WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 (PS3)
- Publisher:
- THQ
- Developer:
- TBA
- Release Date:
- 13.11.2007
- Number of players:
- n/a
- Type:
- Action
- Sport Type:
- Traditional
- Sport Style:
- Contact
- Sport:
- Fighting
- Extra:
- Wrestling
1 movie
We play WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008...
Since the rise of the Attitude era, wrestling video games have experienced a huge surge in popularity. Wrestling game fans are amongst the most rabid and demanding gamers you’ll ever meet; they’re really quite scary. The WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw series are arguably the most popular wrestling title around, though last year’s Xbox 360 debut was less than memorable. Has Yuke’s picked up their act for this year’s version of the game?
The major new feature in Smackdown! vs. Raw 2008 is the new superstar fighting style system. There are eight different styles available and each wrestler has two styles assigned, of which one must be chosen by the player before the match. Each style offers a distinctly different playing experience – the brawler will allow for more fist pounding moves, while the dirty wrestler will opt to hassle the referee and use weapons hidden in his tights when the official isn’t looking.
For those players that appreciate a more technical approach to their grappling, the submission system has been completely retooled and makes far more sense as a result. Rather than simply mashing buttons as fast as one can, submission moves now work in conjunction with the right analogue stick. Once the hold is applied, move the analogue stick in any direction to put pressure on the hold, occasionally moving the stick back to the neutral position to restore the wrestler’s grip. If the player is caught in the hold, they must wait until the other wrestler goes back into the neutral position, then wiggle their analogue stick like crazy to escape. Beats mashing those buttons any day.
Career Mode and General Manager Mode have been merged to form the new 24/7 mode. The difference is pretty unsubstantial, as players still make a choice between wrestling or managing, and cannot change their mind once the season is under way or play as both at the same time. Last year’s scratchy first person interface has been scrapped from the wrestling side of things, with a nice streamlined menu system appearing in its place. GM Mode remains relatively the same as last year’s experience where players simply compete with the other brand to gain favour with Mr McMahon and the WWE fans.
Playing as a wrestler has changed quite a bit; it’s now much more involved and a little more realistic than in previous career modes. Players will have to handle their own schedule, which means finding time for training, appearances for fans, acting in movies and managing injuries. A curious thing about the game is that it chooses to hide the option for resting under a bunch of sub menus leaving some players to believe that it’s not there. Only 19 superstars and any male created wrestlers are eligible for play in 24/7 – Divas, Legends and ECW superstars need not apply. It’s a silly omission with no justification.
Hall of Fame mode is a new addition that lets players recreate classic WWE moments in matches against the WWE Legends. Relive Shawn Michaels’ world title win over Bret Hart in the Wrestlemania XII Iron Man match, or the brutal encounter between Mick Foley and the Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match from King of the Ring ’98. Hall of Fame mode also houses achievements for winning the Royal Rumble as the first entrant or winning GM of the Year. The Hall of Fame is good little addition for those more obsessive players, but of little consequence to the rest of us.
ECW fans will be delighted to know that the 2008 game marks the return of the hardcore federation to video games – though one can be assured they’d love to forget the existence of any previous ECW games. The ECW Extreme Rules match is also new for this version of the game, and is basically a more extreme version of the hardcore match. Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, players are not able to use ECW superstars in the 24/7 mode.
Tournaments are also new to Smackdown! vs. Raw 2008, and offer players the opportunity to compete in famous WWE tournaments like the King of the Ring, Money in the Bank and the Road to Wrestlemania, as well as tournaments of their own creation. It takes quite a bit of skill to win the Money in the Bank challenge, as the final match involves a six man free for all ladder match – good luck.
Now onto the bad side of things – the creation aspects of Smackdown! vs. Raw 2008 have seen very little attention, with a few little bits of clothing added here, or a hairstyle or two cut there. There is one important and long awaited addition; players can now use custom soundtracks for their wrestler’s entrance theme. This feature is made all the more significant when one discovers just how tacky the stock themes are.
The next major flaw comes from the game’s presentation. The Smackdown games were easily amongst the best looking titles on the PlayStation 2, but the move to more powerful hardware has not resulted in the graphical jump that one would have expected. This is particularly more notable in the PlayStation 3 version, which runs at a much slower pace than the Xbox 360 version, and suffers from lower detail all around. There are still a ridiculous number of clipping errors and legacy animations – Yuke’s should focus on these aspects next year, rather than fancy storylines and the other fluff.
