You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
With a new game in the SmackDown! series piledriving its way onto shelves every November, the perpetual quandary facing the developer is what can be added each year that hasn't been done already. The answer for SmackDown! vs Raw 2007, it seems, comes in the shape of a new interface, far greater control over grappling maneuvers... and a realistic new sweat system.
And as these brand new shots demonstrate, there's now also far more scope for scrapping outside the ring, thanks to a new 'fighting in the crowd' area, while members of the audience hand you weapons such as crutches and umbrellas. But it's not all about aesthetic upgrades. For Bryan Williams, the series' associate creative manager, one of the key improvements in this year's game is going to be in your opponents' intelligence.
"A huge complaint about previous games is that the [artificial intelligence] has been one-dimensional," he admits. "With next-gen, we have so much more horsepower that we can really strive to create AI that is comparable to playing against a real person. And that's one thing that I'm really looking forward to implementing this year."
With the game still five months from release, only four characters have been confirmed so far: Triple H, John Cena, Rey Mysterio and Kurt Angle. But the roster actually had to be finalized in April - meaning that Williams has to do a lot of educated guesswork with regards to which characters will still be relevant by the time the game hits shelves in November.
