Post by Tom Rice on Jun 19, 2005 13:17:26 GMT
It's hard to believe, but it's been almost five months since THQ's WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW shipped to retailers nationwide and we've had plenty of time to think about it ever since. Sure there's no denying that it was an excellent wrestling game (and our 8.4 score reflects that), but no matter how good something is there's always room for improvement. SmackDown! vs. RAW is no exception to that rule, and that's what got us thinking. What could THQ and Yuke's add to the 2005 edition to make it even better than before? What features, extras, and goodies could help shape the next iteration of the franchise into the single best wrestling game ever made?
After talking it over with our fellow editors, we've managed to narrow down our previously enormous wishlist of feature to 21 essential inclusions that WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2 absolutely must have. You could consider these requests as an open letter of sorts to both the THQ and Yuke's development teams so that they know exactly what it is we'd like to see, what it is we expect, and why these bonuses would be so cool in the first place. And now without any further ado, we present to you the 21 essentials for WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2.
Bigger and Badder -- Expand the Superstar Roster
It's great to have all the big name wrestlers in the lineup, but after playing as most of these guys for years it's a lot more refreshing to have choices beyond the traditional roster. Give us guys like Billy Kidman, Akio, and Kenzo Suzuki so that we can have a legitimate cruiserweight division and a reason to fight for that belt. Throw in Heidenreich, the Bashams, and Orlando Jordan so that we can relive some of Thursday's biggest angles of the last year. And whatever you do, don't forget about recent up and comers like Snitsky, Simon Dean, and Muhammad Hassan. In other words, give us as many recent WWE superstars as humanly possible and if space is an issue, use double-layered DVDs -- believe us, it's worth it.
Information Overload -- Complete Stat Tracking
With so many different things to do in the wrestling world and so many things to keep track of, an automated stat-tracking system is absolutely necessary. Let no small detail go unlooked, unchecked, and unrecorded. With this system any player can see what percentage of time he has completed with every wrestler in the game. It would also be possible to see wins, losses, and overall successes.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg. What are the player's favorite moves, total number of submissions, total number of finishing moves, etc.? What's the shortest match, the longest, and the average length of time for each fight? By giving so much information that players will almost drown in it, anyone can take a glance at the info and get a better idea of what kind of a fighter they are. They can even see what areas they need to focus on to be a batter player. More is most definitely better and if the wrestlers could sneeze, we'd want a sneezing percentage. Give us everything.
Sure the Undertakern gets the proper intro, but what about CAWs?
Say My Name! -- Personalized Announcing
Both Madden and NCAA have been treating us to pre-recorded names. If a name was common enough according to the U.S. Census, then it was recorded by the announcers. After entering the name into the character creator the game would use its own audio file to create a personalized experience. It's a beautiful thing and it should become more of a standard. Starting now!
Rest in Peace -- Casket and Buried Alive Matches
Since the moment the original SmackDown first powered up on our PlayStation Ones, the thought of slamming some hapless soul into a nearby coffin and closing him in forever has been at the top of everyone's dream list. How long has the general public been asking for casket matches anyway? We don't even want to speculate. But regardless of how long we've been waiting, the time is now to finally give it to us.
But how would it work? It's simple -- borrowing the mechanics from the already existing Bra and Panties match, the mode would utilize a similar tug of war system centered on the closing of the lid. Getting your opponent in the casket would be the first hurdle to overcome (use a timed meter not unlike the reversal bar to do this), while shutting him in would be the second part (using the aforementioned tug of war system). Boom! It's an instant match mode that would probably get more play the most of the other existing ones.
And hey, while the team is at it, it wouldn't hurt to throw in Buried Alive matches either. The principal and mechanics here would work essentially the same way as the caskets, with the location and appearance of the trap changing form. There's absolutely no way you wouldn't play it.
Float Like A Butterfly -- Tighter Animations
Something the videogame industry needs to work on is fluidity. Wrestling games in particular seem prone to featuring stiff puppets as opposed to lifelike humans. Now, we're not asking for a lot of instant reaction movements, but we would like some more polished transitions between current move sets.
We'd also like to see the collision detection that initiates and finishes movements significantly tightened. The best way to go about attaining this greater level of overall smoothness would be to combine physics driven collisions and interactions with more animation routines. The result would be arms that properly interlock and a takedown that quickly and smoothly segues into a leg lock without any of those stiff or jerky in-between actions.
