Even though I am not the wrestling fan that I was once, I still enjoy playing the video games. I have had my hands on every installment of this series at one time or another all the way back to the Playstation days. I remember playing the first Playstation game for hours on end when I first got it. The series has come a long way since then and is still the best wrestling game you can find to date.
Smackdown Vs. Raw 2007 is a step up from it's previous years title but, not as much as it could have been. There are some tweaks here and there that are a welcome addition I just don't seem to think they are working real hard to take this game to the next level. Still, this is a solid wrestling game that has a lot inside the box.
The great thing about this series has always been the amount of things you can do in the game and that does not change here. All of the matches and game modes found in the previous games are here once again and support up to six human players at once. Some of these matches have been tweaked slightly and give them a greater feel. The only new match though is a new money in the bank match which is a 6-man ladder match going for a briefcase at the top of the ladder. Even though this the only new one, they took off the diva bra and panties match, it is pure mayhem and fun. All of the other matches like hardcore, table ladder and chair, elimination chamber, buried alive, and more are all back again. There is also a fair share of things to unlock like wrestlers, move sets, arenas, and more. This game should keep you busy for a lot of hours and is a game that you can always just put in and pumple a friend anytime.
Story Mode Story mode has improved over last years installment but, i still think could be a little better. You start by picking a wrestler and that will impact what show you are on. You can use your created wrestler and when you make them there is an option to pick what show they are on. This is what determines what show your wrestler pick take part in. There is a lot more story lines and these are determined by what wrestler you pick when you start. You never really get a feeling that you are in control of your wrestler and have much of a say on what happens next. There are a few times that you do get to make a choice and take the story line in a different direction but, for the most part, it will always have the same wrestlers involved now matter what your choice is. I is just the matter of which side you take. The story lines mainly revolve around a title shot, pay-per-view event, a royal rumble sport, diva's, or getting that main event at Wrestlemania. Much like you see on TV these story lines are cut and dry and to the point. However, there is a lot of interactions between weeks with a lot of in ring talk again like TV. It is just that your wrestler does not seem to talk much. Still, the commentary at the beginning of the matches and the more story lines give this mode a boos from previous years. There is some replay value here once you complete a story with both brands. You can see different story lines by picking different wrestlers or you can loose specific ones on purpose that you may have won on a previous game just to see what happens. You do not have to win every match to keep the story going which I like. I just wish you had more say on what your wrestler will do next throughout the course of the year.
General Manager Mode The GM mode is relatively the same as last year with just a couple of new tweaks. Your ultimate goal here is to book more fans then your rival show for an entire year of wrestling. You start by picking your brand, Smackdown or Raw, and either start with their rosters being true to life or you can hold a draft and alternate who you would like on your show (this can include created characters). Each show supports their own belts with Raw having the women's belt and Smackdown having the Cruiserweight belt. So if you do a draft you need to consider what belts you have and draft accordingly. Once you have your rosters you will have the duty of booking matches each week and for their respective Pay-Per-Views. Each match you book will have an overall rating and your goal is to get the highest average rating per show. A lot of different things go into a match rating. For examples, are the wrestlers currently in a rivalry, are the wrestlers popularity ratings high, what type of match it is, or was the match a title match. All of these go into account each match on your card. The higher your overall weekly match card ratings the more fans you get. The same goes for your rival brand. There are a few other ways to try and help with ratings. Each week there are two empty Promo slots that can be used in a variety of ways. For examples, you can start a rivalry, keep one going and rest a wrestler, run advertisements for money, build hype for a wrestler to up their popularity, run advertisements for an upcoming Pay-Per-View, even hold a bikini contest with divas and up one of their popularity, and more. There is nothing more to this than a menu that you place your choice in and it is done for you. This ads some depth but, it would be more fun if you got to see something or are able to do more here besides just letting the computer do it for you. Maybe they will work on this for later installments of the game.
