PlayStation 2 - WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain Review

It was another year, so it was yet another WWE Smackdown wrestling game in 2004. Normally I don't care too much about the series since the early Playstation One titles were pretty much crap and that 2007 edition was lame too but this time the guys and gals over at Yukes and THQ really created one fine face breaking game here.

This game came out after Smackdown Shut Your Mouth and before Smackdown vs. Raw and this was the third game in the series for the PS2. If that cover name sounds weird 'Here comes the Pain' was former WWE champion Brock Lesner's chase phase before he left the company to do other things like Mixed Martial Arts and weaving baskets I think? Anyway HCTP plays a lot like the other games of the series because you still get all the cool stuff like Season, Create a Wrestler, and quick fights like before but there is no online play yet. The new stuff includes characters like Rey Mysterio, John Cena, Ultimo Dragon and Sean O Haire (yeah, some are more famous then others) joining the cast plus it also has some WWF legends like Hillbilly Jim and Sergeant Slaughter in here too. Sadly most of the legends don't have their original music and there is no Hulk Hogan either.

The game also also has new matches like the Elimination Chamber Cage (this thingy had four wrestlers enclosed behind glass and then released randomly after a few minutes) match and the cool Bra and Panties fights so you can rip off the clothes of one of the Divas to win and you got to love that feature, eh? All that is nice but how does the game itself play? It's actually plays very well with solid fast paced action that's easy to controls for the newbie's and it has a decent counter system for strikes and grabbles for the pros.

Here comes the Pain should please fans of the many WWE shows (although some of the shows can get pretty bad). The characters are well animated with great detail in the arenas and the commentary from Jerry Lawler and Jim Ross is not too bad but again the game play isn't too different from the past Smackdowns before. Surprisingly though this is also a good thing because some of the future editions just added way too much realism and took out some of the action that was in this prequel. In the 2007 edition it took forever to do something simple like getting up and it got real annoying. If you just want a fun and well balanced wrestling I recommend looking this one up.

WWE Smackdown Here Comes the Pain overall rating: 78/100

For 1 to 4 players
Rated (T) for Teen
graphics: 7/10
sound: 7/10
gameplay: 8/10
replay: 9/10

-StarSoldier1 2007
(Ryan Genno)