Timed Attack -- Skill Over Button Mashing
As gaming in general advances, so should the mechanics of gaming. Fight Night proved that boxing titles needn't rely on brainless button smashing to achieve their goals, so why can't wrestling learn?
Everything from getting up, to grappling, to winning grapples, to countering should feature a greater emphasis on timing, rather than repeated controller shattering. To further focus on this more skill-based game style, the future of WWE should penalize its players when they pound X one hundred and seventeen thousand times in a row by making them miss moves or become otherwise vulnerable.
We imagine the future of wrestling being more about skilled interactions and anticipation. But honestly, we'd be happy if there were a few mini-games that governed actions as simple as getting up off the mat.
Oh So Tired -- Wrestler Exhaustion
Wrestling matches take a lot out of you, so why not reflect that in the gameplay? The longer a match wears on and the more damage that has been done, the more of an effect it should have on your character. Near the beginning of a contest, for example, players should have the ability to do anything they want from their repertoire of moves -- but as the bout wears on they'll slowly lose the ability to pull their more devastating maneuvers.
At first your wrestler should slow down a bit, but eventually it'll take longer for him to recover, get up from his own high-flying attacks, and the power of his strikes would decrease substantially. If he was in too rough a shape, your tired gladiator could find himself falling off the turnbuckles, bleeding more easily when taking strikes, and possibly even losing the use of a limb if it's been damaged enough.
Luckily, an added crowd meter would allow you to come back from the brink of an ass-kicking (kind of like Shadow of Rome does), where solid comebacks, spectacular moves, and effective taunts would give you the ability to do something you normally couldn't do. How awesome would that be?
We loved the fact that you could make your own title last year. But why not defend it online while we're at it?
Better Online -- Ranking Systems, Voice Chat, Titles
Every fighting game needs an online component these days or at least they should have one. That may still be some wishful thinking on our part, but we might as well think big and go all the way. There needs to be an online ranking system that will allow players to show that they are some of the best videogame wrestlers in the world.
To make the experience secure there needs to be some way to make sure that no cheat devices are being used or at least give players a possible way of reporting cheaters so that they can be removed and their victories against other players considered null and void. Then, and only then, will online fighting feel solid and other features such as belts and defending belts can be introduced and mean something.
To add in to the experience, voice chat would be a huge help as well. That way two friends could play each other and taunt each other or just chat for the duration of the fight. Winning is good, but trash-talking the whole time is even better.
The Crowd has its Say -- Destructible arena objects, superstar-specific crowd interactions
The feeling of a WrestleMania is all about interaction. The wrestlers can destroy everything in the immediate area and the crowd can shout at their favorite heroes. If there is something, anything, that can be picked up or jumped onto, then it needs to have the ability to be utterly destroyed. By that same token, if a wrestler has a trademark move or phrase, then the crowd should react accordingly. When Kurt Angle walks down to the ring the crowd should be shouting, "You suck!" at him. When Stone Cold Steve Austin shouts out the crowd better be yelling, "What!?" every damn time. Enough of the stock crowd that just moves up and down and has a generic crowd noise, we want the feeling of the event.
Feel the Burn -- More realistic body damage
Maybe we're spoiled by Fight Night Round 2, but it would be the best if the wrestlers had some more realistic damage being done to them. If someone takes a hard hit, then we want to see some blood on the clothes. The faces should get bruised and cut after repeated bashings. It's cool to see the status icons on the top of the screen show how badly each wrestler is hurt, but to show it in the game's graphics themselves would be the business. It would be even better if the blood stains stayed where the damage was done. Players could then "paint" the mat with their opponent's face.
Tag-backs Allowed -- The ability to counter anything
Having any move that can do damage without any possible way to counter it is something that should be completely banished. It takes the fun and the fairness away from the fight. By putting in a possible counter for every move out there the game becomes more of a skillful fight. Experienced players would be able to throw moves and counter-moves like crazy so that when a powerful move is pulled off and bloodies the opponent there's that feeling of deep satisfaction that wouldn't come from a cheap attack.
Besides, WrestleMania 21 on the Xbox has this feature so why shouldn't we?
Uncle Eric ran the WCW for a long time. Want not use that license in the next SmackDown? Couldn't hurt!
