Moe Hunter Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 The features they're pushing this year are: *A focus on tag teams *Downloadable content *Multiplayer season *Create-a-Finisher Sounds alright, right? Well, when you consider the following... [QUOTE=THQ's Cory Ledesma]...but really since you're working with the same momentum meter for both players, when you get that build and you do finishers, you [B]have[/B] to do a double team finisher. That's the way it really works.[/QUOTE] Hmm. No ability to do your own singles finisher in a Tag Team match? How on Earth would the teams that have DOMINATED the tag team scene on Raw over the past few years work? What double-team finisher did DX, HBK & Cena, the Hardys or Big Show & Kane use? Then we have another doosie. Multiplayer Career is a point I know that at least Thomnipotent is right there with me on. Sounds great, like going back to SD2 (or Raw 2 or WWF Attitude... hmm a lot of second games in series had this...). Except SD2 was four player, SvR09 is only two player. Oh, and there's only one tag team storyline path you can go on. And it only lasts a year. And you HAVE to be a tag team. And you can't switch who you are at any time. And so on. [QUOTE=THQ's Cory Ledesma]we're offering one tag team story, but we're also offering a lot of single-player stories as well[/QUOTE] Ledesma says "now" they have Tag Team Attributes - I guess he wasn't paying attention for the past few years, since they already have those in the game. Apparently they've realised that wrestling rings have aprons now - the illegal partner can grab someone in the ring. Will we ever be able to WALK along the apron, or use proper grapples and strikes from it? Who knows. And of course it wouldn't be Ledesma if he didn't try to push ideas on us like they HAVE to get rid of hundreds of moves every year and not replace them. And making commentary that's even halfway good is impossible (I guess he's never played a Midway Sports game, for instance). CAF sounds potentially ok, but if it's anything like their old CA-Taunt, and goes along what he was saying about "You could have a finisher that is 8 powerbombs"... it's going to look like crap and be abused online. DLC - finally we can pay extra for people who should have been in the game anyway. Also I wonder if this might have ANYTHING to do with the fact that there is no "SvR10", so they don't need to worry about their roster update being the only sellable feature, like EA games. So hurrah to THQ's last ever WWE game. They're making a last ditch effort, and it's going to fall short just like it does every year. Maybe the Dev team from DoR will wind up with whatever Publisher takes over and we'll have a good game on our hands again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ransik Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 This sounds completely terrible... I mean seriously do they sit there and TRY to make the series worse every year just for kicks? What sane person would call that "improvements"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Self Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Tag Team focus sounds interesting, even if there's a lack of tag teams in WWE right now. Multiplayer season is something I've recently become interested in. Create a Finisher is pretty cool. I remember playing 08 online and seeing my character's finish (Running STO) used by EVERYONE I faced as a standard move. Kinda killed it for me. Now at least I can have something a bit more unique. Maybe it's just your negative attitude about it, but I'm trying to see the positives about all this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moe Hunter Posted March 28, 2008 Author Share Posted March 28, 2008 Hey believe me, I'd love to be positive about it. I would have been if they'd left it at the opening "these are the features", but as always they proved me right in their half-assedness and complete lack of understanding what makes a game actually good. Now in ADDITION to powerful moves being used as normal ones, the finishers you see online will just get worse. Backflipping 720 spinning Pedigrees with an auto-pin, that sort of crap. And yet it probably won't have the potential for say, the Pepsi Plunge. Multiplayer Season is godly... when done even half right. They've specifically said there is one storyline for Multiplayer Season, and it involves you and ONE friend forming a tag team and going to Wrestlemania. That doesn't even deserve to be called Multiplayer Season. Honestly, it's been 10 years worth of these games (THQ/Yukes produced WWF/E games that is) and every year it's the same. Expect to see moves and CAW items needlessly removes, and a bunch of horrible generic patterns of flowers and stripes remain. Expect that for every new match type, they will break another. Remember when you could do ANY move on a table? Now you don't even get to choose what ONE move you can do. Expect the AI to always be prgrammed by Tardo the Magnificent. Watch as Triple H and The Undertaker climb up the EC, and LEAP to their demise, only to climb again. If they prove me wrong, I will be ecstatic. But they have a very long track record of not doing that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ransik Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I'm sorry Self, but nothing about that sounds even remotely interesting. A one story, non-linear mode for multi-player that after the first time through won't be worth doing again because after the first time you won't see anything different if you do it again? Sounds exactly like Season and 24/7 Mode... and I don't