We all have some blasts from the past that we love, games that shaped our gaming experience growing up. But some games really took the community by storm, and one of those was WWE SmackDown vs. RAW 2007. SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 was a game many believed to be ahead of its time, but not in the way you’d think. While it didn’t have the hyper-realistic graphics we see in games today, the game was special in its own way.
It also marked a turning point for WWE games as a whole, with several new features added to the game. These features were later on polished and refined to give us the WWE 2K we have today, but we need to remember where it all stemmed from. Not only that, but SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 was a next-gen game, and that was a pretty big deal back then. So let’s break down piece by piece how things drastically changed after SmackDown vs. RAW 2007.
Analogue-Based Grappling Mechanic
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I’m not about to mince words here since anyone who played SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 knows what a great game it was. And one of the most defining features of the game was the introduction of analogue-based grappling. What does this mean? Before SmackDown vs. RAW 2007, grappling had a button-mashing mechanic.
Mash your button more than your opponent, and you’d have an advantage. Now, players had an alternate way to win grapples, and that was through their joysticks. Players could not manipulate grapples with a flick of their joysticks, making animations smoother. No more smashing your controller buttons like cavemen, you now have to make the right flick in order to come out on top.
This really changed the way players saw grapples and gameplay, in general. You didn’t need to brute force mechanics when you could just control better. The game didn’t remove the classic button-mashing mechanic, and players were free to switch back if they wanted. But just having this feature in the game set up future games for success.
Interactive Hotspots
A big part of wrestling has always been being able to interact with your environment. Some of the most iconic fights take place outside the ring, especially on top of the commentator’s table. SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 brought this vision to life by adding interactive hotspots. It had several environmental interactions, such as fighting in the crowd, utilising the ring-side steps, or finding a steel chair conveniently lying around.
This feature reduced the dullness of always having to fight in the ring, especially since at that time, there weren’t many special matches. You could throw your opponent out of the ring to win by time-out, or turn off the rules and have a full-scale brawl in the spectator section. The possibilities were endless, and similar to the analogue-based grappling system, this was something the recent iterations really built on.
Customization Modes Expanded
Who doesn’t love customization? That was the motto for SmackDown vs. RAW 2007, as it saw one of the biggest reworks to customization I’ve seen. There were three major points where the game seriously improved: Create-A-Stable, Create-An-Entrance, and Create-A-Championship.
Create-An-Entrance was already there in previous versions, but SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 significantly improved it. Players were given a live preview system to see changes in real time. This meant no more having to reload and refresh to save every change, and repeating the process if you didn’t like it or made a mistake.
The other two, on the other hand, were completely new introductions to the series. In Create-A-Stable, you can now create groups or alliances and have them enter the match together. This was back when tag teams and groups weren’t all that popular, so it was a major change. The other, Create-A-Championship, is exactly what it sounds like. Players were given creative freedom to design championship belts, and this time, you could add spinning centrepieces. This might not seem like much, but at that time, it was everything.
Why Do Players Prefer SmackDown vs. RAW 2007?
We’ve talked extensively about why the game was so great, and I don’t think anyone would disagree. However, the game wasn’t just liked back then; it’s also liked right now. Several points made the game stand out for its time, and that’s exactly why some people remember it as the last WWE game everyone loved.
Now, I wouldn’t go as far as saying players prefer the old graphics and mechanics over the new ones, but it sure seems that way sometimes. Let’s talk about why that is.
Heavy Monetisation
This point isn’t unique to the WWE game series, as it can be applied to almost every new video game coming out. Back then, all you had to buy was the game itself. You’d get a physical copy and could play it to your heart’s content.
Nowadays, however, you need to buy the base game, as well as several DLCs, to unlock some major features. Additionally, you have season passes and competitive leagues, features that can overwhelm the casual gamer.
Complexity & Accessibility
The newer editions of WWE are better in a lot of ways: better graphics, smoother mechanics, fewer bugs. But all that comes at a cost. While all these features are great, they make the game a lot more complex, as well as requiring higher specifications to run. This has become a point of contention for many gamers who simply want to play the game because they’re wrestling fans.
Add to that the numerous game modes that have now been introduced. I mentioned at the start that the love for WWE has fallen, but that’s not true: it’s just been divided. Before, players used to try out different game modes and wouldn’t have to settle on one. Now, with the rise of competitive culture and, quite frankly, there being too many game modes to keep switching, the playerbase has been divided. You have MySeason players, GM Mode players, etc.
While this may make the game fun for some, competing against others to assert dominance, for many, it made SmackDown vs. RAW 2007 the last iteration everyone collectively loved.
