Customer Reviews

WWE Raw 2

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(16)
1 star:		(19)

 

 

Roster:

1. Batista
2. Big Show
3. Billy Gunn
4. Billy Kidman
5. Booker T
6. Bradshaw
7. Brock Lesnar
8. Bubba Ray Dudley
9. Chavo Guerrero
10. Chief Morley
11. Chris Benoit
12. Chris Jericho
13. Christian
14. Chris Nowinski
15. Chuck Palumbo
16. Crash Holly
17. D-Von Dudley
18. Eddie Guerrero
19. Edge
20. Goldberg
21. Goldust
22. Hardcore Holly
23. Hulk Hogan
24. Hurricane
25. Jacqueline
26. Jamie Noble
27. Jazz
28. Jeff Hardy
29. John Cena
30. Kane
31. Kevin Nash
32. Kurt Angle
33. Lance Storm
34. Lita
35. Mark Henry
36. Matt Hardy
37. Molly
38. Nidia
39. Randy Orton
40. Rey Mysterio
41. Rhyno
42. Ric Flair
43. Rico
44. Rikishi
45. Rob Van Dam
46. Scott Steiner
47. Shannon Moore
48. Shawn Michaels
49. Spike Dudley
50. Stacy Keibler
51. Stephanie McMahon
52. Steven Richards
53. Stone Cold Steve Austin
54. Tajiri
55. Terri
56. Test
57. The Rock
58. Undertaker
59. Tommy Dreamer
60. Torrie Wilson
61. Triple H
62. Trish Stratus
63. Victoria
64. William Regal

Non-Playables

65. Jonathan Coachman
66. Michael Cole
67. Jim Ross
68. Jerry Lawler
69. Eric Bischoff
70. Earl Hebner
71. Tim White
72. Mike Chioda
73. Nick Patrick

First of all, for those of you who are interseted in the other WWE titles(Smackdown: HCTP and Wrestlemania XIX), I'll compare the best features of all three. Raw 2 has the best career in my opinion since it is the first next-gen wrestling game to have a multi-player season mode(up to 4 players). Smackdown 5 has the best match variety, including Elimination Chamber, Bra and Panties, First Blood, and all the other specialty matches found in the other two games. Wrestlemania XIX has the best control scheme since it is so much like No Mercy. Raw 2 also has the best graphics all around. Smackdown 5 also has the most arcadey gameplay, meaning the moves have much more elaborate animations, but that also makes it less realistic.

If I had to choose between these three games(which I'm sure many of you are trying to do), I would choose Raw 2 simply because it has the best representation of the WWE,from the presentation to the simulation based gameplay. It also has the best career mode. Not only because it's a multi-player experience, but because it's so open ended, meaning it doesn't have a specific path every time. You choose your Superstars fate. There are literally hundreds of paths to travel down. You affect who your teamate is, and who your enemies are. It also has an RPG style point system where your Superstar's spirits and populatiry is displayed. I'm not here to make a choice for you, but I hope this information will help you in your quest to find the game that's right for you. Werd Life.

I bought a Xbox for Halo and Dead Or Alive 3. I have those games now but I needed some more. I love wrestling games and I bought Wrestlemania XIX for Nintendo's Gamecube and Playstation 2 Smackdown Here Comes The Pain. I loved both games but they got old after awhile. So I found out about Raw for Xbox. Since I needed a couple more games I decide to get it. I rented Raw and liked it. It was diffrent and had a good setup but the controls where slow and the in ring move setup was horrible. Well I knew when the new wrestling games where coming out so I bought Raw 2 along with the other wrestling games like I said before. I realized right off they changed the rating meter which made it fun to pull of a finisher. I loved all the matches it offered. It has more wrestlers than Smackdown and a awsome option to put your own music on for any wrestler or your own create a wrestler. The graphics are great but have a wierd shade look to them. Honestly to say almost like a cartoon look. But don't let that turn you off because it isn't bad looking it actually works with it. The game has a great season mode but sometimes you will be confused as to whats going on. The sound is fantastic but sometimes there is some wierd sounding grunts that just don't fit. The games pace is alot quicker than the old Raw or Wrestlemania X8 but not near as fast as Smackdown or Wrestlemania XIX. The game has two options for control the anolog stick or directional pad, which changes the pace of your charecter which is cool. The setup is so much more better than the first Raw but I would choose WMXIX and SHCTP over this title for a few reasons. I wouldn't go running out and buying a PS2 for Smackdown because trust me after about 4 weeks Smackdown gets extremely boring, and it just isn't worth it. For $150 you can get a Gamecube and Wrestlemania XIX and have saved a ton of money and have a great wrestling game.

