Wrestling is a silly “sport”. Let’s be honest it is completely ridiculous, and it is this ridiculous nature that makes it entertaining. Unfortunately the madness that is wrestling is very challenging to capture in a video game. In the somewhat limited amount of wrestling I have watched, it has always seemed that the crazy stage shows and smack talk sections encompass a significant amount of the content as well as providing most of the entertainment (for me at least). Unfortunately most wrestling games treat the subject as if this stuff was real. Are they afraid that little Timmy will be heartbroken when he finds out that this is just a stage show? On the other hand I guess it would be challenging to represent wrestling for what it really is and to keep it fun at the same time. Sadly Smackdown vs. RAW 2010 still takes most of it pretty seriously. However, they have added a pretty substantial story editor that lets you be as crazy as you want (very).
The story editor lets you use prefabricated wrestling moments to which you can add custom text to make your story. These moments include all the standard wrestling stuff like a speech at the podium, wrestlers screaming crap into a mic while in the ring, backstage interviews and that kind of thing with some more crazy stuff like wrestlers jumping onto the stage out of the crowd or people being run over by cars to mix things up. The editor allows for a great deal of flexibility by letting you choose the type of animation, its location, the wrestlers involved and any custom text you want to enter. I created an elaborate story that spanned many weeks of theatrics followed by only three matches. These matches were set up to require specific goals to be met. This is by far the coolest addition to this year’s Smackdown vs. RAW. 
Another great addition is the Training Facility. This is where the game will start you off when you first boot it up and is invaluable to those less familiar with these types of games (me). Simply put there are an absolutely staggering amount of commands to get your head around and the training facility lets you perform these at your own pace rather than giving them to you in a set order. Being that you are in the ring with an opponent this is the best way to practice the controls.
There is also a new Community Creations feature which should please the fans, as it lets gamers share their created Superstars and the aforementioned storylines. A large portion of the user created stuff is even more absurd than my own creation and should at the very least provide some entertainment.
If you can’t be bothered creating your own story, last year’s Road to Wrestlemania returns. This of course offers fully produced stories with the actual wrestlers providing the voice work. This year there are also some interactive cutscenes from time to time, but they are fairly basic (press “a” to smash opponent in the face). One of the stories is almost co-op, but it turns out that you spend most of the time taking turns at fighting AI opponents in individual matches with only the occasional tag or battle royal match.
While there are some great additions to this year’s game there are some fairly major flaws that have been around for a while. Opponent AI is all over the place and you see them doing some truly bizarre (and dumb) stuff fairly often. The animation system is stiff and unnatural looking and you can get stuck in your animation loops for way too long. Hit detection is spotty at best and abysmal at worst. It is also far too easy to accidentally attack the referee and get disqualified. Basically the game lacks a lot of polish, especially when compared to UFC 2009: Undisputed. Even though UFC is based on a real sport in game form they amount to much the same thing.
Closing Thoughts
Even though Smackdown vs. RAW 2010 still lacks some polish, it is a vast improvement on the previous year’s game, and I would suggest that fans of the series give it a go. You might end up like me spending the majority of your time making up some crazy ass stories, but I am certain you have will have good time.
