I decided to make a new topic about the WWE game series instead of putting this stuff in the Wrestling thread. It's a long read, but informative. The Smackdown vs. RAW series has become the Madden of the WWE product. Introducing a new version yearly, the franchise has proven to be the biggest and best of the wrestling games to date. Despite disputes amongst the fans, it's undeniable that the series has given us some fresh moments mimicking that in which fans see on WWE programming every week. Soon this years edition will hit store shelves titled Smackdown vs. RAW 2007, obviously. This year's introduces a new innovative way to apply certain moves such as the suplex as well as a few "hot spots" around the arena from the turnbuckles to the crowd; Yukes has revamped a few areas to give a much more interactive experience to the player. As of right now, thanks to the X06 event and Microsoft's great idea to supply demos on it's Xbox Live Marketplace to parallel editor's previews, there is now a Smackdown vs. RAW 2007 demo up for download for free! The demo consists of only two wrestlers: Triple H and Kane. Included are a few tutorial videos along with the ability to play exhibition single matches in the RAW arena. The demo is 1.06GB. The confirmed roster can be found here as well as the legend/unlockable wrestlers here. I have personally reviewed the demo and here's what I have to say about it: The Xbox 360 version is going to come out swinging. If in fact the PS2 version (rumored to be a 360 port) is anything like what I played, fans shouldn't be disappointed. The demo is a bit frustrating to get used to--the new control scheme depends on more than simply tapping adirection plus face button. You now have to move the joystick in one of four directions to do a move. In order to do "stronger" moves, you have to hold down the right shoulder button while going through the routine of pulling off a standard move. This can take a while to get used to. I ended up losing my first match because I couldn't get ahold of them quickly enough. Nonetheless, the demo showcases a lot of hot spots in and out of the ring to use at your disposal. I haven't exactly found out how to use tables and other weapons to their full potential (I don't even know if it's all been included yet), but from what I experienced, it was still awesome to see how the wrestlers interacted with the environment and one another. Moves are less robotic in terms of reversals and such. In fact, it's a little too smooth for my taste as I found myself taking a reversal and not realizing it until I hit the mat. The computer reverses a lot in the demo. It almost reversed every move I threw at it, but after taking it outside the ring, I was able to get the upper hand. It felt good to see both Kane and Triple H beat each other to a bloody pulp. The blood seems to have been redone as well. It seems to work the same way the sweat system does, slowly spreading over the body as time goes on. By the time I pinned Triple H, Kane's face was covered in blood (not a crimson mask, but close) and it had dripped onto his chest area, continuing down a bit. I'm not sure if Yukes added other areas to bleed from, but I guess we can hope because it looked way better than 06's blood. The only problems I can see with the game so far is that it may not sit well with all players no matter veteran or newbie. I assume I'll be playing this on easy the first few matches so I can get the hang of it if I can't by playing the demo by itself, but the controls are promising nevertheless. The mapping to the joystick worked out much better than I anticipated and seems to be full of possibilities. The only other problem I have with the current build is I lose stamina way too fast. As I played with Kane, a simple throat strike knocked my stamina down about an eighth way or so. It doesn't sound like much, but when you're brawling or pulling off a lot of moves just to keep your opponent down long enough for you to catch your breath... well, it gets hectic. Graphics have been improved. The sweat system adds a lot of realism to the game and the crowd's been revamped. Not only can you tear their signs up, but they'll offer you weapons and react much more passionately than they did in SvR06. They boo, chant "you suck" to heels pulling off dirty moves and cheer when they see something awesome. If this is any indication of how SvR07 is going to be, I'd say we're looking at a whole new experience. I can't say whether it's a good one or not though. A few things still feel unpolished. Thoughts? Questions? Concerns? I'll do my best to answer anything I can from a gamer's standpoint/perspective. I'm following the progressive updates daily as well as I can. Smackdown vs. RAW 2006 brought me back into the franchise from about a three year absence. Upon playing the game, it began to peak my interest again and eventually I began to love the franchise again. With the additions and polish Yukes have done so far, I think SvR07 should shape up to be a new and fresh experience. It's slowly become one of the most anticipated games on my list.
I've been a fan of the Smackdown!/SDvs.RAW series ever since the beginning. While I didn't play every game that they came out with, I do own a couple (the original SD!, Here Comes The Pain, 2006). The new game though looks utterly awesome, I may not watch the programs anymore, but I will play the games as they are fun to play. http://xbox360.ign.com/objects/820/820799.html IGN.com has a feature every day that takes a look at a certain wrestler that's on the roster list. Check out the video section, they have entrances of a bunch of wrestlers so far...they haven't gotten to the cream of the crop much yet, probably the biggest one on there has to be Edge, who is WWE Champion when you start the game I suppose. And it's all from the 360 version.
Haha, yeah. That's where I'm getting most of my information from. I'm only going to watch the countdown for the superstars. I read on the IGN forums somewhere that they will also cover other aspects of the game, but I'm going to try and resist from watching them so I'll be surprised when I actually get my hands on a copy.
Unlockables in '07 seem very likely by the way. THQ have been dropping hints left right and centre. Glad to see Shane is a playable charecter now, I really hope the controls don't fuck this game up though because often when a game comepletly changes it's controls it just ruins it. It's probably my most anticipated game of the year so far though.
Sadly, the unlockables are probably just Shane, Tazz, Lawyer, etc. It seems from the time interviews took place where unlockables were announced this was the consensus all along. Also, good news for Xbox 360 users: It's been confirmed that it will have custom music capabilities. That means custom music and our own tracks. So no more grueling entrance music for us. Yay! It's also been confirmed that there are no ECW "extremist" in the game (Sabu, Dreamer, Sandman, etc.) So it seems that everything is pretty much set. I'm sure the final build is finishing up and what we see is what we're going to get. Ultimately unless THQ/Yukes are pulling the wool over our eyes, there will be no Spirit Squad, London/Kendrick or anything special. It's a bit disappointing but as long as CAW mode this year is good, with custom music I won't have too much to worry about. Just add in London's track (hopefully custom entrances are better this year) and it's no problem for me. That also means you can make ECW stars and have their own theme music as well. You can find a post about all this at GamingRing.com... They're pretty reliable. They even lost their build because they released the legends list before they were allowed to.