It doesn't seem like it's been six years since THQ took over the WWE license, but indeed, March 2000 was a long time ago. That was when WWF SmackDown made its PlayStation debut, and frankly, the series has evolved to the point at which it's nearly inconceivable to go back and play that first game (anyone who tried to recreate Kurt Angle with Ken Shamrock's head and a ridiculous outfit can attest to it). November 2000's WWF SmackDown 2: Know Your Role brought in Hell in a Cell, a variety of other match modes and the huge rosters that have made the series so well known. 2003's Here Comes the Pain brought a certain technicality into the mix with its right analog-based grapple system, but that was scrapped in the next year's SmackDown vs. Raw, which debuted the series online, but still had a couple of issues. Last year's title, SmackDown vs. Raw 2006, improved the online experience by expanding the modes and implementing the exceptional GM Mode. So, for a series that drops like clockwork every fall, what are they adding to the newest title?

A lot. We got a chance to finally get some hands-on time with WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 recently with Bryan Williams, the game's Associate Creative Manager, and it's safe to say that Yukes and THQ have never made the sorts of dramatic modifications to the control scheme that they're making for this year's game. It seems that rather than splinter the games across different platforms, THQ is consolidating the entire SmackDown brand. That means that rather than experiencing the crapulous experience of Wrestlemania 21 on next gen, the SmackDown team has been hard at work streamlining the experience, so it will be the same on Xbox 360, PS2 and (next year) PS3. After getting our hands on both the next-gen and PS2 versions, we can say that it's living up to the hype from the gameplay footage we saw on Wrestlemania weekend in Chicago and at E3.


Quite frankly, the gameplay seems to have been partially gutted out and replaced with something different. While there are echoes of Here Comes the Pain's right analog system setup in SvR 07's grappling, it feels more like a completely realized gameplay concept instead of an experimental novelty, as HCTP's grapple system felt better suited for characters such as Chris Benoit or Kurt Angle than, say, Triple H. With the new grappling system, things feel much more hands-on than in past games. With a tap up, down, left or right on the stick, players will be able to set up different moves that will be mapped to each superstar. RB will act as a modifier for a strong grapple, which sets up bigger and better moves.

Among those bigger and better moves: over twenty environmental hotspots around ringside alone. Resembling mini-games of sorts, hotspots will enable players to do damn near everything they see on Monday nights. Want to strangle your opponent with the monitors off the Spanish announcer table? You got it. Want to slam his head or his arm against the ring post, or even better, ram his bad knee into it repeatedly? Sure thing, although there's nothing crazy, like breaking out the chairs to double the damage... at least, not in this version. Most importantly, players will finally be able to chuck their opponent into the crowd and beat the unholy crap out of him with TV equipment, just like on Pay-Per-View. Players now have a degree of control over the sorts of mayhem that weren't necessarily conceivable in past games.