Gaming Trend

Gaming Trend Review

by Keith Schleicher

At one time it seemed like there were two ways to portray wrestling in a video game.  One way was to try to make it a simple fighting game where you have a punch button, a kick button, and a jump button.  The gameplay was fast and furious, with little resemblance to actual wrestling.  Since these games often came with a license to include the popular wrestlers at the time, fans didn’t care about the gameplay that much.

Other wrestling games took the approach where you grapple an opponent and then perform a wrestling move.  The one who could initiate a move faster would get to execute it.  While some games had predefined moves for a key-press and direction, some games actually let you assign moves to your actions.  The jabs and kicks to tire the wrestlers wasn’t part of the game, and the attitude from the audience wasn’t a part of the game.

Since then, the graphics capabilities have gotten been in home consoles and controllers have gotten more buttons.  The WWE has become a staple of network and basic cable television.  Wrestling has grown up, and THQ is bringing wrestling back to the consoles with SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 (SvR07) for the Xbox 360.

The wrestlers of the WWE have gotten even more outrageous throughout the years, sporting tattoo and massive biceps.  The Xbox 360 version of SvR07 really gives the wrestlers a lifelike look to them.  You swear you can see the muscles flex with every movement.  They swagger while walking into the arena.  The textures detail every tattoo.  The costumes bend and flex with the wrestler’s body.  Their sweat glistens as they wrestle against each other.  The subtle differences of each wrestler seem to be accurately portrayed in the game.  Taller wrestlers tower over the smaller ones.

While part of the attraction of wrestling is the action inside the ring, the presentation has become just as big of a part of wrestling as the wrestling itself.  Each wrestler has their own little introduction.  The background also changes to fit the specific theme of the wrestling match.  Videos of the wrestler in action are also posted on the screens in the backgrounds.

The crowds aren’t as detailed as the wrestlers, but they look better than in previous SvR games.  They jump around, move their arms, and wave signs cheering on their favorite wrestler.  Still, the variety isn’t as good as it could be, but it’s adequate to get the job done.

The wrestling in the ring looks very good.  While some of the animations are the same for the common moves, the wrestlers each have different animations for the different moves they make.  Occasionally the grapple system does cause some odd animations.  When players go recover stamina, they jerk from looking winded to looking fully rested.  Also, some clipping does happen with some of the close wrestling.  Still, the game is one of the best looking games on the Xbox 360.

The music is rough and edgy, loud and brash.  The metal riffs rip with the attitude of a mean WWE wrestler.  It includes music performed by Godsmack, Three Days Grace, Ghostface Killah, and P.O.D. and Saliva.  SvR07 even shows the song and the title performed on the screen so you can check them out later if you want to.  The music only plays during the menu selections and the wrestler intros though.  You won’t hear any music during the actual wrestling.

The crowd and announcers do get into the action.  The announcers have a mild southern accent.  They talk about the wrestlers and the upcoming match as the wrestlers walk into the arena.  They talk rather quickly and do provide a commentary on the action.  They also do a good job of filling in pauses in the action.  The crowd cheers when a powerful move is performed.  They boo at cheap shots.  This all helps make the game feel more realistic.

The wrestlers have a role in the game as well.  As you wrestle in the game and follow the storyline, you actually hear some of the wrestlers leaving you messages on your cell phone.  When in the ring and giving a speech, you can actually hear their voice over.  Still, they don’t say a whole lot during the match or even when they are walking into the ring.  It would have been nice to hear a little something more from the actual wrestlers.

In SvR07, the left analog stick moves your wrester around the ring.  X performs a strike attack, Y runs in the ring, B recovers stamina, and A performs different actions depending on the placement of the wrestler.  The left and right triggers counter strike and grapple attacks respectively.  The left bumper performs finishing moves.

The right analog stick is used for most of the grappling.  Moving the right stick quickly in any direction makes your wrestler does a quick grapple move.  Stronger grapple moves can be performed in conjunction with the right bumper and the right analog stick.

While these are the basic moves, trying to explain the controls in SvR07 is practically useless because a lot of the moves that you can perform are based on your position.  The screen also shows some actions you can perform at certain times.  This is especially helpful because the timing of counters is difficult, sometimes only allowing for a split second to perform.

The main feature in the game is the season mode.  Here you choose one of the available wrestlers.  Some of the wrestlers are from the SmackDown side and some are from the Raw side.  A few wrestling legends are thrown into the mix as well.  Once you have your wrestler selected, you start your week, checking out voice mails on your cell phone, looking over the article in the latest WWE magazine, and taking a look at how much money you have in the bank.

