The six tales are basically exactly what you’d see on TV in the year leading up to Wrestlemania. The presentation is spot-on, and with the emphasis firmly on only your Superstar, it’s impossible not to get drawn into the male soap opera that is professional wrestling. I’m sure plenty of people are going to get pissy about how their favorite didn’t get a story, or that they can’t use their created wrestler in the story – but if you’re complaining, you obviously aren’t a wrestling fan. In terms of a story driven mode in a wrestling game, this is the best there is, the best there was, and the best there ever will be. (Okay, hopefully it won’t be the best there ever will be; in the future I dream of a wrestling game where all members of the roster have their own unique story mode!)

Create a Superstar is always one of the most anticipated modes in any wrestling game, but here it’s basically just a near copy of the create mode from last year’s game. That’s not an entirely bad thing as the CAW mode was well executed and featured a wide variety of customization. Sadly, having the same positives also means having the same negatives, and many of the problems plaguing Smackdown vs Raw 2008’s CAW still feature prominently here. Lots of costume options clip through bodies, height differentials still result in awful looking grab points in move animations, etc.

It doesn’t help that the only way to get attributes for your created superstar is to endure the boring and repetitive career mode, which pales in comparison to Road to Wrestlemania, and then gain stats and skills by using them until they level up a la an RPG. Thankfully, THQ has promised a patch which will allow players to distribute stats to all of their created superstars after clearing the career mode with one; sadly, that patch has no ETA other than “by January 31, 2009.”

Wrestlers aren’t all you can create in this game, as we’re finally given a Create a Finisher mode. I admit that Create a Finisher sounds like a great mode on the back of the box, but ultimately it’s just too limited in what it allows you to string together animation wise. I really think Yukes should have spent some more time fixing the already-present problems in the create mode rather than add a lackluster, limited extension to it, but then again some people will really enjoy it. Just don’t expect to get full control over what you envision, because the game has very traditional viewpoints when it comes to what moves can go after each other.

I suppose if I have one issue with the game, it’s that, it doesn’t feel all that different from 2008. While the new Road to Wrestlemania mode gives us an incredible 15-18 hours of original, TV-quality stories for wrestling fans, the core one-on-one gameplay and Create a Superstar mode are pretty much what we played last year. Add barely upgraded graphics to the equation, and at times it feels more like Smackdown vs Raw 2008 v. 2.0 than a new game. (In this regard it’s becoming like every other mainstream sports game.) Still, given how awesome Road to Wrestlemania is – and how enjoyable the new tag team changes are – it’s hard not to recommend the game to hardcore wrestling fans. 2009 doesn’t do a whole lot to fix the issues from 2008, but its new bells and whistles certainly make it easier to stomach.

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