It's All in the Network

WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw is the first wrestling title I've ever played online and I was impressed with the game's performance during my online matches with my boy Alex. When taken online, wrestling games (and the genre's close cousin, fighting games like Guilty Gear X2 #Reload) live and die by latency and network performance (or lack thereof). Everyone is used to putting up with occasional crappy performance when hunting down The Lost in City of Heroes; it's something we've come to expect in MMORPGs. Any slowdown in a fighting game, however, and gamers start getting cranky; understandable when you consider that split second reflexes and lighting fast graphics are absolutely essential for success.

While you don't necessarily need that kind of superhuman reaction times to win in Smackdown! vs. Raw (though it certainly wouldn't hurt), the principle of sound online play remains the same. Without decent network performance, any fighting game will suffer.