[Multiplatform] Smackdown vs Raw '08

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/777/777264p1.html

Confirmed for all systems: Xbox 360, PSP, DS, Wii, PS3 and PS2

Next installment of the Smackdown vs Raw series.

Here's a preview from IGN (taken from the PS3 site)

Even if they won't change the Smackdown vs. Raw name, ECW is going to be big in 2008.

In front of a ballroom full of gaming journalists and PR types, THQ unveiled the first in-game footage from Smackdown vs. Raw 2008, but even before the gameplay movies rolled, the static logo blasted across a Titantron-looking big screen and several widescreen TVs let the room know this year would be different.

A purple splash had soiled the familiar Smackdown vs. Raw logo. It said "ECW INVASION."

"ECW is completely invading our franchise," said THQ Creative Manager Cory Ledesma. "It's going to be just as equal to Raw and Smackdown as far as superstars, arenas, attacks you'll have in season mode, you'll have exclusive weapons, exclusive match types - ECW is going to be completely integrated into the franchise."

That's hardcore, but don't think that the innovators of violence were the main thrust of Friday's event. While at the podium, Ledesma spoke about the new Struggle Submission System, superstar fighting styles and got into the brand new WWE 24/7 mode - a combination of the franchise's season and general manager modes.

Remember last year when your goal in season mode was to make it to Wrestlemania? THQ is setting the bar higher this year. A lot higher.

"Ultimately, the goal is to become a legend," Ledesma said. "This process of becoming a legend could take quite awhile."

Pick Undertaker for your WWE 24/7 character? He's pretty popular already, you might be able to knock out his set of preset, unannounced goals in about six in-game months and make your way into the WWE Hall of Fame. Create a character? You could be looking at three years of WWE ladder climbing.

"Really what we wanted to accomplish here was let the user live the life of a WWE superstar," Ledesma said of the mode that will have players training their characters, coping with injuries and managing their brand. "This year it's all about being a legend."

A few of the sweet minutes we got to see of in-game footage dealt with the different types of fighting styles. Raw vs. Smackdown 2008 characters will have two of eight fighting styles - hardcore, high flier, submission artist, powerhouse, brawler, showman, dirty and technician - that will each have their own benefits and drawbacks when characters enter the ring.

For instance, THQ popped a match between Randy Orton and Kane on the auditorium's screens to showcase Orton's dirty fighting style. Kane went to put a beat down Orton, but the devious heel jumped behind the ref, grabbed the WWE employee's arms and used him as a human shield. After a bit of squirming on the ref's part, Orton threw the official into Kane. It knocked the ref out, and the big man down. Orton's dirty demo didn't end there. In another clip, the cowboy's kid placed a chair under the fallen Undertaker's head, grabbed another steel seat and slammed it down to make a noggin sandwich out of the Phenom.

The virtual Bobby Lashley was also trotted out by THQ to display some of the neat features for powerhouses. Pinned by Rey Mysterio, Lashley let the little man get a two-count before tossing the high flyer off his chest and across the ring. If a powerhouse stores a special, they'll be able to use it to kick out of any pin.

Using the ring as a weapon will also be up the sleeves of the Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 powerhouses. A demo showed Kane carrying Orton around the ring and slamming him into the corners, and a similar video had Lashley powerbombing Orton onto a portion of steel steps that had made it into the ring.


Ledesma said the theme of Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 is "How will you play." Fighting styles will help you find the character that fits your persona while 24/7 mode will give you the RPG-like tools you need to shape the WWE, but developers wanted to take the experience even deeper.

The new Struggle Submission System will play like a cat-and-mouse game, Ledesma said. Rather than have both players sit there while an animation of a figure-four leglock begins, the new system will have both players managing how their character acts during the battle. Using the analog stick, the player performing the move can move the joystick ever-so slightly to add just a little bit of pressure but make a long hold or wrench back on the stick to make the pressure go through the roof during a short hold. Meanwhile, the opponent in the hold can leave his or her stick alone and offer no resistance to the hold or work it to one side and try to power out of the lock.

"These choices are now up to you," Ledesma said.

In a video shown today, Triple H had whipping boy Orton in an abdominal stretch. The Game gave it his all and leaned back to contort Orton's body, but Orton took a shot and powered out to send Hunter flying. Triple H caught up to the kid again, put him in the same hold and Orton tapped.

Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 has shipped 3.6 million copies since it's release last year. With a fan base like that, it's doubtful THQ had to try hard to build excitement for 2008, but with the robust features described today - did I mention more than 50 match types, all the create modes you love, three different commentary teams and more than 50 superstars? - chances are the company just set its fanbase into world wrestling overdrive.

Lace up your boots, Hulkamaniacs. Smackdown vs. Raw 2008 heads to the ring this fall.

The screens look AMAZING and with any luck this game will strike gold once again. I skipped out on 07 but hope to get my hands on 08.