Yuke’s has also persisted with the inclusion of commentary in the game but players have to listen to not one, but three commentary teams make belated, repetitive and incorrect calls about the match. Worse yet is the fact that the voice overs from the wrestlers still remain, which thoroughly restricts the number of angles on offer, and still sound unenthusiastic and phoned in.
Once players get into the ring, classical Smackdown issues begin to present themselves. The game still persists in forcing players to use the right analogue stick for all of their grappling, severely limiting the moves on offer when compared to earlier titles. While the ultimate control grapples have been toned down and made much easier to pull off, some of the other moves in the game have become ridiculously powerful, leaving everything unbalanced.
Smackdown’s AI is also terribly unbalanced like always, with a ridiculously high counter rate, even on the lowest difficulties. The thing is that the difficulty changes in the game only really affect the counter rate – switching to Legend difficulty will not result in a smarter opponent, only one that cheats more. Sliders can be used to lower this rate, but it’s something that shouldn’t need to be done. Computer opponents also have a serious advantage when it comes to getting up off the mat as players still have to mash the face buttons. This is particularly annoying in the final match of Money in the Bank.
If players can get over the in-ring shortcomings, they’ll be rewarded with a plethora of different match types, including favorites such as Hell in a Cell, TLC, Royal Rumble and Buried Alive - some are a little more refined than others (the Royal Rumble elimination system is still terrible), however. Online play is a much smoother experience than last year, and when combined with the variety of match types and the 24/7 modes, one should feel almost overwhelmed by gameplay choice.
The overwhelming problem with Smackdown! vs. Raw 2008 is that Yuke’s is continuously adding new, largely superfluous content without fixing the game’s many long-standing issues. There is still animation in the 2008 game that dates back to the original title from back in early 2000. The game’s AI is wretched, the 24/7 mode gets dull somewhat quickly, commentary and wrestler voice overs are unnecessary and the developers still have not attempted to take advantage of the full power of the new hardware on offer. Wrestling fans are going to buy it no matter what we say, but anyone on the fence might want to wait for the inevitable 2009 edition.
Top Game Moment: Busting your opponent's head open and watching them bleed all over the mat.
 |
 |
|
| My foot to your face! | And again from a different angle! |
The major new feature in Smackdown! vs. Raw 2008 is the new superstar fighting style system. There are eight different styles available and each wrestler has two styles assigned, of which one must be chosen by the player before the match. Each style offers a distinctly different playing experience – the brawler will allow for more fist pounding moves, while the dirty wrestler will opt to hassle the referee and use weapons hidden in his tights when the official isn’t looking.
For those players that appreciate a more technical approach to their grappling, the submission system has been completely retooled and makes far more sense as a result. Rather than simply mashing buttons as fast as one can, submission moves now work in conjunction with the right analogue stick. Once the hold is applied, move the analogue stick in any direction to put pressure on the hold, occasionally moving the stick back to the neutral position to restore the wrestler’s grip. If the player is caught in the hold, they must wait until the other wrestler goes back into the neutral position, then wiggle their analogue stick like crazy to escape. Beats mashing those buttons any day.
Career Mode and General Manager Mode have been merged to form the new 24/7 mode. The difference is pretty unsubstantial, as players still make a choice between wrestling or managing, and cannot change their mind once the season is under way or play as both at the same time. Last year’s scratchy first person interface has been scrapped from the wrestling side of things, with a nice streamlined menu system appearing in its place. GM Mode remains relatively the same as last year’s experience where players simply compete with the other brand to gain favour with Mr McMahon and the WWE fans.
Playing as a wrestler has changed quite a bit; it’s now much more involved and a little more realistic than in previous career modes. Players will have to handle their own schedule, which means finding time for training, appearances for fans, acting in movies and managing injuries. A curious thing about the game is that it chooses to hide the option for resting under a bunch of sub menus leaving some players to believe that it’s not there. Only 19 superstars and any male created wrestlers are eligible for play in 24/7 – Divas, Legends and ECW superstars need not apply. It’s a silly omission with no justification.
