The Beta Comparison video series continues with me comparing early unfinished, cut content and pre-release versions of WWE Raw 2 for the original Xbox. This video contains lots of differences from attire changes, removed characters, cosmetic differences and more! Lots of big changes throughout development on show here, with the game starting off looking aesthetically very late WWF 2001/2002 before phasing into the WWE's Ruthless Aggression mid-2003. It was also a shame to lose two big names before the game's release - Jeff Hardy was released and therefore cut from Raw 2 just months before release, and then Scott Hall who was released and cut a massive 16 months before the game's release, so nowhere near the final build.
And I suppose that this would be the last game before they "got the F out", correct? Also, I've been picturing an idea for a video game called "WWE: Federated Past".
@Nick-we6xg it looked great at the time compared to Smackdown. It also looked much better than the first game. And the attire changes were due to late gimmick and attire changes they tried to bake in last-minute unlike 2K these days.
Well they did but THQ demanded way too much. There was no time to complete the gameplay and AI because they basically had to add 300% more in modes and match types from the first game, AND they had to change the art style/graphics since Microsoft wanted them to show more power from the console. That's why the beta has the Raw 1 graphics. Anchor Inc. was a small ass studio who had done nothing but UFC. They were super talented but needed much more time and resources. They had to cut out blood and Xbox Live support, even after they had to delay the game twice.
you can still make Rey look close to how he's meant to look, there's another mask with a cross, and there's the falcon side parts for the mask. Scott Hall can be made plus many others. all the names are in there. Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Hawk, Animal, heck Owen Hart, Jeff hardy. STING
This was literally gonna have the invasion angel and everything better story mode all that once again some of the workers quit I remember seeing a rough draft of the trailer
seems like it was after the Invasion cause on the roster you got Billy & Chuck by each other , D-Von (away from Bubba) by Batista (Reverend & Deacon) , The Un Americans by each other. Seems like this was suppose to be a around 2002 like Shut Your Mouth game
@@MASTER3371 true, this game was gonna be the same timeline as SYM, a shame that the game got delayed and they had to make an amalgam of a 2002/2003 roster thats why the whole F.B.I is not on the game because as you said, billy and chuck were gonna be a tag team but then billy got injured and chuck was put in the F.B.I, this makes the game roster too weird
It must've been some legal thing or something (odd as WM XIX and HCTP didn't have this issue). His Portrait for the Character Selection is terribly photoshopped as well to make him look like a Blueberry. I remember you could restore some of his mask in the Creation Suite as you could edit the attires of In-Game Superstars in this game (you could also give him a mask that has a big opening in it and see his face surprisingly enough).
About Mysterio's mask? The pieces for it are in the game's final version. What happened was the devs didn't assign each piece by default. It goes to game's issue as a whole of not being completed on time
It had gotten delayed twice and still needed more time. If it had gotten one more year, it would've been a masterpiece. Anchor Inc. gets a TON of props for how much they added from the first game. It's just they were too small a studio. It's crazy they got fired as soon as the game went gold...THQ knew the final code wasn't complete. They were under too much pressure from Microsoft to release the game.
@@83jdc1 it was released in february 2002, so they probably started development around that time you can tell that it was going to be of that timeline because of like the rock entrance, it looks more like 2002 rock
This game had the bells and whistles (that entrance editor!) to be great, but my God, the gameplay was just awkward. Not WCW Thunder awful, but it just felt off. The walk cycles, the camera angle, the animations... but you wanted to like it.
How come they deleted the backstage area with Taker talking and will someone release the BETA version of Raw 2 one day? Cause the gameplay from trailer was better.
No amount of dev time could have saved this crap slow gameplay game. They showed of new camera angle and better graphics just to bring same camera and put on oil on the wrestlers in final game
Well here's the problem: look at how many modes, features, and match types they added after the first game. And then like 12 new arenas, and an upgraded art style/graphics engine. It was unprecedented for a wrestling game at the time. That was the biggest criticism of the first game, so that was their priority. The dev time they needed after that was for the gameplay and AI, which THQ didn't give them. Anchor Inc. was a super small Japanese studio. They got undercut so much. What company changes graphics AFTER a beta, well into development? That's why it got delayed the first of two times. Microsoft demanded more power from the Xbox. Why do you think a ton of season mode content got cut (numerous cutscenes and those interview sets)? Blood got cut. Online play got cut. Backstage areas and crowd fighting (which they really wanted to do) got cut. Of course they had no time to complete the gameplay and AI. The demand was "more content, better graphics." They were faced with an impossible task and still did an amazing job with the amount of new stuff they actually added. Dude, they had so little in time and resources they had to cut off access up the ramp because they couldn't get to program all the arenas.
