Smackdown vs Raw 2011 Review
09:51
ITSMYYARD
,
Over next few days MachinimaSports Will have videos made by me explaining the newest smackdown games but I have missed quite a few pointers that should've been explained but either chose not to or completely forgot about.
2011 has many beautiful features compared to last year and if this was your first smackdown game you would love it to no end if you're a wrestling fan. It brings a smile to my face just thinking about putting someone through 2 tables at ringside off the top of a ladder inside the ring with a swinging neckbreaker or FU, especially when that person is your friend :D
The Directional Throws (D-Throws) and Pin Combos are a much needed refresher to the franchise, being able to choose where to throw your opponent down from a suplex or powerbomb is very satisfying especially if you're near the ropes and want to go for the pin. But the D-Throws are brilliant for the weapon matches, being able to do a powerbomb onto a chair by moving into the right position at the last second is dignifying specially when you see your opponent withering in pain from feeling steel on flesh....MUAHAHAHAHAHHA
Pin Combos are brilliant and help replicate a more japanese feel to the game. Many wrestlers in japan use suplexes or bombs or drivers both in pinning form and release form. In the new smackdown game you don't have to waste sought after move slots to add 2 of the same move. If you want the move to pin then press O (PS3) when it indicates and it turns into a pinning variation instead of a release. This is perfect for tiger suplexes, dragon suplexes and more and should be great to recreate classic Kobashi/Misawa matches.
Who can forget the havok engine with the weapons, laying them on the ropes, running up ladders leaned on the apron, destroying ladders in the corner, dropping a suplex onto an open fallen ladder. Finally we get 6 man online after YEARS! of waiting The carnage that 6 man matches take online is beyond words specially in a Money In The Bank match. In fact that can be a bit of a downside, wrestlers wake up far too quickly even when completely damaged (bar hitting a finisher of course), even when being pushed from a ladder to the floor, but these new animations are far better and realistic. As a result of this matches can take up to an hour to complete but that's not to say it isn't fun :D
Let's now tackle the issues. Firstly the wrestler movesets. They SUCK, no one in WWE does the float-over DDT (bar Percy Watson) yet a lot of them have it. Where as the movesets in 2010 were pretty good bar some common repeat moves, 2011 has the same moves appear time and time again. With now only 1 running strike move it means that you can no longer have what I call the weak strike and the strong strike (Shoulder block and a Lariat for example). While they have added the tree of woe position and superplex positions it does remove 2 turnbuckle slots, I wish this option was more optional and not forced upon you despite being a good edition overall as it lets you achieve the new Create a Finisher in the superplex position, though the options are lacking. However on saying that doing a Super Angle Slam or the Pepsi Plunge has nostalgic value, just a shame you couldn't do the Emerald Flowsion off the top :(
RTWM is a mixed bag, I very much enjoyed Christian's as it was a look back at the awesome tag team E+C were specially when I was growing up with them when I first started watching wrestling. I just wish you could do the doubleteam conchairto in the game instead of just seeing it in a cutscene. Walking around backstage all the time I found a real chore. Some people will like the sandbox element that occurred in Just Bring It but for me it seems too slow, not to mention the bad mouth syncing. VERY VERY lazy on THQ's part there.
Online is still the same as before, while you do now have 6 player matches, people still depend on running every chance they get. Even though THQ have added stamina to the running, which results in characters running slower and slower if they keep running, it ruins matches, but luckily I know people that won't abuse this. Expect loads of people to abuse the High Knee move with it's quick animation and auto-knockdown their opponents. The chain grapples are glitched in my opinion. In the last couple of years you had to time your counter and if the timing was wrong you weren't able to counter for at least a second. This is still the case in 2011 for every other move (and so far every move is now counterable, that means the stomp glitch is gone!) but with chain grapples you can spam the counter button and you're able to counter the grapple EVERY time (On PS3 I have yet to try it out on 360). That's a big flaw specially when you want players to do it. If that glitch was fixed I expect there would be less runners but alas that isn't the case.
Having the Fan Axxess pass and Online Axxess is a way of promoting the future and to stop the 2nd hand market but THQ made it very difficult to unlock everything, it will take days and days for players to unlock all arenas, characters, attires and more, where as you can just pay less than a dollar for everything unlocked in 5 seconds flat. Very cheeky on THQ's part.
Why oh why do THQ remove moves from the game every year. I never understand why, it's not like the move has suddenly disappeared from reality. A game should always add new stuff every year, not remove it. People want the hogan leg drop and brainbusters but mysteriously vanish without a trace. Tag moves especially when they had 3D but removed it last year. The more move options the more variety the more fun and the less chance of becoming bored seeing the same move. FIXED YOUR SHIT THQ!! *calms down*
Overall THQ have made something that is not just a few extra features from last years game, but it's a shame when they focus on one thing they neglect so many other areas. It's 2 steps forward, 1 step back.
Rating: 7.5/10 (And I mean 7.5/10 as it is better than average and is a good game overall, certainly not a Normal video game 7.5 which actually means 5/10)