Here is what I would give the games in scores

Wrestlemania XIX/Nintendo Gamecube

Graphics 8
Sound 8
Controls 10
Tilt 9
Gameplay 8

Raw 2/Xbox
Graphics 8
Sound 10
Controls 6
Tilt 9
Gameplay 8

Smackdown Here Comes The Pain
Graphics 8
Sound 7
Controls 8
Tilt 8
Gameplay 9

Raw 2 is alot better than what most people think. I was nervous by the reviews but I had to try it. If I where you I would buy Wrestlemania XIX because thats the most funnest wrestling game out to date by far and then Smackdown Here Comes The Pain for a more complete WWE game.But if all you have is a Xbox then Raw 2 will be a great title to have. Have fun and I hope this helped.

*sigh*

It seems like every time a new wrestling game comes out, it brings new awesome features and innovations, but at the same time, it makes sacrifices on the best of the old features. WWE Raw 2 remains true to this formula.

I've played WWE Raw 2 with a friend of mine on his X-box for a while now. We've played through 4 years of "story mode" or "season" (or whatever it's called on this one... heh heh). I find the game excels in some areas, while it falls extremely short in others.

Pros:

-Really nice, clean graphics... though I think the X-box could've pulled it off a little better.
-Multi-player "story/season/career" mode. All wrestling games should have this option.
-Decent "Create a Wrestler" mode. While it's not the best I've seen, it is more than adequate. Using your own music in entrances is great. As far as your guy's look, don't expect loads customizable details. It's pretty much just head/body type/clothing... not very deep at all.
-The various ways to interact with other wrestlers in "story" mode are pretty cool. "Enemy/Ally" meters for wrestlers is one of the best additions to a wrestling game, yet.
-At first I kinda felt like there weren't enough moves per wrestler, but after playing a while, I realized it wasn't that bad. Yeah... with a regular standing grapple you only get 8-10 moves. But, that kinda forces you to do irish-whip moves, ground moves, turn-buckle moves, apron moves, etc., and when you figure in all those, you have quite a few. In past games, I rarely used all those other move types, because I had so many "ready" (standing grapple) moves.
-Plenty of match types.

Cons:

-When your "enemies" interfere in any of your matches, they ALWAYS attack your opponent.
-I don't know if anyone else had this problem, but both my friend and I won NUMEROUS title matches before we ever actually got the belts.
-Computer always gets up in about the same ammount of time, regardless of how hurt he is, or how devastating the move you put on him is.
-Computer rarely, if ever pulls off a successful move, after throwing you into the ropes.
-When pinned by the computer, if you kick out, he will almost always immediately pin you again, and this will go on until you tire of button-mashing and lose the match. Occasionally, the computer will mess up the timing on this, and you might actually get up.
-If you're playing a tag match, it's almost impossible to get the pin. The computer's partner will always interfere. When you are pinned in a tag match, as far as I can tell, your partner will never interfere. This can usually be handled by going for the submission win.
-The ref seems to count slow when you go for the pin, and quick for the computer. Not always, but more often than not, this is the case.
-The "story" mode player interactions, while a cool addition, could have had more variety for each type. Examples... they could've had at least 2 or 3 different random traps for the "Set Trap" option, they could've had more animations for "Resting", they could've had different random areas for each to take place in, etc. As is, they tend to get old and monotonous, and you'll find yourself skipping straight to the results.
-As far as I can tell, there's no difficulty setting. WTF?
-As far as I can tell, all matches have a 10min time limit. Again... WTF?
-No blood. I normally wouldn't consider this a problem, but if you're gonna have weapons (like, oh... a barbed-wire bat), it kinda makes sense to at least have an option to turn blood on.
-Female wrestlers (Divas) seem to get allot of WWE and World title shots. There's also way too many mixed (male/female) tag matches. I'm not trying to sound sexist here, but in real life, that just doesn't happen as often as it does in this game. I haven't watched pro wrestling much in the last few years, so maybe things have changed.
-The champ is suppose to come out after the challenger. This is how it's always been done in real pro wrestling, and as far as I can tell, it's always been done wrong in EVERY wrestling game I've ever played... they always have the champ come out first. This isn't really a problem, but I figure someone will get it right, one of these days... maybe.

