SmackDown Vs Raw 2008

Well first of all you have to remember its the first wrestling game, let alone wwe game, on the wii. It was never going to be as good as the ps3 or 360 one but as far as it goes its a good base to start at. I was a big fan of the Day of Reckoning series on gamecube, and thort it was alot better than the WWE SD V R games, so i was disappointed to see Nintendo wouldn't be continuing the DOR series and switching to the other.

The game itself is lacking deptch but never the less it is fun. Matches generally only last a few minutes max, which in some ways are good as in previous games you can get bogged down in one game for 20-30minutes. The controls are simple to pick up, and i personally do enjoy the interactive way you do the moves, even if they are limited at moment. The intros are good, DX one is worth a look, and the way you do taunts is new and takes full control of the wii controller (for example for the DX chop u hold C and do a chop motion with the wii num-chuck and controller) Their is a large roster on the game containing RAW, Smack down, ECW and legends on it so you get a good choice on character selection.

The downsides is their is limited match choices, expected really as its the first ever one on wii and to expect everything on the first installment would be pushing it. Your opponents seem to get up quickly if you try to the top rope, their is no stamina gauge, and for me the game play needs to be slightly speeded up <as a Day of reckoning fan the game speed was always quicker than the smack down series).

Overall tho for a first try its decent, probably not worth £40 but if you have a few games lying around u dont want its worth trading in and getting this on the cheap (i got it for £7 after trading in mario football and dragon ball Z). Hopefully tho the TNA game which will be released spring time next year will be better and provide some good competition for WWE games.

'WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2008' is this year's installment from wrestling's leading organisation and is also the first wrestling game to come out for the Nintendo Wii.

GAMEPLAY - 4/5
I've not played a wrestling game since WWF Wreslemania 2000 on the N64 (which was brillant for the time) and haven't actually watched wrestling since about 1999, so I don't really know most of the roster, but it doesn't stop it from being a good fun game to play. All of the moves are performed by swinging the Wii remote a nunchuck in different directions, giving you a more interactive experience than frantically bashing buttons faster than the other player. This also means that you don't have to spend ages learning moves for each wrestler, as generally pulling a move off correctly is down to luck.

GRAPHICS - 3/5
The character models of the wrestlers (and the refs) are very realistic, both in the ring and during their entrances, but the crowd looks like they are made of cardboard and are not that much better than the crowds from the days of the N64 and the Playstation.

SOUND - 5/5
All the wrestlers have their original theme tunes when entering the ring. There's also loads of commentry from the Raw, Smackdown and ECW commentators and they seem to be in time and accurate with the action that is happening in the ring.

LIFESPAN - 3/5
Unfortunately this is where this game falls majorly. I've played the PS3 version of this game and there are over 100 different match types to choose from - Royal Rumble, Hell in a Cell, ladder and the 24/7 mode. Not here. On the Wii there's only 1-on-1, tag team, hardcore (where chairs are the only weapon) andTriple Threat. This is ok for multi-player but when playing through the Career mode in single player, it can get a bit repetitive. There's also a Tournament mode which is King of the Ring, but this is strangely only 1 player. Aside from the multi-player modes, the only thing that'll really keep you playing this for a long period of time is unlocking the Legends such as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, The Rock, Bret "Hitman" Hart, Rick Rude, Rowdy Roddy Piper, Shane and Vince McMahon and Mick Foley (amongst a few others) in Career mode, which did really appeal to me as these were the superstars from back in my day.

OVERALL - 3/5
Although it is good fun to play making great use of the Wii's controls, there just isn't enough content here to keep me interested long enough and will only be coming out when playing with friends now that I've unlocked all of the Legends. So unless they sort this out in next year's installment, I think I'll be getting Smackdown vs Raw 2009 on the PS3 instead, as there is endless amounts of fun on that version.

I got the games last Friday and was excited to play the first WWE game on we. Being a WWE fan myself, I had been looking forward to a wrestling game on wii since the consoles launch.

After playing the game for an hour or two, i was both impressed and disapointed. The controls were very good and responsive, hittingm someone over the head with a steel chair has never been so satisfying.

However the game lacks depth, alot of it...with only 5 possible matchtypes and no WWE favourates like ladder matches, hell in a cell and elimination chamber the exhibition mode quickly gets dull, matches last around 3 minutes at he most and dont offer any real excitement of a good long match. There is also a great lack of moves in the game, with all the charcters each having a similar set moves set which you will see all of in the first 20 mins of play.

Overall the game is fun, for a while, but the lack of modes and features makes you feel robbed as the ps2 version has the all.

there is much improvement to made for 2009, which I look forward to.