WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2007

THE BAD:
- CAW sucks
- Music sucks
- Season sucks
- Roster sucks
- GM Mode sucks
- PPV Mode sucks
- Commentary sucks
- Loading time sucks
- Yeah, this game sucks

SUMMARY:
This game sucks. I don't know how people still think SvR is the best there is. I guess people can be pleased with good graphics.

First of all, let me just compliment the graphics...they're really, really good. I give props to that.

Let's run down my "sucks" list, now.

CAW sucks. I usually love CAW, it's the first thing I normally do before actually playing a match when I first get a wrestling game. There's hardly any variety, though. It's not much better than last year's...hell, I think it's even WORSE than last year's! There's way too many silly costumes, hairstyles, accessories and logos probably nobody uses except for maybe one person. It's unnecessary, especially when you have limited amount of choices. The announcer names suck, too. Why can't they just do the system in LOW? I mean, Legends of Wrestling was terrible but atleast they had one thing down - the ring announcer. You could choose to give your wrestler a first name and a last name and he'll say it. Who the hell wants to be called it. The Swan? Kenneth? Jeffery? Jesus.

Music sucks. There is SOME good music on here like from Three Days Grace. The rap songs on here are TERRIBLE though. And considering this music plays throughout the menu, it just makes my head spin. BLEH!

Season sucks. What happened to the season modes ilke in HCTP or KYR where you could just play a SEASON. All I see in this so called "season" is you doing a bunch of stupid, shitty storylines that loop and loop and loop. That's right, season never ends. You're just in a time warp with it looping the same storylines over and over. It ends when you want to end it. I will give it props that the layout of the season is very, very well done. The phone messages...the website...the locker room..that was very nice. Too bad the season sucked balls and all those pretty things didn't make up for it. You also cannot use anyone who for some reason did not record storylines. This limits the already crappy roster even more.

Roster sucks. There's a ton of people in this game that left WWE and there's a ton of people who were just left out all together. I hardly want to play any of the people available in season mode.

GM Mode sucks. You want a decent GM Mode? Get Extreme Warfare Revenge. GM Mode is a crappy rip off of EWR. And people could say "YEAH?! Well EWR is a text game and you get to play the matches in SVR! SO BOOM!" Well guess what? The matches don't even matter. I booked HHH vs. Cena....it was a three minute match. Got four stars. I booked a tag team matches between the Mexicools and Cade & Murdoch....sixty minutes long, tons of reversals, tons of back and forth action...two stars. WHAT THE HELL IS THE POINT?! So stupid.

PPV mode sucks. It's useless. It's a series of exhibition matches. It takes up useless space. It's worthless. It sucks. Next.

Commentary sucks. It's repetitive. It hasn't changed a bit from last year's. It's annoying. It sucks. Next.

Loading time sucks. I don't think I really have to say much more about that.

So overall, this game sucks. I don't recommend this game unless all you care about is oooo pretty graphics and oooo John Cena has such a realistic entrance and oooo I get to play matches in GM Mode but they don't matter. SvR relies WAY too much on looking pretty and adding way too much realism. There are many games out there that prove you don't need good graphics to have a fun experience....Fire Pro Wrestling....No Mercy...hell even non wrestling games like GTA. Graphics don't mean everything.

THE BAD:
As in the title, not many improvements were made, the referee for some reason still allows low blows even if the match is not say hardcore, tables, etc. The referee sometimes still gets in your way will messing with your opponent and you might accidentaly grab him and get disqualified.

Tag Team matches were no better either, every time you go for your opponent in a pin or a submission his partner(s) still gets in to break it up even if the partner is not in danger of being pinned/submitting.

Weapons were still pretty much the same and while you are in a hardcore match of some sort where tables or ladders aren't provided you still can't use them.

SUMMARY:
The Smackdown vs Raw series is one of the best wrestling series out there. Simply because 1) it's about the only one out there so far and 2)because of the roster included. While there were a few excluded that were worthwhile in this one but the rest of them make up up for it. The legends roster is also great, including many of the best such as the Rock, Stone Cold, Hulk Hogan and many others. Sadly the WWE Tag Team champions at the time (London & Kendrick) were not included which was a huge letdown for me but the rest of the good roster was included.

No real story was included into the game but I didn't mind as there was about 30 stories all together in Season mode. While some were short, they were still great because they had some good thought put into them.

