The emphasis on the marketing for SVR 2009 has been all about the tag teams, which is either a clever ploy to emphasize the multiplayer modes of the game (given that everything is more fun with a friend) or a genuine attempt to try and put a different spin on what essentially is a form of gameplay that at this stage has been done to death. While the decision to use tag teams as the main focus may be a perplexing one for anybody who watches WWE programming - where emphasis on the tag team division has been severely lacking for some time - it has allowed some new gameplay features to be brought in which can modify your strategy somewhat. For starters, if you're the guy in a tag match standing on the apron and waiting for your partner to tag you in, you're not completely useless. You can distract the referee, pull the ropes down to score an advantage over your foes or use the game's most interesting new feature, the Hot Tag, to your advantage.
Does Batista really need MORE help?
For those not sure of what a 'Hot Tag' consists of, and we're guessing there's a few of you, it's that moment you always see on WWE programming where there is a guy on one team who is beaten down constantly, keeps trying to make the tag to his partner but is always thwarted by the opposition, until he eventually makes that ever-so-crucial tag, allowing his partner to enter the ring and clean house, single-handedly dominating the two guys on the other team. It's cool to watch on TV despite the fact that it's incredibly cliche, and it does allow for some extra strategy in the tag matches considering it can only be used once per fight. It makes the tag team matches more interesting, and it's also much easier to get involved in breaking up pinfalls as well, which means that as soon as you're close enough to break a pin up you'll be able to without worrying about perhaps stomping the ground with your foot when you were actually trying to face-stomp the guy who is pinning your buddy.
Apart from some swanky new changes to the tag team matches, there are some other new features that are worth mentioning as well. Inferno Matches make a welcome addition and are not only a fun novelty, but actually one of the most balanced and exciting match types available in the game. We're happy for the inclusion, especially considering the match type is only rarely used on programming. Then there is the entirely different approach to how players tackle the 'campaign' of WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, titled Road to Wrestlemania mode. While in past games you'd take your superstar through a series of generic storylines with a fairly inevitable result of 'winning the title at WrestleMania', there are now a specific set of narratives which can be played out with a choice list of superstars. Some of the more popular superstars get their own storylines, including Triple H, Chris Jericho and CM Punk, along with a special tag team storyline with Rey Mysterio and Batista. The trade-off here is that you can't play these 'narratives' with created superstars, or any of the other superstars that aren't the specific few. While this may leave a sour taste in the mouths of some, it's a fair trade-off considering the amount of intricate and entertaining detail that is present in the narratives available.
That's one flamy Pedigree!
The biggest problem (if you can call it a problem) with WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 is a problem that has been present for some years now. While there are always new bells and whistles, the gameplay remains almost untouched apart from the occasional new feature. It's fun, it's fast-paced, it's entertaining, and while Yukes certainly shouldn't mess with what is obviously a winning formula, seeing some of the move animations that have been around for several years over and over and over again can get a little bit grating, and a little bit disheartening. There's always an effort to add new moves and refine some of the older ones, but the changes aren't obvious and simply aren't noticeable when there are so many ancient animations haunting the franchise every year. The annoying emphasis on 'fight styles' from SVR '08 has however been taken back a bit so that it's not a focus, which is good because it was really only a novelty kind of thing to begin with.
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 hits it out of the park when it comes to presentation. Subtle changes have been made to make the game feel more like you're watching actual WWE programming, including additional points of view from camera-men on the outside of the ring when the action leaves the squared circle, giving it a more rough and interesting quality and a different perspective. The audio is also top notch, with great crowd reactions and input along with high quality recordings from the superstars in the Road to Wrestlemania mode. Entrances are all polished as usual, with a great likeness to programming; they've absolutely nailed the production values that we see on Raw and Smackdown every week, and it makes the whole experience a pleasure to play through for wrestling fans. Of course, there are still the common clipping issues that have plagued these games, where animations often see limbs going through limbs amongst some other strange graphical glitches.
That's what you get for being an emo, Jeff.
But wait, there's lots more! WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 throws at you a whole heap of features that you can modify and create 'til your hearts content. Creating your own finisher is now possible, allowing you to chain together several elements of a move to lay your own personal smackdown on foes. It's not as detailed as the other 'Create' modes in terms of variables, but is still a lot of fun to mess around with. You can also edit the roster to try to keep it as updated as possible, which is a blessing given the constant switching of brands that occurs on TV, and there is also this nifty new thing called the Highlight Reel which allows you to save specific replays and screenshots of matches and then upload and share them with the online community. You can even edit pieces together with text and choose the camera angles, so we're sure there will be some funny and interesting videos to view online, along with the standard competitive online gameplay (sorry, still no online Royal Rumble).
Another year, another edition, and another batch of pretty much what we expected. There are some reasonable new additions to the game this year, including the previously mentioned tag team features, refined and quite frankly excellent Road to Wrestlemania mode, and the best match addition in years in the Inferno Match. Chuck in a bunch of new 'Create-a-...' features like being able to make your own finishing move and create some cool videos, and of course a new roster with the promise of new downloadable superstars in the near future, and this is easily one of the best WWE games to be released in a long time. While it still needs some refinement in certain areas, Yukes are taking leaps forward every year in making the games both more fun, and overall... well, just more of everything. WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 is a no-brainer for wrestling fans, and should tide you over nicely until SVR 2010.
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