Yuke's first effort on the Nintendo Wii is an interesting one, but it doesn't go far enough in giving system owners the true blue experience you would expect from a SmackDown! vs. RAW 2008 title. For one, the developers seemed to have focused on supporting the Wii's unique motion sensing controls and abandoned the rest of the game's overall feature set. There are a lot of things missing in the Wii game that are standards in the series like basic match types, a deep story mode, and a whole laundry list of other features. It is never a good idea to skip the basics in favor of focusing solely on one aspect of a system. These problems aside, fans will find some interesting things going on in this game that you won't find on other platforms.
Yuke's has tried to make the best of the Wii's unique control system but that comes with a price; it is so different from what gamers are used to on other platforms like the PS3 and Xbox 360. The control scheme relies entirely on using the Wii remote and nunchuck to pull off moves, and while this is a good first step in creating a more interactive grappling system, it sometimes feels hollow. It also should be pointed out that the Wii version feels more like an arcade experience than the give-and-take strategic system found on other next-generation systems. Matches tend to be over a lot quicker because the rules are very different here: In the Wii version all you have to do to pull off a special is to get your opponent's momentum meter to yellow.
To pull off moves you'll move the remote and nunchuk; to grapple you make an inward grappling motion; to kick or punch you swing the remote; to hit a downed opponent you thrust downward with the remote; and to get up or escape you wave the remote frantically. The biggest problem with all this – which does work pretty well – is that sometime the control system sometimes isn't very responsive.
Because all of this is situational it becomes very difficult to figure out just exactly what you are supposed to do. This leaves you to play like someone that is just winging it by frantically waving the remote and nunchuk or button mashing (or as my older sister calls it – doing the orange blossom). While the action can be satisfying once you get a handle on the controls, it can also be too easy or difficult depending on your progress early on in a given match. That's because it is pretty easy to wear someone down to that yellow momentum bar status – which means that you'll be susceptible to a special.
The biggest drawback with using motion controls is that it cuts down on the number of moves that you can actually do. You'll have a couple of interactive grapples, hard grapples, quick grapples and a couple of different attacks but not as many as you'll find on other systems. This really takes away a lot of options for players and makes the matchplay feel minimal. It's kind of like playing a prototype of a Wii wrestling game instead of a finished product.
Story mode isn't all that deep and the extracurricular exhibition modes don't feature nearly as many match types as it counterparts on other next-generation platforms. Even the PSP version has more match types than the Wii game..