During gameplay I think the fighting style was greatly improved. First off, the new grapple system, it allowed (as I said before) improved grapples which made them seem more realistic to the show and there was also more grapples included than in the previous one because of this.

Also the controls were mostly remade new which as they said it would increased the speed of the gameplay. By speed I mean that the matches never slowed down because someone had to stop and figure how do do something.

As I said before the referees are still pretty much useless besides for pinning, counting out, and disqualifying. They can't make the right calls when someone makes a low blow for example when in just a normal singles match. But that doesn't really matter to me as the gameplay is what really counts.

One of the new features which really caught my attention was that during any match that had NO DQ you were able to go past the barricade and use weapons there such as a fire extinguisher, or some signs provided by the fans. There was also a table right there waiting for you to break it... or rather your opponent, if you catch my drift.

General Manager mode, as I said before had some big improvements done to it. One of them is the Power 25 system, similar to what you can see on WWE.com, the top five on your brand are the only ones that can go for the WWE/World Heavy Championship so as to make interesting match-ups to bring your fan rating up. If you've played a game like Football Manager, this might remind you of it. You have to manage your wrestling roster and tend to their needs, give them title shots, etc. This mode is very interesting and lets you live your possibly dream of "If I were the Raw and/or Smackdown GM for a day..." You think about that.

If you ever have the need to create something you have those options available. Create a wrestler, PPV, stable, and many others. The thing I don't like about these are that you don't have many options outside of creating wrestlers. You get probably about 1500 different items available for your character. In the end though he seems to jaggedy(right word?) and doesn't match the graphics of the other regular wrestlers.

The game will last you for a very long time, because of the long season mode with 30 storylines, General Manager Mode, and various other things. You'll even find it fun to create your own things to bring the game up to your expectations in the create options.

I recommend this to the wrestling fans (who have already probably gotten it) and to those looking for a fun fighting sports type game because this will last up to it's value and you probably won't regret buying it.

THE BAD:
Although this game may have good points it still is in need of improving.

Here are some of the bad points:

- The WWE roster has already become outdated with wrestlers like the Big Show and Kurt Angle who have already parted with the company.
Moreover there has been the exclusion of the ECW brand with there only being the inclusion of the ECW arena, the ECW brand could have contributed a lot to the game.

- Commentating has stayed pretty much the same with it being quickly outdated and saturated by the time you get into the game and you will find that their voices may cut off and may not be relevant to what you are doing.

- Create a wrestler has not had many changes and so still leaves you to make creation much similar to previous WWE Smackdown Vs Raw games.

- The game still consists of glitches which contribute it to look less professional and you will find that the computer while wrestling will still act in unintelligent ways.

- Although the season mode has been greatly improved it still lacks the complexity that all WWE fans would like with the mode becoming more repetitive especially when you take a series of wrestlers through the mode.

- Apart from Money In The Bank no real modes have been added to the game to make the game any
different which means there is a loss in a lack of change in order to lengthen the games life span.

SUMMARY:
This game brings a sense of realism through it's new grapple system which will make the game come more to life to the player who is controlling his/ her wrestler.
It's new supply of wrestlers on it's roster bring a new and fresh feel to the game with it allowing you to take control of new and different superstars.
WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 Shines As A Great Wrestling Game Which Allows Users To Have An Improved Realism And Really Make Them Feel Like They Are Really There In The Game.
It' new and improved GM mode allows gamers to find that their has been a lot more depth put into the mode which allows for more control over superstars and more depth to this mode of the game.
The enhanced season mode has allowed more storylines which have added to the enjoyment of the game and the increased life span of the game which allow users to be playing right till the end of the year.
The unlockables and hidden objects give the gamer a target and allow for gamers to work towards certain tasks which can then be rewarded through new superstars to new arenas all adding to the satisfaction you get from the game.

WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 Shows Users That It Is Worth Buying As There Is Enough New Additions To Make Any Person Be Tempted Into Buying This Game.

There Is Still Improvements To Be Made To WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 But It Has Given Enough To Satisfy And Has Left Itself Open For Great Improvements To Be Made For WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2008.

WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2007 Has Overall Proven That It Dominates As The Best WWE Smackdown Vs Raw Game There Is. Although There Has Been Some Let Downs For The Game It Has Still Outlasted Due To its Enhanced Season And GM Mode Which Allow Users To Fully Play The Game For Days And Days.

