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I played the hell out of this game as a kid. Years later, my cousin and I played it after not playing it since we were kids. We were so excited to relive memories from our childhood with this game and about 15 minutes into playing it, we silently looked at the screen and then said, “I think this game kinda sucks” lol
Come to think of it, I grew up playing War Zone, Raw and Raw 2... Thankfully I felt redeemed with having WM2000 and No Mercy with my N64, but man the first 3 we no bueno. I was excited when I finally saved my allowance up for a nice PS2 and got to play all the smackdown games including SVR games. I'll take the PS2 Games and N64 games any day over the Xbox releases
Paused my 1am viewing of RoH as soon I saw the notification, man I pulled so many all nighters with my best mate on this game. The nostalgia is almost No Mercy level for me 🖤 Great retrospective as usual dude.
The game was called RAW 2:Ruthless Aggression and was marketed as such in ads and magazine previews and etc. It just never made it to the title screen and box art for whatever reason.
Dude I loved this game! My cousin and I would play it for hours just making custom characters and entrances. And being on the Xbox we loved using the music stored on it as their entrance themes! This game has so many memories for me. And the season mode was so deep it never got stale for us! Truly one of the best!
Well with 2k being in charge they try emulate whatever has been going on in the business for that year and we haven’t seen these on tv for quite some time.
Congrats on finally reaching 100k my friend. I've been here since your Smackdown games retrospective showed up in my rec feed not long after its initial release. Triangle, X, Squared O has since remained one of my favorite series on RUclips.
Best thing about RAW 2 were its graphics, the roster, using customized songs for entrances, and the fact there's 4 referees to choose from (Chioda, Patrick, White, Hebner). I enjoyed it for a while, way back then. 😊
As a child Raw 1 and Raw 2 and Wrestlemania 21 were the only wrestling games i had, i know they werent fantastic, but when you're a kid, youre just happy for anything, i still love them very much! Great video!
THANK YOU! My biggest memory of RAW 2 was playing as Undertaker in a big ladder match where all of my opponents jumped for the title and just hung there endlessly. No other RUclipsr's footage shows something similar. I knew I wasn't crazy.....at least not for that reason.
I LOVED RAW 2! My favorite games tho were as follows: WcW VS NWO: Revenge WrestleMania 2000 No Mercy I dudnt have a PlayStation at the time of the SmackDown games, I had an orignal Xbox and GameCube, so I had the following: WrestleMania 18 Day of Reckoning Day of Reckoning 2 My cousin had WrestleMania 19, and I played that, it was cool and all however it was NOTHING compared to the Day of Reckoning games. And I would Rent Raw 2 on original XBox, and I LOVED IT! And absolutely loved the Day of Reckoning games !!! I Was literally such a BEAST at the Day of Reckoning games, in the story mode there was a match against Rick Flair that was supposed to be Unwinnable, however i had gotten SO good, i could counter literally EVERY Move, Strikes, Grapples, Specials, etc, and i WON the match against Flair, however the following cutscene still showed as if i lost because it was supposed to be an "Unwinnable" match. I ended up playing the SmackDown games, Shut Your Mouth and Here Comes The Pain later on and those were really good as well! One of the reasons i really liked Raw 2 was because it had a whole bunch of stuff that the Nintendo Wrestling games didnt have, like the backstage things, like you could jump someone backstage, i think you could even play pranks or something, steal stuff from wrestlers, and it had a whole lot more interactive stuff that you couldn't do in any of the GameCube games, so it had more, it was different, it was just right, it was AWESOME!!! I had bought WrestleMania 21 but ended up having to take it back due to literally GAME BREAKING BUGS that made the game Literally Unplayable... 🫤😕😞😠😡🤬
I was also a PS2 kid. Had a Wii in high school so played GameCube titles then. Raw 2 was always my unicorn as I never had an XBOX and wanted to play it SO badly. Within the last year I played for the first time with lowered expectations. Had some fun but was thankful I grew up getting the Smackdown series each year lol. Well done as always!