I have a theory that most of the bad features of this game are due to either a rushed release or just bad, inadequate testing. Overall, the AI in this game is absolutely horrid. Thorough AI testing seemed to go out the window on this one.

People who gave this game a high rating either haven't really played a good wrestling game, or they haven't played this one very much, in my opinion. I felt like WWE Raw 2 looked really good, had some innovative features, and had tons of potential, but for vaious reasons, it ended up as a disappointment. I hope the next wrestling game can take the best of this one, and do it how it's supposed to be done.

Here are some of the pros and cons of WWE Raw 2

PROS
up to 4 players in season mode
all new hell in a cell
Improved walking animation
Improved CAW
45+ superstars on updated roster
Backstage areas

Cons
THQ's failure to let out info on the game

Corrections
Ripping music from your hard drive for CAWs isnt confirmed. Ripping tracks for background music is
Fighting in crowd hasnt even been made a possibility by THQ
It isn't yet XBL compatible

Season Mode

You have a match on every card. There's a raw and a sd each week and a ppv every month. Between matches you are given several choices. You can interfere in a match, attack sum1, steal something, etc. Example: you steal Kurt's metals. this gains yourself respect from HHH and the Rock. Your friendship with each of them makes them closer for the fact they hate the same guy, Kurt.

This is not a step forward from the last Raw game, instead it's a big step sideways. Raw 2 is like the game makers perfected the original Raw game (it only took them 2 years). First off this is a wrestling game, the player may select from one of over sixty WWE "superstars" to compete in a match. During this match the player may use different strikes by pressing the directional pad and the X button and may grapple his opponent by pressing the A button. When performing a grapple, the player can do a weak maneuver by pressing X and the directional pad or a strong maneuver by pressing A and the directional pad. Each WWE "superstar" in the game has their own moves, taunts, strikes, grapple maneuvers, high risk maneuvers and even ways to get in and out of the ring. Unfortunately there are not many submissions in the game, so everyone has the same half Boston crab submission. The game uses a new "spirit" meter that tracks how well the wrestler is doing, when the spirit meter is green, they are doing fine, when it is red, they are ready to do a finishing maneuver, and when it blinks danger, that person is ready to be finished. The wrestlers are big, bold, and life-like chiseled versions of themselves in the game. Even with the great graphics of the game, six wrestlers are allowed to compete at once, and even a referee is in the ring! The matches players can compete in are Normal Singles Matches, Tag, Triple Threat, Fatal 4 Way, Battle Royal, King of the Ring Tournaments, Cage, Hall in a Cell, and Tables, "Ladders and Chairs" (TLC). Despite the game allowing six people in the ring at once there are no six-man tag team matches, however there are Hall in a Cell Matches that allow six people and a referee in them. There are four different referees who count at different speeds, it can be extremely difficult sometimes, because the referees can count so slow you can never get a pinfall! There are fourteen arenas to compete in, Raw, Smackdown and all twelve of the Pay-Per-View Arenas (unlike the original Raw game that just had one arena). Now for the big part of the game, the modes, there are so many modes in this game! You have a quick play mode, for people that just want to throw a match together, an exhibition mode, so you can make your own match to play in, a season mode, which is an ongoing story where you compete show after show in matches, a King of the Ring mode, where you set up a bracket style tournament, a "tournament" mode, where you set up a bracket style tournament, but you can also make the match types yourself. a Royal Rumble mode, where its your wrestler against up to 64 other wrestlers that come to the ring; the object is to throw everyone else over the top rope. There are also design modes like "create a superstar" where you create your own wrestler and save up to 64 of them! "Create a tag team" that allows players to create either a two man or three man tag teams and create their entrances and a movie mode so you can see all the WWE superstar's entrance videos you have enabled. Now that you know all the modes, here are some in depth things about the Season mode and "create a superstar" mode. With the season mode, a month for the season consists of only one Raw, only one Smackdown, then that month's pay per view! The season mode works on a popularity system, lets say you play as Brock Lesnar, he is popular, Rico is not. So what does this popularity do? There are titles, the WWE championship, the "World" championship, Women's, Cruiserweight, Smackdown Tag, and Raw Tag. The popularity of the title-holder of the belt determines who can compete for that belt. World champion Triple would not let Spike Dudley compete for the belt, but he would let a popular superstar like Shawn Michaels go for the belt. So how do you get more popular? For each match of a TV show, you can do something to get more popular, you can win your match, interfere in someone else's match, sneak attack a wrestler, set a trap for a wrestler, call out a wrestler, manipulate a wrestler to attack your enemy, encourage an ally, find a manager, steal something (this is how you enable outfits and entrance videos), or break up with a tag partner. Everything you do can either get you more popular or less popular, and there is a chance you could fail doing these things. Everything you do will cost you spirit for your match on that show, so you could go into your match in "danger." You can also build alliances and enemies in the season mode. Create a superstar is extremely detailed, everything from their in ring attire, their out of ring attire, their name, alliances, attributes, and "character" to their wrestling moves, and an extremely detailed entrance where you can pick their lighting, pyrotechnics (you can even time the pyrotechnics!), their entrance video (you can even make their entrance video with the created superstar), you can also use music on your X-Box for your superstar's entrance theme! Finally, there are over 60 wrestlers in the game, and here is a list: Austin, Goldberg, Batista, Big Show, Billy Gunn, Kidman, Booker T, Bradshaw, Lesnar, Bubba Ray, Chavo Guerrero, Val Venis, Benoit, Jericho, Christian, Chris Nowinski, Chuck Palumbo, Crash, D-Von, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Goldust, Hardcore Holly, Hogan, Hurricane, Jacqueline, Jamie Noble, Jazz, John Cena, Kane, Kevin Nash, Kurt Angle, Lance Storm, Lita, Mark Henry, Matt Hardy, Molly, Nidia, Orton, Mysterio, Rhyno, Flair, Rico, Rikishi, Rob Van Damn, Scott Steiner, Shannon Moore, Shawn Michaels, Spike, Stacey Keibler, Stephanie McMahon, Steven Richards, Tajiri, Terri, Test, The Rock, Undertaker, Dreamer, Torrie, HHH, Trish, Victoria, and William Regal.