You will also be in charge of the finances of your brand. Contracts will have to be watched closely in case one of your wrestlers contracts expires in a week. If you do not sign them after their last week of their contract they will go in the free agent pool and your rival show can pick them up if you don't re-sign them. Each show costs money and depending on each match you use will also cost money. You will need to watch your money and make sure you can pay for your next event and your wrestlers. There is an option to play without money but, that takes away from the GM mode which is not incredibly in-depth as it is. You need to also keep an eye on their fatigue level as your wrestlers will tire after a big match. Certain matches will tire your wrestlers more than others. For example, a regular straight foreword one on one match won't fatigue them any further but, a last man standing match will make them extremely fatigued after the match. If you keep using a fatigued wrestler they have a good chance of getting injured and will nt be available until they are healed. My only complaint here is, the computer's wrestlers for some reason don't get fatigued at all. Once in a blue moon I would check their roster and maybe one wrestler was tired but, I would go their last weeks matches and see all of these ladder matches and first blood matches. This is the same as last year's game and it does make the GM mode much more difficult this way. Since you are forced to rest your superstars and loose match ratings and the computer is not you will find the beginning of the GM mode pretty hard. You can however, turn fatigue off if you wish and not worry about it but, that kind of takes the fun out of it to me and makes the GM mode easier than it should be.
There are two new features in this years GM mode. One of the "new" features is the way feuds are dealt with. You will be able to hire writers which specialize in specific storyline feuds. These feuds themselves have different ratings, with some giving more of a rating boots than others, so you will need to hire all of them all eventually. Some writers might be good at making a feud between divas while another one is good at pitting American wrestlers against Canadian wrestlers for example. each feud also requires certain type of wrestlers so you can't just through any wrestler in any feud. There really is not instructions to this and although some are obvious some are not so it takes some time getting used to what each feud is looking for in wrestlers. I just let the computer throw together some feuds just so I could see what each one was looking for even if I didn't use what they suggested. This is all done for the purpose of boosting the match ratings of your shows and this is the best way to do this. Without feuds you will never be able to get the full potential of a match so you must keep these going for as long as you can. The second smaller tweak is the new Power 25. This like a rating system for your wrestlers and your opposing brands wrestlers. You can view your Power 25 numbers as they change after each week of wrestling. The effect this has is, only wrestlers in your top 15 will be eligible for a title match and it will tell you if they are a contender when you look at it. This is good for the feuds as well because it helps to see who the #1 contender is so you can make a better feuds with more popular wrestlers. The biggest way a wrestler moves up and down this rating system is my the number of wins they have and the level of their competition. I tested this a little and through
The Undertaker against
Trevor Murdoch with their popularity miles apart. Even though The Undertaker won every match his ranking went down. So, at least this does work and your wrestlers have to earn a spot by beating better opponents. This ranking system also includes stables as well. So if you have
Lita and
Edge as a stable their Power 25 ranking depends on how they both do in the ring. These two new features are nice changes and add some depth to the GM mode.
The GM mode as a whole is a lot of fun to start with but, will get repetitive after a while. A year long season with a show every single week makes a year of play a long one. Even though you are able to play any match you wish you probably will be doing more simulating than anything else. This takes a lot out of the hands on experience. I found myself only playing matches when I wanted a certain wrestler to win to up their popularity, change of a title belt, or if a wrestler loses to much they get upset. If a wrestler looses to may times in a row in a rivalry the feud will loose its boost. Other than that I just found myself simulating mostly to speed things up. I still like the mode I just think it needs an overhaul and needs more things to either watch or do and get more of a hands on feel.
Game Play/Controls For the most part this has stayed the same over the past couple of years. Your momentum meter is the same, you still have to watch your stamina, you still have tons of moves to pull off per wrestler, and most of the buttons are easy to figure out what they do and use. However, there is one big change and that is the grappling system. Instead of just hitting a grapple button to initiate a grapple it is tied to the right thumb stick. While facing your opponent you can you can just move the right analog stick in a direction to pull off a quick move that is hard for an opponent to revers. If you hold down the R1 button then move the right stick you attempt to perform a strong grapple. All of these moves are different depending on what type of wrestler you are. I do like this new grapple system a little better just because it changes things up and gives you a little more freedom in your moved. I don't necessarily like it better but, I am sure others will.
