Official WWE Website

Platform: PlayStation 2

Genre: Wrestling/Sports Entertainment

Number of Players: 1 - 2

Finally, the WWE has come back to the PlayStation 2! Smackdown! Shut Your Mouth is the follow up to last years highly successful Know Your Role, and if whether you loved or hated the last game, this one promises more action, more thrilling matches, and more whoop ass than you can shake a stick it. In fact, Shut Your Mouth may very well be the most electrifying WWE game in PS2 history, and will certainly appease the millions, and millions of wrestling fans all across the world.

If you’ve played any (or all) of the other WWE games, or watch it regularly, then you’re well aware that the active roster can change at a moment’s notice. With Vince McMahon having bought or buried his major competition (i.e. WCW and ECW) most of those wrestlers that haven’t moved down to the lower ranks of the wrestling world have managed to secure lucrative deals in the WWE. As a result, this year’s active list brings back long time favorites and some new faces as well. Fan favorite like Triple H, Stone Cold Steve Austin, the Undertaker, and of course, The Rock are all playable characters in the game. There’s some new blood (and some old as well) like DDP, Hollywood Hulk Hogan, Kevin Nash, and even the next big thing, Brock Lesnar.

A lot more care and consideration seems to have been taken this time when it comes to each of the wrestlers, and that’s not a bad thing, it’s a good thing. The last game features wrestlers that, for the most part, were clones with slight alterations in appearance, but that was the full extent of it. Now however, things are much different. For instance, if you chose Rob Van Dam, he bounces back and forth, just like how he would on TV. Brock Lesnar will occasionally roll his shoulders and if takes a few too many hits, he’ll get in his opponents face and stare them down.

THQ though has always done exceptionally well at getting the wrestlers entrances nearly exact. A few don’t have the same entrance music, but that would just be Taijiri, Stacey, and The Hardy Boyz. There are even varied ring entrances. Kurt Angel may or may not have the “You suck” chant, Hogan has either his “Real American” music or “Voodoo Child”, and Triple H has either the full song or just a start at the opening riff. It’s the antics that are important though, and those have been included. Undertaker comes down on his Harley, right after stopping the top of the ramp (you can steal the bike as well), Hurricane will spin around with his cape, and even Goldust has that nice semi-slow motion opening that we’re all used to seeing, along with that fancy opening logo. In fact, when it comes right down to it, THQ definitely nailed it with all of the wrestlers ring entrances, and no matter how great a job they did with past titles, this one is simply the best.

Even the punches and grapples vary. RVD doesn’t do too much when it comes to punching, but he’s got a huge barrage of kicks, as does Tajiri. Ricco does that rather interesting flip when he reverses a grapple, and just about every wrestler does in fact have many more unique attacks, reversals, and throws than previous titles. In fact, seeing the differences in each wrestler is half the fun of the game. You even have some of the more cocky moves from wrestlers like Jericho, who will attempt to pin an opponent by standing on them with one foot while doing an arrogant pose. Even the Big Valboski has his awesome looking Fisherman’s Suplex. If you’ve seen it on TV, chances are that you’ll see it in the game.

The finishers are included as well, and that’s no major surprise at all. Much like before, timing and location play an important factor in being able to pull them off. Some are relatively simple, like RVD’s Five Star for example, while others are a bit more of a pain. In order to be able to even use your finisher though, you need to build your meter up either by grappling, punching, kicking, or taunting your opponent. You can even steal your finishing move, laying the ultimate humiliation down on him. Just being able to nail another superstar with a finisher though, doesn’t exactly mean victory though. A tag match or anything else that involves multiple in-ring superstars usually results in some kind of interruption, unless you’ve called in your tag partner before hand as a precaution.

The offers a ton of different game play. You can choose from Career Mode, which is also known as story mode to most players, or just go into exhibition mode that will put you in a single match to test your skills. You can either go up against the computer, or lay the smack down on your friend’s candy ass. However, if you’re not up to taking your friend out to the woodshed, you can team up in a tag match, either with or without a manager. There’s also a six-am tag option, a handicap match, pitting you against more than just one WWE Superstar.

Those are all child’s play though, and there’s some even more interesting, and entertaining, matches in store. You can take on 29 other WWE brawlers in the infamous Royal Rumble or even take part in the King of the Ring card. If you’re feeling hardcore, and I’m sure you are, you can be an entrant in some of the most vicious Hardcore matches designed. You’re not just limited to the ring, and anything does, including any weapon you can find. It’s not just a head-to-head contest however, and you can take it to the limit of having six Superstars battling it out for the Hardcore title.

