2007 is shaping up to be a vintage year for fans of wrestling, fighting games or just the sight of grown men hurting each other. The genre's flagship franchise, WWE SmackDown! vs RAW, is continuing to expand from its PS2 roots to explore both next-gen and handheld territory. And while we've smashed many a photo realistic face and produced many a beautifully rendered drop of sweat in our previews of the Xbox 360 edition, we've only recently gotten our hands on the PSP entry.
How does it match
First, let's cover the part of this preview that WWE fans really want to hear: the confirmed roster for WWE SmackDown! vs RAW 2007 so far includes Johnny Nitro, The Undertaker and Shelton Benjamin, along with the previously revealed John Cena, Triple H, Rey Mysterio, Kurt Angle, Chris Benoit and Booker T. With that out of the way, we can continue.
We've tangled with the Xbox 360 version of SmackDown! before, but this is the first chance we've had to really take our time with it. And while
In the movies, a fighter on the rise usually gets a montage outlining his climb up the ladder to success and butt-kickery. If any game were worthy of such treatment, it would be WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007. Spanning five platforms and sporting a feature list almost as long as its title, this game has been putting some serious time in at the gym.
The SmackDown series - adding "vs. Raw" to the moniker back in 2004 - has become the franchise leader in wrestling games, WWE or otherwise. Now that
The still-in-progress WWE SmackDown! vs RAW 2007 was on display behind closed doors at E3, and GamesRadar got a firsthand look at the shiny new Xbox 360 version on Friday. What's more, we had a chance to step into Kurt Angle's boots and trade a few backhand slaps with (another journalist playing as) John Cena, and the game looks to be filling out nicely so far.
Admittedly, the 360's visuals didn't seem a huge improvement over the already-impressive PS2 SmackDown! vs RAW 2006, at least not at
