During nearly the last four years, one wrestling franchise has been the most dominant over any other, out selling and out playing any competition, including that created by the same people. That series is Japanese company Yukes' own "WWE SmackDown!" After a strong fourth product, "WWE SmackDown! Shut Your Mouth", a little under a year later Yukes has created another wrestling masterpiece that outdoes every other American wrestling title on the market. How does it do this, after five games? Just think of it like Madden, or any other sports game. Every year it is re-released with an updated roster, and needed upgrades, but this time Yukes went all out.

As you boot the game up, fans of the television series of the same name will immediately recognize the theme music and opening video. After this we are treated to the new, simplified menus, which include an amazing look character model (there are about six or seven that can show up). From here you have four options; Exhibition, Create, Season, or Option. Going into Exhibition allows you to play any match you want with any unlocked wrestlers. Doing this first is a good idea, as you will want to get familiar with the new game style used.

Immediately you will notice a much smoother feel to the game; things flow better than they ever have before in a SmackDown title. In previous titles, we had three move situations. There was your basic grapple from a standing position, a grapple while your opponent was dazed and a grapple while holding onto them. This allowed for 12 total front grapple moves. This has been completely redone and no longer applies, as Yukes has come up with a brilliant engine that allows a total of 16 front grapple moves, which is plenty for a wrestling game. There are four grapples now, and yes, you actually do grapple with your enemy this time around. Pushing Circle and one of the directional buttons will initiate a grapple (each direction is a different type, with a different animation) and that's not all, each direction also represents a different style. Pushing up and Circle initiates a grapple, after which you push Circle and another direction to do a Power style move. This is the same with every direction when starting a grapple, except the moves and style change with each direction. Pushing left allows you to pull off your wrestlers signature moves (such as The Rock's DDT, The Undertaker's Tombstone, or Chris Benoit's Snap Suplex), pushing right gives you access to the quick, less damaging attacks and pushing down lets you pull off submission style moves.

Speaking of submissions, this is another area of the game that has been beautifully redone. There are basically two types of submissions, at least this is how I look at it. I call one set Escape submission moves and the other set Stretch submission moves. The difference is simple; Escape moves bring up a slider that reads on each side "Submit" and "Escape", tapping buttons moves it to your favour and sometimes has your character crawl to the ropes, or pull away from the ropes, depending on if you're doing the move or receiving it.. Stretch moves do not have this system and are held for a very short period of time.

Submissions are a very important part of the game, especially for the small wrestlers, as they can no longer lift up the big guys. This means Rey Mysterio will definitely not be lifting up the Big Show. Thus, if you're playing as Rey against Show, you'll need to wrestle a different style. With Mysterio, it's obviously going to be a high-flying style and all of his signature twists, leaps and ducks are included and all look absolutely amazing. Someone like Chris Benoit, however, will want to wrestle a submission style match, working the arms, legs, back and head of his enemy. Next to each player's bar on the top and bottom of the screen is a small player model and as you take damage various parts begin to light up, indicating what part of your body hurts and how badly. When parts become red you're in dangerous territory as you can be pinned or have a submission applied, assuming it's applied to that body part. If your head is in a deep red colour on your player indicated, chances are the next blow you take to the cranium will cause blood to spill out of you; and I do mean spill, you can see it spray through the air hit after hit. This whole new system is a very nice addition; helping you to play better matches and also making them last longer.

The days of hitting one finishing move and then winning the match are long gone. If you hit one at the very start of the match you're not going to win at all. You need to work your enemy, make their back and head area red at least. You'll know they're hurting when they fall over in pain holding their ribs after executing their own move. The new game engine is spectacular and is the best thing to ever happen to the series. Matches last longer, are more fun and have to be played differently depending on who you are and who you're facing. True wrestling fans will love this and turning up the difficulty just makes the matches even better.

With the new engine and controls, a new reversal system has been thrown in; now you use two buttons instead of the traditional Square. L2 reverses strike attacks, and R2 reverses grapple attacks; pushing both reverses special moves. This system is very similar, if not identical, to WWE Wrestlemania's. However, good timing is not all that helps reverse here; your player's stats play a very important role. If your technique stat is low you'll have trouble, while if it is high you're going to reverse a little easier. In the end R2 is used a lot more than L2 and both buttons can be mashed to reverse things, so R2 really is just like the Square button. Timing is still not very important here when it comes to reversals but at least some of the animations look very cool.

