanna know what I should get with it

You can also get two cards for $40, a pretty good deal if you ask me

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Yes he does, you have to unlock it though.

There is a god.

 

 

I was hoping for the Super Lyger costume to be unlockable with Chris Jericho but alas, it wasn't meant to be.

[Guest CED Ordonez]

A Quick Note: Did anyone notice how easy it was to create Jushin Lyger in SD! 3? The guys at THQ really like Puro.

I pulled out a swank looking Mutoh in SD3's CAW before I sold it to get GTA:VC for cheaper. Five Shining Wiza...er..."Flash Magics" on Fred Durst = Cheap Entertainment.

 

There are a bunch of puro wrestler movesets available in SD3. Go over to GameFAQs for the who's who list.

[Guest Grenouille]

A Quick Note: Did anyone notice how easy it was to create Jushin Lyger in SD! 3? The guys at THQ really like Puro.

Smackdown is actually made by Yukes, then distributed by THQ. Yukes is located in Japan.

[Guest SuperTonyJaymz]

eh, thanks for th info but I bought a Gamecube today. It as cheaper, came with a memory card, and came wih the sank Super Mario: Sunshine

 

Got Wrestlemania x8, fun game, but not enough moves

[Guest TheZsaszHorsemen]

Did Yukes have a hand in "WCW vs. The World"? Cause that game has puro all over it.

 

For the unintiated, the game has a dozen WCW guys, and 50 Japanese guys from different feds ranging from Hayabusa to Stan hansen with only their names changed.

 

Making Hogan tap with Ohtani RULES!

[Guest Grenouille]

Did Yukes have a hand in "WCW vs. The World"? Cause that game has puro all over it.

No, WCW vs. The World was made by AKI, who made the Virtual Pro Wrestling series, WrestleMania 2000 and No Mercy. It's just another case of a Japanese company producing, and THQ distributing.

[Guest Mikey2Dope]

I was just on IGN and they have a review up but it's locked of course. So if anyone has an IGN subscription go check it out.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Stolen from another messageboard because I'M HARDCORE!!!!

 

They only gave it an 8.2 (This from the site that hung a 9 on that shitty RAW game) but gamespot's review is up and they gave it an 8.9.

 

So whatever, I guess.

 

 

Here it is:

 

 

November 07, 2002 - The SmackDown! series has settled into its groove at this point. Yuke's has gradually been reducing its various aspects to a simple formula, which can then be refined and updated on a yearly basis. The goal, I think, is to wind up with something like the Madden NFL games, which don't change a great deal on a fundamental basis each year, but nevertheless sell through the roof on the strength of an updated roster and presentation.

With the latest iteration, Shut Your Mouth, more or less all of the pieces are in place. This is a hell of a long way from the perfect wrestling game, but it's the first game in the series to nail down all the major flaws and genuinely deliver on all of THQ's promises. It's taken them four games, for example, but the Season Mode concept first talked about before the series began is finally worth the effort. The many fans who object on a fundamental level to the simplified SmackDown! grappling system won't have their minds changed, but at least the issues from Just Bring It have been nailed down.

 

The next generation of Anchor's RAW series promises a great deal, and it'll certainly look a hell of a lot better than Shut Your Mouth, but for those who've grown accustomed to it over the years, this is the best wrestling game available for the American PlayStation 2. If nothing else, it's almost entirely free of Michael Cole.

 

Gameplay

We are familiar with the SmackDown! grappling system, yes? To run things down for those who've been living in bomb shelters for the last five years, it relies more on positioning than timing, at least as compared to heavily timing-based systems like Fire Pro and the old Aki engine. One button executes strikes and another executes grappling maneuvers, which are in turn modified by motions on the D-pad and the opponent's state of grogginess. The single grapple button remains a limitation on the wrestlers' movesets, and I remain a partisan of Yuke's' old Toukon Retsuden system, which employed two separate buttons (one for power moves and another for submissions), but it appears that no amount of complaint will ever convince THQ to change that aspect of the game.

