WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2006 [PSP]

Editor's Note: If the text in this review looks somewhat familiar to you, that's because it is. You see, the majority of our article here is recycled from our PlayStation 2 review of SmackDown vs. RAW 2006 that we ran last month. The content and performance of both games is almost completely identical to one another, and therefore, so are the reviews. That said, we have played through the PSP version of this game quite extensively and have judged the product on its own merits and have noted any differences between it and its console brother accordingly. Now that we have that out of the way, let's get on with the show.

Last year's transitory SmackDown vs. RAW for consoles was somewhat of a letdown. Strong game that it might have been, it didn't build on the evolutionary changes that 2003's Here Comes the Pain did. Instead, it opted for the "minor update" route that's plagued professional sports titles for years and even lost a couple of features we enjoyed from the previous season. Sure the game was a lot of fun and did plenty of things right, but it didn't do enough to set itself apart like Here Comes the Pain or Aki's No Mercy did. WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2006, on the other hand, definitely does.

The old adage "...everything but the kitchen sink" should be the first thing that comes to mind if you were to step back and realize just how much of an improvement SVR2006 really is. The teams at THQ and Yuke's Media Creations have done a spectacular job of listening to fans and critics to formulate one of the most feature-packed wrestling games around... especially on a PSP. Be it presentational, gameplay, customization options, or the excellent ad hoc support, almost everything in SmackDown vs. RAW 2006 is a step up from most other wrestling games out there.

At the forefront of SVR2006's list of features is a combination of the new stamina and momentum systems. A much more important addition than first thought, these meters add a lot of strategy and balance to a title that used to have issues in that category. In the past, it was easy to find a couple of repeating 'money moves' that kept your opponent floored or permanently dazed so that you could beat him up with few problems (how many of you, like me, would exploit this fact in tag team matches to keep one guy from ever reaching his partner?). Because of the addition of stamina and momentum bars, however, move duplication isn't as problematic anymore.

The reason these systems bring such balance to the action is because they penalize players for repeating similar maneuvers. If you continually bodyslam an opponent over and over again, for example, your momentum will begin to drop and you'll lose the support of the crowd. This makes a comeback from your opponent a lot more likely and also prevents you from earning a SmackDown finishing maneuver.