The road to SvR 08 has begun and in time more info and roster will be added!

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Very interesting indeed! It's nice that they're setting the goal higher than "just get the WWE title!!!1111 lol" I hope that means that the IC, US, and other such titles will play a larger role in the game.

IMHO, you didn't miss out on too much in SvR '07. It was what I would call "more of the same" from '06 mostly. Pretty much a minor upgrade (with some unresolved bugs), though I've still enjoyed playing the game. I just hope in '08, they either leave the controls the hell alone, or at least make a system that makes sense and doesn't have bugs in the controls like '07 had.

Allowing powerhouses to kick out of any pin if they have a special sounds both nice, and scary. It will kind of make the game favor those guys both for CPU and human players, since storing specials doesn't take much work, and getting that last ditch kick out of a pin that would've otherwise ended the match sounds better than using the special on your opponent only to have them end up too close to the ropes, so you have to drag them away, try to pin, and have them kick out because it took too much time to reposition them.

Either way, sounds like they're at least still trying to bring about innovations in this series. I'll be very interested in the final product.

How ya doing, buddy?

I got Smack v Raw 07 for ps2. The graphics arnt to great for ps2 s they are for other consoles, but they're next gen. Is there going to be any new features in this or just the same?? Sorry if you said, but im too tired to read all that.

Most amazing jew boots

There's a video on IGN too about some gameplay mechanics. It's about 2 and a half minutes long, but it's pretty informative of some of the new styles there are for gameplay.

http://media.ps3.ign.com/media/844/844743/vids_1.html

It really is worth the look at. Plus you can see how phenominal the game looks so far.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Well, i did look at half of the video last night because it was loading really slow, and yes it did look really amazing. I also noticed in the background that they still have the 'secret' area within the crowd. Hopefully that has some more/different hotspots this time.

Seeing as it is on the PS3, i'll have to give the video 8/10.

I was speaking idiomatically.

New hands on Preview posted on ps3.ign.com:

July 9, 2007 - We paid a visit to THQ's Southern California headquarters last week to see the E3 build of the company's star pinup, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008. Guiding us along was the newly promoted Creative Manager Bryan Williams and his boss, the Senior Creative Manager (and familiar face to the IGN faithful) Cory Ledesma.

"This year it's all about playing like your favorite superstar," commented Williams. "Fighting styles and character-specific moves are what we really want to stress and that's a big deal for us. We have new strategies that haven't been in the game before and cool match-specific advantages based on style."

Bryan isn't kidding. When we selected the freshly-announced ECW legend Sandman and put him up against the smirk master Randy Orton, we could see the advantages of being a "Hardcore" wrestler in an ECW Extreme Rules match. Sandman's proficiency with weapons helped us own Orton all over the squared circle, while putting chairs on our opponent's neck or pulling off conchairtos added a little extra oomph.

As wrestling fans might expect, the Extreme Rules match is a heck of a lot of fun. Before a bout, users can select which weapons they want to bring with them as part of their setup menu, but that doesn't mean that they'll just appear randomly. Now when you reach under the ring, you can choose one of your items from an analog-controlled wheel; there's no randomization anymore. Even better is that there are new weapons joining old favorites; namely barbed-wired boards and breakable guitars. Expect nine weapon types in all.

Another new touch this year is the ability to interact with fans on all four sides of the ring. But grabbing signs or taking weapons isn't all you can do with them; they can also grab and interact with championship belts or the superstars themselves -- they can even your wrestler on the back or hold an opponent for you so that you can get in a couple of cheap shots.

Perhaps the more important fix, though, is found with the gameplay itself. Yuke's has made a number of mechanical tweaks for fluid action. The ability to run, for example, has been moved off of the buttons completely and is now performed by holding a shoulder button in conjunction with the left analog stick. Exiting the ring and jumping over the apron have been moved to a single button push as well.

"We wanted first-time players to be able to do what they want without having to learn a number of complicated maneuvers," remarked Ledesma. "In the past, we had something like three different buttons you had to push to dive out of the ring on top of somebody; that's hard for beginners. Now, if you want to jump onto your opponent just hit 'Square'' (or X on 360) and you can."

After playing with the new controls ourselves we can attest that the single-button system keeps the matches fluid and fast-paced. It also helps that the new submission system is analog-based as well. How much pressure you apply and how quickly you pump your arms around someone's neck is now entirely up to you -- as is your defense to it, as escaping a grapple is handled with the analog sticks as well. All in all, it's definitely an improvement over last year's edition.

Other new additions worth mentioning include a revamped finishing system that a gives you the option of storing a finisher for use as a style-specific finisher later on. So if, for example, you have a stored finisher with a brawler, when you activate it you'll throw a number of irreversible strikes -- or if you mount a dude on the mat, you can use UFC-style ground and pound punches and head-butts.

