The PlayStation and Xbox 360 versions appear to have only minor changes from earlier games. Finishing and signature moves are now handled in a more appropriately dramatic manner, for use only at specific times in a match once you have built up enough momentum to take the action. This keeps these moves in their place as exclamation points in a match. On screen cues can’t be missed, so even newcomers will have a clear idea of what needs to be done in a specific circumstance.

The developers are probably most excited about the story mode in the game. With the cooperation of some of the WWE’s writing staff, Yuke’s and THQ are presenting six short campaigns that follow a wrestler on the “road to Wrestlemania”. For those wrestling game fans who are also wrestling fans, the stories will have the usual melodrama. The early fights in the John Cena story were demo-ed, a plot that will try to inspire the same sort of flag waving patriotic fervor that the wrestling league has been using to generate enthusiasm for years.

Tension in the stories are maintained by throwing increasingly difficult challenges at you as the plot unfolds. Rules are changed by the bad guys, the hero finds himself forced to fight multiple opponents, all the stuff that can happen in a typical run of a WWE season. With only six stories, the real staying power should be elsewhere. Still, this sort of content appeals to a specific subset of the market and will be decorated with relevant announcer commentary throughout.

So far, there are no announcements about the type of downloadable content that will be available in the future. Considering the flexibility of the roster editor, which allows you to change all important aspects of a wrestler’s career, even down to whether he/she is a fan favorite or not, it’s not clear how much more wrestler specific content will even be necessary. Smackdown vs RAW 2009 enters the ring early next month.

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