THE BAD:
Even though this game has so many neat things in it, it still isn't the Ultimate game lol.

One of the worst things is that many moves have been renamed in CAW Moves mode, where you pick your moves, which makes it harder to find which one you need, such as Eugene Elbow has been renamed Nephew Elbow.

Also, in CAW mode, many essential body parts used when making CAWS for wrestlers like Jeff Hardy or Chris Jericho have been removed, making CAW's look Bull**** when finished.

Also, In GM mode, for the Bikini and Interview promos, you can't view them, which makes them much less entertaining.

Also, in MITB, whether this was intended or not, it is physically almost impossible to win, (can take up to 30 minutes in average)

Possibly the worst thing is all the glitches, example, do a Pedigree and the commentators may say "Oh My God, Angle Slam !"

SUMMARY:
So overall, I'd give this game a clean 3.5, worth waiting for, but I wanted it bad, some glitches occur to, so keep your eyes out.

If you are a huge fan of the series then you might want to buy it now.

If not then you should probably wait.

THE BAD:
Commentary sucks
Quite a few annoying glitches
Season Mode
Not enough unlockables
A few credible superstars missed off the Roster[Paul London, Brian Kendrick, Jeff Hardy]

SUMMARY:
Firstly, the control system was an excellent change made by THQ. Instead of pressing circle plus one of the buttons on the d-pad to grapple, all you have to do is point the Right analogue in a different direction to do a different grapple. Certainly a nice touch and is much more natural on the fingers. Button configuration can be changed back to the style of the older games for anyone struggling with the new controls as well.

A new touch to the grappling system are the nice Ultimate Control moves and environmental moves. To perfom either ultimate control or environmental moves, first your opponent has to be locked in to a strong grapple[Which is quite easy. R2 + any direction of R3]. Once your opp is locked into a strong grapple, to do ultimate control you can simply click the R3 button and your wrestler will put them in to a number of different positions[DDT, Powerbomb, etc] and you have a choice between 2 or 3 different moves. For example, with your opp up on your shoulders you can then slam them down on the matt in different ways i.e with someone up on your shoulders, you can do a back breaker, toss them up behind you or do an F-U type of slam. With environmental moves, all you simply have to do is drag your opp in a strong grapple over to what you want to use them on[Ropes, Steel steps, Ring post etc] and your guy will automatically put your opp into postition. You can bang there head against the steel steps by pulling back R3 and pushing it forward. It's sensitive towards how hard you push the stick as well. Push it hard and their head is gonna get a big smack. Push it forward lightly and you'll basically tap your opponents head onto the steps. Environmental finishers are a very nice touch.

There is also a new feature with the crowd area. A small area which can be entered into which contains 2 chairs, tables, a fire extinguisher, large speakers to irish whip your opponent into and tall scafolding to climb up where you can attempt to jump on your opponent.[bad consequences if you miss!] Only bad things is that half the available matches there are, you can't get in the area! No additional tables in a Hell in the Cell match =[...

Now, onto Season Mode. Season Mode is alright, but sadly is repetitive, bland and kind of boring...alot of the storylines on it are ok, and a few are just plain stupid[Win a ladder match against Chris Masters with the title on the line, only for after the match a cutscene plays with both you and him down on the floor in the match. Trish Stratus climbs up the ladder to gain the title. Yes, the WWE Title! Sorry, but that's idiotic and is utter...crap.] None of the storylines really stood out as decent which is a shame. Also, you hardly ever get to make your own decisions. The game makes them for you, you don't have any say in what storyline you'll go into next apart from losing your matches instead of winning them, vice versa.

GM Mode. This is quite a good mode, which is in my opinion the best thing to do in this game. Although it comes with a few downsides. Basically, you take control of one of the brands; Raw or Smackdown and try to compete with the other show to get higher ratings. You deal with superstars morale, set the match card every week and try to entertain the fans the best you can. Still though, there is a limit of 20 wrestlers like in Smackdown v Raw 06. This just sucks, and ruins some of the fun as you find yourself double booking superstars in matches alot of the time. There is a decent options section, where you can turn injuries off[Yes!], switch the feature of money off[if you've completed a year of GM Mode], switch morale off and so on though. The options mode is pretty decent and can take away some of the frustrating [default] sides to GM Mode. =)

Now, the Commentary in this game sucks...JR and King + Micheal Cole and Tazz. They just say the stupidest things. "Oh my God JR! The chair wasn't designed for that!" will be shouted out alot when you hit someone with a chair...I mean of course the chair was designed for that! This is wrestling. It's not a bloody tea party...