Expanding Your Horizons -- Use Other Organizations
The WWE archive is huge, and SmackDown should learn from EA's example and institute its licenses into its games. The WCW, ECW, and OVW brand names are all owned by the WWE, for example, which opens up a world of possibilities in terms of the career mode, possible story events, arena types, and more.
The Long Haul -- 25-year career mode
One year just isn't enough to feel like an entire career. How about a full-on 25-year experience? This would let players create a character, work him through the low-level fights, become a renowned fighter, and go all the way through retirement. Making horrible movies and acquiring a drug habit would be out of the picture, but at the least this would give the game more of a complete feel and allow players to truly develop a character even further.
To start out with the first challenge would be the Tough Enough competition. After that the wrestler would move into the OVW and compete with the crusty older wrestlers as well as other young up-and-comers. The next steps would be to graduate to Velocity and Heat before getting into Smackdown!, RAW, and PPVs.
Along the way the wrestlers would be able to develop relationships with the other wrestlers in the game that would have lasting effects. There could be alliances, rivalries, and feuds that would help to determine what the matches would be. This would complete the character truly becoming a part of the WWE world and help to take a step away from something that's "just a game" and become something immersive. Oh and for crying out loud, give us two-player seasons again!
That Old Bum Knee -- Career Injuries
It's one thing to have injuries impact a match in progress, but what if sustained damage actually carried over through the entire career of a wrestler...? What if an excess of cuts scarred a pretty face and altered crowd perception? How about if the more sustained damage there is, the more worn and feeble a wrestler becomes as the years go by?
If the old knee gets bent out of shape match after match after match, then it should fail quickly late in the career. And, what if 20 years into it all a wrestler's right arm turns useless and his limp from that ridiculous chair bashing he took two years ago causes his entrance to be a little sluggish? What if all that helped to determine what matches he was and was not awarded? Taking better care of your wrestler would then be a priority. Now that's character development, baby. And besides, cuts add character, so why ditch 'em?
Hometown Heroes -- Real Venues
Last time we checked, wrestling didn't take place in some random Hollywood backlot, so where are our real stadiums? We need crowds and hometown favorites. We need the untamed wildness of Mile High versus the downtown glitz of Staples. Where are the Universal Amphitheatres, Rod Laver Arenas, Allstate Arenas, Pontiac Silverdomes, Madison Square Gardens, Cow Palaces and Nassau Coliseums of the world? We need those and more.
If the universe were perfect, specific venues would even have an effect on wrestler performance as well as entrance routines. Since it is not perfect, maybe THQ could plaster the sides of arenas with advertisements to offset costs.
Fighting Out Back -- Backstage Areas
One big backstage area is simply not enough. Here Comes the Pain offered five or six different areas to choose from, but in the future we need boiler rooms, dressing rooms, hallways, parking lots, bathrooms, green room / lobby areas, shipping and loading docks, city streets, technical booths, and just about everything else that makes a real place a real place.
More important than all of those areas is how they could conceivably be tied together seamlessly and even present real gameplay innovations like choking a man with some electrical cord, dropping a wrecked car onto a wrestler, or stuffing the Macho Man into a port-a-potty and rolling the whole thing down a street.
In addition to a large amount of useable objects (read: weapons), every room could contain specific points of interest. Like The Punisher, the use of each point of interest could play a mini-game that, if properly completed, could result in a spectacular animation routine. Showdown: Legends of Wrestling did it, why not SmackDown?
The Pen Is Mightier -- General Management
Brawling is one thing, but for those of us on the Vince McMahon trip, where's our arena management? In the years to come it'd be great to finally sit behind the desk of greatness and wield the pen of ultimate power -- it'd be great to set t-shirt prices and establish a traveling routine!
There's so much going on behind the scenes of wrestling that it seems almost shameful to omit such a wealth of worthy gameplay from the ever-evolving genre, especially when other sports titles are integrating more advanced managerial features with each passing year.
We imagine dealing with some of the more eccentric personalities of the wrestlers by balancing headliners with no names, turning heels into faces, making stars out of scrubs, and even telling a 50-year-old has-been that enough is enough. After that, we could work on traveling from city to city making sure all of the venue details are set. We could then book TV time, set up our own events based on current audience desires, and eventually move into some merchandising. If you want to get crazy, players could actually be encouraged to start spin-off themed wrestling organizations from scratch.
