SmackDown vs. RAW 2006: Creation 101

By Jeremy Dunham

No matter how many superstars THQ may cram into WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006, there's always going to be somebody out there who was left out. Sadly, that's the curse of having roster deadlines when developing a videogame, and when you consider how tumultuous the WWE roster changes are from year to year anyway, it's really no surprise that certain guys miss the final cut. This year is no exception, either -- as despite the fact that last year's missing personalities Eugene, La Resistance, and others have finally been included for this season, the more recent pushes such as MNM, Matt Hardy, and Viscera are still nowhere to be found.

So the next question is, "Why not just make them instead?"

In SmackDown vs. Raw 2006 that's exactly what you can do. Just as in years past, the game's Create-A-Superstar feature is neck and neck with Tiger Woods 06 as the most extensive character creation tool in the videogame world. Every game out, THQ has managed to improve on this feature in some way or another and this year, the changes are some of the best in recent memory.

For this installment of continued SmackDown vs. Raw 2006 coverage, we'll be taking a closer look at the creation mode and show you what's new, what isn't, and what you can expect in the final version of the game. Keep in mind, that there's a lot more detail that we could have gone into other than this, but in the spirit of keeping things fun and new for you when you buy the game yourself, we've left out some of the specifics. Anyway, time to get on with it!

Create-A-Wrestler
One of the immediate things players should notice the first time they boot up CAW in their copy of SmackDown vs. RAW 2006 is that the interface is all-new this year and most more user-friendly. It's about as straight forward as you can get and consists pretty heavily of easy to read text menus and departmentalized manipulation windows. There are seven tabs to choose from: Profile, Head, Body, Outfit, Layer, Other, and Finalize.

Profile

Name -- Select from two pages of alphabets and one page of symbols (18 slots).

HUD Name -- Select from two pages of alphabets and one page of symbols (18 slots).

Nickname -- Select from two pages of alphabets and one page of symbols (18 slots).

Nickname Placement -- None, Prefix, Suffix

Announcer Introduction -- 21 pages of name choices (181 names in all) which include familiar monikers like Alex, Brett, and Rachel as well as nicknames such as "The Saint, The Machine," and "The Immovable Object." The good news is, the announcer will say these as you walk to the ring.

Hometown -- Eight pages of hometown locations (64 spots) with various sub-locations for each (for a grand total of 185 possible hometowns). For the first time ever, the ring announcer will say whichever hometown you choose.

Gender -- Male or Female, "Unknown" is no longer a choice.

Weight Class -- There are five different weight classes: Diva (100-149lbs), Cruiserweight (150-199lbs), Light Heavyweight (200-239lbs), Heavyweight (240lbs-279lbs), and Super Heavyweight (280-400lbs), and there is now a slider to select an exact weight instead of just a class.

Match Tactic -- Fight Clean or Fight Dirty determines how the crowd reacts to you and what kind of super move you have. Of course, this is just a default setting; you can always switch it before an exhibition match like you always could.

Show -- SmackDown! or RAW are the selections and it determines which show you start on during career mode.

Voice -- (5) different voice types for male created wrestlers, but none for females since user-created women can't be used during season mode.

Head

Basic Faces -- (7) basic face types to serve as a template. An Eddie Guerrero look-alike is one of them.

Morphing -- Head, Eyebrows, Nose, Cheek, Mouth, Jaw, Ear, Age, can all be adjusted. Attributes that can be manipulated include position, angle, depth, size, thickness, and height.

Morphing-Continued -- Allows you to further develop your CAW. Hair (91), Eyes (26), Eyebrows (48), Facial Hair (11 Mustaches, 13 Goatees, 17 sideburns, 25 others), Lips (35), Face Skin (8), Eye Lids (22), and Teeth (3) can be give specific template types.

Continues