This is good nowadays and it beats the other wrestling games on the Gamecube and Xbox.

"One of the worst of the series."
I was gonna stop at SmackDown! 4, but I thought I'd go ahead and get the rest of the series just so I could have it. The first one on my list was this one. Now, the first few time I played it, I was like, yeah, this is okay. But I as I went on, I started getting bored. Eventually, I just started playing SmackDown! 4 again. Now, the game is okay, but it's not great.

Again, the graphics are better then SmackDown! 2, but worse then SmackDown! 4. There are more then 40 superstars to choose from, less then both of the previously mentioned. Exhibition mode still has alot of matches to choose from. There's still single, tag team, six man tag, handicap, Royal Rumble, King of the Ring, hardcore, falls count anywhere, survival, and special. Special matches include Cage, I Quit, Table, Ladder, TLC, Special Referee, Hell in a Cell, Ironman, 3 Stages of Hell, and Slobber Knocker. The controls aren't very different from SmackDown! 2, so you won't have to much trouble figuring it all out if you've played the second one.

Story mode isn't much better then SmackDown! 2, and is REALLY short. The only good thing is the unlockables, and there's ALOT of those, so it's something to look forward to. Other then that, Story mode is pretty boring.

Create mode is pretty much the same, except for Create a Pay-Per-View not being in. Create a Superstar is quite a big improvement from SmackDown! 2, where you have even more control. There are more types of moves to be assigned this time, and you also have the power to change the default superstars move set. Create a Taunt is still very pointless, and Create a Stable is the same as SmackDown! 2, except you can't assign as many people to one stable.

Theatre mode is actually quite a bit better then SmackDown! 4. You get to watch a behind the scences of how the commercials for SmackDown! 1 and 2 were made. They're pretty funny to.

All in all, SmackDown! 3 is one of the worst of the series. If you have a PS2, I'd recommend buying SmackDown! 4 instead. But if you want to own all of them, this is still a good game.

"good game"
this game is good but needs some improvement.the royal rumble still has four people in the ring at the same time.you can do the same thing a million times in the story mode without it changing and it doesn't have is many superstars as there were at that time but it is still a good game.

"not the worst but definitely not the best"
where to begin? well...this game is a slight improvement over know your role, but in certain aspects know your role might be better than this game. the character models more or less resemble who you're selecting, like lita...in know your role, it barely resembled her, now it sorta looks like her a bit more [and in shut your mouth, it really looks like her]. in this game, its the last time we see some of the superstars or it's the only time we see of time.

gone afterwards were malenko, saturn, jerry lynn, crash holly, shane o'mac, and steve blackman.

also, it's the last time you hear the proper hardyz theme song. stone cold has a generic song along with his disturbed sogn but it's pretty good. finally the taker has a proper theme song again after know your role. one last thing is its the only time you see all 3 holly cousins together.

also, its perhaps the only time you'll see certain personas of certain characters, like its the only time you'll see "the one" billy gunn or rikishi as the "bad man".

the commentary is as god-awful as everyone else says. as soon as the bell rang, i didn't touch the controller and the commentary was going on and on and on. i couldn't even play the match...i exited and turned it off. the create-a-wrestler is clunky and pretty much undoes what the second perfected. you can't find the shirts and shoes the first time cuz they hid it pretty well. the male face is god-awful and how they worked the hair is stupid. the story mode is real short, it ends when you win the belt and or defend it. also the text on the story mode is stupid. for example you'll see "hey, the rock, i have an opportunity for you." or "you can't stay backstage all night steve austin".

one strange incentive is that you can unlock fred durst. if you hate bizkit you'll savor the idea of whomping his ass all over the ring, sucks you can't make him bleed though.

along up there with the commentary is this weird voice that tells you everything you've picked. like when you pick slobber knocker, you'll hear it say it. its creepy and annoying. but perhaps the greatest fault of the game is...the saving...it's 4mb to save a game. i can't figure out what exactly takes up so much space but it does. when it loads a game, it goes quick, but saving takes 44seconds...i timed it cuz it seems like 5minutes. but the load between games is non-existant.

this game seems like thq was testing the waters for the ps2 [if memory serves correctly, the ps2 was out barely a year]. i'd recommend this game to die-hard fans of the smackdown! series who would want a complete collection. as for all others, pass unless you can appreciate what was around at the time and how it served as a great example on how thq corrected all their mistakes with shut your mouth.