What the fuck is that final game Rey model? Why tf was that early Kurt model so outdated? Dudleys attire went from early 01 to late 01 and was still outdated. That beta Stacy Keibler would be from late 01 or early 02 not early 01.
Fun Fact Scott Hall has never appeared any PS2 WWE Games in the 2000's They would have been creative at least make Hall as a unlockable character or similar to Brock being only featured in Showcase Mode in 2K24.
The Beta Comparison video series continues with me comparing early unfinished, cut content and pre-release versions of WWE Raw 2 for the original Xbox. This video contains lots of differences from attire changes, removed characters, cosmetic differences and more!
Lots of big changes throughout development on show here, with the game starting off looking aesthetically very late WWF 2001/2002 before phasing into the WWE's Ruthless Aggression mid-2003. It was also a shame to lose two big names before the game's release - Jeff Hardy was released and therefore cut from Raw 2 just months before release, and then Scott Hall who was released and cut a massive 16 months before the game's release, so nowhere near the final build.
And I suppose that this would be the last game before they "got the F out", correct?
Also, I've been picturing an idea for a video game called "WWE: Federated Past".
Wrestlemania XIX next or Day of Reckoning?
The beta version honestly looks better than the final.
The graphics, lighting, and crowd were upgraded for the final game
@Nick-we6xg it looked great at the time compared to Smackdown. It also looked much better than the first game. And the attire changes were due to late gimmick and attire changes they tried to bake in last-minute unlike 2K these days.
Holy shit Rey looks Awful
They disrespected RVD and Mysterio so badly 💀
really, but why?😅
RVD was okay. But Rey trademarks defeated him
That HBK Model looks extremely awful. One of the worst I've ever seen in a WWE game
I would kill to see all the hidden cutscenes from season mode that are rare to get through gameplay
This. Season was supposed to be much more
Man this game had so much potential and it looked awesome, shame it played like ass. They learnt nothing from the first Raw
Well they did but THQ demanded way too much. There was no time to complete the gameplay and AI because they basically had to add 300% more in modes and match types from the first game, AND they had to change the art style/graphics since Microsoft wanted them to show more power from the console. That's why the beta has the Raw 1 graphics. Anchor Inc. was a small ass studio who had done nothing but UFC. They were super talented but needed much more time and resources. They had to cut out blood and Xbox Live support, even after they had to delay the game twice.
you can still make Rey look close to how he's meant to look, there's another mask with a cross, and there's the falcon side parts for the mask. Scott Hall can be made plus many others. all the names are in there. Randy Savage, Ultimate Warrior, Hawk, Animal, heck Owen Hart, Jeff hardy. STING
Headless referees would've been a funny cheat code.😅
Imagine the beta version with way better gameplay. Would’ve been one of the best wrestling video games ever. XBOX got done so dirty
0:24 that’s a really cool one. I wonder if Christian would’ve had that mesh shirt as a secondary attire
surpringly he didnt had his singlet or mesh shirt as alternate attires
so wwe raw 2 started development when wwf raw was released? we could seen the wrestlemania 18 arena on xbox and pc
This was literally gonna have the invasion angel and everything better story mode all that once again some of the workers quit I remember seeing a rough draft of the trailer
so that's why the game felt rushed and empty compared to the trailers..
@@hiphopdagame yes this was one of the Xbox Exclusives we were pose to have blood as well
seems like it was after the Invasion cause on the roster you got Billy & Chuck by each other , D-Von (away from Bubba) by Batista (Reverend & Deacon) , The Un Americans by each other. Seems like this was suppose to be a around 2002 like Shut Your Mouth game
@@MASTER3371 you right
@@MASTER3371 true, this game was gonna be the same timeline as SYM, a shame that the game got delayed and they had to make an amalgam of a 2002/2003 roster
thats why the whole F.B.I is not on the game because as you said, billy and chuck were gonna be a tag team but then billy got injured and chuck was put in the F.B.I, this makes the game roster too weird
What the hell happened to Rey Mysterio they had him just about perfect in the beta he looks like a template created wrestler in the final version.
