PSP - SMACKDOWN VS RAW - 2006

Released earlier this year on the PlayStation 2, WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006 got the acclaimed wrestling franchise back on the right track and delivered some of the best wrestling gameplay of this generation. As is the way of things nowadays, SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006 is appearing on the PSP in the form of a pretty straightforward port. Impressively, this version includes basically every single fundamental feature of the PlayStation 2 game, and it suffers no setbacks in control or gameplay whatsoever. The presentation holds up its end of the bargain too, featuring graphics that are quite impressive for the PSP's capabilities, and there is very little of the audio missing. So if you never bothered to grab the original game when it hit last month, then the PSP version is just as worth looking at as its console counterpart. But, if you did buy the game on the PS2 already, there's really not much here to convince you that you should buy the same game twice. The scant collection of mediocre minigames that Yuke's has included to try to give the game its own, exclusive content are pretty much worthless, and the loading times inherent to the PSP version make certain features, such as the create-a-wrestler mode, a real chore to deal with. Still, for those who simply want a version of this year's best wrestling game to take with them on the go, SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006 on the PSP fits the bill nicely.