There are a bunch of style-specific moves like those mentioned above for other classes too. Showmen can steal an opponent's taunt at any time to increase his momentum, for instance, and is the only class that can perform turnbuckle taunts for himself. Technical guys can reverse any strong grapple as long as they haven't suffered from any limb-specific damage, while high flyers can use quick little evasive rolls to avoid bigger opponents. The whole system works pretty well and to help keep things even for everyone, THQ has even added the option of throwing strikes, even when you're the one caught in a grapple.

One of our favorite new improvements is the streamlining that's been done to the menus and match selections. Examples include a "Quick Play" option that will take you into a random match type with random wrestlers via the push of a button (similar to what's found in sports games), while the "Choose Manager" and "Choose Title Bout" option has been removed completely. But don't panic about those last two just yet -- the ability to have a manager escort you down the aisle (they come out with you during your entrances now, by the way) or defend a belt is still in there -- now they're just options to choose as part of the match selection process; the days of going into a separate menu for everything are long gone.

Of course, the expected visual enhancements have been made to the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions to boot. Crowds look a lot better thanks to depth of field effects, new lighting effects, better 3D and redone faces. Entrances look great too, with a large helping of them having been redone with new mo-cap and other effects (Cena salutes as he comes down to the ring, Sandman bashes his head in with a beer as he moves through the crowd, etc), and hair looks much more realistic. Mo-cap touches the moves themselves too -- Undertaker has a new tombstone (finally), Orton has a redone RKO, and a number of general moves have benefited from the same treatment (scissor kicks, ref arguments, win poses, etc).

THQ has also confirmed that the last-gen versions of SmackDown will be pretty much identical to the PS3 and Xbox 360 version; but system-specific differences are a possibility according to the team (though not confirmed, they were dodgy on that one). At the very least, PS3 fans can rest easy as both the Xbox and PlayStation SKUs are being developed simultaneously -- unlike last year when the PS3 version was so severely behind eventually leading to its cancellation.

As for the rest of SmackDown, THQ isn't showing us yet. Most of the roster is still being shrouded in secret and the create modes are being held back for another day. We did learn that there will be a new interface in these modes, however, and there are some more announcements expected in the coming months (such as the completely new soundtrack),

How will it all turn out? The world is watching...

The game is shaping up to be really nice. I can't wait for E3 to see more on this!

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Roster announced. Not surprisingly Chris Benoit is absent.

Ashley
Johnny Nitro
Ric Flair
Batista
JTG
Sabu
Bobby Lashley
Kane
Sandman
Booker T
Kelly Kelly
SHAD
Candice Michelle
Ken Kennedy
Shawn Michaels
Carlito
Kenny Dykstra
Snitsky
Chavo Guerrero
Marcus Cor Von
The Great Khali
Chris Masters
Mark Henry
Tommy Dreamer
CM Punk
Matt Hardy
Torrie Wilson
Edge
Melina
Triple H
Elijah Burke
Michelle McCool
Umaga
Finlay
Mickie James
Undertaker
Gregory Helms
MVP
William Regal
Jeff Hardy
Randy Orton
John Cena
Rey Mysterio

NON-PLAYABLE CHARACTERS
Armando Alejandro Estrada
Lillian Garcia
Stephanie McMahon
JBL rocking a suit
Maria
Tazz
Jerry Lawler
Michael Cole
Theodore Long
Jim Ross
Mickie Henson
Tony Chimmel
Joey Styles
Mike Chioda
Triple H rocking a suit
Jonathan Coachman
Nick Patrick
Vince McMahon in a suit
Justin Roberts
Shane McMahon in a suit

WWE LEGENDS
Bret Hart
Roddy Piper
The Rock
Mick Foley
Steve Austin
Rick Rude
Terry Funk

The list looks a bit slim for a PS3 game, though. CAW will probably be huge. :|

Tomorrow kicks off the Annual Smackdown Countdown.

FELIPE NO

Who ever even plays with the real people though? I would say that 95% of my playtime on last year's game was using a created wrestler, which is a percentage that I would say is extremely similar to the previous year's game. And about the same as any of the previous games that had a half decent CAW mode. We all know that the most important part of the game is having a good variety of quick starting hard rock tracks to serve as created wrestlers' entrance music anyway.

Actually, if that list is accurate, after I get done creating my custom wrestler, I will probably play some matches as Sandman and Tommy Dreamer.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I'm a little dumbfounded. How does Sabu make the cut and not RVD? Sabu was released before RVD...

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Originally Posted by russ

Who ever even plays with the real people though?

*raises hand*

I sadly have no creativity when it comes to the CAW mode, and would rather just play as one of the real superstars than trying to create my own. It's the main reason I never got into Day of Reckoning for the Gamecube despite what I thought was a very nice gameplay system that they had in it.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The CAW system just got too involved in the more recent games. Before I could make a pretty decent likeness to myself, now it just turns out looking like crap. Hopefully 08s on PS3 will be a bit better to try and work with.

oh and according to an editor update, Sabu is listed as a legend instead of part of the main roster. The countdown begins tonight sometime, whenever IGN updates.

