WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 - Review - Which WWE Superstars Will End Up On Top?

Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 is the main event you've been waiting for. You will be given control of many dimensions of the WWE world. Experience newly updated features in 'Road to Wrestlemania. Check out the skills and many moves of the WWE Divas, and play through the interesting 'Create-a-Superstar' plots. Create-a-Superstar has also been revisited and improved, which ultimately gives you flexibility to brand your fighter with your own custom selections. For the first time, you will have the option to put your creativity on display on the net. Develop unique storylines and redesign WWE Superstars and let other WWE fans around the world see your works.

The WWE Story Designer is one of the more innovative new features which lets you control almost everything, from cut scenes to storylines, rules, talent and even match cards. You'll be able to track the stories and even create them from the Gorilla Position. Make a new storyline by deciding how long it will last, from one show to several years, and it can be told through cutscenes, matches, or a combination of the two. Speaking of cutscenes, you'll be able to pick among hundreds of possible cutscenes in Smackdown vs. Raw 2010.

Lots of cool options for character poses - change among 18 choices to display a range from toughness to silliness in the versus screen. Superstar Threads is also included, sort of a Paint Tool for the Superstars. The Create-A-Finisher option is even more polished, with dozens of additional moves, so the possibilities are endless.

Available: Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii, DS

This new edition of SmackDown is bigger and badder than ever, with over 60 Superstars and over 50 Create-a-Superstar slots. Since Create-a-Finisher was so successful last year, THQ and Yukes are now attempting to include online multiplayer features to the game.

Make your own 3D characters, finishing moves, entrance videos, color schemes, and storylines, giving you the power to create your own WWE superstar with this amazing new game. Share your creative works with WWE fans, by using SVR servers, putting them in directories for others to discover and download as they like, providing an unprecedented level of interactivity and community to the game

The familiar THQ Training Facility is where you'll find the main menu. You'll see the entire facility decorated with prior pay per view signage, vacant chairs, and topped off with a large ring.

The beginning of your SVR tutorials lies in this room. You won't just sit back and be a passive learner; you'll be able to practice hundreds of moves repeatedly until you become proficient enough.

You can find varying tasks to perform around the ring, moves and events to unlock depending on the position you're in, which will let you know exactly how to perform them. You might just need to taunt in the center of the ring, but if your opponent is in a certain position relative to you, you can put them in a grapple move; you can even test your skills by varying the opponent's skills, or just let him stand there so you can master your moves.

A checklist will mark off each move your master, so you can work through the available tutorials quickly and learn everything you need to know.

In Smackdown vs Raw 2010 the game can be set so you continue to see these optional tips, but the primary goal of the tutorial is to get amateurs or novices acquainted with the gameplay, as well as reintroduce seasoned players with the new game mechanics and get them warmed up.

You won't find a drastically different control scheme from the 2009 version in the 2010 installment, but some fine tuning has occurred. You can reverse with a shoulder button. You'll receive a prompt at the appropriate moment, which you can use to press the button and block punches. There's a very small window of opportunity, so you have to press it at the exact moment, and just repeatedly pressing it won't help. Why not consider having Edge to fight John Morrison in the first blood match?

SVR 2010 doesn't change a whole lot from the previous games. This is par for the course for franchises with yearly installments, as they simply refine what works in the first place. The major changes to 2010 that THQ included are related to the creation of an online community.

If you're in a falls count anywhere much as Chris Jericho, and you're fighting Triple H, you'll find that the ref doesn't stay stationary; he goes where the fight goes, no matter where in the ring or outside the ring it happens. The camera control is drastically improved, so you actually get a decent, dramatic presentation of fights that start traveling beyond the ring. Graphic improvements include Redding of skin from impacts, so if you're Edge, and you hit John Morrison, the Shaman of Sexy's chest will become red.

In Smackdown vs Raw 2010 use Superstar Threads to make different costumes for Superstars that already exist in the game and in the world of wrestling. It's just a change in the color scheme, so there are no real options for extremely silly things; all you can do is put your character's existing outfits in different colors.

There are so many options available for the Superstar's outfits. However, you won't mind this quite as much as you'd think. This feature allows you to easily keep up with the outfits being worn weekly in the latest matches.

You'll have many options for Create-a-Finisher moves as to be staggering; the CAS or premade Superstars can take on any combination of 10 moves for their finisher, and you can use the virtual keyboard to name the move and get it announcer ready. You'll be able to let your wrestler defy gravity and create finishing moves that could only happen in a video game - they can fly as high or low as they want with the dotted arc that you can change for their leaping finishers.

Many storyline sections will require you to pick the opponents, win conditions, and other factors and twists that can happen over the course of the match, like sudden help or stopping conditions.

Whether or not you use any or all the features are entirely up to you. You can even get your Superstars injured in specific places with the limb damage feature, allowing you to create story arcs based on their injury

Cutscenes are integral to making a good WWE storyline, and the game helps you make them. You'll be able to pick among over a hundred possible cutscenes in SVR 2010. You can have your characters sign contracts mid-fight, come out of backstage luxury vehicles, get unexpectedly struck by cars, have those cars burst into pieces - it's all up to you!

The players circumstances are filled in by you (you can have up to five characters), then you pick the location and even the camera angles. Here's you change to become the director of your own tiny film!

You will enjoy the subtle nuances of the character animations that THQ provides. You'll see emotional responses in the facial expressions that mimic the real performers, and create a real, raw scene that can make you feel like you're watching the real thing. The Titantron is yours to play with, as it's entirely up to you what goes on it, whether you want a fixed camera focusing on one particular person, and write text to propel the story in its intended direction.

Your storylines can also be uploaded for others to share and download, so they can view your work.

If you crave a truly action packed fighting game, WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010 will make a superb addition to your collection.

I'd like to hear your thoughts, so after you check it out, stop by and leave me a comment.

Enjoy!