PSP needed a good beat-’em-up and this near perfect conversion of its big brother, Smackdown Vs. Raw 2006 PS2, is something of a joy to play.
For those who have played Smackdown games before, you may notice that, naturally, the graphics aren’t as sharp on the PSP as on the full console and there is no commentary (if thats a bad thing). The controls have also been simplified a little to acomodate the missing shoulder buttons. Other than that, this game is easy to pick-up’n’play, a great feature for a PSP title.
A nice suprise comes in the fact that neither the superstar roster nor the selection of match types has been downsized in the conversion, meaning that all your favorties from the console game are there, plus the new Casket matches (much better than before) and the slightly perverted Fulfill Your Fanasy matches, which involve two scantily clad divas lightly beating each other will pillows for roughly 30 seconds.
Though it may have taken THQ four games worth of boring bloodlessness to put blood in the graphics, most people would agree that the blood in Smackdown Vs. Raw was a little dissapointing, to say the least. However, like with many other aspects of this game, the blood feature has been ultimately improved, now there are two stages of leeding stages, the intial being similar to previous games, but crack them with that chair again and you will be treated to the new ‘Smackdown vs Raw 2006’ blood, dripping rather realisticaly down the wrestlers chest and splashing onto the canvas. Yum.
The new game modes well… less said about them the better. Firstly there’s the Texas old’em Poker, ever fancied gambling against the likes of Tajiri, Tazz or Paul London? Nope, me niether, no ones has ever wanted that. But now you can, and you can use the d-pad to chuck in a variety of facial expressions- confusion, anger, delight- to try and trick your opponents. Wow.
Next up is the rubbish trivia quiz. This might have worked OK – but once you’ve answered he question, you still have to wait for the timer to run down before you move on, meaning the whole thing takes longer than a stroll to the moon. Also, we couldn’t make this up: there is a mode called Eugene’s Airplane Race in which he runs around the ring pretending to be a Boeing 747. Crap.
So, yes, it’s the same as the PS2 version, great! If you’re planning buying this purely for the story mode, but already own the PS2 version, then think carefully. Otherwise, it’s great and the best beat-’em-up on PSP. Not that there’s a great deal of competition.