Rey Mysterio is the first of the 50+ superstar countdown. From seeing the 619 video, it seems FINALLY wrestlers have their own specific winning animations instead of the generic ones.

I'm hoping DX is a customizable entrance unlike in 07. (Where you couldn't create a singles DX entrance, to my knowledge anyway, only tag and triple tag entrances)

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

IGN: Friday Fight: Hell in a Cell - Batista versus the Undertaker

IGN is now doing a "Friday Night Fight" where on Friday they either hold a fan-based match or a THQ QnA session. This week is Batista vs Undertaker in a Hell in a Cell match. Needless to say its looking really good.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

IGN: WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008 Preview

X-Box 360 version is getting custom soundtracks! There is a god!

I was speaking idiomatically.

Dammit all! Guess i'll have to wait untill I buy my 360 then. I remember back in the days of Here Comes the Pain. If we wanted custom music, we had to edit audio files so they match the length of the in game songs and do some editing to the ISO. Overly complicated, but the end result was satisfying. This was also the only good thing about the RAW games on the XBox.

How ya doing, buddy?

God damn, I had been planning on getting this on PS3, because I figured that way I would be able to thrown down with Dagget, but with this custom soundtrack news, I am pretty much going to have to get it on the 360. Yeah, the custom soundtrack has been a long time coming, and I am pretty excited about that.

FELIPE NO

I wouldn't count out custom soundtracks for PS3 yet... but Sony is asstastic about it (ZOMG FILE SHARINGS!!111)

Did you guys see taht fucking flaming table preview? holy shit.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

General Manager mode and 24/7:

Just a few months ago, THQ gathered the gaming press in the shadow of Wrestlemania and let the world know that the general manager and career modes from SmackDown! vs. Raw's past was dead.

Fans didn't take it well.

It wasn't so much the elimination by combination -- you can now play as a GM or a Superstar in one mode called 24/7 -- that raised their ire; it was the overall ambiguity of this new super-mode. Would it retain the story-driven single-player mode? Would it retain the cutthroat GM business of trying to keep your show on top while keeping your superstars healthy? How would the modes bleed into one another?

We've been able to spend an extended amount of time with 24/7 Mode -- an early build of the game that is subject to change -- and have come away with a number of impressions both good and bad.

Let's start where the changes are the most noticeable -- 24/7 Mode as a Superstar. When you select the option you'll be able to start a career as a Superstar or created character. If you choose your created brawler, you'll start with your minimum attributes and begin working your way up the ladder through skill training. Choose to be an established character, and you'll be able to start with the steam the wrestler already has or from scratch to build your own dynasty.

Now, readers, brace yourself; I have bad news … possibly terrible news. You can't take an ECW Superstar (CM Punk, Elijah Burke, etc.) through 24/7 mode. Worse? You can't take an ECW Superstar who swapped shows (i.e. Sandman, Bobby Lashley, etc.) through the new career mode either. Go ahead and let out a frustrated cry, ECW fans -- we did. There's a fair amount of voice acting and show-specific storylines for Raw and SmackDown, and it would appear that just couldn't be done for poor ol'ECW.

Once you get over the grief of not being able to play as any ECW dude -- with the exception of Johnny Nitro on Raw -- you can begin your dream of becoming a WWE Legend with one of 19 available wrestlers. The mode kicks off with your Superstar meeting Vince in the middle of an empty arena and him challenging you to become a legend and make it to the squared-circle for that awe-inspiring event known as Wrestlemania. From there, you adjourn to your new home away from home -- the WWE Locker Room.

Rather than last year's first-person/glide-around-the-locker room view, this year has you anchored in one spot staring at your shirt on a hanger, Diva posters on the wall and four interactive objects -- as well as a percentage meter in the corner of the screen that tracks your progress on becoming a legend. On a bench is the latest issue of WWE Magazine (where you can check out what the other Superstars are saying about your feud), your cell phone contains e-mails -- some packing voice work -- that keep you up-to-date on backstage opportunities as well as who hates you, the calendar is where you manage your daily schedule, and your laptop keeps track of the WWE Shop, the Power 25 and your health.

Yes -- your health. New to the single-player career this year are the health woes that made up the GM mode of SmackDown's past.

For our first jaunt through the life of a WWE Superstar in SVR '08, we chose Matt Hardy and set out to make our mark on SmackDown. Theodore Long prepped us with some lengthy voicemails about becoming the number one contender, Rey Mysterio kept sending us emails saying that we hadn't earned anyone's respect, and Booker T got pretty pissed when Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley started looking at us for a starring role in an upcoming WWE film.

To make this kind of impact, we needed to push Matt pretty hard.

See, there are four days of activities outside of your respective program -- if there isn't a PPV, you get the weekends off -- and from the calendar you can choose what you want to do on these non-wrestling days, but each choice will come with its own set of positive and negative elements.

