"Is the PSP version as good as the PS2 version? The burning question is answered."

THQ and Yu kes together have blessed us gamers who are also wrestling fans with an incredible series of wrestling video games, commonly referred to as the Smack Down series, dating from the first WWF Smack Down on the Play Station going up to WWE Smack Down vs Raw 2006 for the Play Station 2 and soon to be released Smack down vs Raw 2007. The series has its flaws, but overall, it's still a nice and enjoyable presentation. When I got my PSP, I always said to myself "You know, I would love Smack Down to be on the PSP." Low and behold, it was announced that SVR 06 was making its way to the PSP. I was thrilled.

Having already owned the PS2 version of the game, several questions suddenly were brought to mind. Would this game be as good as the PS2 version? Will this feature be in? Will that one be in? Will the roster be drastically cut down? Will there be commentary? Will the create a wrestler mode make it to the PSP? These are just some of the questions I suddenly thought about. And I am glad to say, yes, all these made it into the game. In fact, only a few things are left out of the PSP version, including commentary, on line mode, and although the CAW mode did make it to the PSP version, you only have six layers to work with if I remember correctly, so I don't even bother making wrestlers on the PSP version. Just make it on the PS2 version and transfer it to the PSP version. Problem is, you won't be able to edit it at all on the PSP, except for the move set.

Alright so let's get down to the actual game. It is still a very pleasant experience on the PSP. The controls were tweaked a bit to fit with the PSP version, but they're still not tough to adjust to. I don't have a huge problem adjusting between the controls between the PS2 and PSP versions. One problem I did find annoying, though, is it is hard to ir ish whip your opponents iun the down left position. I often accidentally ir ish whip them left. Aside from that, no real problems come to mind. Some changes to the controls include that during tag matches, you must hold square and taunt to call your partner into the ring and to store a finisher, you tap L and R. One thing that really got on my nerves and still does to this day is that you can't manually switch focus. That's right, if you want to face The Rock and he's on the opposite side of the ring that you are, you'll have to walk right next to him, and you'll automatically face him after a few seconds. Very annoying problem that I still can't believe they didn't do something about.

The graphics are nice. Obviously, the polygon count went down from the PS2. I don't know the exact polygon count, but trust me, it's lower. The character models look very good, though some of the attires, do look like they've been painted on, but hey, it's a fairly big game to pack into a PSP cartridge, so to be fair, they did a good job for what they had to do. The crowd is also not 3D anymore and there's not as much crowd, but I barely ever notice it. The faces of the wrestlers, however, do look sort of bad at close range, but you'll notice that pretty much just in the versus screen before the match.

One thing, however, that really bugs me and takes a lot of the fun out of the game, is the loading time. Yes, the load times are as bad as you are told they are. In the PS2 version, if you just pick a standard one on one match with in-game wrestlers, it'll take maximum about 8 or 10 seconds to load. PSP version takes about 30 seconds to load. Not bad you say? How about created wrestlers? You want to do a fatal four way with four created wrestlers? Expect to wait almost 5 minutes while it loads. I once made a tag team match with four created wrestlers, it took four and a half minutes to load, and I swear I'm making no exaggerations.

Aside from that, I think this is a very enjoyable game. And remember when I said there's no commentary? Well instead of commentary, the game soundtrack plays during matches, and although at random points the game lags for a second, it's really not all that bad. My biggest complaint regarding this game is the loading times. They take a lot of fun out of the game. Aside from that, good game and if you have it for the PSP, it's really not much different when making the switch to the PSP. Thanks for reading my review, and THQ/Yu kes, if you're reading this, do something about the loading times for the next time!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/14/06