Raw 2 was like a Vince McMahon bodybuilder pet project, looked great but couldn’t work. That being said, I did my damndest to enjoy this game as a teen obsessed with the business in this era. I got so much perverse pleasure out of the nonsensical season mode and would drop buckets on Big Show every single week for no reason at all 😂 I also constantly updated the wrestlers attires if they changed on TV. Have a problem like Christian not having wrist tape like in Here Comes the Pain? You can change that here. Shawn Michaels on the video you posted has no wrist tape in fact, so you better believe I fixed that ASAP.
Also, another sad thing, the first WWF/WWE game on all the 6th generation consoles were all pretty disappointing and underwhelming. Whether you had PS2, XBox, GameCube, or multiple or even all 3 consoles, you had no options except _WWF SmackDown!: Just Bring It_ for Playstation 2, _WWF WrestleMania x8_ (later changed to _WWE WrestleMania x8_ , as the lawsuit won by the World Wildlife Fund in May 2002 was decided in the pandas’ favor VERY late in its development or possibly even after the game had gone gold, as the first box covers used the WWF logo, not yet updated, but I digress...), and of course, _WWF RAW_ on XBox. And sadder still for XBox users, they got stuck with _WWE WrestleMania 21_ while PlayStation 2 and GameCube users got great sequels to their disappointing and underwhelming first outings, in the form of _WWE SmackDown!: Shut Your Mouth_ on PlayStation 2 and _WWE WrestleMania XIX_ . Truly an insane time of 4-5 years to be alive and a wrestling and WWE video games fan-and that doesn’t even include any handheld WWE video games or the wacky _WWE Crush Hour_ , which was in basically WWE’s _Twisted Metal_ clone.
It was originally called Raw 2: Ruthless Aggression and had a logo for it early on. And yea, the game was definitely underwhelming but it was widely publicized at the time that THQ rushed Anchor Inc. during development for both games. It's clear that one more full year of development (it already had many delays but resulted in all these additions you mentioned) would've provided the polish in AI and gameplay needed. Anchor was a super small studio and THQ did them no favors. I remember THQ fired Anchor as soon as it was announced Raw 2 "went gold" lol.
This was funny as hell. The voice overs had me crying 😂 AL-LIMINATED, John Cina. Hilarious! Loving the content as always. I have 1 unfortunate issue tho..... u spelled my name wrong 😢 u put junATO instead of junTAO.
It was for its time I agree. I played this game for hours. But honestly it has bad longevity. That's it. Like when it came out around tht time it was great. But there are so many better wrestling games. But also for its time had awesome graphics. And I loved the season mode but it got super repetitive 😂
I returned this game after playing it for a week. One of the worst Wrestling games ever made. IGN also gave it a high score and since that day I do not trust reviews. WWF No Mercy, WWE HCTP, Smackdown vs Raw are way better games.
You got me so much hyped for the GTA retrospective there man. I love video game retrospective and I love wrestling. Two of my favourite things in the whole world.
Just discovered your channel this weekend through your Mortal Kombat documentary, and I now can’t stop binging the content… from MK to WWE to RE it’s awesome! It’s great to hear someone talk about their childhood playing wrestling games, as that was literally my entire life as soon as high school finished, round a friends house for wcw Vs nwo revenge and no mercy!! Keep the great content coming! Love it!
Another top-notch review, Ian! It's nice to see that Anchor at least improved over the first game, and while neither of these is a must-buy, I like that there were options for Xbox gamers too. It seems from the other comments that a ton of people have really great memories of playing Raw 2, and ultimately that's what matters. I cannot wait to see the breakdown on Wrestlemania 21, and I'm over the moon that you've hit so many Patreon goals in so short a span of time!
Dude am glad I never played this lol happy to have had Smackdown HCTP brotha. Great work on this retrospective my dude👍 #ThanksForWhatYouDo #WeAreTheDanDans #MuchLove #616retrospective
At that time it was work, workout,Raw2 almost all day and a few hours of sleep,I logged so so many hours playing this game bc I didn't have a PS2 so this was the only game I had to release my ruthless aggression.