Matt's on SmackDown, so his week is free and clear up until Friday. On Monday I might invade Raw and get a popularity boost with the fans but risk getting more fatigued. Tuesday, I can select a day of R&R to counteract the fatigue but lose the ground I gained with the fans. Wednesday, I can star in a movie to get over with the fans and grab some cash, but I'm going to be fatigued coming into Friday's show.

This give-and-take is spread out over training exercises -- nifty mini-matches where you're given a goal such as completing a set number of taunts or Ultimate Control Grapples to better your stats -- skill improvement training that costs money but will teach you mic moves and heat-gathering abilities that will lead to bonuses in your daily events, and the events -- autograph signings, trophy dates, etc. -- themselves.

Now, other than the training exercises, this is all strictly handled on the stat sheet. If you choose to put your wrestler through the $5,000 pain management session, which improves your recovery rate, you're only going to see the number you've added to your skill and the money you've lost. The same thing can be said for any press conference or photo shoot you hold.

So, you can see all the options we had for young Mr. Hardy. We wanted to crack the Top 25, so we started doing movies to get over. We wanted to make a name for ourselves, so we started invading other shows. We wanted the ladies, so we started going out on dates. Our fatigue went up -- you can monitor the stat on your computerized health report -- and as that happened, so did our injury probability.

A few weeks into his run to become the number one contender, Matt suffered a herniated disc in his back. The WWE medical staff suggested he take seven weeks off to rehab the injury.

Here's where it gets weird -- and keep in mind that this isn't the final build of the game -- there was no time-off option. The WWE was telling Matt to stop wrestling, but we couldn't make Matt stop wrestling. With the herniated disc tearing apart his life, Matt began entering matches with his torso already showing damage on the HUD.

Although not being able to take time off stunk, the fact that the game made us carry injuries into our matches was a cool feature, one made better by the AI's ability to pick up on our hurtin' back. When Matt faced off against his former tag team partner Mark Henry (don't ask), the World's Strongest Man repeatedly strong Irish whipped Hardy into the corners. Matt would slam into the turnbuckles and his back would get worse and worse. In a few exchanges, Mark had Matt down for the count.

A lot of fans on the IGN SmackDown message board have asked how the backstage environment works. No, you won't be able to roam the halls at your leisure, but there are a handful of cutscenes that have your superstar walking into the ladies locker room, cutting promos -- occasionally, you get to choose your response -- and dealing with your fellow Superstars.

Hopefully, THQ and Yuke's will shake things up in the final build. In our few months as Hardy, we walked in on the ladies changing more than once and saw the same walk down an opponent-filled hallway two or three times. Worse, the walk didn't make any sense. One moment we were getting a rambling, pissed-off message from Rey Mysterio, and the next we were shaking his hand in the hallway.

Whether you love or hate the changes to the individual side of 24/7, you should find GM Mode familiar and suped-up. The mode'll start and you'll have to choose if you want to be Theodore Long on SmackDown, the Coach on Raw or Tommy Dreamer on ECW -- yeah, even though you can't wrestle as any of the ECW guys in 24/7, you can book them and use them in the GM part. From there, you'll have a private meeting with Mr. McMahon on his jet, and he'll basically tell you to take your brand to the top or look for another job. Of course, Vince says all of this in that gravely growl of his so it sounds more intimidating.

You draft a roster (or pick the preset one) while managing your budget, set folks as clean or dirty, choose champions, get to hiring writers and set up feuds, which can be tracked in WWE Magazine along with trades and the health of your crew. Basically, it's a slick version of last year's model -- except that you can now put your boys through the paces on their off days.

Just like in the Superstar portion of 24/7, GM allows you to put your performers through training exercises, skill improvement and events. It's a good way to make your roster more durable, popular and better wrestlers while making you an extra buck or too.
Obviously, there's a lot to 24/7 mode. On the single-player side, you'll be able to track your skill progression, morale and progress to Legend status while being a GM will have you balancing the books and trying to push your faces and heels in the most appropriate way. Succeed, and you can take your earnings to the WWE Shop and unlock Legends, belts, move sets and more. Fail, and Vince will make sure you never work in this business again, chump.

This seems to be quite interesting. I didn't try much of GM mode in SvR 07, but I may tinker around with this one.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Hmmmm, that seems DIFFERENT, to say the least.

Supposedly though, no online capacity, at least for the PS2.

I really didn't play much of 2007-glitchfest and all, but maybe this one wil be better. I guess I'll wait and see.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Review: IGN: WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008 Review

IGN gave this a 7.5 (not surprising) PSM gave it a 9.0.

November 1, 2007 - As a game reviewer, sometimes you get assigned titles you don't know much about. Maybe it's a horse racing game, something about living on Mars or so on, but when it happens, you give it the old college try and hope you connect on some level with the hardest of hardcore fans.

