The fifth title in gaming's favourite wrestling game franchise, WWE Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain is a fantastic and immeasurably enjoyable game. It's not content to just take the last version, change the name, update the graphics and hope people will buy it anyway; there's been a lot of work since Shut Your Mouth and it's really borne fruit. For instance, the game's grappling system has had a lot of work done on it, giving each of the numerous included wrestlers nearly 20 moves to pick from.

Sure, there's a learning curve as you get to grips with it all, but it really helps inject a significant depth of gameplay, as do features such as the story mode and the various new match types that are making an appearance. The mixture serves to make the game exceptionally enjoyable, whether playing single-player or bringing in a few friends.

Ultimately though, it's the quality of the gameplay that puts Here Comes the Pain into the must-buy category. Not only is it the best wrestling game on the market bar none, it's also one of the most downright entertaining PS2 games to date. It looks better, sounds better and plays better than ever before and is a no-brainer recommendation. --Simon Brew

Smackdown here comes the pain is the best wresling game ive ever played.

The Gameplay 10/10 AWSOME every single move a wrestler does it does.
Undertaker Tombstone,Chokeslam and Last Ride its all in there.

Controls 10/10 very easy=very pleased.

Graphics 7/10 the only reason i rated overall 4 stars ive seen better graphics but hey it was 2003.

Wresler Choice: 10/10 got mostly every wresler in the game from 2003.

Camera Angle 8/10 can be annoying sometimes.

Overall 8/10 BUY THIS NOW WRESLING FANS!!!!!!!!!!!

This game has only two cons in my opinion:
No voice-over...
The graphics can't be compared to SVR,though the graphics are pretty good...
Pros:-The VIP's of the roster are all there,the arenas are great,but the jewel in the crown is the season with 30 storylines available, affected by your choices and skills at fighting...
From the Tombstone Piledriver to the Pedigree the moves are all there.
This game is a Champion,Time to Play the Game!!!

4.9 Stars

This game is awesome!! The graphics are superb, there are more than 50 wrestlers to chose from, and loads of match types. All the old match types are included as well as the all new elimination chamber, first blood, and bra and panties. You can also make your own wrestler up, and develop him in to a mean fighting machine through season mode. While making your own charecter up, you can include incredible detail, as well as choosing from a range of entrances, music, taunts, and celebrations. There are only two complaints though. Number one, I thought they could have included a few more wrestlers. They have missed out a few like Jeff Hardy, The APA, and Spike, as well as a few more. Number 2, after playing through season mode a few times as i have, the storylines become all too repetitive, and titles too easy to hold on too. I have been heavyweight champion now for 2 years, since switching to Raw from Smackdown.
However, this is an exceptional game, with so many choices, and if you get bored invite some mates over, and kick their ass!

A very good game and the best in the Smackdown series but the only bad thing is the lack of modern Wrestlers. They don't include Jeff Hardy, (ONE WHO I WANTED MOST)Hulk Hogan, FBI, Spike, La Resistance, etc. Also Randy Orton's attire is his old one instead of his latest and better one, plus the Survivor Series arena is on a stage and in the show it was on the ground and quite tight and short. The blood is good but is still a bit tacky. Other than that it is a highley recommended game. I can't wait till Smackdown vs. Raw though.

I went off pro-wrestling in about early 2002 just after the Smackdown/Raw split, because it was going crap. Then, i decided to get this game. What can i say? It is an excellent game. Altough it has some people on it that I hadn't heard of before, eg Eric Bischoff, Nicolai Volkaloff etc, it does have some of my old favourites eg Kane, Rob Van Dam, but it doesn't have Jeff Hardy unfortunately. The season mode is really good, the storylines aren't fantastic, but you feel more involve in it than in the previous Smackdown games. The graphics are also very good, you can see clear facial expressions on the wrestlers' faces. Also, I think the camera angles on certain moves eg elbow drop off the turnbuckle, and finishing moves are really cool. The actual gameplay is also very good, it is quite easy to control, and there is much more moves than before. I think this is a fantastic game, and even if you only have a passing interest in WWE it is worth a loo, especially now that it has gone platinum.