Well, after reading Dale's review and considering some of his points, I must admit that I had a little change of heart and felt compelled to lower my rating on Smackdown 2. The game definitely has major issues that I needed to emphasize more.

Its no secret that developers dont have the best track record when it comes to producing videogame sequels. Some will attack the problems that plagued the original in a deliberate attempt to improve upon the playing experience. The rest will just add the prerequisite bells and whistles fans are demanding without giving much thought to how the entire package will fit together. That appears to be the case with Yukes sophomore WWF release, WWF Smackdown! 2: Know Your Role.

In the end, the graphics and sound may be lacking, but Smackdown! shows up where it counts the most, in the amount of features and the rock-solid gameplay. It's not without a bit of irony that at a time when wrestling game developers are trying to complicate a player's actions in a misguided attempt to create some sort of wrestling simulation, Smackdown! manages to do just that with a far simpler style.

So in Smackdown!, the ability to grow my character and further adjust his arsenal of moves with choices that only become available after I've reached certain levels of ability really caught my attention—hook, line and sinker. I simply couldn't stop playing there after, and Smackdown! became just plain smack for me.