It must've been some legal thing or something (odd as WM XIX and HCTP didn't have this issue). His Portrait for the Character Selection is terribly photoshopped as well to make him look like a Blueberry. I remember you could restore some of his mask in the Creation Suite as you could edit the attires of In-Game Superstars in this game (you could also give him a mask that has a big opening in it and see his face surprisingly enough).
About Mysterio's mask? The pieces for it are in the game's final version. What happened was the devs didn't assign each piece by default. It goes to game's issue as a whole of not being completed on time
It had gotten delayed twice and still needed more time. If it had gotten one more year, it would've been a masterpiece. Anchor Inc. gets a TON of props for how much they added from the first game. It's just they were too small a studio. It's crazy they got fired as soon as the game went gold...THQ knew the final code wasn't complete. They were under too much pressure from Microsoft to release the game.
Nice finally my favorite WRESTLING Game I have been waiting on this for a long time!
I remember this game being damn-near unplayable.
Will their be a beta comparison video for WWF Attitude?
the rock beta attire was the same as smackdown shut your mouth, so wwe raw 2 originally was going to be from late 2001 to mid 2002
I doubt it because Raw one was released in 2002. I think it was just before they updated the models and attires.
@@83jdc1 it was released in february 2002, so they probably started development around that time
you can tell that it was going to be of that timeline because of like the rock entrance, it looks more like 2002 rock
@@kamiloalvarez5800 I'm saying they were likely just using that as a base. Attires and stuff a lot of the times are some of the last things updated.
@@83jdc1 and also during those early games, HCTP, WM 19 and Raw 2 had different attires for every character except for a few ones
This game had the bells and whistles (that entrance editor!) to be great, but my God, the gameplay was just awkward. Not WCW Thunder awful, but it just felt off. The walk cycles, the camera angle, the animations... but you wanted to like it.
I find myself going back to it every now and again and I'm never really sure why. Definitely has a charm, despite it's many flaws
Rey Mysterio's mask wasn't removed, it can still be made in creation suite. It's the entrance attire that was changed.
crazy that this game still has the best wrestling game entrances, all these years later
0:51 I love them both but with Mysterio's Blue attire those nike Football gloves should Blue & white....
this game was really good. a lot of good memories playing with friends. good times….
The cover is one of the best
Can you do a 3D through a table in the final version ?
Bruh, * Early 2002 NOT 2001 😒
How come they deleted the backstage area with Taker talking and will someone release the BETA version of Raw 2 one day? Cause the gameplay from trailer was better.
Game developers back then weren't even that smart you could have made it to unlock it these beta attire's
Was this on the same engine as DOR ?
It would have been an ok game had it’s hit detection worked and had blood
Has any playable early builds leaked???
No amount of dev time could have saved this crap slow gameplay game. They showed of new camera angle and better graphics just to bring same camera and put on oil on the wrestlers in final game
Well here's the problem: look at how many modes, features, and match types they added after the first game. And then like 12 new arenas, and an upgraded art style/graphics engine. It was unprecedented for a wrestling game at the time. That was the biggest criticism of the first game, so that was their priority. The dev time they needed after that was for the gameplay and AI, which THQ didn't give them. Anchor Inc. was a super small Japanese studio.
They got undercut so much. What company changes graphics AFTER a beta, well into development? That's why it got delayed the first of two times. Microsoft demanded more power from the Xbox.
Why do you think a ton of season mode content got cut (numerous cutscenes and those interview sets)? Blood got cut. Online play got cut. Backstage areas and crowd fighting (which they really wanted to do) got cut. Of course they had no time to complete the gameplay and AI. The demand was "more content, better graphics." They were faced with an impossible task and still did an amazing job with the amount of new stuff they actually added. Dude, they had so little in time and resources they had to cut off access up the ramp because they couldn't get to program all the arenas.
What the fuck is that final game Rey model? Why tf was that early Kurt model so outdated? Dudleys attire went from early 01 to late 01 and was still outdated. That beta Stacy Keibler would be from late 01 or early 02 not early 01.
Nice
Beta version looks much better
They butchered Rey
Bro downgraded💀💀
WORST HBK MODEL EVER!!!!!!!!
Fun Fact Scott Hall has never appeared any PS2 WWE Games in the 2000's
They would have been creative at least make Hall as a unlockable character or similar to Brock being only featured in Showcase Mode in 2K24.