Reviewed: January 9, 2008
Reviewed by: Justin Nixon

Publisher
THQ

Developer
Yuke's Media Creations

Released: November 13, 2007
Genre: Sports
Players: 1-4

7
8
7
7
7.3

Supported Features:

This could also be the last year that Smackdown vs. Raw stands alone as the only wrestling game available. Midway has announced a new TNA wrestling game due out sometime next year. Smackdown has beaten out the competition before, but if they want to continue that trend they need to do a little bit better than this year’s game.

The only new match type is the Extreme Rules Match, which is essentially a hardcore match with fire. You can choose to set either a 2x4 on fire and bash your opponent with it or you can light a table on fire and throw your opponent through it. The glamour of the flames soon wears off and it boils down to a basic hardcore match.

The only new mode in the game is 24/7. It’s not really new though; it’s just a culmination of two previous modes, Season and GM. The new 24/7 mode allows you to live the life of a WWE or created superstar. You no longer have a locker room you can customize with purchases goods. You now have a blank calendar that you must fill with events that will help boost your stats, fan friendliness, or lessen your fatigue. These events range from staring in movies, autograph signings, different types of in-ring training, or even invading other shows. It all sounds good but after a few months of trying to manage your superstars schedule you may find it to be a little repetitive. Sign some autographs to boost your image with the fans, do a little in-ring training to get your stats up, take a day to get some rest and relaxation, finally wrestle a match or two, and then start the entire week over.

The 24/7 storylines themselves also get a little stale after a while. You are only capable of playing with a select number of the games roster in 24/7 mode. This excludes any superstar from ECW. ECW is an event on Tuesdays in 24/7 mode but you are unable to select a superstar from the show to play with which means the only way to appear on ECW is to choose the option to invade the show.

The biggest addition to this year’s title is the new fighting styles. Each wrestler is equipped with two unique wrestling styles. These styles include high-flyer, powerhouse, brawler, hardcore, submission artist, technical, showman, or dirty fighter. This is where Yuke’s throws any kind of wrestling balance out the window. The powerhouse can gain a temporary surge of energy like Hulk Hogan. During this time nothing can hurt him. He reverses everything and his moves become even stronger. Sounds awesome right? At the same time a high flyer can perform a possum pin as there special move. A possum pin is where you lay on the ground and wait for your opponent to approach. At this time you surprise him by rolling him up for a pin. These two special attributes are a little uneven. Powerhouses become invincible while high flyers play possum. Unique? Yes. Balanced? No way!

This year also brings a new submission struggle system. This gives the user the control over how much pressure is exerted on your opponent by moving the right stick. Of course if you put to much pressure into the hold you won’t be able to hold it as long. At the same time the player who is locked into the submission must try and counter using the right stick as well. Environmental Hotspots are back. They haven’t changed at all so if you’re looking for something new to do with your opponent on the top rope then forget about it.

The same Create Modes are back. You can create your own WWE Superstar and take him through the new 24/7 mode. You can create your own move-set for your created Superstar or simply edit a preexisting set. You can create an entrance for you superstar to come out to. You can create a WWE Championship, but you will have to purchase it using the money you earn in the game. Lastly you can create your own stable.

Smackdown vs Raw 2007 was the first of the series to be playable on Xbox Live. The options were limited though. Not only can you do everything from last year’s title but you can also take your created superstar online and actually trade him for other created superstars around the world this year.

Like last year’s title I felt that there should be some kind of roster update download. Wrestling game rosters are always changing. With Xbox Live available there should be a way to update those rosters. There are a hand-full of wrestlers on the roster that are no longer in the WWE like Cryme Time.

I felt that last year’s title was really good and just needed some fine-tuning. Instead they just added more options that I feel just hurt the overall wrestling experience. The new Struggle Submission system is a nice addition but the fighting styles just throw the balance off.

The graphics are by no means perfect though. Some of the animations are little glitchy. For example, Jeff Hardy’s finishing maneuver, the Swanton Bomb, has him jump off the top rope, do a partial front flip, and land back first on your opponent. Most of the finishers have a special slowdown, zoom in, and pan around animation when you execute them. During Jeff Hardy’s Swanton something happens, after the special animation is over, and Jeff ends up landing on his opponent as if he had come in from the opposite direction.

Commentary is provided by Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler, Taz and Joey Styles, or Michael Cole and JBL, depending on the show you are wrestling on. Almost all of the commentary is straight from last year’s title which in turn got all of its commentary from the year before that. This is becoming very irritating. I don’t think that adding some new commentary dialogue is too much to ask for. I’ve heard the same repetitive commentating for the past three years now.

One new feature that was added this year was custom soundtracks for importing your own music for an entrance theme. It sounds great but it doesn’t work as well as one would hope. You can only use a play list as an entrance theme not just an individual song. In order to just use an individual song you must create a play list on your 360’s hard drive that contains just that song, otherwise your wrestler will be coming out to numerous different songs and not just the one you want.