by: Dustin Rudzinski

October 16, 2009

Coming from THQ's review event for the latest WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw game, E-mpire was given the opportunity to give the final build of the game a test run. A while back, we posted impressions of an earlier build of the game from the WWE Summer Slam event. From that, I already had a pretty good idea of what I was going to see.



This time, however, we were treated to something we didn't get to see at the last event; the the Wii version of the game. What I saw was pretty impressive; easily one of the best looking Wii titles I've ever seen, and only slightly worse looking than the 360 and PS3 versions of this game, and do I mean SLIGHTLY worse looking. Average Joe would not tell the difference if both were viewed on a standard definition TV. Reliance on motion controls has also been tossed out the window, with 3 different control schemes now available. Wiimote/Nunchuck, Gamecube controller, and Classic controller interfaces are now supported. Most of the features available on the PS3 and Xbox 360 are present in this version, so Wii owners should rest assured in knowing that they will be getting a quality port.



We also got a more in-depth recap of what we saw at the last press conference THQ held for this game, which you can read about by clicking here. The developers also talked about a few new things that we had not yet heard about. After admitting that the Royal Rumble mode "sucked" in previous SvR titles, game designer (Bryan Williams) said that they have totally redone this year's Royal Rumble mode. This new version allows up to 4 players to battle it out in a last man standing style match, with players eliminated by being tossed from the ring. There are 3 different ways to eliminate an opponent. Middle rope, corner, and bottom rope eliminations can be achieved by pinning the opponent against the corner or middle or bottom ropes, and finishing a series of quick time events (rapidly tapping the buttons shown on screen), or timing tests which require you to press a button when two lines align with each other. The opponent can also decrease the size of those lines by rapidly tapping buttons, making it harder for you to pull off the alignment. Also, if a wrestler has finishers saved up, they can spend one to instantly get out of being tossed out of the ring. Other changes include superstars no longer disappearing when tossed out of the ring (they instead limp away to the backstage area), and the ability to have up to 6 in the ring at once. Standard Battle Royale mode is also available.

Technical difficulties prevented them from showcasing the DS version (the capture equipment hooked to the projector only saw the bottom screen), but it was available for us to preview after the conference. It looks to also be a good port, with the stylus controls attempted in previous games scrapped for a more conventional button interface. I actually was pretty impressed with how good the game looked, being one of the more realistic looking DS titles out there. Obviously nowhere near the other versions, but impressive none the less.

The PS3 and 360 versions were looking great, with a slight nod to the Xbox 360 version in graphical quality when seen side by side on the same TV's (both using component output). The 360 version had much richer color and seemingly sharper textures, but the overall difference in quality was pretty negligible. As another journalist there pointed out, the difference would have not been able to be picked out had we not seen them running side by side.

They also brought out WWE Superstar "The Miz", who caused a hilarious scene as he got on one of the developers about making his strength a 78, while pointing to his championship belt. We’ll have more on that in our first episode of PSInsider's podcast, ‘The Insider’, which will debut October 16th, including the hilarious video from the event. We also will feature a video interview with the story designer for Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010, so stay tuned for that.

Share this:

Discuss this in the forums!