Original Release: THQ, 2001, PlayStation 2
The first WWF/WWE and Smackdown game for the PS2 (and among the last of the WWF-branded games), Just Bring It showed some creative spark and has numerous fun elements despite some choppy bits
WWF Smackdown! Just Bring It (PS2, THQ, 2001)
Where to Buy: Amazon
How to Emulate: PlayStation 2 Emulation Guide
Review by: C. M0use
Just Bring It is a landmark game in being the first WWF/WWE title for the PS2, and the first of the Smackdown series to really make the jump to the 128-bit era (sorry Dreamcast, you know I love you but you were kinda in-between generations). But it retains the core gameplay style of its two PS1 predecessors, opting instead to just pile on better graphics, detailed wrestler customizations, and more gameplay modes.
Now, “better graphics” is a relative thing. Considering that this was a 2001 product, it looks much better than the PS1 games that preceded it. Characters sport a much wider range of animations and they are much more detailed, the models have many little details and touches that just weren’t possible in the previous gen (from tattoos to trademark bits of clothing), wider camera zoom-outs during multi-man matches, and each character gets a secondary finisher added to their repertoire (among other new moves).
However, coming back to it after all these years and wrestling products … it’s pretty rough. It definitely looks early-gen and relatively primitive; just compare it to Yukes’ own Rumble Roses, made with the same engine just three years later. The limited graphics do have one nice side effect though … you can have up to eight players in the ring at once for Battle Royales and such, something that wouldn’t be seen again in a WWE game for nearly two decades!
The game also not only replaces the generic ref with Earl Hebner, but makes him (or whatever guest referee you might plug in) fully interactive and a target for your assorted slaps and slams. This was also the first entry to be accompanied by ring announcers, in this case Tazz and Michael Cole, though it was a rough debut for this particular feature. It sounds like the lines were written by the Yukes team in Japan and translated to English there before being sent over directly to the talent to read, with a lot of weird non-sequiturs and out-of-place phrases like “What a display of fighting spirit!” and “I think this is good.” Lines also often have little to nothing to do with the action and are strung together choppily, in a way that would have been embarrassing even in the previous generation let alone for a PS2 title.
The other big selling points are the CAW creation, which added a lot more detail and seemed to be pitched to at least reasonable visual facsimile of pretty much any major contemporary wrestler that didn’t make the official roster, and a ton of match types. That makes it a little more amenable to two player (or more) action, but the single-player mode hasn’t been forgotten; it’s just kind of weird and not self-explanatory, but actually has some depth when you understand how it works.
Single player “story mode” is kind of a “choose your own adventure” deal that varies in available paths based on what type of wrestler you pick (weight class/gender), and has some special paths only available to particular characters. It always starts out with Vince McMahon offering you a tag title shot if you can find a partner, but you can opt to decline and go into singles matches instead. Between each match, you comb around the arena in a strange first-person mode reminiscent of Tecmo’s Deception, where you have two minutes to find someone and talk to them to initiate an event chain. Who you choose to talk to and the responses you pick dictates the course of events, and losing matches also sometimes sends the story off in a different direction. You also sometimes get an A-B choice during pre-match promos that can also shift the direction. All of this stuff is kind of random and arbitrary, but a FAQ indicates there are at least 25 unique paths you can come across as well as some secret endings for certain superstars. You also unlock different new features by completing these various paths, from bonus movies to new characters and arenas. A surprising visual novel-y feature for a mainstream WWE wrestling game!
If you can set aside the now-dated graphics, most of the enjoyment probably boils down to whether you like the Yukes-style “arcadey” wrestling engine. This was contentious to wrestling fans at the time as the Aki games were the big dogs and they used a slower, more deliberate and strategic style that focused more on range of moves and limb damage and such. The Yukes style is WAY more frenetic, with the opponent constantly popping back up during the whole length of the match and requiring you to continually keep up the pressure (though with greatly simplified input that can reduce things to simple patterns once you’re familiar with the game). If you played the previous PS1 games you probably already have an opinion that won’t be changed by anything to be found here.
It’s very dated and hard to come back to at this point, with so many superior wrestling games now on the market, but Just Bring It is actually fairly impressive for its time. They were virtually assured strong sales for at least a year just by virtue of it being the first WWF/E title for the PS2, but Yukes really went the extra mile with a lot of aspects. A couple of elements are stinkbombs, most notably the handling of the commentary (much more writing and programming than anything wrong with Tazz and Cole’s delivery). But the effort in graphical detail, the huge array of match types and character customization options, and the kind of odd but complex and high-effort story mode are all commendable qualities. And, while you can beat up Fred Durst in other games, I do believe this is the only one where you can Superplex him and give him the Angle Lock.
Links
Videos
Japanese commercial with Chris Jericho