Your Money's Worth -- Five Matches Per Card
Even though we can create our own events with up to eight matches per card, our extended career mode should feature the traditional, realistic collection of five matches per card, which would of course allow us to play...five matches! Five instead of three. Seems like no big deal, you know?
Flashback Fever -- Relive WrestleManias
With Acclaim's Legends of Wrestling franchise long since dead, it leaves the rights to dozens of grappling greats ripe for the picking. THQ should use this fact to its advantage by allowing players the opportunity to relive some of the greatest WrestleMania matches of all time. Who can forget Steamboat vs. Savage and Hogan vs. Andre at WrestleMania III? Or the Ultimate Warrior's stunning victory over the Hulkster at WrestleMania VI? The possibilities here are endless, and the replay value would be too if this was included.
Comeback Kids -- Legend Careers
Speaking of legends, it would be great if there was a way to use them in career mode and even better if it was specific to their status. Imagine coming back as Bret "The Hitman" Hart as a surprise guest at the latest Royal Rumble as you fight your way back to the top of the ladder. Old rivalries (Stone Cold or Shawn Michaels anyone?) could pick right up where they left off, and with so few legends available in comparison to the regular superstars it would be easy to customize this so that it matched the wrestlers to a tee.
Shiny and New -- Enhanced Creation Features
We don't know about you, but the time for additional character creation features is long past due. Not only would it be great to expand on the weight detection system by instituting realistic body types (no more 7 foot, 400 lbs luchadores please) in addition to the aforementioned aging option, but it would also be fantastic if you could customize your entrance animations and lighting effects just like RAW used to do. This presentational flexibility would allow players to create literally anyone they'd want and would make each wrestler a lot more unique too.
SmackDown! vs. RAW 2 could also benefit from even more original music selections, generic Titan Tron intros, and realistic clothing effects instead of the painted on look of the current competitors. Just look at something like Def Jam: Vendetta as proof of the possibilities and apply that to the WWE. The potential here is amazing.
So there you have it. Twenty one essential includes that we'd like to see in the next iteration of SmackDown! vs. RAW. Will they ever happen? We can't say just yet, but it doesn't hurt to dream (or to beg, in this case) now does it? Unfortunately we'll have to wait a couple more months before we know what the new version of the game will bring for sure, but in the meantime we'd love to hear what you think of these ideas and what you'd like to see yourself. We'll be back with more on SmackDown! vs. RAW 2 (or whatever it ends up being called) as soon as the info breaks.
After talking it over with our fellow editors, we've managed to narrow down our previously enormous wishlist of feature to 21 essential inclusions that WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2 absolutely must have. You could consider these requests as an open letter of sorts to both the THQ and Yuke's development teams so that they know exactly what it is we'd like to see, what it is we expect, and why these bonuses would be so cool in the first place. And now without any further ado, we present to you the 21 essentials for WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2.
Bigger and Badder -- Expand the Superstar Roster
It's great to have all the big name wrestlers in the lineup, but after playing as most of these guys for years it's a lot more refreshing to have choices beyond the traditional roster. Give us guys like Billy Kidman, Akio, and Kenzo Suzuki so that we can have a legitimate cruiserweight division and a reason to fight for that belt. Throw in Heidenreich, the Bashams, and Orlando Jordan so that we can relive some of Thursday's biggest angles of the last year. And whatever you do, don't forget about recent up and comers like Snitsky, Simon Dean, and Muhammad Hassan. In other words, give us as many recent WWE superstars as humanly possible and if space is an issue, use double-layered DVDs -- believe us, it's worth it.
Information Overload -- Complete Stat Tracking
With so many different things to do in the wrestling world and so many things to keep track of, an automated stat-tracking system is absolutely necessary. Let no small detail go unlooked, unchecked, and unrecorded. With this system any player can see what percentage of time he has completed with every wrestler in the game. It would also be possible to see wins, losses, and overall successes.
But that's just the tip of the iceberg. What are the player's favorite moves, total number of submissions, total number of finishing moves, etc.? What's the shortest match, the longest, and the average length of time for each fight? By giving so much information that players will almost drown in it, anyone can take a glance at the info and get a better idea of what kind of a fighter they are. They can even see what areas they need to focus on to be a batter player. More is most definitely better and if the wrestlers could sneeze, we'd want a sneezing percentage. Give us everything.