 

The most substantial change to the engine in Shut Your Mouth is the addition of more complex reversals. In Just Bring It, a move could be countered with a simple tap of the square button, which soon resulted in Dead or Alive-esque stalemates between players who had a good handle on the reversal timing. Shut Your Mouth switches over to a system similar to RAW or Wrestlemania X8, where a similar D-pad motion is required to reverse moves that use one. Thus, it's easy to reverse simple moves, but reversing more involved attacks demands an understanding of the wrestlers' movesets and an opponent's tendencies.

 

One problem that clearly remains from Just Bring It is the random nature of the "groggy" state. In theory, after you beat on an opponent for long enough, he'll be consistently dizzy and out of it, which makes it possible to hit him with more powerful moves and finishers. In practice, however, grogginess only seems to be triggered by certain key reversals and strikes, which makes the execution of power moves inconsistent and gives wrestlers with certain types of finishers a substantial advantage. Grappling finishers that require a groggy opponent are hard to perform reliably, while top-rope and ground submission finishers are easy as pie. Finishing moves are a fair bit more powerful in Shut Your Mouth than before, although submissions are still somewhat unreliable, so this clearly unbalances the game in versus play.

 

The addition of more complex object grapples is a nice touch, though, especially as it's accompanied by more intelligent foreign object physics. The tables and ladders still bounce around in somewhat unpredictable fashion, and putting an opponent through a table remains an inconsistent affair, but at least it works better than in Just Bring It. The new object grapples take care of the setup phase of the maneuver perfectly -- you can set up a table and put an opponent on top in one smooth movement.

 

Season Mode, fabled in myth, legend, and promotional materials for years now, is a hybrid of the Know Your Role and Just Bring It systems. This is undoubtedly the proper way to go. Know Your Role had the basic structure more or less right -- it just had titanic load times and a couple of boneheaded decisions regarding the interface design holding it back. Shut Your Mouth tidies up those problems, with fast loads, streamlined introduction for your primary wrestler into the title chase, and logical progression from match to match and feud to feud. The cinematic flash of Just Bring It is there, but it's the icing on the cake rather than the primary ingredient.

 

It could still stand a little tweaking, of course. The dialogue remains a strange Japanese/English hybrid that gets all kinds of bad laughs, and there are a few more cutscenes for victories and losses than absolutely necessary. Once or twice is nice, but after seeing the same animation after every win through months of WWE programming, the extra load time becomes tiring. The purpose of Season Mode should be, more than anything else, the simple delivery of matches on a regular basis, with a little rhyme and reason thrown in to spice things up. Too much window-dressing gets in the way of the action.

Create-a-Wrestler mode, on the other hand, only gets better this time out. The selection of cosmetic options has received the expected upgrade, including more basic parts and some great new systems for editing tattoos and other decals. The old animation creator now allows simpler editing of taunts and idle motions. There are also new systems for modifying individual body parts and facial features -- every part of the body can be altered on all three axes, and faces can be edited in both gross and fine deail. You can do just about anything you want with a created wrestler within the limitations of the 3D engine, which we'll discuss in just a little bit.

 

The main game mode, of course, presents enough match types to bury most players. This aspect of the game was in fine order two sequels ago -- most of the additions since have been overkill. Shut Your Mouth does add one key improvement to exhibition matches in the form of six-player support, though, so big groups with two multitaps can put on their own trios matches (and if I reckon correctly, there is a rules option to mimic the captains-fall style used in Mexico). To go hand in hand with the enhanced multiplayer support, the tag match mechanics are a little smoother now. In particular, the referee is less of a hassle, interfering less often than he did in Just Bring It

 

Presentation

When it comes to matching with the real-life programming, Shut Your Mouth is accurate up to earlier this year, around the time of the brand-splitting draft that created separate rosters for the RAW and SmackDown! shows. Vince McMahon is still a major storyline figure, and the belt structure is as it was up until the recent festival of reunification. There's one World title, plus Intercontinental, European, Hardcore, and Cruiserweight titles, and one set of tag titles.

