Review of WWE Smackdown vs Raw

I really love this game, as well as nearly every THQ wrestling game since WCW VS NWO: World Tour. Still, there are to many details that lack polish, to many bugs and glitches to give it a perfect rating. It's without a doubt the game that crashes the most in my 360 since I bought it, and I've played a lot. It also has a bug that makes my 360 crash every time my created superstar is going to contend for a custom title belt, right after the belt is removed from the HDD (it most be temporarily removed before a title match and re-saved after the match) making me lost the belt and all the money invested in it. It's not that much of a big deal but it's only one of the details that scream the game was rushed.

Another one is the intros, both of them (Raw and Smackdown) are displayed in low-res and full screen only, which is annoying because I bought a widescreen 720p LCD HDTV to play my XBOX 360 games and to have a cheap intro in an HD "next-gen" game makes no sense. Also, the roster feels outdated. The superstar with the highest overall in the roster is Kurt Angle, who's currently at TNA, and superstars like Jeff Hardy and CM Punk are nowhere to be found. There's no hope of updating the roster through downloadable content, since the game does not support it.

Another huge letdown is the commentary, which is completely carryover from the 2006 edition. This completely sucks if you played the previous version, and also the fact that Smackdown currently has Bradshaw instead of Tazz doesn't help the game feel less outdated. The game does look great and the sweat effect rules. The divas look hotter than ever and the story mode is way better that 2006's. There's a lot of fun in this game including earning the Money In The Bank trophy (I got it on my second try, my brothers are still trying). THQ should consider adding content download support for the next installment, as well as updates to fix the bugs in 2007. If they do this, maybe they can exceed the glory achieved by WWF: No Mercy in its time.



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