know anyone that's done those more than once except to finish unlocking everything. Create-A-Finisher is not going to be as free range as they make it sound... it would be impossible to pull off the way everyone wants it to. Like the old Create-A-Taunt... there will be a list of actions to take that you just string together... and odds are they'll remove moves that are already in the game just to fill space for CAF. Downloadable content is probably just being put in because TNA decided to jump the gun with it since 2008 had it dropped... as well as was said... this being their last WWE game so they want to cash in more since they lost the license for half-assed work over the years. Only reason I picked up 2008 was because my PS2 died and I got a 360... the same issues that have been present for 3 years still remain and they're obviously not interested in fixing it. I mean come on... this year you can't even break the pods in the EC... there were far less wrestlers than any year... I don't even see why they're bothering with a final game. From the sounds of the interview they aren't even aware of what's in their own games... never did shock me WWE pulled the plug on THQ for their shoddy work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wooodaddy Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 geez, I will never buy another svr game.. 08' made me cringe and 09' sounds worse.. :( Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AfRoMaN36 Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Well it doesnt sound all bad. Since its the last one, I'll probably pick it up just because I ritually buy each one of them. I hate to say this, but I hope EA Sports picks them up next year. I hate there business tactics, but they make good games. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keon Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I always thought THQ should hook up with Adam Ryland to create the GM Mode. BTW who says it's the last one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Self Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I'm no huge fan of Smackdown vs Raw (I thought 08 was an average game. Not bad. Just average) but I do personally find the features interesting. Not in a "OMG I can't wait" kind of way, more like "That might turn out good. I'll keep an eye out for that." I've never liked how tag team matches worked in any wrestling game, so I'm interested to see what they come up with. I try not to judge people on past mistakes, and trust that they know what they're doing. Will I be disappointed? I don't know. I usually am. Adam for GM mode? Can he dumb himself down enough? I loved the GM mode in 07. It was simple and playable, perfect for casual fans playing their first 'wrestling management' sim. My little brother loved it. It's just a shame that the whole 24/7 thing contained so many additions that broke the balanced formula. I'll probably pick it up, maybe in the first week of release. It depends on how much of a game playing mood I'm in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sigilistic Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I was a huge fan of the SvR franchise, from Here Comes the Pain onward. I even sold my ps2 and bought the 360 so I could continue to follow the franchise. Then something finally clicked. The games just kept getting worse. A game series should never devolve, and yet that's exactly what it has done. It was so bad, I actually sold my 360, bought a new ps2, and picked up HCTP and FirePro Wrestling Returns instead. Between those and TEW I haven't looked back. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamck Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 [quote=AfRoMaN36;395956]Well it doesnt sound all bad. Since its the last one, I'll probably pick it up just because I ritually buy each one of them. I hate to say this, but I hope EA Sports picks them up next year. I hate there business tactics, but they make good games.[/quote] yea I agree Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keon Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 What the hell are you guys talking about, what makes you think this is the last one? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DreamGoddessLindsey Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 This series has been pretty crappy for a long time. The last good one was Smackdown 2! Then they started limiting women, then they limited season/story mode, then they added that lame TEW wannabe GM mode, then they removed a ton of moves. SvR06 was passable, but that was the last tolerable one. SvR08 is absolutely awful. They keep getting rid of features to add better graphics and it's ridiculous. Fire Pro Returns all the way, baby! May be kinda ugly, but at least you have a lot of custommization options! If Vince McMahon would drop his ego, WWE could work together with the creators of Fire Pro to create a game with modern graphics [I]and[/I] a good gameplay system. Alas, that will never happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepy Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 I see an irony that at a time in the WWE's history that they really don't care that much about tag teams, the sales pitch for this game is that they're focusing on tag team action. Last years was the first one in the series I hadn't got and to be honest this new trend won't change until the games improve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robertocarlos87 Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 [QUOTE=keon;396001]What the hell are you guys talking about, what makes you think this is the last one?