 

It's hard to say what the most recent addition to the roster would be. Stone Cold Steve Austin appears, since THQ's license included the rights to his likeness regardless of whether he was still an active participant in the WWE. Contrary to previous assumption, it does not have the latest arrivals from the developmental territories (John Cena, Randy Orton), and Rey Mysterio Jr. doesn't look to be in attendance either (note: if you do find Rey, don't hit me, just tell me how you got him). Rico Constantino is there, however, and in one of those amusing egg-on-your-face turns of fate, the New World Order are major players (save for Scott Hall). Oh, and Diamond Dallas Page is still part of the roster, although we find this amusing enough to forgive.

 

The arena selection includes up-to-date RAW and SmackDown! arenas, the most recent WrestleMania, and every other regular pay-per-view, plus the two regular British events (Insurrextion and Rebellion). The arena modeling is first-rate this time out -- the giant SmackDown! fist is a hoot, and I love the big swinging hooks from the Backlash arena. Backstage, the size of the areas doesn't feel much bigger, but the layout is a good deal smarter than in Just Bring It, allowing easier progression through a variety of areas. Background objects are far more interactive, too, so you can chuck someone in a dumpster, set off the fire alarm, and otherwise pull off amusing bits of hardcore mayhem.

 

Graphics

Okay, end the praise. Most of it, anyway. It must be said that this game is in dire need of a new graphics engine -- it's gotten to the point that THQ is roundly smoking its own product. RAW on Xbox looks to be improving by a leap and a bound, while SmackDown!'s visual steps forward could only be described as incremental. Yuke's is obviously doing its level best with the technology available, beefing up the animation library and putting together some excellent arena designs, but the character models are just not up to snuff.

Take Kurt Angle. In reality, Kurt Angle doesn't come off so bad with no hair. The look takes some getting used to, but he's got the body and the facial personality to make up for it. Unfortunately, the virtual Kurt Angle in this game doesn't quite compensate in the same way. With his textured-on outfit and smooth, low-detail model, he looks uncomfortably reminiscent of that godawful Johnsons gimmick from NWA TNA. If you don't know what I'm talking about, thank whatever god you believe in. Other wrestlers who don't have very simple distinguishing features -- Brock Lesnar is another victim -- clearly show up the engine's failings in texture detail and modeling.

 

The worst glitches in Just Bring It have at least been taken care of. There are fewer egregious clipping errors when it comes to wrestlers with long hair, and some facial features have received a much-needed going over. Chris Benoit's face is vastly improved, for example. But the fact of the matter is that this game needs more polygons, lest the gap grow even worse in next year's model.

 

Of course, there's a clear reason why we haven't seen a jump in engines. That would likely require considerable revision of the animation library, and Yuke's has invested an awful lot of equity in the animations featured here. The cinematics for wrestler intros are superb, and the create-a-wrestler move archive includes a huge selection of signature finishers, wrestler-specific animations, and unusual Japanese maneuvers for re-creating your favorite puro stars. There's an awful lot of work that's gone into all that -- the game's only failing when it comes to animation are occasionally bollixed transitions -- but THQ is going to have to make a hard decision on this score eventually.

Sound

The voice commentary in Shut Your Mouth has not exactly improved over Just Bring It, but the aural experience in general has, because THQ had the sense to reduce the number of comments delivered by a good 90% or more. Where there was once a continual stream of nonsense spewed forth from the mouths of Tazz and Michael Cole, there's now the odd bit of color from Jim Ross or Jerry Lawler. The individual comments are really no more of an addition to the action than they were in the last game, but the presence of blissful silence during matches is a welcome change. The wrestlers still don't speak, but at least the ring announcements are now authentic ("Now entering the ring," etc.).

 

Aside from the commentary, the audio is as per Just Bring It, with some minor improvements in the quality of the jangling electro-metal that accompanies every match. The music fills me with less desire to burn things than before, which I guess is a compliment of sorts. The effects library hasn't changed a great deal, but that's one aspect of the game that never needed to -- it's solid, if somewhat limited. Wrestler-specific effects would be great (digitized grunts, reactions, and the like), but that's hardly priority one.

