Re: WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2007 Hands-On Report For PS3

"Mottola/w Snakes On A Plane And Mickie James"
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From IGN.com:

For the first time in a long time, THQ has made the next iteration of its
popular wrestling franchise available for play at E3 (behind closed doors,
where a legion of eager grappling fans won't overwhelm the booth). This is
an important year for the franchise too, as it marks the first time in the
series' history that the game will arrive on multiple platforms, and it's
also the first time that it will release on multiple generations at the
same time. These developments have been big news in the "wrestling gamer"
community, and knowing that a vast majority of them patron IGN for their
news, THQ allowed us to come in early and check out the next-generation E3
version of SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 before anyone else.

There are four major features that THQ and Yuke's Media Creations want to
drive home for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007. The first is the need for
user-controlled grappling moves. Animations are no longer limited to
whatever the canned AI says they're supposed to be as certain move types
are now entirely determined by the user. Let's assume that a player grabs
another user in a grapple and hoists them up on their shoulders. This
position leaves a wrestler with a number of options -- they can perform a
military press, an airplane spin (controlled with the analog stick), or go
ahead and slam the guy outside of the ring (that's right, it's no longer a
special move). There will be multiple grapple moves per character too, so
it won't always be the same options for every character.

Oh no!
Wasn't this attempted in the Legends of Wrestling games?


Another nice feature is that movesets are no longer based on the same
arbitrarily-assigned types that the last game had. Now, a wrestler's class
determines what kind of moves will be available to them in the ring.
Divas, luchadors, power wrestlers each have their own types of wrestling
abilities that can't be performed by other classes... so don't expect to
see The Big Show pull off turnbuckle hurricanranas or Stacy Keibler
powerslam some fat dude into the steel steps.

didn't they say this the last couple of times?


Speaking of the steel steps, they lead us into the second major feature
that THQ wants to focus on, and that's the environmental hotspots. There
are more than 20 different interactive areas in all (though the E3 build
is still limited in what works), and it will include everything from the
ring ropes, cage wall, and ring post, to both announcer tables, ladders
and more. As an example, players can now pick up an opponent with the new
user-controlled mechanic and drop them on a rope groin first (no kids for
them) and then grab onto the ropes and move them up and down for
additional damage. The good news for hapless opponents is that this
affects the stamina of your character just like anything else does so it
can't be abused, and any hotspot move is completely reversible. We've also
been told that ladder matches will feature some rather spectacular new
improvements (you can lay ladders across one another and can also run
across one Shelton Benjamin style).

Perhaps the most talked-about new feature so far, though, is the third big
feature -- the crowd interaction. As hinted in the target render teaser we
ran last week, players can grab weapons, items, and even signs from the
audience when fighting outside the ring. Subtle touches have been
incorporated into the obvious too -- giving gamers the choice to rip up a
sign if they're a heel, or to hold it up and shake it like a spaz if
they're a face. Some animations will even allow wrestlers to pat fans on
the back after a sign grab, and if they want to put some extra hurt on
their opponent, they can pick up umbrellas, crutches, bottles, and other
cool goodies to dish out the pain.




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