[/QUOTE] The THQ license runs out in 2009, and then WWE are giving it to somebody else, hence people saying the downloadable content is so they can milk everyone for one last bit of cash Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Self Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 [QUOTE=robertocarlos87;396061]The THQ license runs out in 2009, and then WWE are giving it to somebody else, hence people saying the downloadable content is so they can milk everyone for one last bit of cash[/QUOTE] Huh. I thought everyone[I] wanted[/I] DLC. I do find it odd, that in their last go with the license, they're making a very gimmicky edition. If I was them, I'd make an ironed out version of 08. Just update the roster, fix the bugs, add more moves, tweak the gameplay, and make the epitome of Smackdown vs Raw. Don't try to reinvented the wheel, just smooth out what you've got. Especially with downloadable content, do they really want to try to convince people to continue buying for a product that is, on some levels, experimental? I hope they know something I don't. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepy Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 [QUOTE=Self;396082]I hope they know something I don't.[/QUOTE] How much money they have in the bank to fall back on when this flops? How many people will continue buying this game out of habbit rather than based on the quality of gameplay (I fell into this category for a long time)? THQ made the best wrestling series ever, tweaked it until the point when it was absolutely fantastic and then decided to see how bad they could make it whilst people kept buying. Their self destruction reminds me so much of how I used to play Sim City. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ransik Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 The problem with the new tag team system is while it'll be an improvement... you can't use single wrestler's finishers... and both or all 3 members of the team run off the same momentum bar. I'd like to know WHY this seems like a good idea. Reading up on the Wii version makes me think THAT will be an awesome game just because of how the chucks and the exclusive Wii editions will work... but nothing so far makes '09 sound like an even halfway decent game. I'm telling ya... CAF will be nothing more than removed moves from the game that all follow the same trend. Deleting 10 powerbombs and adding 60 animations for powerbombs doesn't make it a good feature... and judging frmo the interview that sounds exactly like what it's gonna be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Self Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 [QUOTE=sheepy;396097]THQ made the best wrestling series ever, tweaked it until the point when it was absolutely fantastic and then decided to see how bad they could make it whilst people kept buying.[/QUOTE] These people are professionals working under stressful deadlines. They don't have time to fix everything, and I'm sure the release date is set by people way higher up the food chain than the guys making the nuts and bolts of the game. For huge franchises like WWE, you don't move release dates unless something HUGE has gone wrong. There isn't time to fix everything. Sure, they could have just stuck to the same winning formula, but I'm sure people would have been bitching then about never changing anything, saying "What's the point of getting this one, it's almost exactly the same." I totally agree with you that the games have been getting worse (although I hated 06, and loved the move to Right-Stick controls in 07) and I'll concede that, with guaranteed money coming in, the developers could get a tad lazy, but to say that THQ mess things up on purpose is ridiculous. They've just made some mistakes, had some experiments that haven't quite worked out, and... game making is hard. I didn't want to rant, but that just pissed me off. [QUOTE=Ransik;396102]The problem with the new tag team system is while it'll be an improvement... you can't use single wrestler's finishers... and both or all 3 members of the team run off the same momentum bar. I'd like to know WHY this seems like a good idea.[/QUOTE] I find it a curious move, and certainly not what I would have done, but I'm not convinced it's a bad idea. I'll wait and see. [QUOTE=Ransik;396102]I'm telling ya... CAF will be nothing more than removed moves from the game that all follow the same trend. Deleting 10 powerbombs and adding 60 animations for powerbombs doesn't make it a good feature... and judging frmo the interview that sounds exactly like what it's gonna be.[/QUOTE] I've never expected CAF, because in my mind, it cannot be done. Not in the way people want it. I applaud THQ for giving it a go, although I'll agree with you that if it removes more moves from the game, that'll suck. I still haven't gotten over the removal of 07's Running Octopus Stretch, which was my finish in that game. I had a **** finish in 08, and that made me like the game a lot less. This might be why Create-A-Finish is appealing so much to me, despite my misgivings on how succesful it will be. You guys have valid points, but please don't claim that THQ mess things up on purpose... Unless you have some evidence. I find it hard to believe anyone could be that much of a dick, is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Ransik Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Well, like was said in the interview, they began working on 2009 before 2008 was even released... which I would deduce is why there's more errors in 2008 than ever. But