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Sometimes it's just too much to try and figure out what to do, although veterans of the franchise likely won't have one second's worth of trouble mastering their technique. In my case, it took more than just a couple of hours to figure out just what to do to be successful. For the first couple of dozen matches or so, I basically got my ass body-slammed into a pulp. Repeatedly. Embarrasingly so. So much, in fact, that I longed for a fighting-game standby "dummy" that I could practice on while he stood still, letting me beat the living snot out of him just so I could start to put together some semblance of an attack.
Eventually, though, I started to get the hang of it. That's when I was able to discover some of the other hidden gems within the game, such as "hotspots" and fighting in the crowd. These two features new to the series offer an added level of gameplay that really let things get frantic. Dragging a poor slob out into the audience and smashing their face into a computer monitor, while simultaneously ripping up a fan's degrading poster about me? That's pure gold.
The PS2 version, while being very good, does suffer from a few annoyances. The tag-team partner you're saddled with often seems to do nothing at all to help you, even when you're being ganged up on. While it's far from fugly, there are some visual hiccups (like managers and teammates kind of "gliding" across the ring) as well as some pretty long load times. With that said, it handles all of the modes that its big brother on the 360 does (even full online play) – an impressive feat these days for any multiplatform title. Clearly, THQ did not skimp on the PS2 game to burnish the next generation versions.
Of course, with that said, the 360 is naturally better in every conceivable way, from the near-spectacular visuals to the increased level of audio commentary. The inclusion of Achievements makes me gravitate towards it as well, and the online components are integrated very nicely into the Xbox Live community.
Between the season, general manager, creation, and online modes, there's a startling amount of time that could be spent smashing unwitting opponents into all variety of edifices. At the end of the day, no matter which version you pick up, a ridiculous depth of in-ring action has been combined with a staggering amount of original content and flexible configuration to produce what is the best pro wrestling game I've ever put my hands on. Granted, I'm no guru of the genre by any stretch, so that should not be taken as any kind of pronouncement on high. However, with that said, I've seen some good ones and bad ones through the years, and this one ranks at the top. Fans of the WWE shouldn't think twice about picking up the version for either their PS2 or Xbox 360 - but if both are an option, the superb graphics and Achievements make the 360 title the best pick. PS2 owners won't be disappointed or feel slighted, though. No matter what, squared circle aficionados should have WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2007 in their consoles post haste.
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