WWF SmackDown! - Wrestling Gamers

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WWF SmackDown!
Developer(s)	YUKE's Future Media Creators
Publisher(s)	THQ
Release date(s)	February 29, 2000
Brand(s)	WWF
Rating(s)	T for Teen
Platform(s)	Playstation
WG Review Date	8/24/07
WG.com Average Rating	3/5 Stars

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Review

WWF SmackDown! was the very first attempt by THQ at any WWF wrestling game. This game followed WWF attitude with a fast-paced arcade style that replaced the grappling system. This was a pivotal moment in the franchise, this game is the foundation of what we have come to expect from the Smackdown! Series by today's standards.

Game Play

The die hard attitude fans were a bit stunned at the faced paced environment that the SmackDown! game offered them. This arcade style was fast paced, the endless button combinations to perform the simplest move were no longer needed. A simple command system would allow the gamer to pull of an array of hurt on their opponent in a quick based style. This was something that I found pleasantly surprising. It made the game a lot of fun! However there was some controversy surrounding the quickness of the game, the attitude diehards were not pleased. At times when you would pull off a significantly damaging move your opponent would immediately "pop" right back up.

Audio

THQ was so far off base with the audio in this game it is hardly worth noting. The wrestler entrances consisted of the wrestler walking in behind his or her Titian Tron movie, they did not actually show the wrestler walking to the ring. There is no commentary. There is little audio in this game whatsoever. There is however some face paced music to suffice for the matches that go with the fact paced game.

Graphics

The graphics sold me on this game. We were coming from the WWF Attitude error of video games. There wasn't anything impressive about the Attitude graphics in fact they were downright disappointing. SmackDown! offered new fresh views and brought the whole experience together for me. The wrestler animations for the time were out of the world and were fascinating beyond belief.

Season/Career Mode

The season mode was a pleasant surprise for this title. The season mode offered something we had never seen as wrestling gamers: storylines The season mode was rather extensive and was generally accepted as a major improvement over that of WWF Attitude's.

Creation Mode

The creation mode was damaged very badly in the transition from Acclaim to THQ. The Create A Wrestler mode was left in this title however it wasn't in the same realm as Attitude. The game featured only four available slots to create superstars from head, upper and lower body parts of existing or secret superstars, this mode was considered to be a huge letdown compared to Attitude.

The maker of breaker for this game is the game play gamers either loved it or hated it. There were two areas the game severely slacked, creation and audio but these were addressed in later installments of the franchise.

Score Board
Game Play 4/5 Stars	Audio 1/5 Stars	Graphics 4/5 Stars	Story Mode 3/5 Stars	Creation 1.5/5 Stars
OVERALL SCORE: 3/5 Stars
Final Thought
"The bottom line is the SmackDown game was not realistic but it was fun! Isn't that the point of a video game? The Audio and Creation sections of this review deeply hurt the final score. This game had a lot going for it for the time but THQ severely overlooked significant details that needed addressed in order for this to be a classic video game. It was however the first game in the series... Other games would make up for where this fell short..."

-Matt

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