One of the new features to the game is the Ultimate Control Moves. When you get an opponent into a strong grapple instead of just hitting a direction and pulling of a move you can click the right analog stick (R3) and pick up your opponent and are prepared to dish out some serious damage. Once you get your opponent in this predicament, there are a number of things you can do here. On the top part of the screen with be up to three different button controls to chose from that you follow what is being displayed and perform the move. These vary on what your wrestler has in his arsenal from a choke slam, power slam, DDT, piledriver, and more. This is a very welcome addition and a lot of fun to play around with. It doesn't just stop there though as you have much more freedom than that. While having your opponent in this you can walk them around and do a number of things to them. This is where the next new feature comes into play. It is called Environmental Hot spots and is another very welcome addition. These are hot spots placed around the ring, depending on what match you are doing, and you can use these hot spots and the environment as one big weapon. By getting your opponent in an ultimate control move, or a strong grapple, you can drag your opponent over to one of these hot spots and this will automatically start a hot spot situation. A diagram will pop up on screen which is used my your right analog stick and you follow what the diagram is doing. Some of these include hitting your opponents head into a turnbuckle over and over (works very well if you take the turnbuckle off before doing), or the same goes for the steel steps outside the ring. You can place your opponent gently on the top rope and give their "private parts" a work out or even leave the ring and fight in the crowd with hot spots scattered about. Through there head through a TV or use a fire extinguisher on them. There really is a ton to try out here. Although these are high damage moves they can also be very taxing on your stamina which balances it out well. Both of these new changes to the game play ad quite a bit of more fun. Again, these games never have been short on things to do and this just ads more.
There are still some areas that need a little improving in the game play. All though the computer AI is pretty good you will find yourself playing on hardest difficulty to give yourself an adequate challenge. They are pretty smart when it comes to the different match typed however. Such as a ladder match they will continue to go after the belt any change they get and tag team AI is right on as they always come out and try to help there partner when needed. To bad that does not go for you computer partner. Sometimes they will sometimes they won't help you when needed. You can call them out to help anytime you want though which is a savior at times. You may find yourself being the one tagged out once you have worked your opponent over enough for a pin and go outside the ring and attack your opponent's partner. This will, of course, prevent them from helping their partner. The only other complaint I have with the AI is that the computer just doesn't seem to go for a knock out Punch unless they get their momentum meter full. Even if their opponent could be pinned easily they tend to wait to deliver their own finisher before going for a pin. Still the AI is pretty solid I and will put up a fight. Especially if you tweak all of the options the game gives you.
Graphics The graphics in this series has always been excellent and it doesn't change with the 2007 game. This is some of the best player models you will on the PS2 and and really had no trouble with frame rate. Their facial animations are solid as well and seeing them change as they get hurt is great. In the season mode there is a lot of in the ring talking, just like real wrestling, and the talking animations are also right on. Unfortunately with the core graphics so good there were some hiccups that they still have not fixed. Sometimes you will see your wrestler in the course of a match have an appendix go inside the mat or an object. It looks like they hit some quick sand for a second or two. And for some reason the long hair issue still remains. For example, if you create a character with long hair certain intros that has their head fling back will have this hair go right through their chest as it is stiff as a board. This is not true however for all of the wrestlers that are found in the game just created characters. The hair itself looks terrible considering the rest of the player model looks great. The only other small complaint is that sometimes the the reactions of the wrestlers can feel a little stiff. This is not to bad and should not change your opinion of the game. It just could have been a little more on time. In all, the graphics are solid with just a few problems that can be over looked.