That isn't the case here.

I know wrestling games, and if you're reading this review, chances are you do, too. There's something about our brethren of junkies that leads us to obsess over every aspect of the upcoming brawler, analyze screenshot after screenshot and generally go off the deep end about these games.

Basically, we nitpick everything to death because we love it so much. Expect that here.

WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008 is good. Very good. The latest outing in the franchise has arrived with 50 superstars from Raw, SmackDown, ECW and the WWE's past; the new ECW Extreme Rules Match; a new tournament mode; and an updated control scheme.



Oh. You can light barbed wire 2X4s and tables on fire. Sweet.

ECW was the promotion I called home in the late '90s, and that's probably why I love the ECW Extreme Rules Match so much. Following the tried-and-true Philly formula, you get to drag your opponent all around the ring, floor and crowd in a no-count out, no-DQ match where the pinfall or submission must happen in the ring.

What separate this match from the hardcore battles we've seen for the past few years are crowd interaction and the weapon wheel. As you take your Superstar and pound in faces around the barricade, fans will reach out to hand you crutches, championship belts, guitars and more. You can take the weapon and wail on the opponent or lockup with the opponent and drag him or her to the outstretched object for some nifty moves such as draping the bad guy over the barricade and going to town on his or her back with the crutch, having the fan hold the guitar steady while your opponent comes in headfirst and other craziness.

You can even perform specialized taunts with the crowd where you lean back on the barrier and bask in their adoration or take one of their signs and celebrate with it.

However, it's the weapon wheel that truly puts this match in its own league. In years past, we'd blindly reach under the ring for whatever foreign object we could get. Now, when you reach under the ECW ring -- this match type can only be played in the ECW arena -- you can use your left stick to select from a set of eight weapons such as chairs, mops, Singapore canes and more. You can even pick four weapons before the match that you want to see represented on the wheel more than once and don't have to worry about being attacked while picking your item -- the game focuses on you and your opponent is left in off-screen limbo.


ECW! ECW! ECW!
To me, the weapon wheel is one example of SmackDown's somewhat simplified control scheme. For years, the game's been prompting players on how to reverse, but even last year's game was a sea of shoulder/face-button combinations if you wanted to do easy tasks such as whip opponents, initiate submission moves and more.

It's not like that this year, and that's mainly thanks to the right stick … except for the running thing … that part is thanks to triangle.

Anyway, the right stick is pretty much used for everything in SVR '08. Just like last year, you'll use it to initiate grapples, but rather than last year's hold R1, press the stick up and then press R3 for an Ultimate Control move, you can now just hold R1and flick the right stick for an Ultimate Control move. It might not sound like much, but the ease of being able to get into a collar and elbow tie-up so that you can drag an opponent to the steel steps or lift a fool to toss through the announce table is a refined aspect of this title that makes it a better time than last year's outing.

The stick also makes up the brand new Struggle Submission System. Again, last year's shoulder-stick-R3-stick combo is gone. Now, you move the stick in whichever direction your submission move of choice is and then move the stick to apply the amount of pressure you want.

You're probably asking why you wouldn't apply as much pressure as possible each time, and the answer is that it's a risk-reward situation. See, if you're not applying pressure, the opponent can move his or her stick to try and escape the hold. If you apply pressure for too long, the two hands symbolizing your grip will begin to twitch and if they separate, your opponent will get up before you and have the advantage. Take the time to play a few matches as CM Punk, work the body and watch the red seep in from the corners of your TV. The satisfaction in overwhelming.


Another new idea that soars in SVR '08 is fighting styles. Each Superstar has two fighting styles that provide him or her with unique primary and secondary abilities they can use with a stored finisher. A Powerhouse such as Bobby Lashley can enact a "Rampage" that makes him impervious to strike attacks and makes his grapples inescapable, a High-Flyer like Rey Mysterio can feign an injury and then scoop his opponent up in a "Possum Pin," and a Showman like Shawn Michaels can steal an opponent's finisher.

Whoa. I know. We've been able to steal finishers for years. However, these fighting styles are taking the things we all know and love -- performing an opponent's taunt, removing a turnbuckle cover and diving over the top rope -- and assigning them to certain Superstars.

That's a good thing.

Think about it. How many times have you been playing and seen someone do something completely out of character? Jeff Hardy performing the last ride? Cena pulling off the turnbuckle cover? Now that these moves are locked into fighting styles, people act in-character and get boosts for doing what they should.



Look at Randy Orton, the personification of the dirty fighting style. When Orton gets a two count and argues with the ref, he gets a momentum boost. When Orton shoves the ref into his opponent -- which knocks the ref out and the opponent down -- he gets a momentum boost. Never mind the fact that the momentum meters look way better than last year's two-sided pile of ugly and the characters have more realistic and varied stamina, which is now recovered by holding down Select.

