WWE Raw 2

"Another horrible wrestling title on the Xbox"

First off let me say that out of the forty-two reviews for this game, only four of them rate this game below a six. That is just plain wrong. I'm not trying to insult anyone's judgement or taste in games but if you seriously gave this game a nine or ten you need to stop playing wrestling games all together. And yes I know I am writing this review at a time where wrestling games that were one hundred times better have come and gone but that doesn't change a thing. This game was terrible when it was released and it just gets worse as time goes by. The fact that hapless video game fans could someday wander onto this page and see so many positive reviews and high scores for such a flat out bad game is just wrong.

If you're a fan of wrestling games and own an Xbox, my best advice to you is to get a PS2. And if not than get a GameCube. I will admit, I used to despise the Smackdown series. But after playing what titles were available on the Xbox I'd have to say that the Smackdown series is one of the best series in the genre. Personally I'd rank them above any of the GameCube series like Day of Reckoning or WrestleMania. But under no circumstances would I recommend the Raw series on Xbox to anyone. Not even if I really hated the person and wanted them to suffer. And believe me this game is a good way to induce suffering.

But if you are stuck on the Xbox, then begrudgingly I'd have to say that this would be the game you'd want to get. The only other ones suck probably more than this (if it's possible). The Xbox just has a curse when it comes to wrestling games. Hopefully this will be lifted when Smackdown vs Raw 2007 hits the 360.

I'll start off by listing Raw 2's few good points. For one, the graphics in this game are some of the best you'll ever see on this generation's hardware. Each wrestler is modeled to the fullest recreation possible, so much so that they still hold up when compared to later titles released today. In fact, I'd say that the wrestlers in this game look even better than their future counterparts. Since the point of this game is the wrestlers themselves there is not much to say about the environments. There's a ring and it looks like a ring so that's really all anybody can ask for.

The Create-A-Superstar mode is also one of the best to date. With it I was able to create a wrestler that actually did not look like a total tool. That may come as a shock to anybody who's played a wrestling game put out in the past four years but it's true. Anchor added a ton of outfit options, going as far as to include attires worn by Japanese wrestlers, wrestlers who were employed at the time but didn't make it in the game, and wrestlers who were recently released. The hairstyle options are somewhat limited but the sheer number of costume options alone has kept me coming back for years now. I still turn this one on from time to time just to update the wrestler's outfits or create new ones.

That was another nice feature, being able to edit the attires, moves and entrances of all the wrestlers in the game. I don't think any of the current titles let you do all of that. So if you watched wrestling every week and a superstar wore a new color scheme or different outfit, nine times out ten you could go into Raw 2 and update them accordingly. I always liked this.

The only downside to this is the fact that once you create or edit a superstar in the game, the only worthwhile thing to do with them is to spin them around in the CAS menu and then turn the game off. Actually playing it was never fulfilling. But before I get to that let me tell you about another great feature that ties into the CAS mode. Creating your own custom entrance with lights, pyro and music was another expertly done aspect of the game. Raw 2 was also the first console game to allow you to use your own music for entrance themes. You have to give it credit for that. The main way to do this is to rip music off of CD's and onto your hard drive, but the infinitely easier way to do it was if you had Xbox Music Mixer. With that you could simply transfer music files from your PC straight to the hard drive. So if you had a few songs you wanted in the game you didn't have to burn a whole CD with them on it. This was just another excellently done feature that allowed you to almost completely recreate or edit any superstar in the game.

I say almost because it should be noted that you can't edit every feature of the existing superstars. For whatever reason Anchor decided that you would not be able to edit their faces or hair. So if any of them ever got a haircut you were stuck with an outdated look. This meant that you could never have a fully updated Undertaker. At the time of this game's release the Undertaker was still under his biker gimmick. In later years he would revert back to the zombie persona he had when he first arrived in the WWF. So even though you could update his attire and music to reflect his new look and gimmick he'd still have the short haircut. The same goes for Kane. Even though he took off the mask and shaved his head you'd never be able to edit his in-game model to be accurate. This always bothered me because I can't understand why they would give you so much freedom but then slam one barrier in your way.

Now onto the actual gameplay. With so much detail put into the presentation of the game you'd think the actual wrestling would be just as good. It's not. The grapple system is slow and obtrusive, instead of a blocking system there is some weird dodging mechanic that is as frustrating as it is useful, and movement in general is just clunky. The moves available in the game are limited and the animations are not always what they could have been. Moves that would seem to have a big impact have the victim flop to the ground. Most seem stiff and are only made worse by the odd metallic collision sound of the ring mat. The only good part about the moves is that the game features what I call a "interrupt anytime" physics system where any grapple, submission, striking, or flying move can be stopped at any time during the animation with a striking attack. This makes the action seem more realistic because in most games you will be locked in an animation cycle where other players or CPU controlled characters can only stand and watch.

