| WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 First Look |
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| Wednesday, 02 April 2008 | |
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They'd be wrong. Cory Ledesma, THQ senior creative manager, took the stage just after noon at the Swan Hotel in Orlando and laid out the "teaser" for SVR 09 that IGN fans are already busy memorizing -- the company's commitment to improving load times, rebuilding the AI, and so on -- but he also dropped a few unannounced tidbits and gave us our first chance to see the game in action via some prepackaged clips. First up was how the new tag team features are going to work. If you haven't made your way through all of our coverage, SVR '09 is revamping of how the series handles tag team matches. In a video feature starring Jeff and Matt Hardy against Ken Kennedy and Randy Orton, Ledesma walked us through some of the nifty double team moves the Superstars now have access to. With the opponent on the ground, Matt lifted Jeff, Jeff kicked out his legs, and when Jeff got to the highest point, Matt released his brother for a devastating leg drop. The brothers Hardy pulled off a double-sided Russian leg sweep, and Jeff tripped an opponent before Matt dropped his trusty old fist on the bad guy's head. Although it was quick, we also got to see our first tag team finisher. Matt hit the Twist of Fate, and as soon as the move was over, Jeff was soaring through the air for the Swanton Bomb. Each of the moves on the left-side laundry list -- grapples, piledriver positions, etc. -- has a speed attached to it that players can modify at will to make it more dramatic or snappier. In the THQ video, creation focused on creating an F-U Brainbuster and a cradle piledriver for John Cena. The piledriver, a seven-step move, started with the green guy putting the red guy into position, green guy kissing his biceps, green guy lifting the red guy up and rotating just and bit, the green guy cradling the red guy, and then the inevitable drop on the head. Once the moves were completed, they were given to Cena and demonstrated against Orton. That might not be the most interesting thing to read, but it sure looked good. Although there were cuts in the video so load times and such were impossible to get a read on, the step-by-step addition of moves and adjustments of speed all blended together seamlessly to make the mode seem like it'll be really easy to get into and in-depth with. Your created moves will work in any mode with every Superstar -- created or legit. When the videos were over, the new news wasn't. Ledesma let us know that there will be an additional 300 motion-captured animations in SVR '09, that Road to WrestleMania will focus on the three months leading up to the big event, that the new tag features work in all tag matches (six-man tag matches were mentioned), and that he's not too worried about that "other" wrestling game coming to the market. "We're looking into it," he said. "We're not really worried about it"
By IGN |
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