Wrestling and the PlayStation 2 go together like peanut butter and jelly
On paper, it seems like SVR 09 should cruise to wrestling game greatness. The title packs more than 60 wrestlers, 14 one-on-one match types including the new Inferno option, a new story mode, better AI, and a focus on tag teams. However, when you get into the punching, grappling, and slamming that make up the game, the world begins to feel like well worn territory and begins to look muddled. In the end, we have a game that improves on last year's outing in a number of ways but falls short of returning SVR to its place of honor on the PS2.
Where there's smoke, there's an Inferno Match video.
Don't get me wrong, SVR 09 is a fun game. The solid controls from last year are back -- left stick to move, right stick to grapple, reversals via the shoulder buttons, and so on -- and come with a few minor touches such as the game flashing "Signature Move" when you can set off a stored special as well as the ability to enter the ring via the steel steps. These are welcome additions, but it's pretty much exactly what you saw last year. Still, there are a handful of other bells and whistles to grab your attention.
For starters, the AI in SVR 09 doesn't suck for a change. On Legend, the computer's still going to be reversal heavy, but it's also going to store Finishers, break up pins in tag matches, and basically give you a run for your money. If you're not happy with how the AI is acting, SVR 09 finally gives us sliders to adjust the game's thinking. You can make Finishers more or less powerful, you can adjust how much the computer reverses, and you can even modify momentum rates. Customization like the sliders is a theme in this game. While you're messing with menu, a smattering of entrance music is playing as a soundtrack. If you don't like a particular song, you can press in your left stick and skip to the next track. Via the game's Roster Editor, you can mold the WWE as you see fit with a few button clicks -- change what brand people are on, give and take away championships, decide who is clean and who is dirty. There are alternate attires for the likes of CM Punk, Rey Mysterio, Chris Jericho, and others; there are 19 arenas; and you can unlock the WCW brand and classic championship.
Of course, this wouldn't be a professional wrestling game if it didn't add some new gimmick matches. The Inferno Match is an interesting bout that looks good but always ends a bit silly. You and your opponent duke it out in a ring where the edges are set ablaze. As you pull off moves, the flames leap and the temperature in the lower left corner rises. When the magic number reaches 500 degrees, you're supposed to drag your opponent to the ropes and toss him (Divas still can't participate in the crazy match types) into the fire. When one of you is successful -- there's a button-tapping minigame to try and reverse the strong-grapple dragging -- a body flies over the ropes and that guy's clothing is set one fire. It looks a bit goofy to see CM Punk rolling around with his ass on fire, but it's still a fun (albeit simple) fight. Meanwhile, THQ and Yuke's dropped the Parking Lot Brawl from previous games and replaced it with the Backstage Brawl. Here, you can fight in a KO-only match in the locker room or the gorilla position. There are objects to interact with in these areas, but they're pretty barren in general. Plus, there are lots of awkward times when you'll whip an opponent into nothing and they'll get caught on the edge of the screen. Sadly, you can't access these areas via the entrance ramp in a Falls Count Anywhere Match.
While it isn't a new match per say, there's a definite emphasis on the tag team scene this time around. Now, the partner pacing around the ring apron is as much as part of the action as the wrestler on the inside. The illegal partner can grab the opponent, distract the ref, pull down the rope, make a blind tag, and even create a "Hot Tag." Now, if you've watched wrestling, you know what a Hot Tag is even if the name doesn't ring a bell. One partner is in the ring getting the crap kicked out of him or her, the partner on the apron starts a clap, the audience gets into it, the beaten down partner slowly crawls to the clapping partner with his hand stretched out, the tag gets made, and the fresh person jumps in and just cleans everyone's clock. That's in the game. The partner at the turnbuckle holds down on the D-Pad, a little flame begins to grow underneath the team's shared momentum bar, and when it's full, the Hot Tag can be made. The new partner jumps in and needs to follow two button prompts to take down the legal man and take out the one stalking the side of the ring. Pull this off, and you'll have a full momentum meter so that you can drop the opponent once and for all. This is an incredibly effective move that can only be used once, so these tag matches actually become a thing of strategy as you try and wear down both opponents so that you can take everyone out with one move. The tag match isn't perfect -- when my opponents were building the Hot Tag, I stepped off the ring apron so that I couldn't be taken out only to find myself teleported back to my post when they started the ring-clearing maneuver -- but the new features, smarter AI that runs in when you hit a finisher, and double team moves make it fun enough.
No, Mable!
All that is good, but the biggest gameplay change is actually related to a Superstar/Diva's Fighting Abilities. Last year's game gave every wrestler two Fighting Styles that contained specific abilities so characters felt more like their real-life counterparts. Randy Orton was a Dirty superstar so he could remove turnbuckle covers and push the ref into opponents, Tommy Dreamer was Hardcore and could hit himself with a weapon to heal limb damage, and so on. This year, the broad styles are gone and are replaced by specific abilities. In SVR 09, every character has six Fighting Abilities that give them special advantages. Santino has the Dirty Pin ability so that he can use the ropes for leverage when going for the three-count, Big Show has the Hammer Throw ability that allows him to hurl his opponent over the top rope with a strong Irish whip, and pretty much all of the main eventers have the Resiliency ability so that they have an increased chance of being able to kick out of pins. I'm sure these sound a lot like last year's Fighting Styles -- and they are in part -- but the fact that each Superstar has these combinations of six out of 21 abilities makes them feel unique and varied.
Beyond all that in-match stuff, SVR 09's packing a nifty mode addition that is all its own; it's called Road to WrestleMania and it's one of the greatest story modes a wrestling game has had in years (although the presentation on PS2 suffers thanks to blah graphics). In RTW, you choose to be one of seven playable Superstars (an in-house friend can join you for the tag team tale) and then take the grappler into his original storyline. See, Chris Jericho, Triple H, the Undertaker, CM Punk, John Cena, and Rey Mysterio/Batistia all have angles that are uniquely their own thanks to original voiceovers, branching storylines, cutscenes, and more. I can't thank THQ enough for this. Last year, 24/7 mode sucked. It had one generic story that forced wrestlers into situations that didn't feel natural -- enemies shaking hands in the back, WrestleMania being in the same place every year, etc. Now, you're getting original, interesting tales that last about two and a half hours a piece as you take each man to the biggest spectacle in Sports Entertainment. Each show starts with fireworks and an announcers' summary of what's going on in the federation, and each show ends with the WWE copyright logo and the usual dramatic scene you'd expect from WWE programming. Jericho has to figure out who the masked man that keeps attacking him is, Triple H has to choose between DX and Evolution, and Cena needs to figure out how to contend with MVP's new world order. Sure, a lot of folks are going to be pissy because this mode is only open to the seven folks the storylines have been written for, but once you get your hands on this mode and start having to make choices and unlocking entrances, characters, Create A Superstar pieces, and more, you should realize how awesome this part really is.