Sure the Undertakern gets the proper intro, but what about CAWs?
Say My Name! -- Personalized Announcing
Both Madden and NCAA have been treating us to pre-recorded names. If a name was common enough according to the U.S. Census, then it was recorded by the announcers. After entering the name into the character creator the game would use its own audio file to create a personalized experience. It's a beautiful thing and it should become more of a standard. Starting now!
Rest in Peace -- Casket and Buried Alive Matches
Since the moment the original SmackDown first powered up on our PlayStation Ones, the thought of slamming some hapless soul into a nearby coffin and closing him in forever has been at the top of everyone's dream list. How long has the general public been asking for casket matches anyway? We don't even want to speculate. But regardless of how long we've been waiting, the time is now to finally give it to us.
But how would it work? It's simple -- borrowing the mechanics from the already existing Bra and Panties match, the mode would utilize a similar tug of war system centered on the closing of the lid. Getting your opponent in the casket would be the first hurdle to overcome (use a timed meter not unlike the reversal bar to do this), while shutting him in would be the second part (using the aforementioned tug of war system). Boom! It's an instant match mode that would probably get more play the most of the other existing ones.
And hey, while the team is at it, it wouldn't hurt to throw in Buried Alive matches either. The principal and mechanics here would work essentially the same way as the caskets, with the location and appearance of the trap changing form. There's absolutely no way you wouldn't play it.
Float Like A Butterfly -- Tighter Animations
Something the videogame industry needs to work on is fluidity. Wrestling games in particular seem prone to featuring stiff puppets as opposed to lifelike humans. Now, we're not asking for a lot of instant reaction movements, but we would like some more polished transitions between current move sets.
We'd also like to see the collision detection that initiates and finishes movements significantly tightened. The best way to go about attaining this greater level of overall smoothness would be to combine physics driven collisions and interactions with more animation routines. The result would be arms that properly interlock and a takedown that quickly and smoothly segues into a leg lock without any of those stiff or jerky in-between actions.
Timed Attack -- Skill Over Button Mashing
As gaming in general advances, so should the mechanics of gaming. Fight Night proved that boxing titles needn't rely on brainless button smashing to achieve their goals, so why can't wrestling learn?
Everything from getting up, to grappling, to winning grapples, to countering should feature a greater emphasis on timing, rather than repeated controller shattering. To further focus on this more skill-based game style, the future of WWE should penalize its players when they pound X one hundred and seventeen thousand times in a row by making them miss moves or become otherwise vulnerable.
We imagine the future of wrestling being more about skilled interactions and anticipation. But honestly, we'd be happy if there were a few mini-games that governed actions as simple as getting up off the mat.
Oh So Tired -- Wrestler Exhaustion
Wrestling matches take a lot out of you, so why not reflect that in the gameplay? The longer a match wears on and the more damage that has been done, the more of an effect it should have on your character. Near the beginning of a contest, for example, players should have the ability to do anything they want from their repertoire of moves -- but as the bout wears on they'll slowly lose the ability to pull their more devastating maneuvers.
At first your wrestler should slow down a bit, but eventually it'll take longer for him to recover, get up from his own high-flying attacks, and the power of his strikes would decrease substantially. If he was in too rough a shape, your tired gladiator could find himself falling off the turnbuckles, bleeding more easily when taking strikes, and possibly even losing the use of a limb if it's been damaged enough.
Luckily, an added crowd meter would allow you to come back from the brink of an ass-kicking (kind of like Shadow of Rome does), where solid comebacks, spectacular moves, and effective taunts would give you the ability to do something you normally couldn't do. How awesome would that be?
We loved the fact that you could make your own title last year. But why not defend it online while we're at it?
Better Online -- Ranking Systems, Voice Chat, Titles
Every fighting game needs an online component these days or at least they should have one. That may still be some wishful thinking on our part, but we might as well think big and go all the way. There needs to be an online ranking system that will allow players to show that they are some of the best videogame wrestlers in the world.
To make the experience secure there needs to be some way to make sure that no cheat devices are being used or at least give players a possible way of reporting cheaters so that they can be removed and their victories against other players considered null and void. Then, and only then, will online fighting feel solid and other features such as belts and defending belts can be introduced and mean something.
To add in to the experience, voice chat would be a huge help as well. That way two friends could play each other and taunt each other or just chat for the duration of the fight. Winning is good, but trash-talking the whole time is even better.
