Just like the big-name pay-per-view events that regularly punctuate the WWE's show schedule, Smackdown vs. RAW is back for another year. The latest entry in the long-running series picks up where last year's game left off, continuing to focus on user creation and true-to-TV action. The biggest new additions this year are on the user creation side, but the action itself also benefits from some refinements. There are a lot of little touches that make matches feel more like those you see on TV, injecting some dynamic excitement into the proceedings. Yet what spices a match up can also make it last far too long and feel like a grind. The game also suffers from many perennial problems, such as weak sound effects, imperfect online play, and nagging animation issues. While this year's Smackdown vs. RAW is definitely better than last year's entry, it's more of an incremental improvement than a substantial upgrade.
The action feels more fluid this year and characters generally respond better to each other's positions, so your high-flying attack off the turnbuckle is less likely to go wrong. There are fewer animation hang-ups and things tend to flow more realistically.
Tony Hawk Ride is the ultimate triumph of gimmick over game. The concept: Build a skateboard peripheral that lets players simulate skateboarding in their living rooms. The result: half-functioning hardware that fails to function with consistency and a shallow game devoid of excitement. Vert skating and free skating are the only sources of mild enjoyment here, but the fun is too short lived to justify the whopping $120 price tag. The Birdman was once associated with video game greatness, but this is the worst game yet in a declining franchise, and the result is a massive train wreck