WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW '09 suits up

By Tom Magrino, GameSpotPosted Mar 28, 2008 11:22 am PT

THQ and Jakks bringing retooled editions of its popular World Wrestling Entertainment franchise to X360, PS3, PS2, PSP, DS, Wii, and mobile this fall.

The ebb and flow of petty in-fighting is one of the primary characteristics of any good World Wrestling Entertainment story arc. The same can be said for the gaming franchise based off of the popular pastime, as its history has taken more than a few cues from its fantasized counterpart.

Tag-team takes a front seat this year.

In the three-way cage match that is the WWE-THQ-Jakks alliance, the game publisher has come out on top the most in recent months, with a United States District Court judge dismissing a WWE racketeering lawsuit brought against the two gamemakers in December, and THQ touting a court decision against Jakks over royalty rates earlier this month.

Luckily for fans of burly men grappling with one another, the entertainment label along with its game-making partners still manage to put aside their differences long enough to produce a game every year, and THQ today announced WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2009 will take to the ring this fall. As with last year, THQ will be releasing editions of the game on nearly every current platform, including the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo DS, Wii, and mobile.

As is customary of annualized franchises, Jakks has performed a number of adjustments under the hood of its latest game. On the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, and PSP, Jakks will be revisiting tag-team play, revising mechanics, and implementing a number of new ways to eliminate opponents. The franchise's character customization will be further expanded with a new Create-A-Finisher option, and the Road to WrestleMania career mode will feature co-op storylines. THQ also promises downloadable content to be available in the future.

With the Wii version of SmackDown! vs. RAW debuting last year, Jakks will be amping up the game's offerings with an expanded suite of modes, including online play. On the DS, SmackDown! vs. RAW 2009 offers a number of alterations to the formula, including a redesigned Season mode that takes more of a role-playing tack. The roster of superstars has also been expanded, with the Create-a-Superstar mode now added to the DS edition.

118 Comments

  • MGVladutz

    Posted Oct 29, 2008 10:07 am PT

    SvR 2006 was the best if you ask me, but i wold not put down 07 it was good, but 2008 was a letdown because of benoit's death and with the deadline aproaching the ruined the game was patched and released, just cuz they removed benoit [they could have let him in the game as a final tribute besides what many of you would say].

  • TheRoshow

    Posted Aug 3, 2008 3:37 pm PT

    RvS looks soooo, COOL!! I hope they have Manager Specials on this one. Like when Umaga's Manager breaks the Cigar Commanding Umaga to do the spike!! Or Hoursewaggel coming from under the ring distracting the Ref and sliding Finley the shalaly! Come up with a lot of different manager finishers to Manager w/ Tag Team Finishers would be cool.

    Special Ref. & Managers should wear ring entrence or cut scene attire.

  • osmanalefi

    Posted Jul 16, 2008 8:29 pm PT

    I can't wait until it comes out

  • friscoking2008

    Posted Jul 13, 2008 8:20 pm PT

    Thats cool wat kind of matches will it have? i hope they put inferno match, casket, and parking lot, and new weapons , n punjabi match.

  • lhasalovers

    Posted May 8, 2008 2:46 am PT

    Hello GameSpot My Name Is Frazer And I Have a Question for you can tell me is it better then last year what is the gm mode and what is the season mode like this year and what wwe superstars like for the ps3 email me at fjenkins10@aol.com

  • norberto1995

    Posted May 7, 2008 10:21 am PT

    If it's about the SVR series then 07 was the best + it was fighting game of the year.
    08 could been allot bettR,and 08 also disapointed me.
    every SVR was great an fun with it's new thingies.
    but 08 haves almost nothing,only some characters,moves and ECW invade.They could atleast add an inferno or stretcher match.
    I don't know just something like that cause i did'nt care about the graphics and **** the game was fake enough.Rey Mysterio giving Khali a Last Ride :S. And the Wii version why the **** a Wii version !?? I just knew the Wii version would suck it's only fun for some few hours.
    Lets say 08 is waisting money.PLS THQ/Jakks Pacific dont let that happen with 09.BTW dont forget 2 do something about the online mode cause that sucked 2

  • onami0moon

    Posted May 1, 2008 3:55 am PT

    07 was really good. 08 was good but could've put more wrestlers in it. I like what I'm reading about 09 but, the main three questions I want to know is.... when they said there's more than 30 wrestlers, could they go up some like.... 60? Could they put the spinner on both the wwe belt and the united states belt? Last when are they ever going make a season/story mode with the oppurtunity to go for any belt, as well as give the divas a part of the game instead of just putting them there to play with? Like make a story mode for them... If they could, they could put all the divas on there and put about 60 of male wrestlers on there(which includes the legends)

  • bigdaddy9202

    Posted Apr 2, 2008 6:49 am PT

    the introduction of a 2 player co-op story is a nice touch & tag team specials sounds cool but I really hope it's better than 2008 because that game was a huge letdown

  • shiftysim

    Posted Mar 31, 2008 3:51 pm PT

    I think THQ has to change their model. They need to release this game every two or even three years, because there really wasn't a whole lot of improvement in the last couple of years. Also it would really give them time to innovate or revamp and bring something to the table. As it stands, this game has gotten stale.

  • ocdog45

    Posted Mar 31, 2008 12:14 pm PT

    love the wwe, but last years game sucked

  • painpas

    Posted Mar 31, 2008 8:13 am PT

    High probability of rehash. I'll see what TNA has tp offer first. Loved 2007, 2008 not enough wrestlers and it just bored me it was the same as the last year with better graphics.

  • Paul_TheGreat

    Posted Mar 31, 2008 7:57 am PT

    Not interested

  • stale911

    Posted Mar 30, 2008 5:49 pm PT

    2009 edition of Smackdown vs RAW sounds fairly good so far.
    And to answer your question futureoffootball, I am fairly confident that the co-op story mode was on either of the RAW games that were released exclusively for the Xbox.

  • thefutureofball

    Posted Mar 30, 2008 12:39 pm PT

    didnt they have a co op storyline for the second smackdown already???

  • Sam_Lowery

    Posted Mar 30, 2008 12:05 pm PT

    2007 was pretty good but I heard 2008 was a step back for the series

  • DeeCrutch

    Posted Mar 30, 2008 11:14 am PT

    SavoyPrime If Yukes is still behind it, then I'm not interested. Where the hell is AKI???
    ^
    WINNAR!!!

    Ring the damn bell!!

  • jddb

    Posted Mar 30, 2008 11:11 am PT

    who cares about the ds edition

  • jddb

    Posted Mar 30, 2008 11:07 am PT

    SVR on wii was so awful

  • CLeRKSfan4life

    Posted Mar 30, 2008 7:50 am PT

    I really liked 2008 on the Wii so I'll probably be getting this one on the Wii as well. It depends how the new additions turn out though.

  • edge1000

    Posted Mar 29, 2008 7:02 pm PT

    awesome! create a finisher should be great

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