WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain

[10.0] "Perfect North American wrestling game. I'm blessed enough to have had a copy from release til today and I've easily put thousands of hours into it, whether slobberknocking with friends or following and tweaking online CAW formulas, with the most time spent and fun had with the season mode. Despite having only a small handful of storylines, it feels as though there is endless replayability because of the matchmaking and superstar points systems. Want someone in your season to get booked better? Just play their matches and make sure they win. You can influence so much beyond your chosen wrestler's journey and use it as a sort of precursor to the universe mode we know today. I'm huge into the reversal system and how much it feels like a 3D fighting game. I love doing spots on the barricade and jumping off the apron. I love the moves you can do near the ropes to throw people to the floor, it's so brutal. I love how some moves leave a wrestler in a suspended state so that you can string cool combos together. I love how the weapon grapples are unreversable, breaking the balance of the game but always giving you a way to cheat yourself out of any of the rough situations the mean season mode GMs book you into. I love the anxious feeling of talking to someone backstage knowing there's a 99% chance you are about to lose precious SP and get completely roasted like a scrub. I love how Edge and Rhyno's gear kinda match and you could call them the Spear Bros or the Gore Core or something I dunno. I love how the devs put a ton of movesets for wrestlers not in the game in the movesets section (I like making the divas fight like AJPW guys). I LOVE THE SCRATCHY SCRATCH WICKY WICKY DJ NOISE SOUNDTRACK DUDE IT GETS MY BLOOD FLOWING. This game is just so sick it's one of my favs ever of any genre. Transcendent experiences await."

[10.0] "I played many wrestling games (even retrogames) but this one is still nowadays my favourite. You have a default roster that is crazy and you can add those that are missing, thanks to internet CAW pages. There are SO MANY different kind of matches. I played the hell out of this game. Love it."

[10.0] "One of the best wrestling games of all time. Completely showcased what WWE was about during this time and the gameplay was amazing."

[10.0] "Yes this game is borderline phenomenal but compared to modernday games its missing something but for the time it's more then plenty of fun and is my favorite wrestling game to this day"

[10.0] "WWE SmackDown! Here Comes The Pain is one of the greatest wrestling games out there. It was really the culmination of years of gameplay improvements, the grappling system is simple but effective with each playable wrestler being able to convey a unique move-set that mirrors their real life personalities. I love the story-mode and the amount of things you can do in it. I love the match-types and the use of blood in the matches, the Elimination Chamber is especially brutal. Theres alot of ways you can use the cage and make matches fun. The roster is especially legendary, You have Brock Lesnar, Goldberg, Triple H, Unmasked Kane, Scott Steiner and even young guys at the time like Randy Orton, John Cena, Shelton Benjamin and Batista."

[10.0] "WWE Smackdown Here Comes the Pain is a timeless classic that I still play every now and then. It has peak gameplay with my favorite grapple system with signature, submission, power, and quick grapples. There are lots of moves, too, so you can make every CAW feel unique. Not to mention, the season mode is also very detailed and can be fun to do for several years. The main complaint I can see for this game is its outdated graphics, but it's by no means hideous to look at. I guess the lack of commentary could also dissuade some people, but personally, I never cared for that as the in-game BGM is quite hypeworthy. Here Comes the Pain also has an amazing roster, plenty of backstage areas, and a solid selection of weapons to use. To me, this is still the best wrestling game, and I didn't even grow up with it!"

[7.0] "Good roster, good gameplay and holds up well. I don't think this is the best WWE game or even the best WWE game on PS2. I think nostalgia has created a mythology with this game that at the time didn't exist. That doesn't mean it's a bad game or that I think the rating is inaccurate but I do think the reappraisal in recent years has been extremely favorable."

[9.0] "Great roster from an amazing time in WWE. Easy to pick up, lots of fun to be had. And possibly the best season mode of any WWE game, aside from maybe no mercy."

[10.0] "Best WWE game ever imo. Gameplay is sooo fun, the roster is stacked, and this years season mode is the best story/season/career mode in any WWE game to this day. Presentation is phenomenal, the creation suite is sweet, there's so much replayability."

