When it comes to their games, sports fans have always been very picky about how their favorite sports are represented both aesthetically and mechanically. However, no fans on this earth are more nitpicky about this, it seems, than those of professional wrestling. As a long time wrestling game fan, I'm no stranger to forum users flipping out about the most minute details in games. Whether it be Edge's finisher looking just marginally off, or a freakout about how the water that Triple H spits forth during his entrance just doesn't look quite realistic enough, there is always an endless number of things than players have to complain about in every single wrestling game that comes out.

　　To a degree, I understand this. I like the games, and I want them to be as true to the gladiatorial soap opera as possible. But I also can't quite bring myself to lose my mind when John Cena doesn't do a perfect rendition of his signature taunt in a game, or when some character model's height proportion is off by a couple of inches.

　　This is why when our latest preview of WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw went up, I wasn't totally shocked that some of our users took the opportunity to complain about specific details of the videos, screens and the preview itself. Whether it be the d-pad-based control scheme, or the fact that Triple H stands a smidge taller over the ropes than he does in real life. For this, people immediately started saying the game was destined to suck, and that the player models looked "horrible." However, the sheer number of people who immediately flocked towards anti-Smackdown threads, lambasting the game for what seemed to me to be fairly trivial reasons, kind of shocked me. I'm starting to get the feeling that the public perception of this game is not very good.

　　Admittedly, I've barely scratched the surface of this game yet. I only spent some time playing online against Brian for his preview. However, in that time, I definitely didn't find anything I seriously didn't like about it. Sure, I wish the online mode itself were a bit more robust in terms of features, but just from playing the game, it seemed pretty fun to me. Plus, I don't want to hear anymore of this "horrible player model" business. I've played the game, and the player models are definitely not horrible. They aren't a huge leap upward from Here Comes The Pain, but they definitely aren't horrible. That's for sure.

　　Again, I haven't played enough of this game to give a real opinion of it yet, but I honestly think people just need to relax. I haven't seen a single thing in that game thus far that has led me to believe it's anything less than another solid entry in the series. Don't worry though--if I find something that turns out to be all that detrimental, I'll be the first one to make it known. But, until then, if you've ever had faith in Yuke's before, why simply abandon it now, before the game is even out?