A Little Better than a John Cena Match
The Playstation always had the superior titles as the Smackdown games were ALWAYS better than RAW. Not usually but ALWAYS. And it seldom was even close. THQ, blessedly, has decided to bring the Smackdown titles to the XBox360 at last. And the result is, admittedly, a mixed bag. The graphics are really good. The characters look very much like their real-life counterparts, save for the creepy as can be plastic-looking skin. I've yet to see a game really pull off realistic-looking humans and this game keeps that streak very much alive. And the audio is actually improved a lot. The voice acting no longer sounds like it was recorded in an echo chamber. Your created character ALSO has voice-over (mine, for whatever reason, sounded just like Rob Van Dam).
The new control scheme is much improved. Overall analog control is pretty decent. There is also a lack of the incredibly cheap reversals that was the hallmark of prior XBox wrestling titles. The matches can be fun. Well, outside of the ladder match variations. Ladder matches, which in wrestling are amongst the most entertaining match varities in the industry, are tedious slogs here. True, using analog sticks to try and loosen up the belt/suitcase is preferrable to the old button-mash fest, but the matches themselves tend to be quite bad. I'm not sure anything can be done to really improve the issues.
The storylines are decent. WWE storylines tend to be crap in real life, so Emmy-winning prose here is not expected and it is not delivered. They aren't BAD per se, but great, they most assuredly are not. Online play is rather good with lack of lag. The only downside is, of course, the people who actually play on XBox Live, but you can't blame THQ due to poor upbringing of users.
Create-a-Wrestler mode is, as always, really in-depth --- but I would like to see a larger roster of moves. Not that there is a lack of moves, but more is always better and you could always use moves that the WWE guys don't use as a general rule. Your ability to completely develop your entrance is a cool touch. Even being able to determine your camera angles is beautiful.
One of my favorite modes --- seriously --- last year was the GM Mode. This year's mode seems to be much worse. The concept of hiring writers to develop specific storylines is decent enough (I also assume it's not really far off from reality), but I miss last year's automatic storylines when you put two guys in matches for a week or two straight. Trying to shoehorn guys into pre-determined storylines just isn't as much as fun as the organic "storylines" you could develop last year. I would like a nice amalgamation of the two, with a default system like last year with the ability to hire writers to improve specific storylines here and there.
Smackdown v RAW 2007 is a solid title. It's not as good as the old Nintendo64 classics that nobody has been able to touch since those days, but it's rather good for a modern wrestling title and, obviously, a massive improvement over Rumble Roses. One thing that THQ would be wise to look into is the ability to add in additional characters or moves via XBLA in the future. I doubt they can now, but in the future, it'd be a terrific idea.