There are a good number of match types available and only a few are broken. The worst offender by far is the ladder match. Never before in a wrestling game have I encountered such a fundamentally broken match. For one the AI-controlled opponent will almost always head straight for the ladder once the match starts (the same thing happens in cage matches, where the computer constantly goes to climb out of the cage). This is excusable because the same thing has happened in almost every wrestling game that has featured a ladder match. I guess it's just an AI quirk that hasn't been worked out yet. The main problem is only the computer can successfully use the ladder. Sure you can set it up, climb it, and grab onto the belt suspended over the ring...but you won't bring it down. You can hammer away on every button you can reach on the controller but you'll just hang there forever. To make matters worse the AI will not knock you down. Instead they will climb the ladder after you and jump right onto the belt as well. So then you're probably slamming on the buttons even more in an attempt to win the race. Here's a hint: The computer always wins.

I've played this game for about sixty-three hours and in that time I have only ever won a ladder match this way once. And in the season mode they're not hard to come by. So I could usually only win a ladder match by one of two ways: I could either fight the computer and keep them from winning until time ran out (and this only worked if I was defending a title I had won, because the match would be declared a draw and I would keep my belt), or I could repeatedly dig under the ring and hope and pray that I would pull out the special double-tall ladder. This ladder was about twice as tall as the normal one and for some reason climbing it and grabbing the belt actually worked after only about ten seconds of button mashing. In short, the ladder match is horrible.

The other matches are decent. Hell in a Cell is still one of my favorites, and the four areas at the top of the cell where you can slam an opponent through were a nice touch because usually you only get a few. The Royal Rumble had one flaw in that you could only have four people in the ring at one time. This was weird because at any other point in the game you could have a maximum of six...So they limited the number of in-ring competitors in the one match where they shouldn't have.

The only thing left to talk about is the ambitious season mode, which seemingly goes on forever. On the outside it seems really cool but once you get into it you see it's just as bad as the rest of the game. It's focused around giving you a sense of freedom in that you can choose who you feud with and who you are friends with. You do this by selecting an interaction from a list during segments of a show where you do not have a match. Encourage someone and your relationship will grow stronger. Insult or sneak attack them and they will grow to hate you. This works well in theory because it lets you target champions or wrestlers on the roster you just don't like. You would think that repeatedly attacking a champion and starting a feud between you and them would get you a eventual title shot, right? Well, only if the game agrees with it. Since all wrestlers have a different personality that interacts with others, you may be gunning for Kurt Angle but the game thinks you'd be better suited battling Chuck Palumbo. And my god can that Palumbo hold a grudge. Currently I have been feuding off and on with Palumbo, Chavo Guerrero and Billy Kidman for at least ten in-game years. Oh and somehow in all of this Steve Austin became Cruiserweight Champion, despite not being a cruiserweight and never defeating me in a title match.

That's another ridiculous part of the game. Title belts are governed by a popularity rating, which means only wrestlers with a certain rating can compete for them. And it just so happens that the divas are among the most popular characters in the game. It's not uncommon to see Molly Holly defeat the Rock for the World Heavyweight Championship. In fact it's happened several times in my game.

All in all the interaction aspect of the season mode ultimately fails. You may choose to attack one superstar over and over but it's never guaranteed that you will be put in a match with them. And if that wrestler happens to be a champion there's a good chance that the match you've been waiting for against them will turn out to be non-title. And if you want to try to get a title shot for the Tag Team Championships—forget it. The only thing you can do to try to combat the game's insistence on who you should fight is to repeatedly encourage whoever it picks to feud with you. This will get your relationship into good territory....for the time being. At the same time you could be attacking someone else to try to switch the two, but you never know when the game is going to decide that you should go back to fighting the guy you've been trying to be friends with for the past six months.

Feuds aren't the only dumb decision the game makes. The AI as a whole is just terrible. There's the match specific acts of being a dumb ass like I listed above but the dangerously high stupid levels also appears when wrestlers interfere in matches. Let's say you are playing as Goldust and are in a match against William Regal. Test hates you. During your match Test runs down to the ring....and attacks Regal. The referee is perfectly fine with this, by the way, so you won't be disqualified. Let's say Lance Storm also hates you. There's a chance he might come down to the ring and attack Regal too. For no reason.

On top of that there is simply no challenge to this game. Anybody good at the game can tear through opponents in under two minutes. My best record was about forty-five seconds, and that was in a main event match against Booker T. After a while the boring matches will be even less fun than they were when you first started playing.

With all this in mind I can't understand why people would give this game a nine or ten. If I had never played a wrestling game before I may have given this a four or five. I can only hope that people will read my review and Galactus21's, because we really seem to be the only ones who understand this game. The little details are what has kept me coming back time and time again over the years, but the fact remains that this game is just not good.

Sound: 4/10
Graphics: 7/10
Gameplay: 2/10
Replay Value: 3/10

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 10/19/06, Updated 11/07/06