Smackdown vs Raw 2009 - Let's patch it!

To:  THQ/Yukes

Dear Smackdown players!
Dear fellows at THQ & Yukes!

I've been playing the Smackdown games for years. I especially enjoyed the online mode, as it has always been fun to me and friends, but this year, that has changed. There are several issues I myself encountered, and there are a few more that I've heard of on different message boards that're focusing on the WWE games. Let our voice be heard, just read the stuff I've found, and if you want to change it, just leave your name by signing the petition. Optionally, you can also add your gaming platform and a comment. The purpose of this petition is to make THQ/Yukes think twice about releasing a real patch that'll solve all the matters that make online playing with Smackdown vs Raw 2009 a lot less enjoyable.

_____


>>> Create-A-Finisher

Oh my god. This must be the worst feature ever included into a Smackdown title. It looked really nice on paper. You would be able to create your own move, customize it the way you like, being able to both create all-new moves just like maneuvers from Ex-WWE or independent stars. But in the end, this well-intentioned bonus led to what we had to expect, considering the mass of lamers online... finishers like the “choke-hold”, which consists of lifting the opponent with both hand and from then on, it’s just the same choking animation over and over again, until the whole players’ body’s red. So the online-matches on SvR2009 are pretty repetitive at times – your getting hit with a few “fist of fury’s” (more on that later), and once the lamers’ momentum has filled, he will be sure to use his choke-hold and in 9 out of 10 matches, he’ll win the match without any real effort. It’s the same with some other things alot of people have seen online. Finishers who include getting kicked in the balls 5 times, then receiving 3 powerbombs, being finished with an RKO. Of course, the speed is turned to the max, this is pure realism! ;-) One more thing with the choke-hold is that once someone’s used it on you, you won’t be able to stand up for a long time. Therefore, lamers often choose to player either cage- or last man standing-matches – easy wins. The CAF-mode needs to be revised and the possibility to instantly turn someone red after one move is just ridiculous and takes the fun out of it.

_____


>>> Fist of fury

This whole abuse of FoF (fist of fury) is ruining much of the fun in the game and on the same time, it provides the perfect basis for the choke-hold (see above for more on that). The first of the three consecutive attacks is pretty often very hard to block, because it’ll either be very fast (breaking your own, mostly slower move or attack, so you don’t get to attack at all, the “Elbow Smash” is the perfect example) or they are hitting with a great delay, there are kicks in the game that I can’t block until this day, just because of their shitty, long animation. Thing is, the FoF is unblockable from the moment you don’t block the first of three attacks. And lamers from all over the world love to place that dizzy-hit to the third place, it’ll make your superstar stagger, and you’ll be unable to block anything. So the lamer just spears you or hits a few more FoF’s, until his momentum’s full and it’s choking time! I fought guys who would repeatedly use FoF on me, like about 20 times – it’s a joke! THQ/Yukes should consider making all three hits blockable and they should also take out that staggering which disables your moving and blocking. It plain sucks and doesn’t add to the realism or fun.

_____


>>> Unblockable glitches/moves

If you ever played against a real lamer, you’ll already know the things I talked about above. But it’s not all, not by a long shot. There are several, seemingly unblockable attacks in the game. Ever tried to block a spear? You know that headbutt where the lamer drops to his knees and seemingly pushes you away, again making you stagger? They will do anything not to break the 2000-hit-combo. Moves have always been blockable in some way or another, but in this years’ game, it plain sucks.


_____


>>> Crowd glitches

Another type of glitches is the „crowd glitch“. A few times, I would play online Tag Team matches with a buddy. Our opponents: London/Kendrick. Oddly, the guys rushed out of the ring and started rolling towards the barrier. Just after every roll, they used their ability for the crowd taunt, and after a few tries, they got the right timing for the evasive roll and moved right through the barrier into the crowd. The tactic’s easy from now on: Just wait for the other team to disconnect. We played as the DX, so no rolling, nor getting into crowd. At least we didn’t know of/wanted to use any glitches to do so. Just as annoying is the fact that some guys think it’s funny to repeatedly use the crowd taunt, making a proper match impossible. Why has this stupid ability even been included? It sucks, it doesn’t really add any fun. It’s just used by those who find it funny to do it all the time until the others disconnect. Easy win, again.

_____


>>> Create-A-Wrestler

What’s this?? Are you serious? Last year’s game was awesome when it comes to created superstars. You could design them in any way you want, make others laugh or impress them because your character looks so impressive. I won’t even bother talking about the limitations that PS3-users have (32 layers instead of 64, as one the 360 – for the second year in a row!). I wouldn’t even need all those extra-layers! You know why? No matter what, I still wouldn’t be able to create my beloved Spider-Man character. Because since this year, for some reason you can’t use designs on head/torso, only tattoos. Just great. No, THQ/Yukes, why don’t you go online and take a look around! Last year, there were so many colorful and extemely well-made CAWs, this year, there are just a few gangsters with shitty Tribal-tattoos, wearing hoodies, jeans and sporting yellow eyes. They look plain shitty. Shitty gangsters. And all of them have maxed stats. I wonder how they do that – playing through such a boring and badly implemented career mode (although I won’t talk about that, as you’ve already announced the release of a patch that’ll solve this problem). This is the most important critic on the game for me personally. I wanna play with cool CAWs, why limit the gamer, when the last iteration had it all in pure perfection??