 

 

Closing Comments

As always, I would rather be playing Fire Pro. Also as always, you could do far worse than SmackDown!, given that it's the only game in town. It still has some nagging problems, and the graphics need an overhaul that I fear may never come, but this is the first time there hasn't been an obvious, glaring problem with the series' gameplay, which is cause for some kind of celebration.

Multi-console gamers are advised to wait a little while until RAW throws its hat in the ring, just to be on the safe side. Heck, the open-minded might even want to give Def Jam Wrestling a go. Die-hard devotees of the WWE shouldn't have too many complaints with the latest SmackDown!, though, especially since they can rest secure in the knowledge that they don't ever have to listen to Michael Cole again.

 

-- David Smith

 

 

OVERALL SCORE (not an average) 8.2

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

Here's a free video review that I also stole:

 

http://mots.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/PSW_Revie...ew_November.WMV

[Guest Trivia247]

Question... Shut your mouth gonna have a expanded Memory system for CAWS JBI only had 12 slots... kinda sad...

 

I know the acclaim games were crappy from you all's opinions but I had 200+ CAWS on there.

[Guest bps "The Truth" 21]

I thought I read there were 32 CAW slots.

 

Whether that's 16 per memory card with both slots being active (like MAnia X8 is) I don't know.

[Guest Trivia247]

I thought I read there were 32 CAW slots.

 

Whether that's 16 per memory card with both slots being active (like MAnia X8 is) I don't know.

Thats the thing though, I have two memory cards and in JBI only recognizes the first card.... At least the old Playstation memory cards you can change the blocks if one gets full up you click from 1 to 2 up to 8.

 

if its 32 then cool beanies but wish I could get something so I can make my army of Indi old WWF WCW and Japan CAWS lol

[Guest Banky]

I thought I read there were 32 CAW slots.

 

Whether that's 16 per memory card with both slots being active (like MAnia X8 is) I don't know.

Trivia is talking about "Just Bring It"

 

"Shut Your Mouth" have 32.

 

For some reason Trivia is still talking about Just Bring It in the "Shut Your Mouth" thread.

[Guest Trivia247]

I thought I read there were 32 CAW slots.

 

Whether that's 16 per memory card with both slots being active (like MAnia X8 is) I don't know.

Trivia is talking about "Just Bring It"

 

"Shut Your Mouth" have 32.

 

For some reason Trivia is still talking about Just Bring It in the "Shut Your Mouth" thread.

Because I was asking a Question Concerning Shut your mouth and used Just Bring it as to Compare because they are games from the same company and same concept.....

 

Sooo Sorry you have some Overdramatic personal problem that I ask such a question. It must WOUND you so deep.

[Guest art_vandelay]

Did Yukes have a hand in "WCW vs. The World"? Cause that game has puro all over it.

No, WCW vs. The World was made by AKI, who made the Virtual Pro Wrestling series, WrestleMania 2000 and No Mercy. It's just another case of a Japanese company producing, and THQ distributing.

I read in an interview that the producer of the wrestling games at THQ, Sanders Keel, is a very big puro and MMA fan, so he might have had a hand in all that.

[Guest Trivia247]

Too everyone who preordered, do you expect the Game shipped to you before it is released or after its released and it is on the shelves?

[Guest BifEverchad]

*getting idle*

 

I dunno, I dunno....I just cant wait to get it!

 

[Guest Mikey2Dope]

WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth Slightly Delayed

Posted By Chris Pankonin on 11.08.02

 

EBGames.com has changed the release date of WWE Smackdown: Shut Your Mouth. Originally scheduled to ship on November 11th, the game will now ship two days later on November 13th. What this means is the game will now be in most stores on Thursday, November 14th. No reason for the small delay has been given.

 

From 411wrestling

[Guest Trivia247]

Bangs head on desk... the Suspense is killin me CROAK