Not just fat men groping each other! (WWF Smackdown 2 (PS))

Member Name: Del_Boy

Product:	WWF Smackdown 2 (PS)
Date:	01/10/01 (218 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A lot of fun, Lots of characters to choose from, Lots of moves

Disadvantages: No commentary affects the atmosphere, Loading times in season mode

Not just fat men groping each other!


Wrestling, entertainment where men in tights grope each other, whilst play fighting. When you put it that way you wonder why anyone would bother watching this, but to describe it in the manner, which I just have done, would be doing it an injustice.

Wrestling has dropped all pretences of being a serious sport, and for quite some time now has been re-branding itself as Entertainment. This is a game based on the antics of the WWF, and it manages to incorporate some of the razzmatazz of the WWF into the game. It’s loud, it’s brash and there are many variations of match to participate in.

The gameplay is similar to the other 10 thousand or so wrestling games out there (a slight exaggeration; maybe?) There are some differences though; button bashing the procedure most Wrestling games use to assert dominance whilst grappling has been removed for the most part. This means that you may not need to buy a new pad after playing this game for a good length of time. Button bashing hasn’t been rendered totally obsolete though and is indeed needed for when you have been knocked down, pinned or put into a submission move. The amount of moves hasn’t been neglected; there are an incredible amount of them incorporated into this game. If you can think of it, it’s in this game. You can even do double team manoeuvres such as the 3D when using the Dudley Boys as your game characters.

Wrestling games have in the past been criticised for being shallow, whilst this game is never going to be called mentally taxing it could be called deep. For there are a bewildering amount of matches you can participate in. Matches ranging from the standard (Man V Man, Tag team, Royal Rumble, Cage match) to the absurd (Ladder match); to the downright ludicrous (Hell in the cell). This game is every wrestling fans (fanatics) dream game. As well as all the different types of matches you c
an wrestle in, you can also add in special stipulations and rule modifiers.

The choice of wrestlers in this game is also enormous with the vast majority of the recent wrestlers in it. There is a noticeable absentee when you first start the game, Stone Cold Steve Austin – though he is later made available when you complete a certain match.

If your favourite wrestler for some reason isn’t included in this game, then all is not lost I will explain the:

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CREATE A WRESTLER
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Choose a name for your wrestler (daft as you like). Then choose what they look like. You are able to customise your wrestler to a ridiculous degree. Virtually any facial feature can be customised for shape, size and appearance.

After you have made a face for your wrestler, you then get to dress them up in a variety of garments – the more daft they look the better I say.

Then you can choose the weight of your wrestler, their height, what moves they use etc. Also you can choose 5 wrestlers to align yourself with, these wrestlers can then if they so choose interrupt your matches at times to help you out.

This is a game I would recommend without hesitation to the Playstation owning wrestling fan. This game encapsulates within it, everything that you really would need.

You can reverse moves, you can use weapons, you can even move into different areas as the fight progresses. For example you can start off in the wrestling ring, but you can end up in the car park if you so desire! There is also an attempt at capturing some of the story aspects of wrestling when you play in season mode. Rivalries are formed; they may interrupt one of your matches with a challenge that they wish to fight you next.

The graphics are excellent for the Playstation, they really do help to maintain atmosphere. The sound is one of the worst aspects with a very small amount
of sampled speech contained therein – and that is only said at the end of matches. Commentary is non existent instead it is replaced with the cheesiest guitar music I have ever had the misfortune of hearing.

Presentation is where this game scores the biggest points though; the developers obviously took great care over this game to make it enjoyable as well as pretty accurate. They have succeeded. All the wrestlers have a video to accompany them, they also have their own distinctive music and ring entrances included within the game.

Just to inform you all if you are worrying about me being a wrestling fanatic I will add these words:

I seldom watch it; indeed I haven’t seen it for months now. I appreciate good games though, and this is up there with some of the best fighting games I have ever played. Also, I don’t play this game using a Playstation (I gave that my Nephew a while back).

Instead I play it using my PC and an emulator called EPSXE. The graphics when using the emulator are slightly better than they would be on the normal Playstation due to advanced filtering effects that can be employed. I would like to add though, that even unfiltered these graphics are still of a high standard.

If you have any questions or comments concerning this review, then feedback from them is always appreciated.

(This game also has a lot of secrets within it waiting to be unearthed…)

Summary: