“Another year - another WWE game” – became the adage here at Gamecell. What was for many years one of our favourite franchises became stale and predictable, with only the box cover and the rosters changing to let you know that it was a new game.

So has anything changed this year? Well not really. The graphics certainly look good, the game actually looks better than the screenshots give it credit for. The previous games have done well in depicting accurate representations of the WWE cast but this version really does take it to a new level – but maybe that’s just because the real WWE cast is beginning to look like video game characters.... The detail on each wrestler is truly remarkable this year, and they all have lots of individual animations. When your chosen superstar makes his entrance it really is that - in high def it’s probably as close as you can get to the real WWE experience without shelling out £14.95 for one of its glitzy PPVs.

The playing mechanic has again been tweaked and each year Yuke’s adds a few things and removes a few others, one of the few genuinely new things this year is the “Road to WrestleMania” mode which features the franchise's first co-op tag team storyline, and a ‘momentum’ feature to keep a team piling on the pressure just like they really would when getting on top in a match. When you’re playing a tag match and aren’t in the ring now you can stay involved, with the ability to distract the ref, pull down the top rope in a timely fashion so that an opponent goes plummeting to the floor, or just tagging yourself illegally in. The new “Hot Tag” feature and ‘double team finishers’ do a good job of simulating what tag matches are really like, and keep the Smackdown series abreast of developers in other genres that have genuinely listened to what gamers want, and improved team and co-op options in games.

A recurring complaint about previous incarnations has always been the fact that rosters are often outdated even by the time the game is released, and THQ have answered this by saying that FIFA-style roster updates will be available via Xbox Live in the form of downloadable content. This will also allow them to introduce special events in-game based on what's happening on the TV shows, and this should include such updates as new wrestlers, new partnerships/alliances and even alternate costumes. There is no word on the price of these as yet though, but don’t expect them to be free.