Raw Deal

ECW superstars and the 7 Divas are disallowed in 24/7, and the game only has around 50 wrestlers in total once you unlock everything. There’s the false promise that your actions might influence the course of the story, such as training to be a “goody” or “baddy” or intervening with other matches and brands, but everything amounts to a mere popularity increase, which in turn amounts to virtually nothing. The story for Smackdown and Raw is nearly identical and loops until you earn enough achievements to become a “Legend”. The quality is like a B-movie version of TV wrestling, and one of 5 non-specific cut-scenes plays before each match, during which you might embrace your bitter opposition, or diss your allies. 24/7 feels aimless and takes freedom a bit too far, as you can instantly simulate your way through matches (completing a year in about 5 minutes, or automatically attaining “Legend” status in 10) or even play as your opponent and lose intentionally. The practicalities of the mode are poorly synchronised and it’s like levelling up in a slow and disorderly RPG. Unavoidable injuries add to the nuisances, meaning you sometimes start matches with one of your bodyparts damaged, which just makes the game slower – something it really doesn’t need. Possibly the worst feature of 24/7 is that you can only have one game at once, meaning you can’t have simultaneous manager and wrestler careers, and you can’t restart either without losing all of your effort.

Regardless of my aversion to wrestling games, SVR2008 is simply so-so. The menus are tidy and simple to navigate, loadtimes are reasonable and buffered by snippets of information, and the essence of wrestling is conveyed pretty well. With the only serious competition (TNA Impact) being months away, I’m sure the game will succeed on that basis alone. Nevertheless, I really hoped for something more comprehensive than what No Mercy dished out two generations ago, and sadly, it’s not here.