New this year is the Hall of Fame, a selection of 12 classic WWE moments you have to relive -- like beating Bret Hart as Shawn Michaels in an iron man match or winning a King of the Ring in Tournament Mode, which is basically all that mode is. These achievements unlock new superstars for purchase in the WWE Shop, which also includes moves, belts and ring attire.

Longtime fans will notice iron man matches have been overhauled this year as well. Now, you can only choose between 10-, 15- and 20-minute matches, and after each pinfall, the loser's limb damage resets while the winner's remains the same. Although I'll miss brawling for an hour, the reset is a great idea. Once you hit a finisher in previous versions of the match, your opponent was screwed. Now, there's a challenge to the mode.

So, SVR '08 is good and has all of the standard matches you'd expect -- Hell in a Cell, TLC, first blood, etc. -- but it falls short of being great and 24/7 Mode is one of the big reasons behind that. If you just woke up from the coma so many of us fell into after Mae Young gave birth to a hand, the GM Mode and Season Mode from last year have been brought together and tossed into 24/7.

Don't get me wrong, that's fine idea, but it's the implementation that gets me. Disappointingly, GM is almost the exact same thing from last year. You'll choose and brand -- yes, ECW is available -- draft your roster, hire storyline writers, manage your feuds and deal with injuries and salaries. It's all the stuff people dug from last year's mode and the addition of the GM of the Year Award, a list of goals -- have the number one Superstar, defeat a champion from one of the other brands, etc. -- that get you closer to being Vince's golden boy.

It's when these GM aspects move into the single-player career mode that my opinion goes really south. When you choose to start 24/7, you need to pick if you're playing as a GM or a character. Choose character, and you'll pick whether you're a created character or one of 19 Superstars -- no ECW, divas and no Legends -- and then decide if you want to go with that guy's in-game overall rating or a drastically lower 24/7 overall.

See, the goal in 24/7 is to become a Legend by accomplishing goals similar to the ones on the GM side -- be the most popular Superstar, defeat the number one Superstar, etc. -- and participating in RPG-like events on your non-wrestling days that hone your skills on the mic, with fans and more. The events help you earn more money for WWE Shop, stay healthy and become more popular, but the training costs money and wears you out.

And here's where things get sticky. You remember how you had to rest your guys in GM Mode so that they wouldn't get injured and end up riding the bench? That's in the career part of 24/7 mode, too.

So, I'm taking Matt Hardy up the ladder of the WWE, and I don't rest him enough. Instead of giving him training and massages, I'm sending him out on trophy dates and movie shoots on the days he isn't wrestling to earn me more cash to spend in the WWE Shop on movesets for my created character. He gets tired, and after a particularly trying match with Rey Mysterio, I get an e-mail letting me know he's herniated a disc in his back. In the same e-mail, the medical staff tells me I have to take seven weeks off or the injury's just going to get worse.

I go to the calendar, and there's no option to rest Matt. In fact, it turns out there's no option in the game. If you get hurt, you have to wrestle with the injury. This meant I had to keep sending Matt into match after match, and his hurtin' back meant that as soon as the bell rang, his torso was already damaged. The opponent would get a couple moves in, and Matt would be dead weight.

This is a rather large problem. It's as if 24/7 Mode can't decide if it's an angle or a shoot. On the one hand, you have GM Mode where you're hiring people to write storylines and thus admitting wrestling's staged. Then, there's the career portion of 24/7 where you're forced to fight with injuries that would have the real Superstars laid up for months. You can make the argument that not performing in your season isn't fun, but I can assure you getting your ass handed to you match after match because all it takes is a hip toss to cripple you isn't a good time either.



Sadly, this isn't the only hang-up of 24/7. Knocking off the list of Legend-making tasks will take you a few years, but you won't even get halfway through your rookie year before you start seeing the same cutscenes -- your guy lifting weights, walking in on the divas, etc. -- over and over again. Worse is the fact the scenes don't make any sense in terms of your storyline. One minute I'm getting hate mail from Rey and the next we're shaking hands in the hallway.

If I can dust off a Stone Cold gem -- what?

Doubling back, I asked THQ why not every Superstar was playable in 24/7 Mode and was told it came down to the quality of their voiceovers. This is unacceptable. The cutscenes and mode these voices are being used in do not work. I seem to remember a kick ass season mode in WWF No Mercy -- a storyline tree branched out and changed depending on me winning or losing -- and no voices were used. I want a compelling story, not generic cutscenes and half-assed dialogue.

The repetition in SVR '08 doesn't stop with cinemas either. No matter how many years you play -- you can keep performing even after you reach legendary status -- the schedule will constantly be the same. WrestleMania's in Detroit, Vengeance is in Charlotte and so on. Plus, the calendar in your locker room will always read "2008."

