WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010

Apparently, Ricky 'The Hitman' Hatton is the world's latest wrestling star.

Hosting WWE's recent trip across the Atlantic to Sheffield, Hatton took to the ring and took down Chavo Guerrero, the Mancunian reportedly lifting the crowd to new highs and, despite not exactly being in tip top shape right now, taking over the world's most famous 'professional wrestling' tournament for a few short hours.

If all that sounds like the most bizarre match-up in history, in truth Hatton was the perfect fit for WWE, the former boxer's appearance only serving to feed into the theatre of it all. After all, that's exactly what a WWE bout represents - a piece of entertainment rather than a full-scale sporting spectacular.

This year's Smackdown vs Raw, perhaps more than any other, feeds into this sense of glamour, the game using a completely new engine to redefine the series' take on WWE.

But while going back to the drawing board is a welcome tactic (Legends of Wrestlemania having been almost identical to Smackdown vs Raw's 2009 outing), sadly what's been served up instead is actually a big step back, a muddled control set-up only serving to turn contests into a farce.

Most of the game's actions are confined to the '5' key, an icon in the centre of the screen letting you know what move it can be used for at that particular moment. For example, simply standing by your opponent switches it to punch mode, holding it down before letting go adding power to your shot.

But the button's role changes as you and your opponent move about the ring, standing near the edge turning it into a means to straddle the corners, falling to the floor switching it again to a prompt to get back to your feet, and so on.

This means most of playtime is spent either tapping or holding down the '5' key, combinations of other keys only coming into play when trying to pin your opponent down or escape from their own advances.

While this all makes perfect sense in WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2010's handy tutorial, in practice, large portions of the game are spent working out whether you should be tapping or holding, the '5' key's role changing quicker than the British weather.

What's more, most of the time you can't even use the all-purpose '5' button, the inevitable periods of incapacity that come with any wrestling sim somehow seeming more prevalent here.

Annoyingly, in these situations the big fat 'X' that straddles the centre of the screen is the only clue that you've been knocked either down or out. Yes, while the game's 3D perspective is admirable, it isn't conducive to understanding what's going on.

Universomo's re-imagining of Smackdown vs Raw is a juddering, slightly ill-conceived mess. The mere fact it isn't a rehash of what's gone before, while commendable, is pretty much the game's only major strong point.

Theatre WWE may well be, but this is one act that deserves an early curtain call.