Even Vince must feel nostalgic.
Showmanship. The beating heart of the world of wrestling that has made that singular virtue such a solid staple of those who love to spectate wanton violence guiltfree for the last few decades. Gone are the days of gladiatorial bouts, slaves fed to lions and football played with human heads. (Was that actually a real sport? I've yet to see someone with actual qualifications attest to that, but that doesn't mean they're not out there) Here are the days of flashy names, bulbous personalities and surprisingly ingrained interpersonal lore which isn't all that necessary to enjoy the spectacles but it paints the 'why'. (As though wrestling matches need a 'why' in order to exist.) With all that pomp and mirrors, why it's almost as though this was a sport made for video game adaptations.
Those who are familiar with the more recent wrestling game offerings, the 2K WWE games, likely have a very skewered perception of what a wrestling game is even supposed to be. They probably think they've always been barely functional freakshows that exist merely as a shoe-in for all of the reject gimmicks that didn't work for all of the other sports games of the year. (That physics update we wrote turned out to be totally non-functional in the basketball game? Slap it on the WWE title, no one'll notice.) But those of you will just have to believe me when I say that there was a time when these games were the games. The sorts of titles you could bet you'd see in just about anyone's collection, because no better video game party icebreaker existed for those of us who had outgrown the true bloodsport game: Mario Party. (How many lives have been lost bickering over the uncaring Party die? When will this travesty end?)
When I think back for myself, closing my eyes and envisioning the most holy of holies, the title which comes to mind is WWE Smackdown. (Which I'm seeing here was also entitled 'Here comes the pain'. Don't remember that bit) Although true wrestling game fans have catalogue knowledge that predates even that, and maybe some favourites that even span back to those prehistoric WWF games. Wait, both of those games have the subtitle 'Smackdown'. Oh crap, which one did I play then? Umm... I remember the Rock being in it, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was in both. But he's actually on the front of WWF Smackdown... was it that one? Damn, I'm learning on the job with this one. Look I played a Smackdown game, it doesn't really matter which because they were all bloody good, in stark contrast to the near unplayable train wrecks we receive these days.
Again it's going to come down to passion for the craft which made these old games so great, as it always does with artistic endeavours. And these wrestling games were a simple and addictive premise to sell, picking and playing as one of the many charismatic wrestling superstars in order to recreate your very own matches of 'capture the briefcase', cage match' or just simple beatdown grudge match-ups; it sells itself. I don't remember a royal rumble mode being in the game, so either I didn't play it or perhaps that event wasn't in circulation around the real WWE back then, but pretty much everything else you could ask for out of current games was present all the way back in the early 2000's. Which is really what a lot of sporting fans keep gawking at when new Sports games arrive with missing features. ("You're being outperformed by almost twenty year-old software? Really!?")
Of course, the big difference between the video game wrestling and the real thing is that in the games you really are trying to beat your opponent to a pulpy mess of viscera. Actual 'showmanship' was an assumed by product of the targeted violence, which is the one feature I can actually say that the 2K games have started to improve upon. In modern wrestling games you'll have certain modes where you're encouraged to actually stage a show as you brutalise your opponent, remembering that this isn't just another bloodsport in tight underpants. But there is still a simple fun to be had when you pick up a table and whack it around the head of your opponent, throwing away the truth that this is all for funsie's and actually seething for that knockout. The illusion is heighted, there's no doubt about that.
Something that I keep being surprised by, when I come back to look at these games, is the level of detail that goes into the presentation. Yes, by today's standards we're looking at a collection of amorphous blobs stacked atop on another, but squinting through the eyes of a 2004 (or around those years) game and it's pretty on par with what the best where capable of around about that time. Character models were mostly recognisable when placed next to the star they were meant to depict, and these games weren't afraid to prove that by having actual footage of the real star play behind these models during the entrances. Some are better than others, obviously, but the overall job is definitely praise worthy, and probably a big part why these games were so popular when fans could truly but into the fiction.
As the entries went on I seem to remember the games getting better and better, with even some model damage being thrown in there during the 'vs RAW' days, so I can't pinpoint where everything went wrong. I mean, the obvious answer is to say 'the second 2K slapped their name on the box' but it can't be that cut and dry, right? I remember Smack-Down versus Raw feeling like a whole new generation of games, and by that point I'd personally lost interest in the series, but somehow between that and the 2K acquisition everything started to stagnate. Not get worse, just starting to feel very similar. But then, what can one really do with wrestling games to make them any better? When the formula was pretty much nailed in the early 2000's where else in there to go? But similarly, if there's nothing to improve upon then that probably means we didn't need another new entry every bloody year for the past two decades. (No matter how many wheelbarrows of blood-money Vince McMahon was shovelling.)
Of course, the obvious downfall of quality recently was no great mystery. 2K were getting bored living life on easy mode and decided to throw a curve ball at everyone by firing the legacy teams that were providing the status quo in order to give the project to a new team. All whilst expecting the new game to arrive in the same delivery window as the old team managed. (Yeah, obviously that was going to result in a mess.) But we could spend our lives bemoaning an old classic which is never going to reach the pre-eminence the series once enjoyed, or live with the numerous perfectly functional quality games we've had over the years. WWE is a curious series where even the early 2000's games are just as fun today as they used to be, and that's why I'm all in favour of killing the 2K wrestling licence altogether. Huh? That wasn't what this blog was about? No, I'm pretty sure that's what I've been leading to this whole time. You didn't see that coming? Well maybe you should have paid more attention!
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