if they started in either September or October on 2009... why not fix existing issues instead of moving into new features right off? Existing match types need a lot of bugs addressed, but they're more worried about fixing something that they already did with 2008. Tag matches and AI partners are much more responsive in 2008.... so they go and revamp the whole thing while most other match types are full of bugs. That's why I call it "not fixing things on purpose." They're obviously more concerned with graphics and a new selling point... it's the same very year. They boast about how many more pixels they've rammed into the models and boast about the great new feature which bombs every time instead of just fixing what needs to be fixed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Stallion Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Screw it, I am waiting for TNA Impact! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djthefunkchris Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 Actually, reading the review over at IGN, it sounds like a totally different game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Stallion Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 [QUOTE=djthefunkchris;396155]Actually, reading the review over at IGN, it sounds like a totally different game.[/QUOTE] My point exactly! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moe Hunter Posted March 29, 2008 Author Share Posted March 29, 2008 [QUOTE=keon;395965]I always thought THQ should hook up with Adam Ryland to create the GM Mode. BTW who says it's the last one?[/QUOTE] THQ and WWE do. It's been public knowledge since they started that they're license runs out at the start of 2009. [QUOTE=Self;395973]Adam for GM mode? Can he dumb himself down enough? I loved the GM mode in 07. It was simple and playable, perfect for casual fans playing their first 'wrestling management' sim. My little brother loved it. It's just a shame that the whole 24/7 thing contained so many additions that broke the balanced formula. [/QUOTE] SvR06 was where the buck stopped for GM Mode. 07 had the bizzare glitch of not being able top play both shows matches and have the results stick. 08 brought in the awesome addition of the third brand, but killed it with all the 24/7 crap that took forever to load every day. [QUOTE=DreamGoddessLindsey;396008]Then they started limiting women, then they limited season/story mode, then they added that lame TEW wannabe GM mode, then they removed a ton of moves. SvR06 was passable, but that was the last tolerable one. [/QUOTE] Indeed. They somehow figured that we only wanted to play as women in silly matches with beds in the ring. Then they figured "why would anyone want to play Season with their friends?" and limited it to 1P, then crammed in voiceovers so the storylines were horribly limiting. Every time they make a game, they go backwards. We only just got KotR back after years of absence. Iron Man Matches have sucked forever - the highest limit you could ever have in them was 30 minutes, then they limited it again from HCTP onwards to a measly 10 minutes, and now it's a max of 20 minutes. Oh, and forget about things like Lumberjack matches or the best match the game ever had - Time Limit Hardcore! [QUOTE=Self;396082]Huh. I thought everyone[I] wanted[/I] DLC. I do find it odd, that in their last go with the license, they're making a very gimmicky edition. If I was them, I'd make an ironed out version of 08. Just update the roster, fix the bugs, add more moves, tweak the gameplay, and make the epitome of Smackdown vs Raw. Don't try to reinvented the wheel, just smooth out what you've got. Especially with downloadable content, do they really want to try to convince people to continue buying for a product that is, on some levels, experimental? I hope they know something I don't.[/QUOTE] That's just what they do though. Every year they think "wow our controls and mechanics should be "improved" again. Let's spend all our time on that so no one ever knows how to play the game inbetween years". Meanwhile, we still can't run along the apron (although fingers crossed for this year!), hit detection is still bad, selling is crap - people STILL fall forwards from being hit with dropkicks.... [QUOTE=djthefunkchris;396155]Actually, reading the review over at IGN, it sounds like a totally different game.[/QUOTE] "Review"? There's 10 pages of interview aka blowing smoke up an idiot's ass, but certainly no review. There's a technique to understanding what the guy says, and what it means will happen. Again, if this game is amazing, or even notably different from every other year, I will be frightened and disoriented. How many years in a row has he talked about improving AI, and yet the chamber is full of monkeys, and your tag partner never knows what to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mystic Posted March 29, 2008 Share Posted March 29, 2008 from gamespot [QUOTE]the stories in Road to WrestleMania mode will be specific to a handful of WWE Superstars and will feature a storyline that will take your character from the Royal Rumble all the way to his or her big match at WrestleMania.[/QUOTE] Basically this means a short storyline that will take no time to finish. And no I don't care about a tag team story mode. one thing that has me worried is that if those pics were taken from the PS3 version, ouch I will hate to see what the PS2 pics look like. After the SVR 08 meltdown I will be getting TNA Impact and skipping SVR 09 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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