Review by: James Fudge

This year's edition of SmackDown vs. RAW is a solid endeavor that fans of the annually released wrestling franchise will enjoy. There are additional features that are noteworthy, but mostly it is just another tweak of last year’s game. While everything works pretty well, the sum of its parts do not fit together as well as they should. The reason for that is that Yuke's has tried to put too much stuff into the game. The drawback to that is that this year's release sometimes feels more like a game engine than it does a complete package.

One of the biggest features is actually a series of small-fragmented functions that allow players to create all kinds of content, which they can then share via the internet. This year players get a robust Create a Character mode, Create a Finisher, Create an Entrance, and a Story Creator that lets players put together their own scenarios of their favorite wrestling moments. The tools are robust and allow players to build just about anything they can think of. Tools like this are good because they allow players, who are sometimes more creative than the people who create the game's official storylines, to build things that are often wildly unique and exciting.

The other cool feature is WWE Universe, a new system tied to the game's freeform exhibition matches. Instead of being one-offs, exhibition matches play out in a never-ending season mode. As players win matches and take on specific superstars, the game tailors the content appropriately. As players find success with whatever characters they are playing (real world or user-created), the game tweaks matches and offers unique challenges, rivalries, and partnerships. It's an interesting system that makes playing those traditional distractions within the game, cohesive, fun and oftentimes more interesting than the parts that are supposed to serve as the main focus like Road To WrestleMania.

Road to WrestleMania is actually the oddest part of SvR2011. Yuke’s decided to create a series of storylines that use a bizarre 3D backstage world that players navigate through. Essentially a backstage area for each venue you visit, players wander around the backstage area talking to (and picking fights with) other superstars, visiting the training room (to use experience points on stats), interacting with the GM, talking to Vince McMahon and the GM on the phone, and activating story events. All of this culminates into a fight or two every week.

I get what Yuke’s was trying to do with Road to WrestleMania, but the whole thing just feels so out of place. The rest of the game is entirely menu-driven, while Road to WrestleMania is an awkward 3D chunk with weak storylines. There is nothing gratifying about running through these backstage areas, and most of what all these superstars say is bland and inane. Even the storytelling is boring and recycled. Assuming that what I have described has not scared you away, there is plenty of it to engage in. The game offers storylines for created superstars, Christian, John Cena, Shawn Michaels and Undertaker.

One interesting element is not really a feature at all, but a service that delivers new content. SvR2010 features a new content delivery system; by purchasing this special content subscription service, users can get access to downloadable content for what THQ is calling “the life of the game.” This content includes new outfits, new wrestlers, and special content that does everything from allowing players to edit the stats of every wrestler in the game, to unlocking all the content without doing all the work. On the latter, I assume it has a unique way of handling all those achievements and GamerScore points, though I can’t say for certain as I did not purchase any of this stuff. Overall, I think this is a smart idea because it introduces a way for THQ to make an extra buck and it gives players stuff they probably want.