Oh man. Kinda breaks my heart seeing this game get torn apart like this LOL I get it, though. This game definitely had its problems, and not every game is for everybody, and that's fine. I, on the other hand, adored this game. I still have it and still play it once in a blue moon. For me, I enjoy all the many customization options it has to offer. Also, I enjoy the outlandish little one-of-a-kind extras like a 120+ character Hardcore Royal Rumble, and I love that you can time a maneuver right and exit the ring without being eliminated to take a breather amidst the chaos. The 20 Foot ladder was also amazing, and you can actually guarantee you'll pull it out from under the ring by giving your character a specific personality tweak under the Creation Suite's "Profile" option. The roster was incredible for its time (although I wish this had been the game of the two Raws that had Raven and Fred Durst), and to have the roster members actually be 1000% customizable was even better. Also, did you know the different referees each call your matches differently? For example, Nick Patrick counts super slow on pins and faster on ring outs, and Tim White counts pins SUPER fast. I also loved using the body morphing options in CAW to create a breathtakingly tiny character but with maxed out stats. Dude would come out during the Rumble and whoop everybody's ass and no one could touch him cause he was so small LOL. I think maybe one thing that swayed this game in my favor was that I never knew of or ever saw the reveal trailer, so I had nothing to be let down about, I suppose. Either way, another great review, Six!
Raw 2 is the final time John Layfield would be a playable character under the Bradshaw persona before he adopted the JBL persona. Speaking of the Bradshaw persona, the character would resurface in WWE 13 as part of the Attitude Era showcase mode as well as the JBL persona.
I had a PS2 and GameCube. My best friend had an XBox and his little sister had a GameCube. When this era of wrestling games came out, he stole his sister's GC to have a decent wrestling game to play because he was so jealous I had HCTP and all he had was this. 😂
I swear on everything I love I remember seeing RAW 2: Ruthless Aggression at Toys R US. I even remember thinking RAW 1 was called Wrestlemania X7 cause I saw the X7 arena I it
If we got a game with the roster and graphics of Raw 2, content of Shut Your Mouth, and the engine of Mania XIX, that would've been the ultimate wrestling game. It's a blessing and a curse that each game of each console was different at the time
Oh man I got an Xbox & RAW 2 Christmas 2003. I had so much fun playing this game by myself and with friends for the next few years. The customization in CAW mode, the cool entrance customizations and being able to put your own music in there….AMAZING. The gameplay was really limited which made the game easy to pick up and play for one of my friends that was more of a casual wrestling fan but it didn’t give too much of a challenge to us seasoned wrestling fans. The only real challenge was the AI kicking out of everything. I got to play the game again for the first time in almost a decade during quarantine back in 2020 and whew…horrible! 😂
This game was my childhood... I remember my brother and i were trying create imposter Kane but the game kept crashing but funny thing we always did was mimic the ref voice after years of playing it, now just me enjoying some nostalgia moments when playing RAW 2 here and there but sad part my mom said our church need 'borrow' our Xbox because youth group needed some games to play i never seen that Xbox ever again :( but glad i collect consoles and games to relieve my childhood once more
Man, I loved this game so much! I think the customization options helped that, along with local multiplayer. I remember creating Jason Voorhees and giving him custom pyro. Nostalgia is probably working overtime in this case though.
I remember loving the look of the game and even on the first one I would spend hours creating the most intricate entrances I could imagine lol the precision was something we would never experience in a wrestling game ever again
My love for Raw 2 was purely for the CAW features. Also no commentary made my dream feds way easier to "come to life". The AI was trash but it made it way more unpredictable and sillier for me watching.
The gameplay isn't very good but i always enjoyed the random fun things this game included. Like the season mode traps or the fact you could create a wrestler and give them weapons to use when they enter a royal rumble. That and the fact you can pick a referee.