If that’s still not enough, there’s a plethora of special matches, including the barbaric Hell in the Cell. You can put yourself in an “I Quit!” match, have a special referee, or even go for an Iron Man match where a pin gets you a point, and whomever has the most at the end of the time limit wins. There’s the ever popular Lumber Jack match where the boys of the WWE will keep you in the ring, by any mean necessary. Tables, ladders, and chairs, and everything else are in the special match options

Many things have changed, while some have stayed very close to the way that there were in the previous title. First off, let’s address the one thing that I know just about everyone despised in Shut Your Mouth, and that’s the “story mode.” The last game had a horrid story line, in fact it was more or less like the Vince Russo days of WCW, and you see exactly where his skills got the company (and him.) Now, you initially start off with the draft, allowing you to have either the option of being on Smackdown (controlled by Mr. McMahon) or RAW (controlled by Ric Flair.) Either you can make the picks, or you can leave it all up to the computer. Regardless, once it’s set, there’s no going back. And yes, both brands have their respective opening themes, and I’m sure it cost a pretty penny to pick up the rights to use Marylin Manson’s “Beautiful People.”

Whereas the last game had more of a predicable story line (okay, I know what you’re thinking, wrestling and predictable go together, but that’s beside the point) things definitely aren’t that way with Shut Your Mouth. Before going into a match, you have the option of exploring the arena and bumping into someone. What happens from there is really up to you. I ran into Debra at one point, asked for some of those delicious cookies and the next thing you know Austin is there in my face shouting “What?” Later, while playing as Jericho, I managed to get a title shot against the Undisputed Champion, The Undertaker. After playing some mind games, he decided that he wasn’t going to defend his title because I’d “chickened out.” When the hell did that happen? So, I lost my shot because the old man was scared, and instead had a match against Booker T, where the loser had to kiss the biggest ass in the WWE. I really hope Booker liked having his face buried in Rikishi’s ass after I beat him to a pulp and put him in The Walls of Jericho.

Once in a while you’ll get offered other match options. I’ve been offered the chance to go to Insurrection in England a few times, and also the chance to enter the King of the Ring, once again with the hopes of getting a shot at the title. This has to do with your star rating though, and the higher you rate the more like these chances of the boss throwing you a bone are. You don’t always have to accept these opportunities though. If you want, you can also interfere in someone else’s match, pretty much guaranteeing a rivalry. Be warned though, you’ll have people showing up at ringside that you don’t want during your matches as well, and it will either end up costing you the match, or you can throw it yourself. I’ve been DQ’ed a couple of times by acting, and not thinking. Also, there’s the occasion, with proper button pressing and timing of course, you can get a little extra in at the conclusion of the match. I’ve brought a steal chair in on more than one occasion (even after I won) and pummeled them mercilessly. Winning PPV’s does have its advantages. You can unlock various things, like costumes and accessories for the create-a-wrestler mode, movies, as well as other rings and venues for the exhibition mode.

With all the different modes, the ring announcers this time are Jerry “The King” Lawler and good old Jim Ross. There does seem to be the usual amount of repetition in what’s said, however it’s not nearly as frequent as what Just Bring It was. Fortunately, Tazz and Michael Cole are not the announce team this time, and even through Cole has improved drastically over the past couple of years, I still have my preference to the RAW team. Unfortunately though, there’s still no trash talk in the ring, or even on the outside. I was hoping the it would have been brought back, but that wasn’t the case at all.

The biggest draw in the recent WWE games has been the create-a-wrestler mode, and it’s back and better than ever. Just about everything imaginable can be changed, morphed, and altered. You can add different colored eyes, pick what hairstyle, clothing, and even accessories your wrestler will have, and go as far as changing the color of anything and everything. If you want, you can even adjust the way your characters eyes and nose sit. There are even tattoos that you can choose from. That’s not all this time though. You can go into the options and select and create your own taunts, running style, and even winning pose. If you’d ever found the previous creation modes a bit lacking, this one will certainly show you otherwise. You could just as easily spend as many hours creating a new character as you could playing the game itself.

No game is perfect though, at least, very few of them are anyway. Even with all of the great improvements that have been made with the WWE license, there are still some minor problems, but these are more or less quibbles regarding things that I felt were missing. You still can’t pull the tights or use the ropes to get leverage. What’s up with that? Even in career mode, you can’t do things like get upset over having to job to someone else and decide your not going to show up at a televised event (like Austin has done in the past.) Some variation in the arenas would have been nice since the exterior locations in all of them are identical. There’s no online option either, which I think would be great. We could have hosts act as the “manager in charge” and set up the matches, create their own federations, maybe even make their own belts. There’s always next time around I suppose.

Even with my minor complaints though, Shut Your Mouth is one of the best wrestling simulations that’s been released to date. The ideas and changes just keep getting better and better, as do the graphic improvements and collection of moves. Tings have improved with the series tremendously though not just on the part of THQ, but also pairing up with Yukes hasn’t hurt business in the least. It’s one of the best moves that could have been done. This is one of the must have titles for any WWE fans, and I know there’s plenty of you out there. Pick this up, sucka!!!

-mike-