While I certainly do have my own views concerning what I regard as "art", as would anyone, I do not share Chi's opinion for WWF SmackDown: Just Bring Its "Create-A-Wrestler" mode. I've always viewed these features as nothing more than extras designed to beef up a game. Such options would attract my curiosity for little more than five minutes, browsing around to see what they offered in terms of choice and originality, before I permanently left them alone. When remembering this game, the first thing that will come to Chi will probably be the Create-A-Wrestler menu. I however, will remember the title as a PlayStation 2 comedy show, something it most likely was not meant to be portrayed as.
Anyone in need of a good laugh need only listen to the in-game voice commentary. Michael Cole and Tazz, the two announcers calling the action, are terrible to the point of being hilarious. First, there's the matter of what they're saying. I'm not sure whether they came up with there own material or not, but I seriously doubt any of the comments in Just Bring It would ever be heard in an actual WWE event. When in a match where a big wrestler is involved, such as Albert, there's nothing like hearing Tazz say "Albert is HUGE!" to have at least one of the two players laugh it out and lose the chance to maintain or gain the momentum. Such is an example of the many brainless remarks found in the rather poor commentary this game offers. Some would justify this by the fact that I'm dealing with a "rasslin" as Chi referred to it. Then again, I don't believe the commentary in the actual WWE events is as bad as what I've heard in the game. It might have helped had they taken Jerry "The King" Lawler and Jim Ross, two men who would have been perfect for the job and would probably have had much more entertaining comments.
Much of what is being spoken sounds like words and parts of sentences taped together. For example, when introducing those who will be competing, the tone of voice used by Michael Cole will vary significantly as he names the wrestlers and describing what type of match is taking place. This reminded me of the automated customer service greeting message I had to listen to whenever I would call my Internet provider. At least, in Just Bring It's case, it wasn't frustrating, only comical.
Ironically enough, with all the bugs that can be noticed while playing through a match, Just Bring It's wrestling generally looks as fake as the real deal. When in a hardcore match, adversaries can often feel the full impact of an object even though they might not be been within the range of strike that same object should have. High risk maneuvers involving tables or ladders are the worst though, when it came to this sort of problem. Ive been left speechless more than once after witnessing the odd and entirely unpredictable results to have come from such moves.
As Chi has so well argued already, the "Create-A-Wrestler" mode can be described as the meat of the game. However, for someone who is simply looking for a good wrestling title and does not seek to practice his or her artistic talents, Just Bring It is not the ideal title. I'll admit I got a few laughs out of it, especially from the voice commentary, but this should be viewed as something that needs to be worked on in the next sequel to come. Wrestling games weren't designed to make people laugh and this one, unfortunately was not designed to be very entertaining.
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