Way better compared to 2004's awful SvR.
Graphics:
As always, the Smackdown! games always look better every year. This goes the same as well to SvR2006. The wrestlers were all redone and they look even closer to their real life counterparts this time around. The arenas are all nicely done and the crowd looks even better ever. However, there are still many clipping problems and hands going through the apron. While I think everyone has already gotten used to this, its high time Yukes fix this.
Sound:
The in-game music when you are in the menus are all better than SvR was. Even though they are not THAT good, but atleast better. All the wrestler's entrances theme songs are in as well. Another big improvement in the sound department is the voice acting. SvR has some pretty god-awful voice acting, but this time its much much better. Almost as if the wrestlers were talking on TV.
Gameplay:
This is where SvR2006 improved the most. First of all, theres the stamina gauge. Doing heavy damage moves like the Powerbombs, Chokeslams, Sidewalk slams will take a pretty nice chunk off your stamina gauge. However fast attack moves does the exact oposite. This adds a small little strategy gameplay when you fight your opponents. Yukes has taken a change on the finisher feature. Instead of keeping your 5 of your finishers as in previous Smackdown! games, you only get to keep one this time. By building up your momentum meter, you will will be able to either store your finisher for later use or use it at the very moment which does much more damage than a stored finish. This is a good thing, because people won't be able to spam their finishers 5 times in a row anymore.
Then theres the new GM mode and Create an Entrance mode. The GM mode is very much text based, so its more of a strategy game. While it may be boring at times, it still gives quite a challenge to first timers. The GM mode feels as if it is just a beta version though, it'll be interesting to see how good it'll turn out to be in the next Smackdown! game. Create an Entrance mode basically lets you create your own entrance. Again this time, it isn't as deep as it should have been. You'll be able to choose from more than 30 PRE-setted ring walk ins. But the thing is, it should have let us create how we walk into the ring, when the pyros will go off and other small little options.
The Create a Wrestler, and Create a Belt mode are of course back. It is as deep as before and lets all just hope Yukes makes it even better in the next Smackdown game.
bUY iT Or RenT It?
If you are a wrestling fan, definitely get SvR2006. Its much much better than 2004's SvR. There are alot of unlockables in the game as there are more than a dozen of legends and nearly the entire WWE roster is in(2005 specific). In the end, SvR2006 was a great improvement over 2004's SvR, but it isn't quite there yet as the best wrestling game ever. Get this game only if you're a wrestling fan though, if not either pass it or rent it.