At a glance...

WWE Raw review

Wrestling games have a big following whether they are good or bad. The PlayStation 2 has WWE Smackdown, the GameCube has WWE WrestleMania, and now the Xbox has WWE Raw.

When I first put this game on I was pleasantly pleased about the graphics; the best I have seen in any wrestling game. The detail of each wrestler is very good and they do look like who they are supposed to be, but it is not all good I am afraid. However, the menu system is easy to follow, so there it is not a problem.

Like all recent wrestling games you have 'create a wrestler' which can be fun. You can make male wrestlers, female wrestlers or even a wrestler who dose not know which sex they are! You can unlock new items of clothing and attribute points to add to your own created wrestler. Attribute points are what determin you wrestler's speed, strengh, recovery, and various skills. The more you get the better wrestler will become. You can also create a manger to help you and your wrester along the way. Also with the built in Hard Drive you can create a virtually unlimited army of wrestlers.

Aside from the points and clothing, you can unlock new weapons, and of course, wrestlers. All the big names are in there, including The Undertaker, The Rock, Triple H, The Big Show, Kane, plus many, many more.

Unlike the Smackdown games there is no story you can choose to follow. The modes are only Exhibition, Title Macth, or King of the Ring. In Exhibition you can choose from a veriaty af macthes from 1 on 1, 2 on 1, 3 on 1, tag team and others. All this is really for is to have a bit of fun and to help you come to terms with the terrible control system. Also, when you enter a graple manoeuvre you are more than likely to get knocked to the floor than you are to complete your desired manoeuvre. When playing against the computer it is hard even when the game is set to 'Easy'. Trying to pull off manoeuvres can be very frustrating. When you do play against another person it is a lot easier to do the moves you wish.

The next option is Title Match. You can enter Heavy Weight Title (The Main one), Intercontinental, European, Hard Core, Light Heavy weight, Tag Team, Womans and ?????. The ???? are for wrestlers you create with no known sex. For each of the titles you will have a string of diferent matches against various opponents of which you have win to get to the next macth before the title is yours...

King of the Ring is a knock out tornement where you have to go through several rounds to become the undisputed King of the Ring.

One of the features I like is the museum option which will give you a brief history on all the stars in the game, like the 12 years of The Undertakers distructive and Try me I will make you famous career.

One thing that bothers me is how dose little Spike Dudley body slam the Big Show? Well, it is a game, but it does take the realism out of it. In a Hard Core macth it can be fun as there are loads of weapons to unlock. Tables, chairs, ladders, trash cans, a sledge hammer, and many more to use on the opponent.

The game does have it's faults which do take a lot of time to get used to; the controls aren't too good and could have been improved, and the graple manoeuvres are too hard to pull off and get used to, but if you can get past these set backs you will enjoy the game.

It is all there but I think it may have been more fun with a story mode behind it rather than just being a 'pick up and play' title.

If you are a WWE fan then there is only one choice; WWE Raw is a 'MUST HAVE'. For others, rent first as you may find it hard to control.

Ratings

Click here to buy WWE Raw from Amazon.co.uk.

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