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WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007
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System:
Xbox 360
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Genre:
Wrestling
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Publisher:
THQ
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Developer:
Yuke`s Media Creations
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Release:
11/14/2006
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Online:
Yes
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ESRB:
Teen (T)
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Wrestling fluctuates in its popularity. The WWE’s ratings are forever bouncing around. Not to mention that their profits about as annually stable as a Hollywood marriage. Nevertheless, fans who are gamers love the Smackdown! Vs Raw series enough to keep each new iteration at the top of the charts for the PS2. Regardless of the WWE’s financial woes and wonders, the last SD! Vs Raw became one of the greatest selling wrestling games worldwide. With this newest installation of the Smackdown! Vs Raw series, it won’t take a genius to figure out that it will definitely be the new king of the wrestling genre ring.
Almost too real for comfort
EA’s Fight Night Round 3 made headlines with its astounding graphic technology. The game showcased three-million polygons per character and unbelievably smooth animations. Well, that was just a taste of what gamers were to expect from next-gen technology. SD! Vs Raw 2007 is shaping up to be one of the best looking games to be released this year for the Xbox 360. From the perspiration flowing heavily from tired competitors, to the crowded stadiums with a full 3D audience, the graphics are shaping up to be very impressive. That’s right, for the first time in a THQ wrestling title, most of the audience will be entirely rendered in 3D for the next gen systems. Even better yet, there’s been an announcement from THQ that players can interact and fight among crowd members and even use certain fan items as weapons!
Backstage politics
Let’s face it, the Season mode of any wrestling game has always suffered from the lack of user-control. Your created character normally stumbles from stardom to superstar status in a series of hierarchical styled storylines that all lead to the same place. You can play most wrestling games over with various results and very little variety in distinctly making decisions for your character. I’m not talking about “yes” and “no” decisions about whether or not you want to jump someone backstage or be friends with a WWE diva. I mean decision making that ranges from your character’s gimmick to your character’s wrestling alliance. Season modes are usually very limited. However, THQ has already commented that this year, Yukes has greatly improved on the season mode, presumably with more depth and interactive segments. Still, we’ll just have to wait and see what the details look like.
Last year, Smackdown! Vs Raw 2006 offered a GM mode reminiscent to the likes of Adam Rylands’ EWR, except it was just lacking in so many areas. Still, Yukes gave a great start for what will possibly be an amazing feature for this year’s SD! Vs Raw. THQ promised that GM mode and the season mode will see some much needed upgrades. Although the details were sketchy, we can expect to see more variety in the options and player’s choices. Hopefully, these won’t be let downs like in the past.
Interactivity
Speaking of season modes and backstage politics...the backstage arenas have been improved and upgraded with much more interactivity. Speaker systems can be used to Irish Whip your opponent into, (even to the point of near electrocution). Items and weapons can be picked up or snatched from nearby fans (they’ll even pat superstars on the back or move out of the way when they get too close). Guard rails will finally become dangerous again. Yeah, remember back in the day of Sega’s Royal Rumble, when you could run your opponent into the steel guard-rails and their health meter would drain pretty quickly? Remember Acclaim’s ECW games, when you could use those rails outside the ring to inflict massive damage, even to the point of drawing blood?
Well in SD! Vs Raw 2K7 the arena has about 20 hot-spots for interactivity. Most wrestling games might have 3 or a max of 6 interactive hot-spots: Ring-post, announcer table, and the guard-rail are the most common and standard. However, in this game, players can take full control of the arena, using it as they see fit. Such as the guard-rails...since the WWE uses both the padded and non-padded, you can definitely see the brutal effects when you Irish Whip your opponent into them.
Even cage matches now have a new element for raking your opponents face across the parts of the cage you would like to use. Or pulling a snake-eyes on your opponent face-first into the sharp edges of the steel-framed cage. You can even beat your opponent senseless on the turnbuckles, or use the ring-post to bring a little pain to the lower extremities of your opponent. Regardless of how you use the arena’s environment, there’s more than enough of it to keep even the most restless wrestling fan occupied.
Creativity in abundance
The create-a-character, or CAW for wrestling fans, has been given an overhaul with amazing versatility, and an abundance of features. Last year’s create-a-character gave players the highly anticipated option to create-an-entrance. However, it wasn’t the most intuitive feature we’ve seen from a wrestling game, and was only yard-sticks better than WM2000's. This year, though, there are more options and more depth to the creation tools. THQ didn’t elaborate greatly on the details of each feature, but one thing was certain: the create-a-character will definitely have 250 different parts for editing your superstar.
New grapple system
Last year’s grapple system for SD! Vs Raw gave players new options for grappling. The system allowed them to have up to 3 different grappling styles out of a total of 7. So wrestlers had more originality in their style and in-ring abilities. This time around, players will be given a super-treat, as the grapple system will be handled with the right analog stick for pulling off certain moves with certain stipulations. For instance, in most wrestling games when you choose a suplex for your character, you either get to choose from a normal one, a delayed one, or a super-delayed one with a taunt. Instead, players can choose a simple suplex for their wrestler, and actually get to choose how the wrestler executes the move. If you want to delay the move then don’t press anything. If you want to showboat while your opponent is suspended in the air, you can press your taunt button during the middle of the suplex. You can even rotate or spin your opponent during the suspension, before slamming them to the mat.
Mdickie’s Wrestling Encore executed the feature of user-controlled moves with amazing creativity, allowing you to do all sorts of moves by interacting with the environment. Seriously though, in past wrestling titles, how annoying was it that you couldn’t powerbomb or press-slam your opponent through a table because the move turned your wrestler in the wrong direction? Or the move was executed in a specific direction where it took large amounts of time just to set the move up? Well, with the new analog controls for grappling, players can hold their opponent in the air during a bodyslam and rotate the wrestler accordingly. This helps when you want to position where you want your opponent to land.
This feature is definitely a great leap in a good direction for wrestling games, mainly because the lack of interacting with the moves themselves hindered a lot of the fluidity during matches. Players will now be able to have greater control over the course of the match and the grappling style of their wrestler.
Beefing up the competition
With Smackdown! Vs Raw 2007 making an appearance, for the first time, on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 you can expect plenty of action across Live. Of course, the PS2 and PSP will also have their respective on-line versions. Although, with THQ and Yukes upgrading and over-hauling many of the features, you can expect a more refined and competent on-line feature for this year’s SD! Vs Raw.
You can look for this game to hit shelves later in the year for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and PSP.
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Luke
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