11 out of 11 people found this review helpful.
WWF RAW......not so hardcore
Date of Review: Aug 11, 2002
The Bottom Line: A game for hardcore fans
Well, here I am once more telling you all you could want to know about....stuff. WWF RAW. Where can I start with a title like this? Well, first off I think I should get into the graphics department.
Graphics
Wow. Is all I could manage to say as I watched the intros of the various jobbers. They are visually stunning. Each wrestler is spot on created, smooth, and very realistic. You will practically think you are watching RAW from Television. Definately the best graphics around.
Upon the ground you will see sweatspots from the grueling match. Also there has been a rumour of blood in it...hmm I am not too sure about that but I will fill you in when I find out.
Sound
I started off strong with graphics and am continuing strong with sound. The sound in RAW is very clear and crisp, though there are no announcers the entrance music is spot on. You could almost use the game for just their entrance music if you like it enough!
There are great thuds and thwaks as the wrestlers get thrown around the ring. Although I am not too sure if there are many crowd cheers other than boos and applauding. One cool thing in the game, which is very realistic, is whenever X-Pac raises his arms in the air or taunts the crowd REALLY boos him.
Thats it for sound right now.
Create-A-Superstar
RAW also features a CAS or create a wrestler mode. The CAW system is very limited but than again it's not bad. You have the basic options of: clothing, tattoos, face, eyes etc... You can also make certain parts of their body bigger than other parts.
Along with that you can fully customize their entrance. You can fix the lights, pyro, fog, and music along with intro taunts to create the ultimate entrance.
An overall ok CAS system.
Gaming Modes
RAW dissapoints me here. It is terribly lacking. The game gives you the basic modes: Tag, Tornado, 1 vs. 1, Triple Threat, Fatal Four Way, Battle Royal, and King of the ring.
While all of these are done decently it doesnt make up for the overall lacking feeling.
Championship Mode
The championship mode in RAW is more like Revenge than a story mode. You pick one wrestler and go into what belt you want to go after, than you fight a succesion of opponents until you defeat the champion, thus earning you the belt.
It seems RAW designers think you are going to sit through a whole championship mode in one sitting because they didnt give you a [Save Option] so you go all or nothing.
Gameplay
The gameplay in RAW, overall is not bad but not good either. I'll tell you why.
The game has a mix of a smackdown and no mercy button configuration. A grapples B taunts etc... Sometimes the moves are very hard to pull off and sometimes very easy.
In order to do your 'special move' you first have to get the audience behind you by doing a variety of moves and taunts. When your meter is glowing you have to get your opponent groggy and than strong grapple and THAN press AB at the same time to do your special.
One thing that really peeved me was when you are about to do a move and your partner attacks the opponent, and hits both of you and stops you from doing your move!
Overall
In closing I would like to say that everyone should be pleased with the graphics/sound and give them props for that. Hopefully RAW 2 will have more features and options. Until than cya later.
