Customer Reviews

WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Even though a lot of 2008 is recycled from last year's versionWWE Smackdown vs Raw 2007, most WWE fans will enjoy the ride.

The Good:

Great Visuals: Detailed entrance themes and realistic wrestling moves and finishers.

Storylines: The 24/7 Mode, which is a career mode offers many entertaining storylines and surprises. I won't spoil it by listing all of them here, but in Smackdown Career, you can participate in a Fatal 4-Way Ladder Match to see who gets a case with movie contract.

Great Variety of Matches: Most Match Types are here from last year, but also a lot of ECW-style matches are added, like ECW RUles Hardcore Match where you can use new variety of objects, such as kendo sticks and flaming tables.

Replay Value: Along with a lenghty 24/7 Careeer Mode, you can always come back and do it all over again as a wrestler from another brand to experience different storylines. There is also a Legends Mode, which reminds me of Madden 08's Superstar Mode, where you have to relive some of WWE's greatest moments and do them on your own: Use Stone Cold to defeat Bret Hart and even enter Royal Rumble as Shawn Michaels with #1 entry and try to win the whole thing on the hardest setting.

Skill Improvement: Unlike last year where you only play week-to-week, in here you make moves every day. You can spend your days off just chillin, getting rest, or you can use them to improve your skills or try to make money, shoot a movie or compete in a training excerise. However, too many physical activities may land you an injury and fatigue.

Roster: A huge roster filled with most of today's superstars and even some that are no loger in WWE: Cryme Tyme and even TNA's Booker T is in the line-up as well. Hall of Fame unlockables are: Breat Hart, Anvil Neidhart, Rick Rude, Mick Foley, The Rock and many more. Oh and of course, ECW wrestlers join in as well.



The Bad:

Audio: While some voices are realistic, some voice-acting have been performed by generic-voiced actors. I swear that both JBL and Joey Styles are both voiced by the same voice-over. Many wrestlers don't sound like themselves at all!

Load Times: I have played this on my new Slim PSP and while the loading times seem to improve over when I played 2007 version on the classic PSP, the loading times still feel a bit annoying when you want to experience a fast-paced action.

Unrealism: Some wrestlers act out of their kayfabe wrestling character. I have played 24/7 Mode with Kane and during some storylines he would walk around backstage, shaking hands, smiling and telling jokes, which does seem to be out of the Kane character. They should've made a separate storylines for "Monster/Heel" characters that rarely talk.


Bottom Line: If you are a wrestling fan, it will be hard to dodge this title. However, even if you are not a wrestling fan, this will still be worth a look if you like fighting games.

For fans of the series, there have been several changes to the series. Some of these include the "ECW presense" and "Hall of Fame" modes. Hall of Fame allows you to play key PPV moments in history, while fulfilling certain conditions to unlock Legends Superstars. There are two notable changes to gameplay including the new attribute system, and ultimate grapple controls. Attributes are your wrestler's fighting style, (High Flyer, Showman, etc.)and as they land signature blows their momentum meter will fill. Once full they can store a fighting stlye icon, utilizing their wresler's special ability (no longer simply limited to a finishing move). Utimate grapple controls allow you to apply and escape from more complicated holds by a series of button presses and utilizing the anolog stick, which is a welcome change from past games where once locked in a hold, you just had to button mash until your opponent released the hold. What makes this game a worthwhile purchase is that you can just play a quick match, or you can hop right into the meat and potatoes of the game, which is career mode or GM mode. So this game is good for the casual player, or the hardcore WWE fan. Also the soundtrack is quite good, and fitting for its game type. For the first time ever, the music actually plays in your matches, and not just on loading and menu screens. Players new to the series will see how THQ's WWE series stands out from other wrestling games, and will probably see things they've never seen in a wrestling game before. Fans of the series will see the changes, and while good,nothing mind blowing going on here. I like all the games in the series and collect them, and each one has their pluses and minuses. Here are the minuses: Story mode: 1)While I want to see my wrestler progress, and what he'll be involved in next, it's just not that interesting. 2)The cutscenes in between matches not directly related to the story are glorfied load screens, as they repeat themselves.CONTINUALLY. The biased commentary during your storyline and matches gets annoying-quickly. But if you like the game you can oveerlook those things, as they're a smart part of it. Overall, a good game for wrestling fans and gaming fans alike, THQ hits one out of the park again.

Got this game free on promo deal with PSP after Thanksgiving. The boys couldn't be happier. Lots of fun.

MY SON SAYS THE GRAFICS ARE GREAT.
HE CAN NOT PUT THE GAME DOWN
HE HAS IT FOR HIS PSP AND HIS PS2