My feelings on this game are severely coloured with rose tinted glasses as this was one of the wrestling games of my childhood, but in my opinion the GOAT creation suite, fantastic graphics for the time, and a really fun season mode
Dude, I specifically remember reading that WWE Raw review, and it successfully selling me on buying the game. I had been playing Revenge, Wrestlemania 2000, and No Mercy nonstop, so to hear that there was a 9.1 rated wrestling game coming to the Xbox hyped me the hell up. Boy was I disappointed lol. I ended up buying Raw 2 as well, cus I was a dumb highschooler who just wanted that next amazing wrestling game, and it also disappointed. As terrible as those games were, it's still nice to watch these to get hit with some nostalgia. Keep up the good work!
Definitely a game where I can see why some people hate and some people love. I remember me and my brother absorbing the career mode, but also getting frustrated. The straw that broke the camel's back - which I'm surprised you never mentioned - was the glut of interferences and how the person running in could somehow win a title match.
i feel like the career mode didn't get enough love here. the career mode was like a hybrid of GM and career. because they didn't deliver on a linear story, it was up to you to create your narrative. and there is no end to the career mode. i think in mine, i has like 15 years done. but how you can manipulate what happens with other wrestlers. being able to play the other matches on the card.. being able to hold really any title you want and being able to be a simultaneous champion. the shining part was definitely the customization. i was able to create CAW of current wrestlers of the time and use their themes. i can update current superstars themes as well. The roster was stacked too. AI lacked severely and less polished gameplay. but the graphics were good. 6 out 10 at best.
I remember really loving the fact that you could interupt a wrestler executing a move on another wrestler. Other games that I remember from that age had wrestlers execute and finish a move once it was inputed and the third man just stood their punching air until the animation was finished.
@@pafoneto1275 it was only bad in multi man matches and when I am trying to hit my finisher to finish the match, the others keep interrupting. On the flip side, it's great when I'm getting hit with a finisher and someone saves me. I would say it's more good than bad and more realistic. Unlike the Smackdown games where I have to watch the finisher, I can't do anything about it.
@@EmmettXIV Oh, one wrestler interrupting a finisher because he doesn't want to lose... When that happened before... Surely never in wrestling history... Is not a bad thing, it is just part of the game and is good that it was there.
When me & my buddies in college were having battles on Here Comes the Pain on a weekly basis. The friend with the XBox tried to switch us to Raw 2, only thing we were impressed with was the ability to add custom music. A full generation ahead of Playstation
This game was definitely flawed, but I loved the custom soundtracks, for updating Wrestlers. You were able to edit the Superstars to keep them up to date 👍 And I really enjoyed the Season Mode. It wasn't the best, but being able to edit everybody, and just go card to card.
Happy you are getting to some of your goals!! Hoping I can contribute soon. What I know most of RAW2 is that single player mode which seems fun on the outside looking in, but I could see how it could get boring. Only so many different combinations of things you could do there. These games are just so odd from the announcer to the movement... it proves they weren't ready for the more realistic models to be able to match up with gameplay like it does in the trailers.
@@lordeowsthekingRight. It’s not a ton, but for better or worse, it’s the best experience possible on original XBox with a WWE game without mods or whatever to fix any of the 3 titles up.
Dude I'm so happy you got some more support over on paetron, if I wasn't a recently divorced broke boy I'd be right there backing you up dude. Glad to see fellow Dan Dan's standing up, my boy no taxes Nigel is also gonna run it back for the repeat 😂
I loved this game way more than i should, i used to play it alot at my Dads house on his weekends with us. This one i would get lost in the creatuion suite and its season mode for hours. It was until years later that I realized it was not that good of a game.
I got this game for Christmas in 2003. I lost my first two or three matches and then went on an undefeated streak with Kevin Nash. They couldn’t beat me anymore 😂 I can’t tell you how many HOURS I put into this game because of Season Mode and how ridiculous and hilarious it is.
I understand where you're coming from when it comes to your complaints regarding the game, but I still really love this game. It's certainly not without flaws, but it's still a lot of fun. I had a barrel of fun with this game when it first got released and I pretty much played it nonstop. Yes, the Season Mode doesn't have any kind of story to it, but it was still a lot of fun to mess around with and was pretty deep and can be played with up to 4 players. And the roster is also really big as well. Raw 2 is definitely a game I enjoy playing just as much as WWF No Mercy and Smackdown Here Comes the Pain
I bought this game in 2012 and I was excited to play this game on my Xbox 360! The graphics still look good 👍🏻. I just wish it gave you a chance to have title matches.
