| VGLN.com
Xbox >> Reviews
>> article
WWF Raw
by Kyle Johnson
Tuesday, March 5 2002
Although WWF Raw has fantastic visuals, cheap A.I and repetitive gameplay cause this one to sink among the stars.
 |
|
|
Title:
WWF Raw
|
Platform:
Xbox
|
Publisher:
THQ |
Developer:
THQ |
#
of Players: 1 - 4 |
Genre:
Wrestling
|
Origin:
United States
|
Expected
Release:
Spring 2002 |
Grapevine:
THQ/Anchor made some bad decisions while creating WWF Raw. Those decisions include the removal of fighting in the crowd, announcers calling the plays, the ability to grab clothing of your opponents, removal of the backstage areas fighting, and one of the biggest, the removal of the blood from your opponent/you onto the ring. |
In the past few years, wrestling games has taken the gaming industry by storm. They’ve sold well, thus bringing in more money for THQ, the developer, and the World Wrestling Federation (hereinafter WWF). A lot of people now compare wrestling games to the N64 big sellers, WWF No Mercy, and WWF Wrestlemania 2002 among others. With WWF Raw being the first wrestling game on the Xbox, it’s no wonder why people were wondering if the Xbox could reproduce a big seller like the N64 did with it’s wrestling games. To find out if THQ and Anchor created a big time seller, read the rest of the review.
Anchor really wanted you to feel like you were controlling the WWF. The game menus make you feel like Vince McMahon. With easy access to any part of the game, there is no way you cannot know where something is…unless you’re very slow. Overall, the game menus are well laid out, and easy to navigate through.
The N64 wrestling games pretty much set standards for upcoming wrestling games, such as WWF Raw, and the WWF Smackdown! series on the PlayStation/PlayStation 2, with it’s gameplay. The games were fun to play. It seems to a lot of people that THQ/Anchor didn’t follow up with the gameplay for WWF Raw. While it is a fun and interesting game, the game just isn’t as enjoyable compared to any of the WWF games for the N64.
The controls of WWF Raw are pretty impressive. It takes advantage of the Xbox controller’s left analog stick for once, so if your not a fan of the d-pad, then you don’t have to use it…although it is a lot easier to use than the analog stick. Like a lot of Xbox games so far, the button placement, while not too crammed together, is making the games a little more difficult to play. Having the y, x, a, and b buttons slanted like they are, it’s difficult not to hit y when your wanting to hit x. After around 15-20 minutes of playing, you will hardly notice which buttons your hitting, as your just concentrating on hitting your opponent.
THQ/Anchor made some bad decisions while creating WWF Raw. Those decisions include the removal of fighting in the crowd, announcers calling the plays, the ability to grab clothing of your opponents, removal of the backstage areas fighting, and one of the biggest, the removal of the blood from your opponent/you onto the ring. With the removal of those, THQ/Anchor obviously didn’t want the gamer to have some fun, which those would have provided. THQ/Anchor also made bad decisions by removing the tables match, ladders match, career/story mode, and so on.
While THQ/Anchor made a lot of bad decisions with Raw, they also had their fair share of good decisions as well. Good decisions such as the best Create A Wrestler (CAW) ever in a WWF game. There is not one area that the CAW doesn’t allow you to edit. Your wrestler, if you choose, can have a very small head, and a very big body, or vice versa. The CAW in Raw almost makes up for the bad decisions of THQ/Anchor by itself.
The graphics in WWF Raw are excellent. While not much different than WWF No Mercy’s on the N64, it does take use of the Xbox’s power, but setting it a head of the PlayStation/PlayStation2’s WWF Smackdown! series. I’m sure your wondering, “Well, if it’s not much different from WWF No Mercy on the N64, then how can it be better than the Smackdown series on the PSX/PS2?” Well, the answer is simple. It’s not identical to the N64 hit WWF No Mercy, but it’s almost like it with the graphics. While WWF No Mercy showed off what the N64 could do, WWF Raw does the same for Xbox. It shows off it’s graphical capabilities.
While not many glitches exist in the game, it, like every other game out there, has it’s fair share of glitches. While playing the game, you don’t notice hardly any playing, but for safety (as I have not seen any glitches while playing), I’m going to state that it in fact does have minor glitches.
Every punch to the jaw is heard. The sound in Raw is amazing. It seems to me that Anchor, who developed Raw, took more time on the sound in the game then the actual game. Want to hear what the crowd is saying? Well, now you can…. somewhat. You can’t hear everything from the crowd, but you can hear whom they’re going for, and whom they dislike.
The music in the game is awesome. Anchor must have recording a WWF Raw show on TV, and used the sound from that for the game. Every bit of the music fits together like a puzzle. But then again, it should, as it’s the exact same thing as an actual WWF Raw show.
Raw, while fun, isn’t all that fun to play by yourself. To get the best effect of the game, play against some friends. In fact, get 3 of your friends over, and battle it out in a fatal 4 way. Or better yet, go into the Royal Rumble or King of the Ring, and see who lasts longer in the ring.
If you have no friends who want to play Raw, then I suggest you go for the WWF Heavyweight title, or if your using a female wrestler, then go for the WWF Women’s Championship. There’s a wide variety of titles to go for, which should keep you busy until you can convince your friends to go against you in Raw.
The game is amazing. But it could have been a lot better if THQ/Anchor wouldn’t have removed the good features in the game, which the people wanted. But the game overall is a must rent before buy, unless you’re like me and pre-ordered it before you knew that the good features you wanted got removed. Then you’re buying it. Now, to use a famous saying…from The Great One, “IF YA SMELLLLLLLLLL!!!…WHAT THE ROCK…is cookin’!”
--- Kyle Johnson
|
