On the back of Wrestlemania weekend, and the now annual videogames tournament that revolves around this spectacle comes the first real details from the next title in the Smackdown Vs Raw series of games from THQ. Popular VG websites IGN, 1up and Gamespot have all gotten out their early previews of the title, letting out early tidbits straight from the horses mouth in anticipation for it’s release later this year. With a new challenge presented in the form of Midway’s ‘TNA Impact!’, Yukes have had to look to step up their effort from the mixed bag of reaction arising from last years incarnation. The key moves have been to draw more focus onto tag team wrestling, with team members sharing the momentum metre in an effort to build up to their dual finish, and enables a hot tag to your partner; and the other big move is to include a co-op season mode to milk these changes on the tag team front and to hopefully relive the great co-op moments of the original SD titles on the humble Playstation One (we can but hope).
Other interesting talk arising for this years incarnation is a reworked AI system, said to be built from the ground up to be fresh and more realistic. Downloadable content is said to be getting a new prominence in the title and should be leading to the much vouched for roster updates, and a mode that will either excite or fail in the new Create a Finisher mode.