Loved this one. For some reason, the huge buildup to finding the 20 foot ladder, and then the clip of Lita moonsaulting straight to the mat made me laugh really hard. This game would have been one where, if I got it, I would have tried to justify that it was actually really fun in my own head, because I wouldn’t have wanted to admit that it just wasn’t good. Which sucks because the CAW and custom entrances look awesome. Great video, sorry you got grounded when you went to your friend’s house that day haha
I grew up poor and spent the money I was gifted for Christmas on this game. $100 AU in December of 2003. Custom soundtracks and general customization was pretty good, but the gameplay is complete ass. I'd just play HCTP when I actually wanted to play matches in exhibition and go back to RAW 2 every now and then.
Hahahaha it's alright. I still have heat about it but it is what it is. Dude I tried for so long to get a good clip using the 20 footer and this game is so terrible, nothing was good. So, forget it, Lita moonsaulting nothing is the best I got.
We had RAW 2 back in 03, we also had Smackdown HCTP that year. RAW 2 got completely overshadowed by HCTP in our house. Me and my brothers spent hours on that rather than RAW 2, so i don't have much memory of this game since we barely touched it. But, I remember the improvements from RAW 1. I would definitely revisit this game to see what i missed.
Lmao! That story of getting grounded was great! Ur such a down to earth dude & i luv it. Just outta curiosity which one was it ur mom or dad that answered the phone & yell at ya? P.s. i love your stories about your life friends & family...i rewatch your history of's often & the part towards the end of mk history about your dad brings tears to my eyes EVERY! SINGLE! TIME! as i lost my dad when I was 12. Anyway u da man ian, keep doing u brother.
I remember being a focus group tester for Sony & Sega in the Bay Area a lifetime ago. I would play terrible games that had AI like this. Or where you knew they had put in effert to not get it right. The thing is, though, because we would be getting paid upwards of $150 for 90 minutes of our time, WHILE getting free pizza, it seemed like people would always blow smoke up the devs asses, saying the games were great. It seemed like I got a lot of clunkers, save for Jak3 (Jak & Daxter 3) & the rumored Single player Halo that they scrapped.
I don't know if it was just me but when I was a kid I found a bug in Wrestlemania 21 where if you have a game with all CAWs the game will be stuck on the loading screen forever. I haven't seen anybody else talk about this so maybe it was just me but I remember it happening for even just a 1v1. Maybe give it a try
Great retrospective as always! I'm going to have to track this one down at some point. You did an awesome job explaining the whole patron thing as it can be confusing. Looking forward to all of the unlocks indeed! 💪🙌🔥
Quick Question: I've been trying to figure out which kind of the original XBox consoles would except burned discs. I've been trying to put some music on the 1 I own but I can't. I had 1 t gave to my little brother that does. In short, there were different types of XBox consoles made where some except burned CDs & others don't. Did you ever use burned CD music on yours? If so, do you know why it works?
Sorry, I won't be able to help you over on patreon (personal issues), but please keep the videos coming. Love it! As asked before, I really hope you get to MGS!
I made the Incredible Hulk on this game and in the other attire slot I made regular Bruce Banner so Bruce was who you saw in a back stage fmv but The Hulk came out to wrestle.
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I love your videos you done your homework keep it up bro!!! 😎
I played the hell out of this game as a kid. Years later, my cousin and I played it after not playing it since we were kids. We were so excited to relive memories from our childhood with this game and about 15 minutes into playing it, we silently looked at the screen and then said, “I think this game kinda sucks” lol
Hahahhahha
Come to think of it, I grew up playing War Zone, Raw and Raw 2... Thankfully I felt redeemed with having WM2000 and No Mercy with my N64, but man the first 3 we no bueno. I was excited when I finally saved my allowance up for a nice PS2 and got to play all the smackdown games including SVR games. I'll take the PS2 Games and N64 games any day over the Xbox releases
Plain and simple, I love this channel.