Sound The overall sound in the game is all right. The players hitting the mat or just being hit sound realistic enough but, just don't sound as if they have the impact that they should. Hitting your opponent head on with a chair or sending them into the steel steps are all right on the money though. The voice overs of the different wrestlers is also very nice. during season mode you will get a lot messages from different wrestlers talking trash or asking for help and the real voices are there. Also during the story mode, most of your matches have some commentary as the wrestlers are doing their intros. This keeps the story mode more a live as they talk about the rivalries that are happening with your wrestler and what has happened in weeks past. That is it for the commentary though as the in game experience with the commentary is flat out awful. Michael Cole, Tazz, Jim Ross, and Jerry Lawler all make an appearance once again. The problem is, they just don't have enough lines to say during a match. This has always been a problem in years past and they have not addressed this at all. Most of the sayings are the same from last year and if your match goes long enough you will hear everything line they have. They will even speak about a certain wrestler that is in the ring, which is a good thing, but you most likely where here this saying a couple of times during the match. I hope they address this because it really brings down the game when you want to push the mute button every time you start a match.
The music in the game is not bad. There is a pretty good collection of rock and hip hop music that you here in the menus and such. I just noticed that some songs play a lot more than others which can get annoying after a while. Overall the sound is just average and could use a serious overhaul in my opinion.
Create-A-Wrestler Creating your own wrestler has always been big in this wrestling series and they bring it back stronger this year. Most of the same aspects are the same as you have a ton of different outfits to choose from. This includes head wear, body, leg, feet, tattoos, and more. You can change how wrestler face and body look and can make some very interesting looking wrestlers and you are able to use every wrestling move found in the game. This can take a long time but, the finished product is worth it. Like last year you can create your own entrance for each created wrestler as well. Unlike last year though, this is not near as time consuming as the load times to view what you have created so far is not near as long. Plus, you can view different parts of the entrance that you are working on at any time. There are a lot of things to change as well from the different camera views to different pyrotechnics. You can always play the camera view and angle at any time during your entrance which gives you a lot of control. What good is a wrestler without a high powered entrance to go along with them. You can also create your own belt and have wrestlers go your own title in quick play. This has always been a good feature in the series and has got better this year. You will probably find your self here a lot and having fun tweaking wrestlers in your own way.
Online Another good feature to go with the game is the online aspect. Every match type that features up to four players is available online. I never experienced lag issues unless a player had a ping which you can see before entering a match with them. You can bring your created wrestlers and test them online as well and even trade them with someone if you wish. Online features a few stats for your profile as well with an overall ranking, title match victories, title defenses, championship value/prestige, and more. This is where you may spend most of your time with this game especially after you have created your own wrestler. A great addition to the that works better than most PS2 online games.
Conclusion In all, this is another solid addition into this series of wrestling games. There are definitely areas that could be improved or updated but, this is the best wrestling series you will find on any console. I have a feeling this is where the problem is though. Since this is pretty much the only wrestling series worth even picking up, except for the more arcade style of wrestling game in
Fire Pro Wrestling Returns, they seem to be getting a bit lazy. There is just enough tweaks in the Season Mode and General Manager Mode and a few additions like the environmental hot spots and ultimate control moves to warrant picking this game up over the 2006 version. You just never really get the feeling that you are playing the best that this game could offer. With everything being just good enough you just walk away with a feeling that if they just made the game a little more in-depth that it would be perfect. If they just fix the areas that have been plaguing this game and put a little more in-depth to the different play modes this would have been a five star game hands down. I do believe that this game will cater to true wrestling fans more than just a casual player just looking for a different type of fighting game. If I could have gave this game a 4.5 stars I would have. It is better than 4 but a few things hold it back from being great.
Thank you for reading.
Here is some related game reviews if you are interested in reading them: Fire Pro Wrestling Returns Fight Night Round 3 WrestleMania 21 If you have any questions about this game just let me know.
My Ratings: Story Mode 4/5
General Manager Mode 4/5
Game Play: 4.5/5
Controls 4/5
Graphics: 5/5
Sound: 3/5
Learning Curve: 30min
Replay Value: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Publisher: THQ
Developer: Yukes
Genre: Fighting
ESRB Teen
Game Specs Players: 1-6
