The bottom line is that SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain is the end-all be all of wrestling games this year, serving up a more well-rounded wrestling experience than Backyard Wrestling, RAW 2 and Wrestlemania XIX. While Yuke's latest iteration of the popular game series that started out on the PlayStation as a supplement to THQ's AKI-developed properties on the Nintendo 64 isn't perfect, Here Comes the Pain brings home a wrestling game with real substance. From graphical upgrades to a revamped grappling system and new game modes (Elimination Chamber, Bra & Panties), Here Comes the Pain puts the rest of this year's releases to shame. The final product may not be perfect (we'll detail a few quirks we ran into later), but with every new game in the series Yuke's is perfecting the genre much like AKI did with No Mercy and proving that SmackDown! is finally leading the sports entertainment pack.

At the heart of Here Comes the Pain is the same basic game mechanics with a lot of improvements - so many in fact that the game will feel a tad bit different than Shut Your Mouth. The first thing players will notice are the graphical changes. All the models, animations, backgrounds, entrances, etc. have been revamped and look as good as - if not better than - THQ's Xbox counterpart, RAW 2. Crowds are now more animated and offer a more realistic look than previous SmackDowns - though they still don't look as realistic as the wrestlers themselves. Wrestlers look more like their real life counterparts and the animation, movement and the general overall presentation is pretty polished in this latest game. Throw in blood (something fans of the series have been begging for for a very long time), souped-up cinematic presentations and animation for location-based damage into the mix and you'll see that SmackDown!'s presentation is the most polished of all the wrestling games currently on the market.

After getting past the new graphics, the second important improvement to the game is the grappling system. Using categories to group grappling moves, each wrestler now has access to 16 grapples under such categories as Signature Move, Quick, Submission and Power. The way it works is pretty straight forward: players initiate a grapple by pushing the O button and their keypad up, down, left or right. Once the move set is selected players push up, down, left or right to initiate one of four moves under that category. Players also have access to the usual extra curricular move types as well as a SmackDown! power move.

The thing that players will notice right off the bat is that some of the button functions have been moved around to facilitate new features: picking up weapons is now done with the Square button, along with a number of other functions like getting in and out of the ring, climbing in onto the ring post and climbing cages, ladders, tables and anything else - the square button is essentially the action button now. The L1 and L2 buttons now facilitate a countering system - L1 for striking moves and L2 for grappling situations. The new grappling situation works pretty well with that configuration and getting used to using the square button won't be too much of a problem for long-time SmackDown! fans. The controller configuration remains unchanged for the rest of the functions in the game like executing a special move, striking, running etc.

Yuke's new location-based damage (which is essentially a sort of mini-game of tug of war) will also have players pounding away at buttons. Essentially the system tracks damage to specific parts of the body using a small character icon. The iconic representation starts out "green" and as damage is inflicted it slowly turns yellow until finally turning a critical red. The "tug-of-war" aspect of this that ties into that little iconic indicator is the new submission and pinning system. When putting on a submission move, the player can tap any button on the controller in a bid to escape. The "tug-of-war" is represented by a line with both extremes on each end (submit on one side, escape on the other) which players must get to by rapidly tapping any button. The cool thing about this new feature is that it makes it a lot harder to beat the AI and the player with a submission move by giving participants a chance to get out of the situation. For player applying these moves it means that working hard within this system can be rewarded by mashing buttons. When players have doled out enough damage to an opponent it starts to take affect physically - for example, a character that has had his or her head beaten in with a chair for an hour will occasionally pause to hold the battered body part. Overall the system works nicely and even though I'm not a fan of button mashing gameplay, it does provide players with more options besides just giving up.

Finally it should be noted that a new stats system can have a profound affect on how difficult a match can be. A created wrestler just starting out will have a difficult time beating a character like Goldberg or Brock Lesnar in any kind of match. Stats determine how strong you are, how well you get out of submissions, how much damage you take and receive and how fast your are. Created players can grow chracters only in season mode by fighting in matches and earning experience points.

The next major change to the system is how season mode works. The new season mode is more streamlined than the last game - players will no longer meander through empty locations in the hopes of finding someone to interact with. The new system lets players simply click on a menu where a personality is waiting to have an interaction, otherwise it doesn't get highlighted. Players can also enter the General Manager's office for the show they are on and get a title shots, transfer to the other show (if they aren't in a storyline or hold any belts) and look at their SP points. SP points are given and taken away for winning matches and losing matches, and doing the right things during interactions with NPCs. These points help your player accomplish things like get title shots, persuade other NPCs to your cause, etc. But SP is just the tip of the iceberg. As I mentioned earlier, players earn experience points and cash every time they successfully win a match. The experience points can be used to upgrade your stats. The money is used to unlock new legend characters, buy new outfits and other insignificant baubles and unlock more move sets for use in the Create-A-Wrestler mode. Starting out in season mode is probably like what it feels like to join a real wrestling federation because you start out on the bottom - assuming you are using a created character. The real joy and incentive of playing through season mode is that over time you'll grow your character to the point where characters like Goldberg (a real powerhouse in the early-goings that will beat you down very quickly) will seem like pushovers. Season mode isn't perfect but it's a lot more entertaining than the previous game's implementation and the new storylines won't get old right away (of course everything gets old after you've been through it a twenty or thirty times). There are some other nice features that make the season mode extra appealing like cinematic vignettes featuring your character and your latest opponent before Pay-Per-Views, new angles that let you create partnerships, tag-teams and stables (similar to what Triple H's Evolution) and the inclusion of legendary superstars like Ted DiBiase, Sgt. Slaughter, The Iron Sheik, etc. Toss the ability to choose who's on which show and who the heels and faces are, and you've got yourself the best season mode on the market.

While Here Comes the Pain is certainly the best SmackDown game to date and the best wrestling game this year, it's now without a few quirks that should be pointed out - even though none of them really affect gameplay in a major way. There's a real problem with focus, just like in THQ's other wrestling games this year - players don't always turn to face other characters properly, often resulting in misses and mishaps for the character you are playing. Another problem I encountered while playing is diving off the top rope onto chracters that were outside the ring; often you'll completely miss your opponent and hit the floor instead. This happens from major heights like the top of a steel cage or in the elimination chamber. Finally AI characters sometimes get stuck in in areas that are of a lower level. For instance, we encountered characters getting caught between the ring ramp when on either the left or right side. While these quirks are minor, they obviously should have been taken care of before the game shipped.

SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain is a polished, well-refined game experience and a must-buy for wrestling fans looking for an intelligent and more complete game system than other games on the market can currently offer. The vast number of improvements to gameplay and the addition of legendary characters, new modes like Elimination Chamber and Bra and Panties matches and a better season mode makes this game the king of the world. Get it and play it today!