The Crowd has its Say -- Destructible arena objects, superstar-specific crowd interactions
The feeling of a WrestleMania is all about interaction. The wrestlers can destroy everything in the immediate area and the crowd can shout at their favorite heroes. If there is something, anything, that can be picked up or jumped onto, then it needs to have the ability to be utterly destroyed. By that same token, if a wrestler has a trademark move or phrase, then the crowd should react accordingly. When Kurt Angle walks down to the ring the crowd should be shouting, "You suck!" at him. When Stone Cold Steve Austin shouts out the crowd better be yelling, "What!?" every damn time. Enough of the stock crowd that just moves up and down and has a generic crowd noise, we want the feeling of the event.
Feel the Burn -- More realistic body damage
Maybe we're spoiled by Fight Night Round 2, but it would be the best if the wrestlers had some more realistic damage being done to them. If someone takes a hard hit, then we want to see some blood on the clothes. The faces should get bruised and cut after repeated bashings. It's cool to see the status icons on the top of the screen show how badly each wrestler is hurt, but to show it in the game's graphics themselves would be the business. It would be even better if the blood stains stayed where the damage was done. Players could then "paint" the mat with their opponent's face.
Tag-backs Allowed -- The ability to counter anything
Having any move that can do damage without any possible way to counter it is something that should be completely banished. It takes the fun and the fairness away from the fight. By putting in a possible counter for every move out there the game becomes more of a skillful fight. Experienced players would be able to throw moves and counter-moves like crazy so that when a powerful move is pulled off and bloodies the opponent there's that feeling of deep satisfaction that wouldn't come from a cheap attack.
Besides, WrestleMania 21 on the Xbox has this feature so why shouldn't we?
Uncle Eric ran the WCW for a long time. Want not use that license in the next SmackDown? Couldn't hurt!
Expanding Your Horizons -- Use Other Organizations
The WWE archive is huge, and SmackDown should learn from EA's example and institute its licenses into its games. The WCW, ECW, and OVW brand names are all owned by the WWE, for example, which opens up a world of possibilities in terms of the career mode, possible story events, arena types, and more.
The Long Haul -- 25-year career mode
One year just isn't enough to feel like an entire career. How about a full-on 25-year experience? This would let players create a character, work him through the low-level fights, become a renowned fighter, and go all the way through retirement. Making horrible movies and acquiring a drug habit would be out of the picture, but at the least this would give the game more of a complete feel and allow players to truly develop a character even further.
To start out with the first challenge would be the Tough Enough competition. After that the wrestler would move into the OVW and compete with the crusty older wrestlers as well as other young up-and-comers. The next steps would be to graduate to Velocity and Heat before getting into Smackdown!, RAW, and PPVs.
Along the way the wrestlers would be able to develop relationships with the other wrestlers in the game that would have lasting effects. There could be alliances, rivalries, and feuds that would help to determine what the matches would be. This would complete the character truly becoming a part of the WWE world and help to take a step away from something that's "just a game" and become something immersive. Oh and for crying out loud, give us two-player seasons again!
That Old Bum Knee -- Career Injuries
It's one thing to have injuries impact a match in progress, but what if sustained damage actually carried over through the entire career of a wrestler...? What if an excess of cuts scarred a pretty face and altered crowd perception? How about if the more sustained damage there is, the more worn and feeble a wrestler becomes as the years go by?
If the old knee gets bent out of shape match after match after match, then it should fail quickly late in the career. And, what if 20 years into it all a wrestler's right arm turns useless and his limp from that ridiculous chair bashing he took two years ago causes his entrance to be a little sluggish? What if all that helped to determine what matches he was and was not awarded? Taking better care of your wrestler would then be a priority. Now that's character development, baby. And besides, cuts add character, so why ditch 'em?
Hometown Heroes -- Real Venues
Last time we checked, wrestling didn't take place in some random Hollywood backlot, so where are our real stadiums? We need crowds and hometown favorites. We need the untamed wildness of Mile High versus the downtown glitz of Staples. Where are the Universal Amphitheatres, Rod Laver Arenas, Allstate Arenas, Pontiac Silverdomes, Madison Square Gardens, Cow Palaces and Nassau Coliseums of the world? We need those and more.