wwe raw 2 is a really fun game it shows you what being on the
wwe wrestling show.you can get another wrestler to jump an enemy
or you can set a trap on them.theres alot of diffrent wrestlers
to choose from.like trish,goldust,booker t,stacy,rikishi and
alot more.you get signed up for diffrent kinds of matches.
along the way you can chat with the other wrestlers or fight
them in the locker room,trash talk them in the ring or get a
mannager. if your interested in the wwe or like fighting and
story line games. buy wwe raw 2.

First of all I do not like Microsoft electronics, the only reason I bought an X-Box in the first place was for RAW and RAW 2. RAW 2 get an over all rating of 3 Stars mainly because the game play is not overly impressive. SMACKDOWN! Shut Your Mouth and even Just Bring It, for that matter for PS2 far supersedes the game play for RAW 2 on the X-Box. Main complaint, in normal Tag Team format matches when you tag your partner you take over that Superstar. The computer should remain in control this would give me the ability to interfere and interject as I see fit. Also in Tag Team when I (as player one) go to pin the opponent instead of my partner helping me by fending off the opponent's partner so I can get the pin he kicks the guy I'm pinning and thus braking up the pin or he let's the partner break up the pin, ridiculous. However when I'm being pinned the opponent's partner comes in and fends off my partner, what is that about, not real life game play. Pretty much there is no storyline. In SMACKDOWN! Shut Your Mouth, mind you, if you win the KOTR tournament, at SummerSlam you get a title shot, not in RAW 2. In SMACKDOWN! Shut Your Mouth you win Royal Rumble you get a WrestleMania title shot, not RAW 2. The SMACKDOWN! games for the Playstations and the RAW games for X-Box are all put out by THQ, so I would think there would be some game play and storyline similarities, but no. One big annoyance is belts can change hands with DQs or count outs, um no, that is weak. No DQ with interference. So don't think you can save your title Triple H style (interference or weapon) cause you can't.
The graphics are sweet, as well are the character likenesses, entrances, and abilities. There are four non-selectable Refs but you can beat them up in hardcore or other "no holds barred/no DQ" matches. You hit the ref in a normal match your DQed, the computer does it no DQ, come on already what is that.. 59 of the superstars are cool and belong in the game. Angle is bald, Kane, however is masked, but his video has him unmasked go figure. Austin is a wrestler and not the Co-GM, even though this was made after that took place. One does not freakin belong in the game and that is Chris "Nobody" Nowinski, why why why does the WWE put him in WWE Before They Were Superstars 2 when he is so not even a star much less superstar. Where is Maven for crying out loud? The belts are World "RAW" Championship, WWE Championship, World "RAW" Tag Team Championship, WWE Tag Team Championship, Cruiser Weight Championship, and the Women's RAW Championship. There is no representation of the U.S. Title and no I.C. belt either, but that's okay.
All in all a let down for the hardcore WWE gamer that likes, that wants, that needs actual interactive storyline game play. Look out for the release of SMACKDOWN! Here Comes the Pain on PS2 and the first ever Elimination Chamber Match on a gaming system. This one is sure not to let down.