[10.0] "Is it better than No Mercy? I don't know, I haven't played No Mercy much. Is it the best game in the SmackDown lineage? Oh yeah. Cracked roster, cracked season mode, cracked creation suite, everything you could ask for. My one minor complaint is that, while I appreciate the level of challenge as a whole, trying to do anything with anyone under like a 75 overall is BALLS hard."

[7.0] "A really great title but it's a little bit overrated. I used to think the changes to the grappling system were great, but being able to perform grapples without constantly doing Collar and Elbow tie ups or whatever grab state animation is selected is more realistic even if you end up with slightly smaller movesets. With that being said the A.I is more aggressive than ever in the series at this point in 2003, there's tons of new moves, they added blood and the 2 button reversal system to the Main Series for the first time, as well as new matches like the Elimination Chamber. The Season Mode is pretty similar to SYM but with new Storylines. Not the greatest game of all time, but definitely a must play and deserves to be high one the echelon of Wrestling Video Games."

[8.0] "My favorite smackdown game. Some crazy stuff was possible. Also the elimination chamber and the HIAC. Great moments were had."

[9.0] "HCTP is an excellent wrestling game. What makes this great is the roster: Rock, Austin, Cena, Batista and the legends. The counter system was little off and season mode was cut short compared to Shut Your Mouth! Do I really need to say more? We have all played this!"

[10.0] "This was my favorite wrestling game of all-time. If my PS2 hadn't broken, I'd still be playing it today. Modern games tend to be missing the detailed story mode this one had. I used to spend hours playing it. It had the best in-game roster until WWE 2K14, but it was more limited in the customization. Only 32 CAW slots is just not enough, but the technology was limited back then. 100 still isn't enough for a huge wrestling fan like myself. The controls were more arcade-y and made it a lot of fun."

[10.0] "This is it, the perfect wrestling game. HCTP is as great as people say, and its even somehow better than what people say. One of the best wrestling games ever."

[10.0] "i did not have this "back in the day" - i bought this not long before the pandemic hit, and WOW what foresight on my behalf! This is the best wrestling video game experience I've ever had, in fact i'm not even a video game kinda fellow, i only got this due to my love for professional wrestling. Everything feels right to the wrestling fan. I mainly bought it because i wanted a CAW feature to recreate my favorite era (87-90) and while that feature actually hosts my few complaints: not enough "mullets" and about 6 or so classic maneuvers that are NOT found in the move sets, meanwhile some redundant moves are (Suplex 4 and 5 are basically the same animation). But aside from some minor gripes- it's a total hit! Some characters have attribute and/or movesets that are way off and part of the fun is building up their stats and fixing their move sets by watching their career and reprogramming the moves (Randy Orton being the most glaring example, this was rookie Orton so things are WAY wrong and Val Venis' move set is crazy inaccurate lol). I mean cmon - how can you go wrong when you can have Demolition take on The Dudley Boyz or Macho Man facing Mr Perfect in a Hell In A Cell? I even made Barry Horowitz, SD Jones & Iron Mike Sharpe on this thing. If i ever get bored of the golden era, i can always get another memory card and create the Attitude Era. This game just never gets old!"

[8.0] "Man this game was great sequel, but one thing i totally missed in this game is Hulk Hogan. That he was in the beta of this game and he was removed, due he leaved the WWE in 2003 makes me sad. Also the nWo and D-X is completely missing in this game. I know these two stable were not in 2003 present, but as nice extra it would made this game truly legendary. That also for me reason why "only" give this game 8 out 10. Super Wrestlinggame, but not as good as WWE SYM. But miles better than overrated No Mercy (which is not a bad game, but very, very overrated)."

[9.0] "Awesome game with a great season mode, addictive gameplay, highly customisable create options and so many match types. Although I personally prefer Shut Your Mouth, I still respect this game as a big part of mine and many other people's childhoods. It is also probably the game that introduced many people to pro wrestling. This game went around like wildfire back in the day, everyone had it, even non-fans. Man, I feel like playing it now."

