New Smackdown game on the way

By Robert Purchese Published 31 March, 2008

Tag teams, downloadable content, more.

THQ plans to unleash the next instalment in its WWE Smackdown vs. Raw series this autumn.

It's in development for Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, PS2, PSP and DS. Fresh features for 2009 include downloadable content for the 360 and PS3 versions, plus a tag team system for 360, PS3, PS2 and PSP games.

This lets your duo of burly grapplers build up your momentum and attributes before unleashing high impact double teams and finishers. It also sounds like you can uncover co-operative storylines as you plod down the road to Wrestlemania.

Wrestlemania, incidentally, was where Ricky Hatton-beater Floyd "Money" Mayweather fought and bested wrestler Big Show last night. Which was a bit strange.

The Wii version will build on its debut release by adding online support as well as more match type options and interactive victory scenes and entrances.

Meanwhile, the DS offering is to be turned into a role-playing-type affair. There will now be character interaction and quests or missions to complete, and your abilities will improve as you go along.

On top of this there will be a larger roster to pick from, fresh match types, and the Create-A-Superstar system from the console games.

All six versions of the game will undergo the usual bout of technical tidying, so expect more realistic sweat, chairs, biceps and grunting.

Pop over to our WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 Xbox 360 and PS3 galleries to see how it's shaping up.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (7) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Baronen #1 4 years ago

    In other news, Thursday is on the way. Set to arrive right after Wednesday. Stay tuned.

  • Tonka #2 4 years ago

    A friend ofmine is a MASSIVE Wrestling fan. He even went from Sweden to the Royal Rumble (or whatever) in NewYork. Nedless to say he has bought all the WWf games the last few years.

    He was really disappointed with the latest outing. Said they need to push it further and take advantage of the next-gen (I quickly gave him a pile driver for this and he adjusted to current-gen) powers.

  • viper_h #3 4 years ago

    Thought this said Crackdown...

    :(

  • sanctusmortis #4 4 years ago

    When's TNA out? THAT might be good. This series died before they even added Raw to the title.

  • DDevil #5 4 years ago

    If they're just adding features to the same old engine they've been using without making any serious or fundamental changes, then I'm not interested.

    And cheers for the Wrestlemania spoiler. I've not seen it yet!

  • Rpt81 #6 4 years ago

    Oi! I hadn't finished watching Mania yet, and you've gone and spoiled a result! Sure, the result was a bit of a foregone conclusion, but...but....OI!

  • SharksInYourMouth #7 4 years ago

    Serious changes need to be made to the A.I. However the improved tag team matches and the ability to create your own finishing technique (let's hope they don't take out moves or anything else for that matter as a sacrifice for this) sound very interesting.

    Could use a decent season mode too, I've ended up treating the current 08 installment like a pick up and play game, few hours once a month and occasional multiplayer bursts, which I'm sure was not intended.