Keep up the exceptional work, Ian. You're awesome.
Paused my 1am viewing of RoH as soon I saw the notification, man I pulled so many all nighters with my best mate on this game. The nostalgia is almost No Mercy level for me 🖤 Great retrospective as usual dude.
The game was called RAW 2:Ruthless Aggression and was marketed as such in ads and magazine previews and etc. It just never made it to the title screen and box art for whatever reason.
Dude I loved this game! My cousin and I would play it for hours just making custom characters and entrances. And being on the Xbox we loved using the music stored on it as their entrance themes! This game has so many memories for me. And the season mode was so deep it never got stale for us! Truly one of the best!
i never play the game because i had a ps2 which i missed out i wanted to play it so but i didn't have an xbox
It's trash
@thomaspayne2859 Same here but tbh the Raw games are trash Smackdown was miles better.
@@thomaspayne2859I had both Smackdown was better
I really like those "VS" screen animations.
Can we get those back in modern games and modern shows too!
AEW Fight Forever has a pretty sweet vs. screen.
The Royal Rumble screens that showed all 30 participants need to come back, too.
Well with 2k being in charge they try emulate whatever has been going on in the business for that year and we haven’t seen these on tv for quite some time.
One of those games where the gameplay was rough at best but it had fantastic customization.
Raw was good but raw 2 was the best
Love the creation suite in RAW 2.
its gameplay was elite
@@ryanarnold4410 did we play the same game?
@@AdrianM865
Let him cooc. He is delusional.
Congrats on finally reaching 100k my friend. I've been here since your Smackdown games retrospective showed up in my rec feed not long after its initial release. Triangle, X, Squared O has since remained one of my favorite series on RUclips.
Best thing about RAW 2 were its graphics, the roster, using customized songs for entrances, and the fact there's 4 referees to choose from (Chioda, Patrick, White, Hebner). I enjoyed it for a while, way back then. 😊
My favorite part is when you attack
Bishoff in the ring.😂
You could make a midget stable.😂
Guys we all know it's the boxes you drop on people's head 😋
Literally everything about the game is great except the gameplay lmao
@@KiddsWorldEntertainment someone
Needs to mod or hack this game.
Like add blood,you can't get out the
Ring during the royal rumble etc
As a child Raw 1 and Raw 2 and Wrestlemania 21 were the only wrestling games i had, i know they werent fantastic, but when you're a kid, youre just happy for anything, i still love them very much! Great video!
Absolutely. Good memories!
@@616Entertainment I can't wait to see your video on Wrestlemania 21
THANK YOU! My biggest memory of RAW 2 was playing as Undertaker in a big ladder match where all of my opponents jumped for the title and just hung there endlessly. No other RUclipsr's footage shows something similar. I knew I wasn't crazy.....at least not for that reason.
Your channel is the perfect way to end the night or start the day you make me miss older wrestling so much it hurts
I LOVED RAW 2!
My favorite games tho were as follows:
WcW VS NWO: Revenge
WrestleMania 2000
No Mercy
I dudnt have a PlayStation at the time of the SmackDown games, I had an orignal Xbox and GameCube, so I had the following:
WrestleMania 18
Day of Reckoning
Day of Reckoning 2
My cousin had WrestleMania 19, and I played that, it was cool and all however it was NOTHING compared to the Day of Reckoning games.
And I would Rent Raw 2 on original XBox, and I LOVED IT!
And absolutely loved the Day of Reckoning games !!!
I Was literally such a BEAST at the Day of Reckoning games, in the story mode there was a match against Rick Flair that was supposed to be Unwinnable, however i had gotten SO good, i could counter literally EVERY Move, Strikes, Grapples, Specials, etc, and i WON the match against Flair, however the following cutscene still showed as if i lost because it was supposed to be an "Unwinnable" match.
