As a wrestling fan, there are three points in the year that I look forward to more than any other: Royal Rumble, Wrestlemania and the release of the latest SmackDown vs. Raw game. These three points define my year; they tell me when I will be taking time off from work, when I will be saving that extra money to pay for the PPV or game and, in terms of the last one, what I will be playing for the next twelve months. However, the release of SmackDown vs. Raw has slowly become less of a thing I look forward to. Instead, I pick up the game wondering what the developers will have screwed up this time. Last year such was my despair with WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 on Xbox 360 that I purchased and then sold Microsoft's console within a matter of weeks (despite the fact that there are some great 360 games - I was that disappointed!), my unbelievable disappointment only compounded by the cancellation of the PS3 version and the horrible controls on all of the versions. I was shocked that the thing I loved most was becoming something I hated. Surely the developers would have heard my pleas (and those of plenty of other fans of the series), gone back to basics and made the game easy to play and forget the fanciness that failed so abysmally last time? Right?

Wrong!

THQ have become complacent in the past few years due to lack of competition. There are no other wrestling games being released (there hasn't been a non-WWE game since Showdown: Legends of Wrestling) and so it's almost become like EA's release of Madden or FIFA - an update of the roster with a few tweaks here and there. It's true that the developers have tried to expand and add new elements such as voiceovers, commentaries, the GM Mode and online gameplay, but these additions never achieved the impact they should have done, so it was just the same old, same old. In my book, last year's radical revamp of the controls is up there with Atari's ET in terms of bad game making decisions. I liked the fact that the controls were simple but effective, and to complicate them was a step back to the horrible, dark days of the Acclaim WWF games or their later horrendous ECW ones. Instead of being able to pick up the game and play, you had to go through hours of figuring out controls and while a training mode was available, it was akin to giving a child a nuclear bomb and a set of instructions to disarm it.

It would take me at least two thousand more words to explain the new control methods of WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 and to be honest the thought of doing so makes me die a little inside. Instead of having a button to run with you now have to hold down the left shoulder button, which brings more fluid control - or so I'm led to believe. In actual fact all it does is make the fun act of bouncing off ropes or pulling off a simple clothesline into a complicated manoeuvre. I'll repeat that, just in case THQ are listening: "You made a clothesline complicated!" The finisher has now been moved to the Triangle button and the right shoulder button is used for all the major grapples in combination with the face buttons. I thought last year's controls were bad, but this is just ridiculous! It got to the point that I constantly began playing with the manual in front of me and I haven't done that for a long, long time. Figuring out how to block was an exercise in futility and taking advantage of the interactivity around or outside the ring is next to impossible. Those who do achieve it will be met with astonished cries of "How did you do that?" from onlookers, which will most likely be answered by an equally astonished "I have no idea!"

If you can get past all of these problems with the controls, you then have to factor in that you have to play the game. A small point, but an important one don't you think? Well, the developers surprised me by including a bucketload of options - in fact, I believe over sixty match types are available, of which I guarantee you will only use a dozen, mostly just for curiosity's sake and even the new ECW Extreme Rules match, which includes flaming tables, only has a limited appeal considering how difficult it is to achieve anything. However, you would be hard pressed to think of a wrestling match type that isn't included (Inferno, Lumberjack, Stretcher, Pole)… okay, maybe not that hard pressed! As always I do wish that the developers had just concentrated on making maybe ten matches wonderful and then just leaving the rest, although saying that, the fact that all the matches from the other versions have been included with six-player gameplay is an impressive feat for the PSP. The online mode is also a huge step forward for the system in general and as long as you have a good connection you might find this a lot more entertaining than battling AI opponents who block everything you do and seem able to pull off move after move while you're still figuring out how to throw a punch.

