By Chris Green

When two worlds collide, bedlam ensues...

Ever wanted to step inside the squared circle of the World Wrestling Entertainment arena and compete against great superstars from HHH to Big Show to Undertaker or even up against Trish Stratus?

Now you can with THQ’s new WWE game in the famous SmackDown series, WWE: Smackdown! Vs Raw.

The roster of this years game is fairly strong with around 40 wrestlers, including:

Kane
Kurt Angle
Shawn Michaels
HHH
Big Show
Undertaker
John Cena

Then we go to the divas including Trish, Torrie Wilson, Victoria and Sable. And it doesn't stop there - New Legends such as Bret Hart, Andre the Giant, Masked Kane, Legend Undertaker, Mankind, The Rock and Brutus Beefcake add to the already impressive Legend list of superstars, plus each superstar has been categorised in one of five weight divisions:

Ultra Heavyweight
Super Heavyweight
Heavyweight
Cruiserweight/Light Heavyweight
Diva division (for the ladies)

In addition to the real-life characters, there's also a Create a Superstar (CAW) facility where you come up with your own wrestler's look, style and moves to see if you can take them to championship gold. There are a lot of other features in Create mode including create-a-move set, Set Attributes/stats to all wrestlers and even put each of them in a team of two to five.

So you can recreate some more legends or complete the current roster so that it is up to date or even create celebrities or animals/creatures. Yes animals. This will have you hooked and occupied for hours on end - it sure had me glued to the television creating up to 32 wrestlers per memory card.

As always the graphics of the Smackdown series just gets better and better with each new game and this game hasn't dropped the butter knife on the dirty kitchen floor; it is like you are really there inside the ring and competing against others. It is so life-like that Dan Florido thought I was watching cable TV. But then he also watches the microwave, believing it's a fish tank...

"Check out my hair - look, it swishes about like the finest of Thai silks. Gaa!"

The controls are very easy to use and it is easy to learn each of the button combinations. Also added are four different moves for each different grapple, supplying 16 possible grapple moves for each superstar. This is very good for users who like to use a lot of moves in his/her repertoire.

The classic matches are still there including Single, Tag-Team, TLC, tables and even the ladder match. There are also the Main Event type of matches that include the Elimination Chamber, Hell in a Cell, Steel Cage, Three Stages of Hell match and even the Royal Rumble.

Then there are the two new match types to SmackDown! users. The first is 'Bra and Panties', where the winner is the person who rips the opponent down to her Underwear, and the second is the 'Parking Lot Brawl' match.

The second one is a great match that involves you and your opponent out in the car park surrounded by cars including a Limousine and a WWE truck. You can use these vehicles to your advantage by either slamming your opponents head into a car which then sets off the alarm and blinds him for a moment or two or even slam the limousine's doors onto his foot breaking it to pieces, and many, many more.

If you get bored with the Season feature, like me, then you can create some classic encounters with Exhibition mode and also with the Create a PPV mode.

Become a superstar for a year and compete against the best wrestlers inside the WWE, begin feuds, compete for the titles and resolve friendships in season mode - just like on TV! This is all very good until you go through all of the storylines and then it gets repetitive, playing through all the same storylines over again.

It does feel good when you become the World Heavyweight Champion and put the title on the line against The Undertaker and then go ahead and defeat him in Hell in a Cell, for instance, but the repetition is still there. A feature which has been taken out of the game from last year is that now you can’t continue and carry over the current stats that you have for your superstars, and all the championship belts go back to their original owners/holders.

During season mode, the WWE superstars will have their very own voice-overs so that you feel like you are really there in the ring or backstage talking to the superstar. This feature is not that good, as after the first five to six runs through season mode it gets more and more repetitive just like season mode itself.

Then there is the create a Pay-Per-View mode. Create your very own PPV with a feature that has not been with Smackdown games since 'Know Your Role'. You can even re-create some of the greatest PPV’s in history. You can create the PPV with one to eight matches and you can also put a created title on the line in one-on-one fights.

Which brings me to create a Championship mode, where you create your very own Title Belt, or re-create titles of the past that you can put on the line in the PPV’s. You can create a title belt using Smackdown Dollars that you have gained through season mode.

This is where these captions get us into trouble...

When you put the title on the line in a PPV, you can even make money by winning the title, and then later on you can then sell the belt for more than what you paid to create it. ShopZone has a range of items from Loading Screens to Extra Move-sets to alternate attires to legends to Bra and Panties colours for the divas.

Which now, finally brings us to four more new features included in this years title – Online play, Match Tactics, Challenge Mode and the Mini-Games.

Compete against other gamers from around the world in a one-on-one match-up or even the Bra and Panties match over the Internet. Now I have not played WWE: SD!vRaw online, but from what I have heard from others it is a great experience and a lot of fun, until you get someone who bails out of the fight when they know you are going to win...

Challenge Mode involves taking up the challenges set before you in 60 different challenges set in four categories – Amateur, Rising Star, Superstar and Legend, against superstars. Complete all these 60 challengers and you can earn money so that you can unlock special items in ShopZone.

Then there are the match tactics that are taken during the actual contest. Fight clean to try and win the crowd over or fight dirty and ignore the rules - it's all good fun. There is also a Clean/Dirty meter, so if you do certain “good” things, such as crazy aerial stunts, taunt and even reverse weapon shots in your quest to become a face (good guy) you can fill your meter up and soon become invincible to moves for a minute or so.

Or, if you wish, you can do “bad” things, such as hit the opponent in the head with a chair, remove the turnbuckle pads or even attack your manager or tag-team partner in your quest to become a heel (bad guy) to execute a low blow to the opponent. But if you do the opposite you lose more and more health on the meter. I really liked this feature as it made you think about the contest more than just going out there and pummelling the opponent, and mini-Games are also added this year including pre-match stare downs or shove fests.

If you like watching wrestling, or wrestling itself, then this is the game for you. It's got some good features compared to previous THQ efforts, and even if you don’t like wrestling, be sure to rent the game and see it for yourself.

Game: WWE: Smackdown! Vs Raw
System: PS2
Players: 1-6
Online: Yes
Developer: Yuke's Media Creations
Distributor: THQ

Rating: 85%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

WWE: Smackdown! Vs Raw is on the shelves now.