Hall of Fame mode is a new addition that lets players recreate classic WWE moments in matches against the WWE Legends. Relive Shawn Michaels’ world title win over Bret Hart in the Wrestlemania XII Iron Man match, or the brutal encounter between Mick Foley and the Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match from King of the Ring ’98. Hall of Fame mode also houses achievements for winning the Royal Rumble as the first entrant or winning GM of the Year. The Hall of Fame is good little addition for those more obsessive players, but of little consequence to the rest of us.
 |
 |
|
| Batista catches the Great Khali napping on the job again | Who’s been a bad boy? |
ECW fans will be delighted to know that the 2008 game marks the return of the hardcore federation to video games – though one can be assured they’d love to forget the existence of any previous ECW games. The ECW Extreme Rules match is also new for this version of the game, and is basically a more extreme version of the hardcore match. Unfortunately, as previously mentioned, players are not able to use ECW superstars in the 24/7 mode.
Tournaments are also new to Smackdown! vs. Raw 2008, and offer players the opportunity to compete in famous WWE tournaments like the King of the Ring, Money in the Bank and the Road to Wrestlemania, as well as tournaments of their own creation. It takes quite a bit of skill to win the Money in the Bank challenge, as the final match involves a six man free for all ladder match – good luck.
Now onto the bad side of things – the creation aspects of Smackdown! vs. Raw 2008 have seen very little attention, with a few little bits of clothing added here, or a hairstyle or two cut there. There is one important and long awaited addition; players can now use custom soundtracks for their wrestler’s entrance theme. This feature is made all the more significant when one discovers just how tacky the stock themes are.
The next major flaw comes from the game’s presentation. The Smackdown games were easily amongst the best looking titles on the PlayStation 2, but the move to more powerful hardware has not resulted in the graphical jump that one would have expected. This is particularly more notable in the PlayStation 3 version, which runs at a much slower pace than the Xbox 360 version, and suffers from lower detail all around. There are still a ridiculous number of clipping errors and legacy animations – Yuke’s should focus on these aspects next year, rather than fancy storylines and the other fluff.
Yuke’s has also persisted with the inclusion of commentary in the game but players have to listen to not one, but three commentary teams make belated, repetitive and incorrect calls about the match. Worse yet is the fact that the voice overs from the wrestlers still remain, which thoroughly restricts the number of angles on offer, and still sound unenthusiastic and phoned in.
Once players get into the ring, classical Smackdown issues begin to present themselves. The game still persists in forcing players to use the right analogue stick for all of their grappling, severely limiting the moves on offer when compared to earlier titles. While the ultimate control grapples have been toned down and made much easier to pull off, some of the other moves in the game have become ridiculously powerful, leaving everything unbalanced.
Smackdown’s AI is also terribly unbalanced like always, with a ridiculously high counter rate, even on the lowest difficulties. The thing is that the difficulty changes in the game only really affect the counter rate – switching to Legend difficulty will not result in a smarter opponent, only one that cheats more. Sliders can be used to lower this rate, but it’s something that shouldn’t need to be done. Computer opponents also have a serious advantage when it comes to getting up off the mat as players still have to mash the face buttons. This is particularly annoying in the final match of Money in the Bank.
If players can get over the in-ring shortcomings, they’ll be rewarded with a plethora of different match types, including favorites such as Hell in a Cell, TLC, Royal Rumble and Buried Alive - some are a little more refined than others (the Royal Rumble elimination system is still terrible), however. Online play is a much smoother experience than last year, and when combined with the variety of match types and the 24/7 modes, one should feel almost overwhelmed by gameplay choice.
 |
 |
|
| The road to fame is hard indeed | Hopefully you won’t end up as much of a mess as Foley was after the match |
The overwhelming problem with Smackdown! vs. Raw 2008 is that Yuke’s is continuously adding new, largely superfluous content without fixing the game’s many long-standing issues. There is still animation in the 2008 game that dates back to the original title from back in early 2000. The game’s AI is wretched, the 24/7 mode gets dull somewhat quickly, commentary and wrestler voice overs are unnecessary and the developers still have not attempted to take advantage of the full power of the new hardware on offer. Wrestling fans are going to buy it no matter what we say, but anyone on the fence might want to wait for the inevitable 2009 edition.
Top Game Moment: Busting your opponent's head open and watching them bleed all over the mat.
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Fighting Styles Trailer
Posted 20.11.07
Length 01:13 Views 569
