DS Critic Reviews

If you want something new from your WWE license then the Nintendo DS is your vice. Smackdown vs. Raw on the Nintendo DS can also complements the console version with its strategy approach to wrestling.

While most licenses end up shoveling an uninspired wreck of an experience onto handhelds, it’s nice to see Amaze and THQ team up to deliver a truly innovative and entertaining wrestling experience on DS that’s anything but ordinary.

With inventive use of the touch screen, the action is hard-hitting but the moves are not as diverse as other versions of this game. It’s still a game well worth playing if you own a Nintendo DS or love WWE wrestling.

Unfortunately, the game really didn't stick with me, and the wrestling itself just felt stilted.

This portable wrasslin' game is basically fun, even if there aren't a whole lot of play modes.

It is true that most conversions to a handheld system sacrifice significant game content from their original versions. In the case of Smackdown on the DS this is very much true.

Full marks for ingenuity but it is not the impressive in action. [Christmas 2007, p.61]

It's not necessarily the best wrestling game put out by THQ this year, but it's easily the most innovative.

Like Rey Mysterio taking on Khali, this one's brave but ultimately doomed. [Dec 2007, p.46]

A fun control concept only works when the rest of the game works, too. Unfortunately, WWE Smackdown vs. RAW 2008 featuring ECW for the NDS demonstrates this all too effectively, resulting in the weakest iteration of the series in quite a while.