WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain

Image Source: Amazon

Written By: Mark Armstrong

Publisher: THQ
Developer: Yuke's
Genre: Wrestling
Series: SmackDown! (It would become SmackDown vs. Raw and WWE in future)
Released: October 27 2003 (US) and November 7 2003 (UK)
Certificate: 16
Consoles: PS2

I've definitely been looking forward to writing this retro game review ...

Ask any longtime wrestling fan what the best videogame of the genre to date is, and there's an excellent chance that they will say WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain. And with good reason: the fifth game of the annual SmackDown! series was not only the best to date, but it offered a fantastic mix of in-depth grappling, massive names, a plethora of matches and options, tremendously entertaining backstage areas and an exciting, unpredictable Season mode, all of which combined to form a truly exceptional wrestling game. Its most immediate predecessor, SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth, had been another strong entry, but HCTP built upon everything that SYM did well and improved it, as well as fixing some of the weaker areas in SYM and adding new content along the way.

For starters, the roster size had increased, with series debuts for Goldberg, Rey Mysterio, Scott Steiner, John Cena, Batista, Shelton Benjamin, Charlie Haas, Victoria, Eric Bischoff and others joining the wealth of big names already present such as Steve Austin, The Rock, Triple H, Shawn Michaels and loads more. Even more importantly, though, this was the first WWE game to officially include Legends, inspired by the Legends Of Wrestling series of games by Acclaim. There were 11 in total, and the retro crew consisted of a vintage Undertaker, Roddy Piper, Ted DiBiase, Sgt Slaughter, Jimmy Snuka, Hillbilly Jim, The Legion Of Doom, Iron Sheik, Nicholai Volkoff and George "The Animal" Steele. Granted, the Legends didn't have their entrance themes nor their proper entrances (the old-school WrestleMania mini-rings were used for their intros, which was a bit cool to be fair), and some may argue that the choice of Legends was a bit questionable, but many of the absolutely massive names were still competing on some level, and as it was the first time out for Legends, it wasn't a bad line-up at all. The roster could have been even better, since Hulk Hogan and The Ultimate Warrior were removed for different reasons, and the character models for several then-current WWE wrestlers hadn't been completed in time. Nevertheless, even as it was the roster was fantastic, and one of the best all-round line-ups ever assembled in a WWE game, at least at that point in time.

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