WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 Review

Summary

Smackdown vs. Raw 2011 is one of many in the WWE franchise. it is developed by Yuke’s media creations and published by THQ. I would say it is very similar to any other WWE game. You can create your own characters, storylines and you can play the road to wrestle mania mode just like in 2009 and 2010, however, in 2011 you have a new mode called WWE universe mode which is basically just the same as picking a match type and playing it, the only difference is whatever you do has consequences for example if I was Triple H and I had the WWE championship and the number one contender for that championship was John Cena, he might come and attack me after one of my matches.

Gameplay (Single Player)

I have to say the gameplay in this game is very slick and fast paced. You can tell that Yuke’s has made some drastic changes to the game that seem to be all for the better. The only downside to this years Smackdown vs. Raw game is the fact that unless you set up your multiplayer (which I’ll get to in a minute) then you will get bored rather quickly after completing all of the road to wrestlemania modes because in WWE universe it just sort of repeats itself over and over again! other than that the single player is pretty awesome.

 

New game modes

Like I said in the summary, Yuke’s have made some pretty drastic changes and added new modes into the game this year. The first change in the game is the revamped road to wrestlemania mode. This year instead of just going back to a still image of your locker room each time you finish a match or cut-scene you go backstage and get to roam around, the feature is alright but the thing that kept on bothering me about this game is the fact that all you can basically do is walk around picking fights with other wrestlers, speak to the general manager when he/she wants to talk to you and the only time you can go out to the ring is when you have your match.

The next big change that you will notice is the new WWE universe mode which like I said in the summary is just a new way of picking your matches or having the computer pick them for you and whatever you do has consequences. The most annoying part of this game mode is the fact that the only you can unlock characters is by Mr McMahon coming out of at the end of your match and sending another wrestler out and if you beat them (which is very likely if you have it on easy) you unlock them this happens a lot when you first start the game and I found this very tedious to go through. 

 Gameplay (Multiplayer)

This year for the multiplayer section of the game, you had to put in a one time use code to activate the service which you should get on the back of the instruction manual. NOTE: YOU CAN ONLY USE THIS CODE OUNCE! SO MAKE SURE TO BUY A BRAND NEW COPY OF THE GAME NOT A PREOWNED COPY! I found this annoying after using my code I started to play the multiplayer and found that it was really laggy, now, I know this might have been the connection speed of the match host’s console however it could just have likely been the game itself therefore I only played about two online matches.

Graphics

No matter how much I have bashed the actual gameplay of this game I have to say the graphics are great! the wrestlers look more life like than ever and I was really taken-aback at how much effort Yuke’s had gone to make this game look as real as possible so thumbs up to them for that!

Sound effects and music

As I am a musician as well as a gamer, this is a huge part in any game for me. I have to say that the sound effects sound really realistic unlike 2010 where the sound effects got delayed. The in-game music is obviously going to be decent. However, as well as having the in-game music this year you had the option of uploading your own music from your playstation music section. I loved the idea of this at first but when I actually uploaded  a song to use for my created wrestler the music drowned out the crowd noise and the voice of the ring announcer, this really took me out of the game to be honest.

Final opinion

My final rating for this game is 6/10. although the game was a huge improvement on Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 it still had it’s downsides.