Many moves have been added this year, as they are every year and Yukes is really making a name for itself when it comes to animations. Every new move has amazing impact and flows extremely well. They all look very smooth and solid and each accurately reflects the superstars who use them. For example, Chris Benoit and Kurt Angle have their huge assortment of German Suplexes and all are animated just how they appear in real life, complete with character's mannerisms. Chris Jericho and The Undertaker have all of their signature slaps, punches and kicks and they use them a lot in matches, just like they would on TV. Rey Mysterio and Ultimo Dragon move quickly and fly all over the ring, each with their own signature luchadore style moves. SmackDown has always had incredible accuracy and presentation and this year is no exception. All of the mannerisms, entrances, moves and taunts you see on TV are included here in amazing detail; right down to the speeches and storylines you come across in season mode.

Shut Your Mouth's season mode is back this year with a few adjustments; such as the first person view while you walk around backstage, which has been completely removed. Instead you have a view of your locker and from there select where you want to go. Your choices range from backstage areas (you can only go to them if somebody is there to talk to, usually your last opponent), the GM room, the show card, superstar stats, stable info and the ShopZone. The latter is where you buy things including new move sets, new gear, and of course the legends; these include classics such as Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, Classic Undertaker, Animal, the late, great, Hawk, and others.

Show cards are still only three matches long, which is quite short if you ask me, but the match ups are usually pretty solid and you have the choice to even play in them if you'd like, or you can just watch them. You will not always be booked; it depends on who you challenge and whether or not you're currently involved in a storyline. Season mode only lasts about a year and after that some stories are repeated whilst some new ones are discovered. Luckily, all title holders, stats and records are carried over from season to season, which is very good, because if you're like me you actually enjoy looking through the huge records this game contains.

Something SmackDown has always needed, in my opinion, is finally here; a win/loss record, a record of the last 200 matches, complete title histories and contender lists and more. After you have a lot of game time, it's just fun to look back at what titles you had, what matches you enjoyed and how many times a title was defended before lost. While a bit on the short side, season mode has many memorable and original moments that make for great fun and not everything can be experienced in one play through, so playing multiple times isn't so bad and is also required if you want all the unlockables.

Create mode is always one of SmackDown's strongest points and this year is no exception. CAW mode has actually been changed very little but is still very solid and includes some welcome additions, such as entrance gear and complete body morphing. Create-A-Move has been renamed to Create-A-Moveset and is essentially the same with a few small changes, which die-hard fans will notice right away and could be annoyed with, but overall it does not take away from the game experience whatsoever. Finally there is Create-A-Stable, which still limits groups to three members for some reason, and Create-An-Animation, including taunts, walking, running and winning animations. Create-A-Wrestler, or CAW, mode allows 32 wrestlers to be created, like last year and unfortunately the character models for it don't look as good as the actual in-game wrestlers, but that is understandable and doesn't really take much away from the game, it's just a minor annoyance.

Another problem that has been carried over from Shut Your Mouth! is the inability to break up moves that are in progress; and yes, that unfortunately includes submission moves. However, it's not quite as bad this year because you can have control over whether you tap out or not due to the new submission system and the animations are stunning to watch. Weapon moves are still here and pretty much identical to last year, except it is now harder to get away with using them, as the ref is sometimes impossible to knock out. If he catches you using a weapon or trying to hit him too much, you'll get disqualified and lose the match. In tag matches the ref will also refuse to count a pin if your tag team partner is in the ring illegally; he will not count the pin until the ring is clear. I've had a few instances where he just would not count at all, in a single match, although it is very rare that this happens, it still does occur and is worth mentioning.

As with every new game, new match types have been thrown into the mix, as well as some removed. There is no longer an I Quit match, but there is now Bra & Panties, First Blood, and, of course, the Elimination Chamber. The best, without a doubt, is the latter, but the other two are also solid matches as well. The backstage environments are completely new and better than ever, although smaller and fewer they are great fun for hardcore matches. Many weapons are lying around or waiting to be discovered and you can interact with a decent amount of objects, but I won't spoil all the surprises here. The roster has lost quite a few wrestlers as well, including Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy, DDP, Chuck Palumbo, Billy Gunn, Billy Kidman, and some that just didn't make the cut like Shannon Moore, La Resistance, Maven, Chris Nowinsky and others. There are, however, some outstanding additions such as Charlie Haas and Shelton Benjamin, as well as gimmick updates to deserving characters, namely Matt Hardy.

Overall, Yukes has created another wrestling masterpiece that no doubt has already turned SmackDown haters into SmackDown players. Many people ask if it's better than No Mercy, a three year-old game and I would have to say most defiantly yes. WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain now has a signature grapple, submission and damage system, blood and a much smoother feel that helps matches flow better. The Season mode is fun and the CAW mode adds a huge amount of replay value to the best SmackDown game yet.

Reviewed by Chris Martin for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).