WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009
Orton and Kennedy giving Cena what he deserves.
Ladies and gentlemen, children of all ages! The next installment of the WWE Series is here with Smackdown vs. Raw 2009. And if you’re (not) down with that, we’ve got two words for ya . . . “Read On”.
WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 brings no dynamic changes to the gameplay system. The grapple system implemented in the 2006 edition is still in place, as is the majority of game modes from the 2008 edition. A new gameplay feature, going along with this year’s emphasis on Tag Teams, is the Hot Tag feature. In short, you charge up the meter by holding up on the D-Pad, partner tags you in, you hit X then Y when prompted, then execute a finisher.
Kennedy and Orton executing a hot tag.
However, the new match mode this year is the infamous Inferno Match, made popular by Kane (who you can earn an achievement for defeating in one of these) and The Undertaker during the beloved Attitude Era of the World Wrestling Federation. In this mode, the players battle with each move raising the temperature of the flames surrounding the ring. When the ring reaches 300 degrees, you can drag your opponent (via strong grapple) to the ropes to throw them out of the ring and set them ablaze.
Burn Baby Burn!
Both the 24/7 Mode and GM Modes from 2008 have been scrapped and replaced with Road To Wrestlemania and Career Modes. In the Road to Wrestlemania mode, the player selects one of 5 single characters (Triple H, Chris Jericho, CM Punk, Undertaker, or John Cena) or the team of Rey Mysterio and Batista (which, amazingly, can be played Cooperatively) to play as for 83 days (January’s first RAW show through Wrestlemania on March 30th). The storylines all seem unmistakably similar, with the user winning the number one title shot at the Royal Rumble only to be screwed over and lose the match (or in Punk’s case, the match was declared nullified and his title was revoked). You then battle through somewhat painful to watch storylines yet fulfilling to everything you’ve come to expect from World Wrestling Entertainment this decade.
In Career Mode, any superstar can be chosen to compete. This mode closely resembles the tier based gameplay seen back in the olden days of wrestling games. We’re talking WWF Attitude for the N64. Anyways, you fight through a list of 4 individuals trying to get 5 star matches (first one is an achievement) and earn stars towards challenging the Champion for a match. You pretty much just repeat this until you win every title possible.
Outside of gameplay, a few long awaited features have been introduced. The most hyped of the features is “Create a Finisher”. You simply put two to three motions together to form a finishing maneuver for use in-game. One problem is that it pratically prohibits you to create any move already in use by the WWE (It wouldn’t allow me to create the Rock Bottom or the TKO). Other than that, this feature is about as good as any one could want it to be. It surely gets the job done. As a former backyard wrestler, it felt good to finally see my moves being done on the television.
Fisher in his younger days?
Another feature is the Highlight Reel Theatre. You can save replays in game then edit them in the HR Editor found on the “My WWE” section of the Menu. Sadly, unlike the EA sports feature, you cannot upload to a third party website for sharing outside of your Xbox.
A third feature will be the downloable characters available for the first time on a WWE game.
Achievement-wise, this game was surprisingly simple. None of the acheivements are difficult, and only 2-3 take more than a few hours to complete. There are acheivements for simply trying the new features (using a created finisher in a match, create a highlight, beat kane in inferno match, etc.) and for beating each of the story modes. Overall, getting 1000G on this game just depends on your willingness to play through Career Mode 5 times to get the Hall Achievement.