There are three main modes to play through: 24/7 Mode, Tournament and Hall of Fame. 24/7 is a combination of Season and the abysmal GM Mode that bombed so spectacularly. Within it you take your created Superstar or one of nineteen WWE Superstars through an extensive story mode that sees you organising a weekly schedule for your chosen wrestler, involving press interviews, movie roles, invasions of other brands and of course matches. This is well thought out in general, but at times feels far too complicated to be fun - and after a few in-game weeks I began to tire of having to set up five days' worth of activities before getting to another match. The major issue I have with this is that number I mentioned: nineteen. Of the thirty-four wrestlers (not including Divas and Legends) only nineteen are available to use and of those the biggest shocker is the absence of CM Punk, who has arguably become one of the most popular superstars of the past year. This was an idiotic move by THQ and one they should feel ashamed of. You can also play this mode as a GM (Teddy Long for SmackDown, The Coach for Raw and oddly Tommy Dreamer for ECW). If you're curious about how this works then don't be, because it doesn't. This is basically the abysmal GM Mode I spoke of and really should have just been put to bed as a failed experiment.

Tournament is the same as last year, with King of the Ring-style tournaments to determine a winner or a number one contender to a title. This is a nice element, but should have been incorporated into the single player game to a greater degree to make it more worthwhile beyond a few goes. Hall of Fame is just Challenge mode with you having to recreate classic matches from the past for various rewards, and the problem with this is that as most matches involve the use of a Legend, you may find that until you figure out how to unlock and then purchase them you never have the opportunity to play it. The fact that the match can't be set up from this screen is also idiotic, as you may find yourself completing the task only to discover that you didn't because you forgot to change an element of the match to meet the criteria.

On the plus side, the game looks beautiful for the PSP, but SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 can't survive on amazing graphics and sound alone. If that's all that mattered then we'd rank Dragon's Lair as one of the greatest games of all time. We don't. Why? Because playing the game sucked to high heaven and no amount of fancy graphics could cure this! Apart from the Divas, the wrestlers all look good and the detail on someone like Triple H or The Undertaker is phenomenal, though this is no shocker and has come to be expected. However, again there are so many wrestlers omitted, whil seven spaces are taken up by possibly the most hideous looking women I have ever seen, making even the thought of walking in on their locker room a very disturbing one (I can't believe I just said that!) Thankfully (apart from during story mode) all commentary has been ditched and it makes my heart sing at not having to listen to the insane rantings of JR and The King or the fruitless information of Michael Cole - whoever made that decision should get a medal in my book. The music is the usual rock/rap mix that we've come to expect, but recreation of all the WWE themes is great and really that's all that matters. The usual grunts, slaps and groans are all here for your enjoyment and the crowd gives the game a nice ambiance in both their look and sound.

If only lack of ambiance was the game's sole problem! Sadly, SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 is an inexcusable mess of ideas. At times it feels like too many people have tinkered with it to make the game better, only to have someone else add an idea and then another until what we have is a game with no direction. Why include ECW but not have them in story mode? Why include Legends if there is nothing for them to do? Where's Macho Man and The Ultimate Warrior dammit!? Why change the controls when people had only just gotten used to the mess you'd made of them last year? Nothing makes sense. For every good thing that's been done, like taking away the GM Mode, several horrible things have been done, like adding GM to the story mode. I played for almost a full week and was just shocked at how little I enjoyed it; I stopped playing the story mode because I got so bored. Instead of allowing us to choose whether we use the 24/7 or story mode, we have to go through the laborious task of booking five days' worth of activities and this is about as entertaining as having to do it in real life. Can you imagine it? A game where you spend about a third of your time sorting out your diary? Got that image? Not an entertaining one is it? Upon setting down my PSP to write this review, I am convinced - utterly convinced -that I will never play this game again.

WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2008 on the PSP should be my best friend on an hour long commute. It should be what keeps me from elbowing the drunken old man who decides to sit next to me or shout at the Vicky Pollard to shut up her fifteen screaming children. I had high hopes that even if I never enjoyed any other version, the PSP would see me through, but that just didn't happen. If you're a WWE fan (or only own a PSP) then you need to think hard before parting with your cash for this game - you're better off just picking up a copy of WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW 2006, because it's so much better than this latest release.

Reviewed by David Simpson for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).