WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 Preview

SmackDown VS. Raw returns once again, this time with new threads.

The Undertaker is on his knees. His eyes (pretty in black eyeliner, of course) reveal shock, anger and disbelief. He tried to get back into the ring in time. He tried to beat the referee's count out. But he couldn't. And in the blink of an eye reigning World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk is off down the tunnel towards back stage safety, holding that belt aloft. It was a brutal, dominating performance by The Dead Man. Disqualification was CM Punk's only hope. Disqualification is what he got.

Say what you will about WWE, you can't deny it has its moments. The one described above I saw the night before I sat down to write this hands-on preview, around about midnight on one of the many Sky Sports channels. And, say what you will about THQ's long-running (this is the 11th!) SmackDown vs. Raw series, you can't deny it has its moments, too.

Most of the memorable ones occur when playing the game with friends. Over a few beers, perhaps. Laughing, messing about, folly. SDvsR is not Street Fighter IV. It's not THQ's excellent UFC 2009: Undisputed, despite being developed by the same Japanese studio. You can't take WWE broadcasts too seriously, and you can't take SDvsR too seriously. Once you accept that, the annual updates are often a right laugh.

Perhaps because THQ knows SDvsR is probably as good as it's going to get in a multiplayer sense, this year it's concentrated on giving the solo player more stuff to do outside the ring. SDvsR2010's tagline is "It's Your World Now". It's all about you, the player, not only creating your superstar, as you have been able to do for a few years now, but creating your own storyline. As all WWE fans know (it's clear not all WWE fans know this), WWE is as much of a soap opera as it is a spectacle of athleticism. Superstars are actors as well as muscle-bound monstrosities. It's all about expression - in the arms, in the face, in the eyes.

THQ and Japanese developer Yuke's has this year knuckled down on improving the creation features

So, welcome to WWE Story Designer mode, an expanded version of the GM Mode from 2008's game. The actual mode was inaccessible in our preview build, but we know enough about it to reckon it's going to suck up plenty of your time. The idea is you'll be able to design your own storylines featuring the various WWE brands: SmackDown, Raw and ECW, and even pay-per-view. You decide the matches. You decide the scenarios. Like the game says: "It's your world now."

The nitty gritty sounds promising. Your created superstars will read from a script penned by you, although much of it will no doubt be pre-made. You'll be able to tweak the length of the storyline, the number of superstars involved, match types, stipulations and winning conditions. And real superstars can be integrated into your storyline. You'll want The Undertaker making a dramatic appearance of course, since he's clearly the best. Ever.