The repetition report still isn't over. Create-A-Superstar is back in this installment, but it's basically the exact same thing as it was in 2007 with a few drawbacks and plusses to go along with it. Sure, the number of hair styles has jumped from 50 to 73, but the number of face paints has gone from 154 to 118 and most of those are recycled from '07. When I tried to give a created superstar black rimmed glasses, I found there wasn't a normal-looking pair that I could make black without making the lenses black as well. Weak.


Also weak is this year's roster. While not being up-to-date on the roster is forgivable due to the WWE's constantly changing climate, the sheer number is a bit disappointing. Last year's title had around 70, but 2008 clocks in with 50 or so that includes starved cruiserweight and tag team divisions.

I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the look of SVR '08. Some in the office have complained that this installment looks just like previous years, and there's some truth to that. A number of animations have been recycled, but there are new moves. For me, wrestling's wrestling. I ran an Undertaker versus Triple H match on WWF SmackDown! 2: Know Your Role and SVR '08, and although Triple H's knee to the face and Pedigree look similar, those are two moves the guy does every match. I'm not bothered by the SmackDown series looking similar each year -- it's an accurate representation of the WWE product -- but you might be.

Making matters worse? As a PS3 owner you're getting the short end of the stick. Yes, you get an online mode full of different match types, leaderboards, ranked matches and private matches, but you're going to have to play all that stuff with out talking to your opponent. There's no voice support. Also, 360 kids get to rip music from their hard drive and put it in as entrance music. You get to hold R2 on your way to the ring and have a first-person perspective that's controlled by Sixaxis.

All the other traditional SmackDown series glitches are here as well. The A.I. is dumb even on Legend (they don't know when to use their finisher), the collision detection is spotty (Will long hair ever stay out of people's backs?!), and the commentary is stilted and tripe (during a Rock/Stone Cold bout, JBL lamented about missing Mr. Johnson only to have Michael Cole follow up by saying we're looking at the future of the WWE).

Well, there's always next year.

Closing Comments
Here's the thing, this is some of the most fun I've had on the mat in a wrestling game in a long time and after three and a half months of playing it, I still look forward to putting it through the paces each morning. The controls are great and make the act of wrestling shine. However, I can't score this game as high as last year's PS2/360 title or pervious installments of the franchise. Single-player 24/7 Mode is a step backward for the series, the Create-A-Superstar and GM 24/7 are basically rehashes of last year's product, and the same complaints we've had for years -- awful AI, lame commentary, poor collision detection -- are still rampant. Plus, the lack of online voice chat saps some of the fun of multiplayer.

Is WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2008 a fun game? Hell yeah, but it's the same fun you've been having for the better part of a decade


Some of the moves look sick in this game. Like the reversal from Orton on Cena that had him nail the RKO OUT OF NOWHERE. That's more TV-like and stuff I would enjoy pulling off. Also the Ironman match being changed up is nice, as now it'll be a challenge instead of just hitting your finisher over... and over... and over again to rack up insane amounts of pinfalls.

Game comes out a week from Tuesday, and I'm looking forward to this alot.

I'm somewhat impressed by this title. The only choice for me is do I get it for PS3 or Xbox 360.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by dagget

I'm somewhat impressed by this title. The only choice for me is do I get it for PS3 or Xbox 360.

No offense, but if you have both systems which I'm assuming because of your comment. Why would you get anything other then the 360 version? It's got custom soundtracks, unless you don't really care about CAW.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Because PS3 = Free online play. As long as I've been saying I need to get Xbox Live, it's becoming less and less likely I'll be getting it anytime soon. :|

I was speaking idiomatically.

You can get a year of Xbox Live for less than the cost of a game. You get what you pay for too. PS3 online gaming is borderline jokemode, while Xbox Live, barring the lack of centrally hosted games, is actually good.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

It's not about money with me, but more about time. I understand full and well it's a 12 month subscription for roughly $50, it's just the time I'd have to (not) play it.

I played Resistance online with PS3 and it wasn't too bad, but I haven't had many other titles recently to play online.

FELIPE NO

Ok, I can break it down further for you. How much is one hour of your time worth to you? Let's say you make $30,000 a year. That's a salary of roughly $14.40 an hour. At $50 a year, Xbox live is less than $4.25 a month. That means that at your hourly salary, which is a rough indicator of the value of your time, 18 minutes of Xbox Live per month breaks you even. Do you think you would play on Xbox Live 18 minutes a month?

Also

Quote:

As a PS3 owner you're getting the short end of the stick. Yes, you get an online mode full of different match types, leaderboards, ranked matches and private matches, but you're going to have to play all that stuff with out talking to your opponent. There's no voice support.

What is the point of playing a wrestling game against people if you cannot trash talk each other while you're suplexing each other through tables.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by GARUDA-2

What is the point of playing a wrestling game against people if you cannot trash talk each other while you're suplexing each other through tables.

That's one point I disagree on, I never use voice chat unless I'm playing a game with friends. I don't feel like listening to random kids squeeking over the headset or guys that think they're gangsters.

Jam it back in, in the dark.