I thought Challenge Mode was quite a fun part of the game, beating Mankind, Mick Foley and Cactus Jack on your own as Dude Love in a Handicap is pretty satisfying. There are 15 superstar challenges and 15 Legend Challenges plus a special challenge available once you've completed all Legend and Superstar ones. I won't spoil for you what it is, but it was kind of easy. Only downside to Challenge Mode is that there are not enough challenges! ¬ ¬

There are the usual Create modes where you can create your own Wrestlers, Entrances, Movesets and Stables. The create a modes are pretty decent, although there is alot of loading involved with them all. Which gets annoying, and leads me to another point. There is so much loading in this game. You can't play a match without having to wait for at least two loading screens. It does get tedious and after a while and you just wonder why you're bothering to wait so long at times. Fair enough to THQ on this one though, they managed to get alot onto this version for PS2 so can't really be blamed so much for that one.

WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2007 is a good game. There just really isn't a good enough lifespan in it for this game though. The game contains quite a few annoying glitches, and one has to wonder if THQ should of focused a bit more on fixing those then on the stunning graphics[for PS2 anyway] of each superstar. A repetitive season mode, a fun but short lived challenge mode and a good GM Mode which gets a bit boring after a while make up for a disappointing game in the Smackdown! series. There's just not enough to do to keep you entertained, and although playing against friends in multiplayer is fun, single player is boring. I've completed this game, and there's just not enough to do now. This game is collecting dust in my room somewhere...I wonder why I haven't sold it yet. Still fun to play a few matches here and there, but just gets boring after you've done it all. Don't buy this game. Rent it instead.

THE BAD:
The ammount of glitches on this game is unbelieveable, I do feel like the game wasn't really worked on this time for glitches.

J.R on commentary, in real life JR says the wrong thing every now and then on commentary but in this game he says nearly every move as the wrong thing, he talks about people not even in the matches doing moves. Yet when those people are in matches doing those moves, he calls those moves by different names.

Season mode, it's good but it's too repetive, I did RAW season mode and half way through you get traded, yet after season mode you talk to the GM and get traded back to do the same year of season again. The storylines themselves aren't at all realistic and most of them involve wrestlers who are either never used or aren't in WWE anymore.

SUMMARY:
I think the game is good overall, but it does still need a lot of things doing to it for it to be perfect, however the WWE games will never be perfect as they're always out of date before the release.

4/5 rating!

THE BAD:
..The commentary absolutely blows. They make stupid mistakes that should really not happen in a game of this calibre, after 7+ games you would think they would have got things right by now, but the commentary is still lackluster in most parts, talking about superstars who aren't even in the match, stopping a conversation in mid sentence to start another, and even ring announcing is poor.

The new MITB match is nearly impossible to win. I even found myself at one point playing for half an hour, everyone on red health, and no one had won yet. With 6 characters in the ring at the same time and only one prize and one winner you can begin to understand why you could have a problem with this. You almost never have time to get the briefcase before someone knocks you down and you have to start all over again which takes the fun out of this match and makes you want to quit.

The loading times are painstakingly slow. My great Grandfather runs faster than this game, and he is dead. You find yourself moaning at the TV screen while you try and edit something simple like a ring walk in CAE, there is never a time where the game runs without a loading screen before a match.

The weapons, while there are more of them, have been tweaked, but in a bad way. No more connecting with someones skull after a chair shot, now when you hit someone they just stagger around without falling sometimes, which is pretty bad.

SUMMARY:
Overall I am happy with this game, it is fun to play, there is good graphics, longer season mode with more choices and more storylines, new environments, (new PLB area, new Bar brawl area, crowd area etc) and the roster is as up to date as possible to THQ's credit, despite missing some characters who have been in the WWE for a year or more, which is unexplainable really.

I have fun with this game but the glitches, slow loading time and lack of new match types take away from the replay value and sometimes you find yourself asking what is different from last year, same commentary, same matches, not much change to existing matches etc.

If you are a fan of wrestling however you will surly still have hours of fun with this.