Each week a new match is available for you to fight in.  The storyline has a few twists and turns, but if you are familiar with the scripts of wrestling shows you won’t be too surprised by what happens.  Some changes are made depending on what happens in the match, but the storyline is similar no matter what happens.

As you play and win matches you earn money.  Using this money you are able to deck out your locker room, create new championship belts, and unlock other wrestlers.  It takes a while to earn enough cash to get a lot of the extras available in the game.

The gameplay in the ring is where the game really counts.  It takes a while to get used to it because of how complex the controls are.  SvR07 is a slow and methodical game.  Those expecting to punch and kick their way to a pin need to rethink their strategy.  Sometimes you perform a move and then watch the action for a bit while the move is executed.  A few tutorial movies are available.  Because of the complexity of the controls, these are highly recommended to go through, especially if you haven’t played a SmackDown vs. Raw game before.  Certain areas of the ring have hot spots that will change what your wrestler does inside the ring.

While you can play in the ring, there are other opportunities outside the ring as well.  You can exit the ring and then fight in areas in the crowd.  The crowd gives you items like crutches and umbrellas that can be used as weapons.  You can also move into the crowd and celebrate with the crowd, or tear up the sign if you like to fight dirty.  Unfortunately you don’t get to go out into the crowd much, but there is a lot of interactivity outside the ring.  That doesn’t mean that things inside the ropes are boring.  Sometimes you can actually have items inside the ring to fight with, or you might have a cage match where you have to crawl up it to get out.

A few issues plague the game.  Often you’ll see a message to tap any key repeatedly to recover.  It seems like it doesn’t matter sometimes how quickly you tap a key, you don’t recover from the mat very quickly.  Also some mini-games use this method, like when you are in or are performing a submission hold.  It feels like the AI is a bit too good in these situations.

Also, the game seems to have a bit of catch-up logic to it.  You can have your entire momentum bar full, totally dominating the match.  Then your opponent gets a few hits in and ends up pinning you in a matter of a couple of minutes.  This doesn’t make the game feel very fair.

You only are given a single save slot to play the game in.  If you don’t like how your story is going, you have to quit at the spot you are at and reload the game.  If you don’t, you run the risk of saving the game at a major disadvantage in your matches.  You also can’t replay your previous match if you lose.  It would have been nice to be able to save in multiple places to see if the storyline changes at certain points depending on your actions.

If you don’t want to play as one of the wrestlers included in the game, you can create your own WWE Superstar.  Here you can create your name, announcer name, hometown, gender, weight class, clean or dirty tactics, which WWE show you are a part of, your wrestler’s voice, and his match specialty.  Once these are chosen, you make changes to your head, face, body, clothing, body art, fighting style, and crowd signs.  Once you have these finished you can create a move set and entrance for your wrestler.  If you aren’t satisfied with the championship belts, you can make you own.  You can even create your own partnerships within the game as well.

The load times aren’t bad, but they do take a while to get into the game.  If you played the previous version of SmackDown VS Raw, then you know what this is like.  You get to see some photos of the wrestlers in the game.  If you are a wrestling fan, this is great, but some people might be turned off by the gawking of the half-naked men in their spandex costumes.

There are two other modes you can play.  The General Manager Mode lets you live the life of a manager, scheduling evens, checking emails, viewing rosters and proposing trades with the other brand, reading weekly reports, and checking out the financials of your business.  In WW PPV Mode, you can play through sample Pay Per View specials, like Wrestle Mania 22, Judgment Day, and Vengeance.  If you don’t want to relive one of those PPV specials, you can create your own.

You can play an exhibition match if you want to get directly into the action.  You can play a single match, Tag Team, Triple Threat, Fatal 4-Way, Handicap (One on Two, One on Tag, One on Three, One on Trio, and Tag on Trio), Royal Rumble of ten to thirty wrestlers, Main Events, and Title Matches.  You can play online with up to four players through Xbox Live.  You can play Single, Tag, and Main Even matches on Xbox Live.

SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 does a lot of things right.  There are plenty of ways to play the game, as well as a storyline that does take a few interesting twists and turns.  It also is more methodical in the gameplay instead of being a fast action game.  SvR07 is an instant purchase for those who live and breathe the WWE.  Those who haven’t been that interested in wrestling might actually become interested in the entertainment because of the game.  While SvR07 might not be for everyone, those who try it might be pleasantly surprised by the results.

Gaming Trend Score

83

1. Graphics: 88
2. Audio: 82
3. Controls: 76
4. Gameplay: 82
5. Value/Replay: 86
6. OVERALL:83