Smackdown vs. Raw 2009

Rating:

Reviewed by:
Gerasimos Manolatos

Price: $59.99

The Skinny: Pick your favorite spandex-clad wrestler, or create your own, and ride him all the way to the WWE heavyweight championship. Wait, there has to be a better way to say that.

The Good: The all-new "Road to Wrestlemania" storyline mode, although a bit repetitive, is satisfying. It will keep you occupied for a few hours, and may even get you to tune in to one of their 5,000 weekly TV shows. The controls are easy—just press one button when your meter flashes to pull off finishing moves—and the presentation of wrestler entrances, which includes live footage, is top notch. Most impressive is the Create-a-Finisher feature which allows you to make your own signature move.

The Bad: Making a game for a niche audience in a way disqualifies certain people from really getting into it. With that said, this is mostly fan service geared toward those who know what the hell an Inferno Match even is. (Unless you live in Los Angeles—you call that "Tuesdays.")

Maxim Tip: If you're looking to throwdown on the road, go with the PSP version—while the DS version has all of the same features, it has touch controls which are innacurate and sluggish.

Buy, Rent, or Disembowel? Buy. The WWE may have given you a low blow with the last few efforts, but there's no shame in picking this one up.