System: PS3, X360, PS2
Dev: JAKKS Pacific
Pub: THQ
Released: Nov 2006
Players: 1 - 4
Review by Cole

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Review Rating Legend
1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid
2.0 - 2.4 = Poor
2.5 - 2.9 = Average
3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
3.5 - 3.9 = Good
4.0 - 4.4 = Great
4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
5.0 = The Best

If there is one skill that must be learned it’s the reversal. Learning how to time a reversal may not be the key to winning a match but it’s the best way to keep from losing one. If an opponent manages to work some combos on you it’s quite possible that he can continue to string them together if you don’t take action. You have to time the reversal at the right moment when you’re not dazed and your opponent has left a small window open between combos. It can be equally frustrating that some bugs in the game such as poor collision detection and clipping can interfere with your timing. This works both ways, when you’re on the offensive and defensive. Some moves and hits won’t register and sometimes a body will clip through the mat or the ropes. You can’t even be assured that you’ll break a table even if you launch yourself from the top rope. Another bone of contention is your AI tag-team partner that can be totally oblivious to your situation as you’re getting the hit shicked out of you. It’s times like this you wish you could toggle between them with the push of a button. These bugs have plagued the series since its inception. It’s obvious this engine needs to be rebuilt.

Rivalries, feuds, betrays and revenge fuel the multiple storylines in the Story mode. There are more than 50 individual stories for the various playable characters including characters that you create from scratch. These stories aren’t very deep and you’ll notice how generically the commentators and cutscenes attempt to include your character in the action by avoiding specifics and referring to him only as the superstar. I’ll bet they say that to all the wrestlers – and they do. During the matches you’ll have heard everything the commentators have to say after about 15 minutes. There is plenty of dialog from the stable to wrestlers but most of the delivery is stiff and unbelievable – just like on TV.

In the GM mode you will be able to try your hand at managing the franchise. Here you’ll acquire a stable of wrestlers, book matches and hire writers to help you come up with scripts for the various feuds and rivalries. This mode is all menu-based and not as deep as the PC management sims such as those from the Tycoon series. It’s all based on common sense, as far as common sense is involved in professional wrestling. Just make sure to use the appropriate characters for the appropriate situation. If things are too far fetched the audience will reject it.

If you’re the creative type you’ll love the ability to create your own wrestler, belt, stable and entrances. You’ll have the standard body types and faces to choose from but how your creation fares in the ring will be limited only by your skills. Entrances can be edited to suit your character’s ego. You can change the lighting rig, add different combinations of pyrotechnics and even alter the music, although it’s virtually impossible to time the music to the explosions or effects because it’s poorly looped. The create-a-belt can be carried online to play with up to three of your friends. Every single-player mode can be played online with the exception of the six-man free-for-all which can still be played with six humans but only offline. The online modes worked great with no apparent latency although some players we chatted to online told us they experience some lag through poor connections but was remedied by finding another server.

The series gets better looking with each passing year. Some scenes would fool onlookers into thinking they’re watching an actual televised event. The muscles ripple as all of the body parts move smoothly and realistically. Facial expressions display rage, pain and sometimes the faux kooky insanity of the more demented characters. There’s a good array of thumps, whumps and thuds. When a wrestler gets hit with a chair, it sounds like a real chair. When the explosions go off during the entrances, you’re likely to leave your chair if the volume is set too high. They sound like the real thing and if you hear them on a good surround sound system you will swear you’re watching this in the arena.

WWE Smackdown 2007 manages to capture the spectacle that is professional wrestling and bring it into your living room. It’s better than being there because this isn’t a spectator sport, you’re in control of your own world.

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Sweaty dudes grasping at one another has never looked so good. by Patrick Evans

WWE games have had an unfortunate history of poor mechanics and iffy animations for years now, but the leap to the next generation will have players thinking again. After spending a little time with the recently released WWE: SmackDown vs. Raw 2007, there is certainly some potential here for greatness in its new control scheme and use of environmental moves to make the game more dynamic than previous years.

Players will instantly take notice of the high-definition facelift the series has undergone. The ring entrances for the demo’s two available wrestlers, Triple H and Kane, look strikingly faithful to real life. They capture just about every detail imaginable, from the water spray out of Triple H’s mouth as he stalks the ring to the hottie announcer waiting to call the next superstar into the arena. This is all in pre-rendered scenes using the game’s engine however, so you would expect these scenes to look phenomenal. What impresses the most is how clean the action in the ring looks. Grapples are clear of any clipping issues that may have made previous games look silly. Transitions from camera angle to camera angle during the match frame the action very well, keeping your attention focused squarely on the man standing across from you. Lighting in both the ring entrances and during the action are also spot on. Overall, this game looks about as next gen as you could hope for.

Gameplay attempts to match graphics in this demo by showing off the new analog stick grappling system. Engaging an enemy in a grapple is as simple as flicking the control stick in one of the four directions. Strong grapples, which lead to many of the more impressive moves and slams, are performed by holding the right bumper down when flicking the analog stick. After you have locked your opponent up, flick the stick again in a direction to perform the move. Every direction on the analog for a lock-up has four moves that can be performed, so 16 strong grapple moves are potentially available to any character.

In addition to the new analog setup for grapples, WWE will feature environmental attacks to take advantage of the many set pieces in and around the ring. When strong grappling near the ropes, for instance, you can rub your opponents face on the ropes themselves, giving them a nasty case of rugburn. Tossing him into the corner could lead to another environmental attack in the form of multiple strikes to the face. When the action heads outside the ring, you can bash their face against the steps next to the ring, rewarding yourself with the sweet sound of flesh smacking metal. All of these were relatively easy to accomplish once the enemy was weakened considerably, though the computer never really took advantage of these moves themselves.

An interesting feature that wasn’t mentioned in any of the demo’s training videos was the “Clean” vs. “Dirty” wrestler profiles. When choosing between Kane and Triple H, you can set your superstar to either Clean or Dirty. Clean wrestlers gain momentum by performing signature grapple moves, performing diving attacks, kicking out of a pin after a 2 count, and a number of different counter moves. Dirty wrestlers, on the other hand, get momentum boosts for low blows and eye pokes, weapon attacks, ignoring or attacking the referee, and attacking ineligible wrestlers (those waiting to be tagged or managers). This seems like an interesting attempt to get players to play the roles of their wrestlers more closely, and it will certainly make for interesting matches between good and bad wrestlers

The demo available on Xbox Live is a huge 1 GB file, but downloading it will be plenty worth it to wrestling fans. Hopefully, the new features, along with the enhanced graphics, will make for a truly next-gen wrestling experience that puts fans in the tightly-laced boots of their favorite WWE Superstars. Look for this one to leap off the top ropes and into living rooms on (release date).

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