[7.0] "Good game. Exciting action with new features. This was the beginning phase of WWE video games that featuring many legends. Not the first as No Mercy had Andre The Giant. I wish I could have played it more."

[10.0] "This game is so much fun and it gets all the positive reception for that. Unlike the current games that feel like they're too simulated by themselves, this game truly had a feel to it that you were a wrestler and that you were on the rise to the top and kicking ass whilst doing so. Season Mode is a lot of fun and has a ton of replay value, customisation is pretty diverse for its time, and even just playing a couple of games on exhibition can be a lot of fun. If anyone doesn't have this game, I urge you to buy it. It's such a fun time."

[10.0] "My all time favorite wrestling game and I guess my rating is gonna be bias because I think it is the BEST WRESTLING GAME ever! WWF No Mercy and Fire Pro Wrestling Returns comes close to HCTP. The gameplay is awesome, tons of matches to choose from, the season mode is good, and it has one of the best roster in WWE game history!"

[10.0] "Best wrestling game ever. I still play it all the time. It's just fun and it never seems to get old!"

[10.0] "It's my favorite Wrestling videogame, I spent more than 100 hours to improve wrestlers stats and watching how can Raw and Smackdown change. The gameplay is solid, it has a lot of stipulations and the roster is great and permits the use of Caws. The stories use different wrestlers everytime and they are dynamic, with multiple choices. An impressive game."

[10.0] "Quite possibly the greatest wrestling video game of all-time. There is one perfect word to describe this game: FUN."

[8.0] "Good wrestling game. The season mode itself was fun, even if it was mostly a retread of the season mode from Shut Your Mouth. Good roster, good CAW mode and while there are times that this game was rushed out the door given the lack of a ring announcer, no commentary and some of the wrestlers have recycled entrances (Jazz, Test, Sean O' Haire, etc. ) this is still a pretty good game through and through."

[10.0] "Best damn wrestling game alongside WCW/nWo Revenge and WWF No Mercy. Awesome roster full of great characters like Triple H, RVD, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, Undertaker etc. Season mode was pure gold, and gameplay was way more better and simple than modern day WWE Games, and this game had few match types that doesn't exist in new WWE Games like 3 Stages of Hell, Bra & Panties, and Lumberjack matches. Also arenas of the game, are pretty cool, including Judgment Day, Backlash, No Mercy etc."

[10.0] "I play this game twice a day. Very good roster, nice season mode, enjoyable match engine. This game has some cons, but they're not so major to low this item's rating. My favorite wrestling game ever!"

[10.0] "The best wrestling game released by an American promotion. Every WWE game since then has fallen short of this."

[10.0] "I have played every Smackdown, Smackdown vs Raw and WWE (insert year) game that has been made so far, and out of all of them, this is the best, even by today's standards. It had a great roster. It introduced us to a more detailed attribute feature for each wrestler, which is still used today, as well as body damage meters, providing the ability to win matches by targeting limbs, and the ability to have alternative attributes for all of the wrestlers (meaning you could make a lower mid carder as good as a main eventer or the other way round). it was the first WWE smackdown game to have legends in it, the first time the elimination chamber appears in a wrestling game, and is the only WWE game in the series to feature both Puroresu star Ultimo Dragon, and WCW legend Goldberg. The physics in this game, are by far the best. When you fall from a great height, it hurts the wrestler a lot, when a powerful wrestler does a big move on a wrestler of low endurance, it is devastating... and these physics need to make a come back, because the smackdown games since this one, feel a bit more stiff, even if they are going for "realism". This game had a certain realism to it, but at the same time maintained a slight arcade feel. Also, if you like Puroresu, there are plenty of Japanese wrestlers that can be recreated in this game (despite the dated create a wrestler feature, which was fantastic 10 years ago. ). In conclusion, it's the best WWE game ever made on the playstation."

[9.0] "Great roster, good storymode, good graphics and physics for 2003, great gameplay, very fun to play. One hell of a game."