Like most players, I jumped right into season mode with HBK. Season mode is the main focus of the game and has received new revamped storylines this year. You can choose a single wrestler and play through the ranks until you finally become the WWE Champion, or World Heavyweight Champion. I was quite shocked at the storylines which were well realised, there are some neat but typically obvious plot twists, which can be quite predictable should you play through the season more then once, and you will. Overall, they’ve very well done and fun to play. Aside from this you’ve got your Locker Room area which you can customise with various unlockables, obtained by beating key wrestlers at various events during season mode. Your Locker room is quite important as you can access the Challenge screen, where you can play in past PPV matches and attempt to win them. Most are fairy easy, but some can be downright impossible E.G Mickie James vs Khali. You can also enable and disable various wrestler loading screens here, which I definitely took advantage of. I was getting sick of seeing Booker-T’s ugly mug more frequently then the other wrestlers. You can also access the WWE Shop from your locker room and purchase all the items, and WWF Legends that you’ve managed to unlock while playing the game.
In Smackdown 2007 you’ve now got 4 types of grapples, each giving access to a library of moves depending on your fighter’s repertoire. Quick grapples are irreversible and are initiated by flicking the right analogue stick in any direction. A stronger grapple can be initiated by holding down the right shoulder button while flicking the stick. This allows you to grapple your opponent and move around the ring in that state, where you can either pull off a UCM (see below), perform a strong Irish whip to the ropes, or a quick grapple move. The combination of moves you have access to are quite varied for the most part.
You’ve now got UCM’s known as Ultimate Control Moves, which are accessed by getting into a strong grapple and pressing the right analogue control stick. From here you can access moves such as DDT’s, Powerbombs, Suplexes and Body Slams to name a few. Your opponents can reverse these moves too so make sure he/she has been beaten up sufficiently beforehand. The control system is new to me as this is my first Smackdown game, and it did take a good few days for me to fully adjust to it. However I wish THQ would come up with a better method of getting your fighter off the mat once he’s been on the receiving end of a few blows. You have to hammer the buttons like crazy to get him up. Dated, painful and poor come to mind with this method.