WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2008

"Smackdown & Raw go hardcore."

Smackdown vs Raw 2008 is the 10th installment of the widely popular wrestling game franchise but does it live up to all the hype?

Well the answer is mixed.

Where the game shines are exebition matches, you can do everything from one on one normal, cage, first blood, hardcore, hell in a cell, buried alive... all the regular matches you have come to know and love as the smackdown franchise has moved through its life. No bra and panties this year though.

Now with these matches all said and done and we are used to them, what is Smackdown offering its players new?

Well now we have the inclusion of different fighting styles, including the all new fighting style of hardcore. This is where the ECW element comes in and boy does it pay off. Wrestlers styles are based how they would normally be based in real life, so you will no longer find Undertaker or great Khali doing top rope planchas or swanton bombs. Instead this time wresters are split into catagories. Brawler, Powerhouse, Showman, high Flyer, Submission and Hardcore. Its not too hard to figure who fits into which catagory.

So whats this hardcore style I hear you all asking... Well lets talk about that for a moment. Lets take a widely known hardcore icon... oooh lets say Sandman... give him weapons and let him go to town. You can do 1 man conchartos, wrap a chair around an opponents leg or neck and stomp on it, light tables on fire.... all the fun of the fair.

So besides this what else does this installment of Smackdown have to offer.
Well instead of a season mode we now have what we call 24/7 mode. Which is were you can choose to play as GM of one of either 3 brands or take your own CAW or 1 of 15 ingame superstars.... thats right... 15 off of a roster of over 60 wrestlers. No ECW to be chosen though. Dont worry though, you can play ecw matches in the season so thats not too bad. but come on yukes... 15 superstars... what has Smackdown come to now. Season mode in 24/7 is very very buggy, you have no way of resting or taking time off when injured and it makes it hell to play, although you can use the R&R option to recover stamina and risk losing fan base. Also you will be involved in a big story where on moment Randy Orton hates your guts and the next you are in a cutscene shaking his hand... it does not make sense. There was even one part in 24/7 where the players in the match were Edge(me) Batista and Shawn Micheals, and in the cutscene I was being beat on by a clone of myself. The game sometimes gives you choices of partner then forgets you even chose that partner, so I heard to avoid this you should keep your messages on your in game phone. Is this mode terrible... no just very buggy but it is only as fun as you want to make it be... if you look past the bugs you will get through it I am sure of that.

GM mode, I cant comment on as I am not a fan of this mode and never played it in SVR07.

We also have something called Hall Of Fame mode which is basically a challenge mode to unlock superstars, legends, arenas and the like. Also you have another mode where you create tournaments. Included in this is Beat the clock sprint and King Of The Ring mode.

Best mode included in this version and only on the Xbox360 is the inclusion of custom music, so finally we can give our superstars their real music, sadly its only 1 song per playlist on the Xbox drive but you can have over 100 songs.

I am sure in this review I could of covered a lot more details of the game but I will leave it for you to make your minds up on this and I will now bring you to my scoring system.


Graphics. 8/10. Nice Graphics, more details that 07. I can't fault this.

Sound. 9/10. With the inclusion of custom soundtracks this is a sure fire winner.

Lastability. 7/10. Unless your really into exebition matches and make your own stories it wont last very long.

Story. 4/10. Pretty lackluster and very very buggy.

Overall. 7/10. I would say if you havent bought it and are thinking of it, go rent first then decide.

Final thoughts... With TNA Impact on its way I expect to see THQ/Yukes pulling up their socks on SVR09.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 11/15/07

Game Release: WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2008 (US, 11/13/07)