I ended up playing the SmackDown games, Shut Your Mouth and Here Comes The Pain later on and those were really good as well!
One of the reasons i really liked Raw 2 was because it had a whole bunch of stuff that the Nintendo Wrestling games didnt have, like the backstage things, like you could jump someone backstage, i think you could even play pranks or something, steal stuff from wrestlers, and it had a whole lot more interactive stuff that you couldn't do in any of the GameCube games, so it had more, it was different, it was just right, it was AWESOME!!!
I had bought WrestleMania 21 but ended up having to take it back due to literally GAME BREAKING BUGS that made the game Literally Unplayable... 🫤😕😞😠😡🤬
I was also a PS2 kid. Had a Wii in high school so played GameCube titles then. Raw 2 was always my unicorn as I never had an XBOX and wanted to play it SO badly. Within the last year I played for the first time with lowered expectations. Had some fun but was thankful I grew up getting the Smackdown series each year lol. Well done as always!
Just wait for WM21... WM21 makes RAW 2 look like HCTP.
My friend and I had lots of fun playing this game when we was kids. The Royal Rumble matches was always fun to do. Great work as always man.
Raw 2 was like a Vince McMahon bodybuilder pet project, looked great but couldn’t work. That being said, I did my damndest to enjoy this game as a teen obsessed with the business in this era. I got so much perverse pleasure out of the nonsensical season mode and would drop buckets on Big Show every single week for no reason at all 😂 I also constantly updated the wrestlers attires if they changed on TV. Have a problem like Christian not having wrist tape like in Here Comes the Pain? You can change that here. Shawn Michaels on the video you posted has no wrist tape in fact, so you better believe I fixed that ASAP.
It’s so sad that this was as good as WWE games got on the original XBox.
Also, another sad thing, the first WWF/WWE game on all the 6th generation consoles were all pretty disappointing and underwhelming. Whether you had PS2, XBox, GameCube, or multiple or even all 3 consoles, you had no options except _WWF SmackDown!: Just Bring It_ for Playstation 2, _WWF WrestleMania x8_ (later changed to _WWE WrestleMania x8_ , as the lawsuit won by the World Wildlife Fund in May 2002 was decided in the pandas’ favor VERY late in its development or possibly even after the game had gone gold, as the first box covers used the WWF logo, not yet updated, but I digress...), and of course, _WWF RAW_ on XBox. And sadder still for XBox users, they got stuck with _WWE WrestleMania 21_ while PlayStation 2 and GameCube users got great sequels to their disappointing and underwhelming first outings, in the form of _WWE SmackDown!: Shut Your Mouth_ on PlayStation 2 and _WWE WrestleMania XIX_ . Truly an insane time of 4-5 years to be alive and a wrestling and WWE video games fan-and that doesn’t even include any handheld WWE video games or the wacky _WWE Crush Hour_ , which was in basically WWE’s _Twisted Metal_ clone.
It was originally called Raw 2: Ruthless Aggression and had a logo for it early on. And yea, the game was definitely underwhelming but it was widely publicized at the time that THQ rushed Anchor Inc. during development for both games. It's clear that one more full year of development (it already had many delays but resulted in all these additions you mentioned) would've provided the polish in AI and gameplay needed. Anchor was a super small studio and THQ did them no favors. I remember THQ fired Anchor as soon as it was announced Raw 2 "went gold" lol.
Would love to see some proof of the Ruthless Aggression logo/signage. People are bringing this up and no one has provided an example.
I never got to play the RAW games but thank God I missed out!
I am so proud of you and your growth on this channel. I've been watching since like I'd say 2017-18 or so and I love all of your videos.
This was funny as hell. The voice overs had me crying 😂 AL-LIMINATED, John Cina. Hilarious! Loving the content as always. I have 1 unfortunate issue tho..... u spelled my name wrong 😢 u put junATO instead of junTAO.
Playing Raw 2 was like going back to an abusive parent hoping that they would change for the better after you've been away for a year
Hahahaha
RAW 2 was awesome. A vast improvement over the first game, and the single player career/season mode was awesome.
