There's a lot of great wrestling action here, but be prepared for long loading times and other flaws that linger.

User Rating: 7.3 | WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 X360
I'd say Gamespot was more or less spot on with the latest outing of THQ published WWE licensed wrestling games. First off, let me say the game on the 360 is not Gears of War pretty, but it doesn't dissappoint in the least. Lets just say that the wrestlers look JUST like what they do in real life. If you know what John Cena looks like on Raw, then he will appear that exact same way, down to the common facial expressions and signature taunts such as the "You can't see me" hand over the face. Or Triple H does the crotch chop of DX fame and so on.

As the wrestlers come out of the locker room with their trademark entrances (which can be mercifully turned off, as they are THE EXACT SAME every time), they look like they are fresh from the shower, clean and dry. After the match... well, it looked like they ARE in the shower, soaking wet with sweat, or worse, their own blood. Among other graphical improvements are a whole lot of various signs that the crowd holds, a trademark of live WWE shows. Also, the crowd are all 3 dimensional models, NOT carboard cutouts themselves. This is isn't the most major breakthrough but adds a bit more to the atmosphere. Other little graphical details like ripping out TV monitors from the announcers table involves lots of sparks and weapons break after a few hits.

The sound itself is underwhelming. Sure, the voice acting is ok, but it's downright corny at times and cliched. The wrestlers DO lend their voices to their characters, but it is usually some of the less well known wrestlers (which isn't a bad thing), but this means they are probably less charismatic, and it shows in their voices. The announcers do a pretty decent job when doing generic announcing, but after 15 minutes of a long match, there's a very high chance that good Old JR will have repeated himself at least 3 times with the same line, although there are a whole load of lines that he never said before. The music is a bunch of licensed Emo-Core-Rock and a few rap songs thrown in for good measure. If you know the "Official Theme Song of PPV X" that is played on Raw or Smackdown, then you know the type of music I speak of. Some of it is pretty good, some of it is just generic.

The game itself hasn't changed much since the very first Smackdown game back on the Playstation 1. You have a standard strike attack, run, running attack and bunch of grapples depending on which way you move the right joystick. If you use the Right Button you can use a strong grapple for more damage and a more impressive move (by the way, Strength affects your overall damage, not just the power of the move). You can also pick your opponent up in the air for a total control move where you can then decide his fate in many different ways from just that position. Sometimes it's just a huge earth shattering body slam, sometimes a military press over head and your opponent flopping to the ground over the top ropes. Also, attacks work on downed opponents whether they are a stomp, punches to the head, various submissions or limb damaging attacks. Being stunned on a turnbuckle or on the ropes is also not a good place to find yourself on the end of the punishment wagon. Of course high flying attacks are still available.

You can do other less than legal moves like pull out weapons from under the ring (this doesn't count in Hardcore, TLC or other matches that aren't straight up wrestling). Also, you can smash people on the announcers table as I said before, and rip off the cover of the turnbuckle to bash your opponents head into it and make them bleed. Also various moves like the Undertakers kick to the face, or a bulldog face slam cause your opponent to bleed. Attacks that occur outside of the two wrestlers grappling usually involve a mini game, whether escaping a move, or punching your opponent 10 times on the turnbuckle or slamming their heads on the railing near the fans.

However, this game is very VERY VERY frustrating and hard at times. Even on Easy, your opponent can counter you many times in a row, or sometimes not once in a match. You better get good at counter attacks to succeed at Hard and Legend difficulty. Also some of the AI (or Human opponents online) can abuse moves that deny you the ability to get up sometimes. And the targeting system in this game is atrocious. If you are clearly targeting your opponent and the ref gets in the way, chances are you will grab him. The targeting only gets worse once you get into 4 man and 6 man tornado matches or the Royal Rumble. Also the Ladder Match is really hard to win, everything has to be in the exact right position or you'll never grab it. I know that they were going for a more realistic match here and so it wasn't so short like in previous games, but I played for 30 minutes in one match before I could grab the belt... on EASY.

The Season mode is interesting and allows you to unlock wrestlers like the Rock or Jerry the King Lawler or Hulk Hogan, but I wouldn't bother playing the season again to see a new storyline, as you won't. And the storyline doesn't have the flair and fan involvement (I.E. you) as a real wrestling feud.

On the other hand, create a wrestler is quite robust, as is create a title belt and create a stable. In fact, you can defend your own belt online for achievements. Personally one round through the Season and one through General Manager was all I was able to milk from the game for about 15ish hours. The other few hours came from trying each of the exhibition matches and others with friends. Xbox live provides a lot of potential for competition against other humans if that is your thing (and the only way to get all of the achievements).

Probably my two biggest problems with the game is :
1.) The lack of some of the newer wrestlers and that the roster is quite out of date. Randy Orton is not on Smackdown now, but Raw. The Highlanders and Crime Tyme are missing in general. Stuff like that. I guess if you aren't a die hard fan like I used to be years ago, it's something you can overlook.
2.) INCREDIBLE LOADING TIMES!!!!!!! Even in something as simple as bringing up a different menu takes a loading screen for 5 seconds. It's very aggrivating at times

Anyone looking for a good wrestling game should check it out (especially WWE fans), providing you can overlook some of the targeting issues, horrible loading times, cheap reversals from your opponent and the out of date roster.

Good :
+ Excellent graphics
+ Amazing create a wrestler mode
+ A staggering amount of match types and options
+ Each type of grapple attack outside of the ring is a neat mini game

Bad :
- Horrible targeting, especially in more than 2 player matches
- Outdated roster
- Cheap AI and reversals are very difficult in the heat of battle
- TONS OF LOADING SCREENS!!!!!!! argggg!!!!! *rips hair out*