_____


>>> No support

Where IS THQ? Who is overseeing the servers? Where are the tournaments with great prizes, where does the gamer get motivated to play the game? I guess there is no official league because THQ does know about the unfair way alot of people are playing. How about a few guys who represent the company, something like a game-master or global mods who you can go and complain about certain players or things?

_____


>>> WTF? No bad words in the chat?

Helloooo? I’m from Germany, I can’t even use the word “dass” which doesn’t mean more than “that” in a special contect. But the game just won’t let me put it into the chat. Is that a bad word I don’t know about? Think about it. About 50% of all players are already using headsets on their console. They will still shout words like “motherf****er” or “**** you”, which you won’t be able to filter. There was no word filter in the last game. I don’t know why you’re adding useless stuff like this. Think about today’s kids, nowadays they’d know more curses at the age of 12 than I’m knowing now, being 21.

_____


>>> DLC (PS3/Europe)

Downloadable content. Yeehaw! This criticism only concerns the Playstation 3. Microsoft has learned a long time ago that not every average guy/player has a credit card at home. So they offered Prepaid-cards, making it possible to buy ‘em in a store and use them to purchase game extras and stuff on Xbox Live. What about the PS3? Here in Europe, we don’t have those fancy PSN Cards, which are the equivalent of the Xbox-Cards. Don’t you guys wanna make money off your added content? How am I supposed to buy anything on the Playstation Store if I don’t have a credit card? I guess this really doesn’t directly concern THQ, but Sony. But still, it’s important for the game itself, isn’t it?

_____


>>> Minor bugs/issues

• Backbreaker-Crowd-glitch:
When fighting someone outside the ring, using the Ultimate Control-Backbreaker move on one of the ringposts once (just smashing him against it, still carrying him with you) will enable you to walk right into the crowd, through the barricades while still hanging on to the move

• Burning tables:
The sound of burning fire stays, although the opponent has already been thrown through it – concerning the ECW Extreme Rules Match

• Chokeslam (online):
Especially often used in Triple Threat Matches: One player takes the ref into the Chokeslam (the one where you have control how the move will turn out) – this move can’t be aborted by attacking the player using the chokeslam and the ref won’t do a thing to escape the choke

• Create-A-Wrestler (game freezes):
After creating a wrestler, the game just won’t work correctly but will freeze several times and when entering the Career Mode, the player experienced major graphical bugs

• Create-An-Entrance:
Sometimes, the addition of music and/or fireworks doesn’t work properly. They just won’t show up where they should, but a few days later, they’d work properly

• Crowd looks (very) bad:
The crowd looks even worse than in the last iteration, especially if you’re playing a match in the “Tribute To The Troops” arena

• Elimination Chamber Match:
Whip-In doesn’t work properly (when being thrown into the corner, the wrestler just keeps running towards it without stopping) – this was reported by several players

• Hornswoggle Bug:
If you attack Hornswoggle after you summoned him from unter the ring, he will not run away, but stay at the same place for the rest of the match. He also loses his weapon, if somehow tries to pick it up in order to use it, the character won’t even attempt to touch the thing, but will freeze until he is attacked or grappled again

• Manager bug:
When playing as a manager, entering the ring will sometimes turn the whole screen black without any reason

• PS3: 6 Wrestlers on screen:
Works fine on the 360, but the game gets really slow and sloppy on the PS3, playing isn’t enjoyable this way, same goes for the 4-player matches online – and by the way, the game lagging is one thing, the crowd also looks way worse than e.g. in a 4-man match: less people, looking very bad (this isn’t the case on the 360)

• PSP – Career mode:
After gaining two titles without any pause, trying to save the game after the second title win will let the game freeze, you can’t even switch off your PSP, the battery has to be removed and re-inserted back

• PSP – CAW mode:
Belts are not shown on the superstar

• Ranked matches – invitation:
Why can I invite someone while playing a non-ranked match, but not in a ranked one? Huh?

• Realism issues:
Bleeding superstars wouldn’t bleed anymore after a match in RtWM mode, even after beating another superstar with a possum pin after a few minutes without enduring any damage, your superstar will always look so exhausted that it seems he fought for hours

• Royal Rumble – Themes:
When changing the music theme for a wrestler, it all works fine while playing normal matches – but if the superstar enters a Royal Rumble match a few minutes into the match, the music won’t play and he’ll enter the ring without any music

• Tag Team Matches:
When entering the ring to aid your partner, the ref will even continue to count to 5 although you already left the ring at the count of 4 or below – then he simply disqualifies your team although you fought within the rules

• Wii – Cage Matches:
Using a move as a signature that will catapult your opponent outside the ring (e.g. the Jericho-esque dropkick from the second rope into the corner) will prompt the opponent outside the cage. He is now able to walk through everything

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Smackdown vs Raw 2009 - Let's patch it! Petition to THQ/Yukes was created by paying customers who still play the game and written by Alexander Skrzypkowski (alexander.skrzypkowski@googlemail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.