

There are also a couple of new meter systems. If you want to add a little more Ric Flair to your matches, yes, he is a selectable character. That's flair meaning "style," not flair meaning Ric Flair. These little games can be turned on or off in the game's options menu, but we didn't find them to be intrusive, and instead thought they added a little more flair to the matches. As well, you'll encounter a new spanking contest (strictly for the divas, of course). There's also an exact copy of this meter for the ever-popular chop battles you tend to see during real matches, which have been translated here very nicely.

The meter swings upward to signify power for your shove, and then it swings back downward, challenging you to hit the X button at just the right time for maximum effectiveness. In a shoving match, you'll be presented with a meter that looks almost exactly like the kick meter from Madden NFL 2005 and it works pretty much the same as well. In the stare down, you simply have to press X at the right time and you'll get the always important first strike. These are all controlled by specifically timed button presses that appear onscreen. At the beginning of a match, you'll frequently find yourself faced with a stare-down contest, a test of strength, or a shoving match. Nowhere is this more exemplified than in the little in-match minigames. Nearly all of the gameplay changes made to this year's game are assorted ways to try to capture the proper flow of a real match. Let's start with those gameplay upgrades of which there are at least a few worth mentioning. Yuke's returns for yet another go at the WWE SmackDown! franchise, though this effort feels more like a transition year than anything else.īy clicking 'enter', you agree to GameSpot's Despite being the first WWE game ever to offer a full roster of WWE voice talent and the first North American-released wrestling game to feature online play, neither of these features live up to their potential, and the other random gameplay upgrades just don't feel like a significant enough progression for the series. Raw is the sixth installment in the highly popular series, and it's also one of the most marginally changed iterations of the series.

Yuke's has had a tough act to follow with its next sequel, considering how polished and well put-together its last game was-unfortunately, it just wasn't quite able to pull it off.

Save for one slight disappointment in WWF SmackDown! Just Bring It, the series has also continued to improve year after year, finally culminating in easily the most impressive effort to date in last year's WWE SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain. Since the year 2000, THQ and Yuke's WWE SmackDown! franchise has been steadily chugging along on an annual schedule.
