Amazon.com: WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2008: Playstation 2: Video Games

30 Reviews

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

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3.4 out of 5 stars (30 customer reviews)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's like a drug!!!, February 25, 2008

By	Brian (Chicago, Illinois) - See all my reviews

Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars

Aside from the admittedly reduced roster, I still must say that "Smackdown vs. Raw 2008" remains every bit as addictive as any other WWE title that preceded it.

Much has already been voiced here about the "complicated" and "frustrating" controls and, I agree, they are. This is mostly why I opted for "Control Type B." This alternate control scheme was far more easier to navigate and, while I still don't prefer using those pesky analog sticks, I actually believe it grants the game more of a nostalgic arcade feel. It only really took me ten minutes to familiarize myself with how everything worked and, now, I'm pulling off suplexes, powerslams, and turnbuckle leaps like a seasoned pro! Anybody still amiss over the controls should therefore give this other set a try. They will all immediately notice a firsthand steady drop in their complaints.

I purchased the game this past weekend and am currently three months into the 24/7 mode with Ric Flair. Talk about a wrestling fan's wet dream! This new gaming experience ingeniously blends the traditional Season and General Manager modes from years past and gives us what is, essentially, a twenty-four hour seven-day-a-week breakdown of a professional wrestler's workaday life. It provides an overflowing plethora of character development options. You get statistical tracking and career goals that all serve to guide you toward the ultimate achievement of becoming a WWE Legend. What I find particularly cool is the whole "realism" aspect. If you're injured in any way during a match, you'll receive a text message encouraging you to pursue treatment. This means, to anybody who may not already know, that you rest up and relax on your "off" days. Rest & relaxation is but one of several options you have when you're not wrestling. You can sign autographs, conduct interviews, perform charity functions, or work on enhancing your physical skills. It all adds into your collective goal at rising up in the ranks and is, beyond any doubt, a postively awesome new feature that falls ito why I currently cannot get enough of this game.

Then, of course, comes the new struggle submission system. This is amazing! I'm currently using Ric Flair, as I've already said, case in point. His finisher, as any fan will tell you, is the Figure Four Leg Lock. I put this hold on Carlito in a recent match and the hold was broken! I know, big deal, right? Well, let me tell you how Carlito got out of it. He didn't grab the rope to force a break from the referee. No, Carlito actually pulled Flair's leg out from around his own and physically squirmed his way out of the hold! Call me a geek, but it's little touches like that a fanboy like me lives for! And, keep in mind, I've only been playing this for the last three days. There could be any number of other surprises I still have yet to see.

And the legends? Well, let me think. I haven't advanced far enough to unlock any yet. But, from what I've seen online, the big names we have on tap this year include: Bret Hart, "Ravishing" Rick Rude, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, Sabu, Mick Foley, Terry Funk, and a few others that I may honestly be forgetting. Sabu, wow! The addition of ECW in this year's game is, to me, the quintessence of cool. That brings to mind the newly-added Extreme Rules match! Every weapon you can possibly imagine at your disposal, including the long-overdue ability to set fire to a table before slamming your opponent through its surface! Who couldn't want that?

It's obviously not going to be every gamer's cup of tea. But, at the same time, I completely fail to see how any true video-gaming wrestling nut could possibly pass this up! Trust me when I say....you will lose sleep, you will miss appointments, and long-time friends will forget your name if you plain and simply do not force yourself to put down the controller. This new game, for me, as I've already well established, is just that addictive and belongs in every fan's collection.

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars matthew payne, February 15, 2008

By	Sherri "Matthew's Mom" (Illinois) - See all my reviews

Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars

This game actualy kinda the same as '07 but there are some new fetures.
I got this game yesterday and I have set almost everything you can on
fire.You can have torches and tables on fire but you have to be winning
to set anything on fire.The customizing realy sucks ,You cant evev customize your locker room.

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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Over Done, and Nothing But Hype, May 29, 2008

By	D.A. Stone (Green Bay, Wi) - See all my reviews

Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars

I must say at first this seemed like it would be a very good game, seeing as they added so much to it since any of the prior smackdown titles that i used to play. So this was the first time trying out the SvR series, and from what i heard it was pretty much the same game only with a few changes. Going into game play i thought everything would work as it did before only with some minor adjustments on parts of the matches and a little of the control scheme. WRONG!! The beginning tutorials of the game should say it all, you have to figure out each fighting style with its own individual and annoying learning curve that really isn't worth the time ,or the fun, you put into playing this. It does however, put an interesting strategic spin on things, but in my opinion the flow of the game suffers. I must admit though once I got the hang of the game, things did get a bit fun. If there is one thing that thq brought to the table was a very slick, and polished environment. The choices you have are impressive; and lets not forget about the play modes. 24/7 (which is one of the greatest concepts a wrestling game could have), Tournament (the thing i had the most fun with), Legend (which lets you fight in some of wrestling's greatest matches \m/) and many other great creative things (too many to answer).

Now that's all very cool, but here are a few issues i had. When playing in 24/7 mode with a created player, you have to maintain every little thing your player does, which is great, but here's the issue i had with the training mode. You have to engage in a two minute match to see if you can pull off the moves needed to earn just 1 stat point (which is pretty hard to do no matter what difficulty mode you play it in), seriously, why not 2 of 3 points depending on the type of wrestler you classify yourself as(Tech, Power, Speed etc.). That seems like it would make more sense wouldn't it? And if that isn't frustrating enough, why are some of the most effective moves based off the square button and the right analog stick? I mean if your trying to pull off a move (especially finishers), with a stiff maneuvering character, wouldn't have the developers made this alot less complicated? So at least you it have made it a little easier to avoid the ridiculous counters every second of the match.

Another thing that's annoying is the commentary and the cut scenes. These all would have been good if they wouldn't have JBL and Micheal Cole repeating the same uninspired drivel over and over again (i didn't get play the game enough to hear much of the other commentators, but im pretty sure it would've been the same thing). As for the superstars, in my opinion the current stars that WWE have on the roster right now are very boring and okay at best. CM punk seems to to be the only interesting superstar they have going on nowadays, but even his showmanship isn't the greatest. The stories are also pretty shallow and uncreative, playing with Booker T should tell you how lame that is lol. The wrestlers you get to choose from really aren't like anything of the truly charismatic originals from past wwe rosters. Even though a lot of the key essential superstars of the past (and a bunch of other goodies) are available to unlock. Would you spend over 40 hrs playing a monotonous wrestling game to do it?, you decide.

Then comes the matches that involve more than one opponent. This is one thing that really pissed me off. Instead of having a button you can press to switch over to the person you want to fight, you have to walk over to your opponent and have it switch over automatically. Only when 3 other opponents are attacking you it makes it pretty impossible not to get hit or injured to the point where it takes you forever to recover. To sum it up, in my opinion this game makes smackdown:know your role title seem like a 5 star in comparison, and i think im being pretty generous when i say that lol. The only reason why im giving this two stars is because of the create and tournament mode. These are about the only things this game truly has going for it; or if you like hearing the same s**tty commercial rock played over and over again in the menus til you wanna puke, thats up to you. I'm glad i decided to rent this one before i thought to buy it. If you really want to play a fun and easy to digest wrestling game, Id highly recommend sticking with the older titles. You would be much better off.