I'm Out.

Here's my two cents worth of this. Is this the best wrestling game out there. To me, no. Does it have merit, and is it worth playing and owning? Yes.

The presentation overall is quite good. Graphically and soundwise I like this a lot. It's well done. The conrols, to me, were easy enough to learn with reading the manual and a bit of practice. Every move resounds with the sound of impact when you land a punch or a kick or a move of any type at all really, and particualarly when attacking with weapons. I like the fact that when the tables break, the peices STAY in the ring and can also be used to hit your opponent. The only thing is that with six tables in the ring, along with a couple of chairs and what have you, you have a mess. It can be real carnage in the ring sometimes.

There is no commentary in this game. This is not a bad thing. The only thing is that after the last two Smackdown games, I miss the commentary. You may not, but that's up to you. The story more is kind of fun, but at the same time, it's limited in it's scope. Before every show, there are eight to ten matches, and you can decide what you want your wrestler to do before each one. You can rest, call someone out, attack them, set traps, complain, and a few other things I can't remember right now. The action you choose will be accompanied by a short cutscene of your wrestler doing what you chose. However, there is no text to explain things in Season Mode like the Smackdown games have. You have to watch characters body language to figure out what exactly is going on in this season mode. The only voice-work is done by Lillian Garcia and Howard Finkle, the ring announcers.

This brings me to the real strength of the game: the Create a Superstar Mode. You can customize your height, weight, and call name, all the way to the lighting, pyros, and music for your entrance. This really helps you customize your wrestler and feel like you are wrestling as yourself. Coming out to your own music and having your home state announced really makes you feel like you are part of the WWE action. On the other side of the coin, the season mode only lasts until you get to Wrestlemania, and as far as I can tell, goes no further. You don't get to play AS the Champion after you win the title, as far as I can see. I beat Hulk Hogan at Wrestlmania and after a brief celebration screen, it went to the closing credits of the game. At least in Smackdown I could play more and defend my belt and such.

In closing, this is a good fun game. I gave it four stars instead of five because I miss things. I miss commentary, and I like a scripted story to an extent. Will I get Smackdown Here Comes The Pain? I hope to. Is Raw 2 worth owning? To me, yes it is. Both it and Smackdown Here Comes The Pain are and will be good titles with their own strengths and merits. If you pick this up, I wish you much fun with it, because as a fun wrestling game that lets you have your own personality, this does shine. Peace to all who may read this. God bless you all.

If you're a wrestling fan with XBox, your options are limited. There is no good wrestling game for the system, however, this will have to quench your thirst until something better comes out in the future. It's not horrible but it's nowhere near good. For starters, the control stinks. It's nearly impossible to defeat an opponent via pinfall because the referee takes an enternity just to count to 1. Also, the season mode stinks. I've never gotten a title shot yet but Stone Cold and Molly Holly have managed to win and loose the tag titles 6 times. Stone Cold and Molly Holly? What the f#@k! Buy this game if you want to, but don't say I didn't warn you.