SmackDown! vs RAW 2007: Exclusive interview

We get the full SmackDown! lowdown as the classic grapple game goes next-gen

Words: Oliver Hurley, GamesRadar UK

0 Comments

Email this article

Bookmark

Bookmark this Article

As an extra bonus, we've compiled the top 20 things about SmackDown! vs RAW 2007 that have us breaking out in high-definition sweats of our own. Check out the prime features headed your way in the latest installment of this sweat-dripping bone-cruncher.

1. This year's characters are almost four times as detailed as last year's

2. Characters "self-shadow," meaning that they cast shadows on themselves (making abs more realistic)

3. The new "Inverse Kinematics System" is a geeky term that means the wrestlers will actually grab the other characters without colliding with their opponents and morphing together

4. A new fabric animation system makes trunks and even hair look more realistic

5. Crowds feature 7,000 animated people, but only 430 of them are actually 3D

6. New motion blur and lighting effects cause heat-haze and light-sources to glare off of sweaty, bulging muscles

7. Sounds have been recorded in actual WWE rings and arenas

8. Crowd interactions include grabbing fans' signs and tearing them in half malevolently

9. Characters can toss each other into nearby electrical equipment

10. Characters can also dive off of high scaffolding to slam down on opponents

11. 250 new things you can use to customize your wrestler, in addition to the 50 of previous games

12. Match types include, but are not limited to, Hell in a Cell, Elimination Chamber and First Blood

13. Over 100 different match variations available, but only about 50 are playable online

14. Full voice-chat support for actual smack talking

15. Cinema sequences are voiced by actual WWE Superstars

16. Season Mode is "never-ending," so even after you trounce all comers, you can do it all over again if ya like

17. General Manager Mode enables you to build your own franchise... or sabotage and destroy a rival's

18. New right analog stick functionality enables you to slam opponents head up and down on steel stairs or grate their faces back and forth across steel bars

19. Deeper grappling system requiring you to decide between the quick/weak attack or the slow/burly attack

20. Crowd reacts realistically if you throw your opponent into them... meaning they get crushed by several hundred pounds of sweaty man-flesh

May 5, 2006