If the universe were perfect, specific venues would even have an effect on wrestler performance as well as entrance routines. Since it is not perfect, maybe THQ could plaster the sides of arenas with advertisements to offset costs.
Fighting Out Back -- Backstage Areas
One big backstage area is simply not enough. Here Comes the Pain offered five or six different areas to choose from, but in the future we need boiler rooms, dressing rooms, hallways, parking lots, bathrooms, green room / lobby areas, shipping and loading docks, city streets, technical booths, and just about everything else that makes a real place a real place.
More important than all of those areas is how they could conceivably be tied together seamlessly and even present real gameplay innovations like choking a man with some electrical cord, dropping a wrecked car onto a wrestler, or stuffing the Macho Man into a port-a-potty and rolling the whole thing down a street.
In addition to a large amount of useable objects (read: weapons), every room could contain specific points of interest. Like The Punisher, the use of each point of interest could play a mini-game that, if properly completed, could result in a spectacular animation routine. Showdown: Legends of Wrestling did it, why not SmackDown?
The Pen Is Mightier -- General Management
Brawling is one thing, but for those of us on the Vince McMahon trip, where's our arena management? In the years to come it'd be great to finally sit behind the desk of greatness and wield the pen of ultimate power -- it'd be great to set t-shirt prices and establish a traveling routine!
There's so much going on behind the scenes of wrestling that it seems almost shameful to omit such a wealth of worthy gameplay from the ever-evolving genre, especially when other sports titles are integrating more advanced managerial features with each passing year.
We imagine dealing with some of the more eccentric personalities of the wrestlers by balancing headliners with no names, turning heels into faces, making stars out of scrubs, and even telling a 50-year-old has-been that enough is enough. After that, we could work on traveling from city to city making sure all of the venue details are set. We could then book TV time, set up our own events based on current audience desires, and eventually move into some merchandising. If you want to get crazy, players could actually be encouraged to start spin-off themed wrestling organizations from scratch.
Your Money's Worth -- Five Matches Per Card
Even though we can create our own events with up to eight matches per card, our extended career mode should feature the traditional, realistic collection of five matches per card, which would of course allow us to play...five matches! Five instead of three. Seems like no big deal, you know?
Flashback Fever -- Relive WrestleManias
With Acclaim's Legends of Wrestling franchise long since dead, it leaves the rights to dozens of grappling greats ripe for the picking. THQ should use this fact to its advantage by allowing players the opportunity to relive some of the greatest WrestleMania matches of all time. Who can forget Steamboat vs. Savage and Hogan vs. Andre at WrestleMania III? Or the Ultimate Warrior's stunning victory over the Hulkster at WrestleMania VI? The possibilities here are endless, and the replay value would be too if this was included.
Comeback Kids -- Legend Careers
Speaking of legends, it would be great if there was a way to use them in career mode and even better if it was specific to their status. Imagine coming back as Bret "The Hitman" Hart as a surprise guest at the latest Royal Rumble as you fight your way back to the top of the ladder. Old rivalries (Stone Cold or Shawn Michaels anyone?) could pick right up where they left off, and with so few legends available in comparison to the regular superstars it would be easy to customize this so that it matched the wrestlers to a tee.
Shiny and New -- Enhanced Creation Features
We don't know about you, but the time for additional character creation features is long past due. Not only would it be great to expand on the weight detection system by instituting realistic body types (no more 7 foot, 400 lbs luchadores please) in addition to the aforementioned aging option, but it would also be fantastic if you could customize your entrance animations and lighting effects just like RAW used to do. This presentational flexibility would allow players to create literally anyone they'd want and would make each wrestler a lot more unique too.
SmackDown! vs. RAW 2 could also benefit from even more original music selections, generic Titan Tron intros, and realistic clothing effects instead of the painted on look of the current competitors. Just look at something like Def Jam: Vendetta as proof of the possibilities and apply that to the WWE. The potential here is amazing.
So there you have it. Twenty one essential includes that we'd like to see in the next iteration of SmackDown! vs. RAW. Will they ever happen? We can't say just yet, but it doesn't hurt to dream (or to beg, in this case) now does it? Unfortunately we'll have to wait a couple more months before we know what the new version of the game will bring for sure, but in the meantime we'd love to hear what you think of these ideas and what you'd like to see yourself. We'll be back with more on SmackDown! vs. RAW 2 (or whatever it ends up being called) as soon as the info breaks.
