WWE's Raw vs. Smackdown 2010

Last Tuesday, Oct. 20, WWE's Raw verses Smackdown 2010 hit store shelves nationwide.

I arrived home with my copy and put it in my X-Box 360. I noticed right away that a vast majority of my X-Box Live friend's were playing as well, and for good reason.

This offering from THQ and Jakks Pacific might just be their best effort yet with the series.

For starters, the controls feel tighter and more crisp than the last two years. My wrestler seems to be more fluid than before and it immerses the gamer even more.

The grappling system once again utilizes the right thumb stick, which feels more natural than the older games from the PS2 and N64 days where a button was used to initiate grapples.

Also, unlike previous incarnations of this franchise, a player performing an Irish whip seems to have more control of where they throw their opponent. In 2008 and 2009 I'd become quite frustrated when trying to whip an opponent into the corner only to have them bounce off the ropes.

With the improvements of the controls there comes one setback, and that is targeting.

In previous versions of the game, targeting was a quick tap of the button, or if you were closer to one target than another, the game would switch you automatically.

Not so in 2010.

The target button seems to be less responsive. When I have put one opponent on the ground and want to turn and face the other, I would still be targeting the one on the ground.

However, this is a minor hiccup in an obviously fantastic game, so I'm willing to overlook it.

New for the 2010 incarnation are the Create a Highlight Reel, Championship Scramble, and Create a Story Line.

The Create a Highlight Reel is fine in its own right. It does allow for an option to create your own Titan Trons for your created wrestlers rather than using another wrestler's, but to me it was a lot of work with little payoff and just made me want to get back to the actual game even more.

Then we have the Championship Scramble. This is a nice mini-game (especially with multiple friends). Two guys start with a new person entering different intervals. First to get a pin is the "champ." The title of "champ" can then be taken by anyone who gets a subsequent pin. When the bell rings, the "champ" is whoever got the last pin. It's like the WWE's take on musical chairs.

However, the feature that got me excited the most about this game was by far the Create a Story Line feature.

Ever since I first started playing WWE (then WWF) games on my Nintendo Entertainment System, I've been creating storylines in my head.

I'd spend countless rainy days playing match after match with certain superstars to create my own shows and Pay-Per-Views, complete with imaginary run-ins that weren't in the game.

Now, I don't just have to play exhibition matches and imagine run-ins for my storylines: I can do that with this feature.

You have the option to create every show from Raw, ECW, Smackdown, to the PPVs. Me, I'm just sticking with Raw and the PPVs. This thing is deep and creating one show (complete with text for the characters) can take over an hour.

You get two basic choices for each slot of the show. "Scene" or "Match."

The "match" is self explanatory. You book a match and set the competitors, stipulations, titles, and whether the competitors are controlled by human or computer.

With "scenes" the player gets to choose the type of scene (some examples are encounters, attack, post, and pre-match, cars), the location (i.e. the arena, backstage, GM's office, and more), as well as the characters in the scene (the number depending on the type of scene chosen).

Once you choose your scene, location, and characters, you can add things like sound effects (cheers, music, boos, and chants), text so the characters actually say something, and you can edit the length by cutting parts out.

Once you complete your story arc you can upload it to X-Box Live for your friends or complete strangers to play.

Speaking of X-Box Live, I come to my final (and only second) complaint about the game.

Playing matches on-line is still as bad as it's ever been on the 360. (I can't speak for the PS3 version since I wasn't buying two copies, but if I rent that one I'll update the article.)

When searching for a match, every single one had a low connection. Even trying to play a friend of mine who lives up the street was met with one of us constantly getting disconnected.

Some of you may chalk this up to me having a bad connection. I assure you, I do not. Plus, those of my friends who do have the game have faced similar problems in trying to play on-line.

In closing, this is a fantastic game for wrestling and fighting game fans to pick up. Its tight controls and deep game play will keep you coming back quite often and may cause some of your other games to collect dust in the process.

I give it an eight-and-a-half out of 10. It would have been close to perfect if it weren't for the X-Box Live issues.