Electrifying? Stone-Cold stunning? A touch misogynistic? However you feel about the decision to include a match that lets you strip Trish Stratus down to her lacy frillies, you can't help but wonder if developer Yuke's is running out of ideas. Apart from the blood (tame), the Elimination Chamber (reasonable) and the skimpy netherware (sort of shamefully exciting, if we're honest) Here Comes The Pain feels a lot like the same old SmackDown! with the same old problems. The table match collision detection is still god-awful, the commentary has been ditched as a lost cause, the season mode is - well, we'll deal with that in a minute. And the wrestling? Actually, that's really good.

The biggest and best change is the limb-specific damage system. Improving on Def Jam Vendetta's similar setup, every move focuses on a specific body part - a drop toehold will soften your opponent's leg up for the Sharpshooter, for instance. Get mashed up and you'll end up 'selling' - clutching your fractured arms/broken ribs/bleeding head after performing a difficult move, thus giving your opponent time to recover.

The animation has undergone further refinements since the last superb-looking game, with every bellow and muscle spasm recreated in frightening detail. Casual gamers might not appreciate the detail, but anyone who watches the show'll notice that every gesticulation and camera angle is inch-perfect. It's this precision that's likely to upset purists - a button press might trigger ten seconds of input-less action - but you can't criticise Here Comes The Pain for being too much like the real thing.

Another nice touch is that smaller characters are now unable to slam large ones - try to get a lady to slam Big Show and you'll practically give her a hernia. Fantastic "ooh-me-back" animation, too. Combined with a more precise reversal system - R2 counters grapples, L2 blocks strikes - this gives matches a perfect sense of pace, with lots of punching and technical wrestling early on, and the big finishers coming out later. Better yet, improved AI means that the computer 'cheats' just like a real heel, expertly distracting the ref with Triple H while Ric Flair boffs you over the head with a hammer snaked from under the ring. For the first time the Dudley Boyz can genuinely engineer a diversion that lets them slam you through a table. And the pivotal moment when Jericho (a former tag partner who we'd deliberately dissed) sprinted down to the ring with a chair during Summer Slam was, no kidding, genius - you couldn't tell who he was going for until the resounding skull-thwack that sealed the one-two-three. But here's the problem: why isn't there more of it?

Seriously, when SmackDown! produced Nick Vlodkya told us that Yuke's was focusing on the season mode this time, we almost crapped our Mysterio-endorsed jagged pants with excitement. Exploring the backstage area is easier than ever - cheerio awkward first-person bits, hello easy-as-pie menu system - but the fact is, there's hardly ever anyone there. Run into Rey Mysterio and you get a multiple-choice question that might give you an extra Superstar point, but that's about it.

In the lead up to one pay-per-view, you get to form a faction and go up against Vine Mac's gang of thugs. Cue weeks of pre-scripted events with practically no way of affecting what happens. Beat Austin in a tag match until he bleeds and he's back to give you a kicking in the next cut-scene. Play as your teammates to make sure they win matches and nothing happens. Try to interfere in Stacy Keibler's match because she's your manager and... you can't. Most matches don't allow any interference, and most of the time you're too engrossed in a 'storyline' to get involved in a power struggle for (say) the Hardcore Championship.

If you're harbouring dreams of becoming the most dominant force in the WWE - mingling behind the scenes, wrangling with sledgehammer concussions - you can forget it. Apparently the game's packed with storylines scripted by real WWE writers, but you could've fooled us. Most of the plots involve limply recycled stuff from years ago, like the will-they-or-won't-they Matt 'n Lita relationship, or the Who Ran Over Steve Austin? angle. Fair enough, it's nice when Trish turns up to congratulate you on winning Wrestlemania, but by that point you've probably forgotten that you were going out with her in the first place!

Very occasionally you do get a choice in what to do, and the right answer is usually so obvious (Trish wants to be your manager. Do you (a) shake her hand, or (b) stare at her body?) that it's almost insulting. Incidentally, after Wrestlemania, the game game just stops, so if you're hoping to revel in Championship gold, you're outta luck.

Much like the real-life WWE, Here Comes The Pain hides all its technical expertise under a blitz of fireworks, steroids and chesty ladies. The create-a-wrestler mode is amazing, whether you want to make a seamless, move-perfect version of obscure Japanese wrestler Masato Tanaka or just make the Undertaker dance like a ballerina. The opportunity to play as Sergeant Slaughter and the Legion Of Doom's brilliant, if only because it means you don't have to buy Legends Of Wrestling. But, once again, SmackDown! fails to address some failings.

There's a lack of drama in Hell In A Cell, it doesn't deliver on promises about wrestler voices, and there's lack of purist beat-'em-up appeal. It doesn't do itself any favours on the 'subtle homoeroticism' front either - our favourite moment is the one where Scott Steiner and Triple H decide to hold an impromptu bodybuilding contest purely for your benefit. And watching Victoria and Stacy Keibler rip at each other's grundies? It's just a gimmick that the game doesn't really need. But we'll have one more go, just to be sure...

Graphics 90%
Spot on. Every animation is fanboy pleasingly perfect.

Sound 30%
No voices, terrible rock music, but nice crowd effects.

Gameplay 70%
Much improved, but the lengthy moves can frustrate.

Lifespan 70%
Acres of creation process, but limited season mode.

Overall 80%
We may have been cynical, but we can't fault the quality. Brilliant if you're a fan, but still fun if you're not.