Chances are, you’re a huge WWE fan – you stay up late to watch the pay-per-views live instead of watching the potentially edited reruns, attend live events whenever the action happens to land on our shores and maybe even buy merchandise from time to time. As such, you’ll most likely have already bought SmackDown! vs RAW 2006 for the PS2 and, we must admit, you’ve made a good choice. But, unfortunately, for the purposes of this review, we’re going to have to pretend that you haven’t. It doesn’t exist. If it did, then this review would consist of a single sentence: &The PSP version is practically identical to the PS2 version in every way.& And that’s it. However, that leaves us with around 700 words to fill and very little else to say… so just bear with us on this one.

As far as wrestling games go, SmackDown! Vs RAW 2006 is possibly the pinnacle – with the exception, perhaps, of something like Fire Pro Wrestling which you can’t even buy outside of Japan. Certainly against its predecessors in the SmackDown series, this one gets far more right than it does wrong; indeed, there’s very little in terms of the actual wrestling side of things that can be griped about. Sure, so maybe some of the side modes are little fluffy and superfluous, and it’s still incredibly annoying that you can only take your wrestler through a year-long career rather than playing endlessly as you could in something like WWF Wrestlemania 2000 on the N64 but, when it comes down to the action, SmackDown! vs RAW 2006 has it all. This is, without a doubt, a good thing… especially on the PSP, where the visuals have been reduced to make it all fit.

They haven’t been reduced much, though, we might point out; these screenshots may not make it look so, but seeing the game in motion gives you an appreciation for how much Yuke’s has achieved. Some areas have seen small amounts of cheating, it would appear – for instance, the entrances now appear to be movies of the PS2 version, rather than actually using the ingame engine and during matches, the camera has been moved back slightly so you get a bigger view of the ring – but even so, the game is as fast and fluid as it needs to be. The wrestlers themselves are nicely detailed too, still showing signs of agony when slapped around and sporting all the necessary extras to make them look truer to life, earning Yuke’s a pat on the back for the effort.

Thankfully, the rest of the game has evolved along as well, meaning there’s plenty for the budding WWE fan to get involved with. The ever-present Career mode – in which you have to guide your chosen wrestler through an entire year of WWE events, making important choices along the way that effect how the story progresses – has been noticeably beefed up, with full voice acting for all characters (including your own, even if you use a self-created wrestler) helping to enhance the atmosphere further. However, the addition of a new Management mode where you can guide the course of the show from the General Manager’s seat is, to be frank, a little misguided; it’s not fun to play and seems horribly laborious instead of something you’d choose to spend your time toiling over. The only downside is that if you’re looking to complete your trophy collection – and believe us, it’s quite a collection to complete – then you’re going to have to not only play the GM Mode, but also win it. Depressing isn’t the word.

But then, at least the plethora of other options on offer makes up for this slight hiccup. Players looking to spend hours recreating their own favourite wrestlers or even come up with completely new ones (and yes, we’re aware there’s a lot of you out there) should revel in the delight that is the game’s Create modes, simply because they’re more detailed than in any other wrestling title. It’s not just wrestlers that you can make, though; you can create your own pay-per-view events to play through with your friends and even fashion your own championship belts, just like in the last SmackDown! vs RAW game... except it is all more detailed and extensive.

And that is probably the best way to describe the whole of SmackDown! vs RAW 2006 – it’s pretty much like the last game, only more detailed and with expansion in all the right places. Plus, we are quite surprised how Yuke’s has managed to fit what is essentially the same game as the PS2 version (damn, we said it again) onto the PSP with very little in the way of sacrifice; even the control method has been mapped down to a tee. This means that fans of the original will be able to jump in straight away. Portable men wearing a whole lot of Lycra, slapping each other around all in the name of entertainment?