There are only two videogame franchises that I'm passionate about. The first is 2K Games' NBA 2K series and the second is THQ's SmackDown franchise. This year's entries are looking pretty hot, and while I can't comment on the progress of NBA 2K7, THQ sent us a preview build of the Xbox 360 version, complete with two superstars and one ring. It's a far cry from what's been shown on the unconfirmed media tour that GameDaily wasn't a part of (Et tu, THQ?), but I made due. I just wish I had been able to see the same version that other pubs got a chance to check out, because this one...I'm not feelin' it.

The fact that there are only two wrestlers in the game-Triple H and John Cena- isn't that big a deal, but I'm not too thrilled with The Game's entrance. The expensive looking suit that he's wearing looks fine, but his theme music is the same "I am the Game" theme that's been playing for the past few years. That's not necessarily a huge issue because it's cool, but it's not the Degeneration X theme, so I'm wondering whether or not THQ will be able to include DX. All signs should point to YES seeing as how the game's still a few months from its Fall (November?) release, but it's not uncommon for a game of this type to feature an out of date roster, simply because the WWE is always changing things around.

As for the actual entrances, THQ's done a pretty good job capturing the wrestler's personalities. Both John Cena and Triple H are animated accordingly and resemble their real life counterparts. Triple H's trademark water spitting looks a little scary, but again, the game's still being worked on, so I'm willing to give the developers the benefit of the doubt. However, I'm really disappointed with the game's visuals. Now I haven't had the chance to play the game in high definition and I'm not sure how early this particular build is, so for all I know, the final product will look fabulous, but I'm dissatisfied with the demo's graphics. The hundreds of polygonal fans look great and I spied superb definition in the wrestler's physiques, but by and large, this game looks like a PS2 title on a regular old CRT. Considering that this game is an Xbox 360 exclusive I was expecting a lot more, but seeing as how I haven't been able to hook up the 360 to my HD monitor, I'm not sure how good the game looks running through an ideal setup.

Once the bell sounded, I wasn't surprised to find that SmackDown plays almost exactly like last year's game with the exception of the grappling, which is now controlled using the right analog stick, and it's absolutely fabulous. To initiate a grapple, all you have to do is approach your opponent and tilt the stick in a direction and both characters will lock up. From there it's just a matter of tilting it in yet another direction and moves will be performed. It's just a hell of a lot more enjoyable than pressing buttons, and unless there's some super amazing feature that hasn't been announced, this will clearly be the series' biggest change.

Unfortunately, the rest of the gameplay is hit and miss. Despite the silky smooth ring entrances, the character models still walk like robots and lining up targets is oftentimes a chore. Furthermore, some of the moves are a bit jerky and the wrestlers will still do stuff like elbow drop one another even when their opponents are in a standing position. In other words, it's SmackDown Vs. Raw, and it appears that THQ has been unable to advance the gameplay/collision detection much, if at all. But again, it's a preview build.

Despite these criticisms, the game's still immensely entertaining. You can Irish whip an opponent into a turnbuckle and run into them full steam ahead, or you can pick them up and chuck them over the top rope, then go outside and ram their bodies into the ring poles or into the steel steps. You can even turn on the ref and give him a good beating. The game's just as much fun as last year's version. I just wish I had the chance to throw a few more wrestlers into the ring to see how the game performs, and more importantly, to observe how easy it is to switch targets.

THQ's been in firm control of this franchise ever since it released Here Comes the Pain a few years ago, so I'm not worried about WWE SmackDown Vs. Raw 2007, at least not yet. But the demo is slightly disappointing and it's unfortunate considering how much I love the series as well as the WWE brand. Hopefully, THQ will be able to hook GameDaily up with a more recent build, and if that happens I'll definitely report back with updated impressions.