It was for its time I agree. I played this game for hours. But honestly it has bad longevity. That's it. Like when it came out around tht time it was great. But there are so many better wrestling games. But also for its time had awesome graphics. And I loved the season mode but it got super repetitive 😂
What was awesome about the lackluster career mode?
I returned this game after playing it for a week. One of the worst Wrestling games ever made. IGN also gave it a high score and since that day I do not trust reviews.
WWF No Mercy, WWE HCTP, Smackdown vs Raw are way better games.
My midget girl defeated undertaker.
Let that sink in?
I like when you call a wrestler out
For a match.
Sometimes they'll show or won't
Shoe at all or someone else comes
out accepting your challenge.
You got me so much hyped for the GTA retrospective there man. I love video game retrospective and I love wrestling. Two of my favourite things in the whole world.
That pinfall count was so slow I was expecting The Rock to say “It doesn’t matter if The Rock counts to 3!”
Just discovered your channel this weekend through your Mortal Kombat documentary, and I now can’t stop binging the content… from MK to WWE to RE it’s awesome! It’s great to hear someone talk about their childhood playing wrestling games, as that was literally my entire life as soon as high school finished, round a friends house for wcw Vs nwo revenge and no mercy!!
Keep the great content coming! Love it!
Another top-notch review, Ian! It's nice to see that Anchor at least improved over the first game, and while neither of these is a must-buy, I like that there were options for Xbox gamers too. It seems from the other comments that a ton of people have really great memories of playing Raw 2, and ultimately that's what matters. I cannot wait to see the breakdown on Wrestlemania 21, and I'm over the moon that you've hit so many Patreon goals in so short a span of time!
Dude am glad I never played this lol happy to have had Smackdown HCTP brotha. Great work on this retrospective my dude👍
#ThanksForWhatYouDo
#WeAreTheDanDans
#MuchLove
#616retrospective
My fave part of raw 2 was being able to exit the ring in a royal rumble match. Pretty sure it's the only wwe game to this day to allow that
At that time it was work, workout,Raw2 almost all day and a few hours of sleep,I logged so so many hours playing this game bc I didn't have a PS2 so this was the only game I had to release my ruthless aggression.
Oh man. Kinda breaks my heart seeing this game get torn apart like this LOL
I get it, though. This game definitely had its problems, and not every game is for everybody, and that's fine. I, on the other hand, adored this game. I still have it and still play it once in a blue moon. For me, I enjoy all the many customization options it has to offer. Also, I enjoy the outlandish little one-of-a-kind extras like a 120+ character Hardcore Royal Rumble, and I love that you can time a maneuver right and exit the ring without being eliminated to take a breather amidst the chaos. The 20 Foot ladder was also amazing, and you can actually guarantee you'll pull it out from under the ring by giving your character a specific personality tweak under the Creation Suite's "Profile" option. The roster was incredible for its time (although I wish this had been the game of the two Raws that had Raven and Fred Durst), and to have the roster members actually be 1000% customizable was even better. Also, did you know the different referees each call your matches differently? For example, Nick Patrick counts super slow on pins and faster on ring outs, and Tim White counts pins SUPER fast. I also loved using the body morphing options in CAW to create a breathtakingly tiny character but with maxed out stats. Dude would come out during the Rumble and whoop everybody's ass and no one could touch him cause he was so small LOL. I think maybe one thing that swayed this game in my favor was that I never knew of or ever saw the reveal trailer, so I had nothing to be let down about, I suppose. Either way, another great review, Six!
Raw 2 is the final time John Layfield would be a playable character under the Bradshaw persona before he adopted the JBL persona. Speaking of the Bradshaw persona, the character would resurface in WWE 13 as part of the Attitude Era showcase mode as well as the JBL persona.
I had a PS2 and GameCube. My best friend had an XBox and his little sister had a GameCube. When this era of wrestling games came out, he stole his sister's GC to have a decent wrestling game to play because he was so jealous I had HCTP and all he had was this. 😂
I swear on everything I love I remember seeing RAW 2: Ruthless Aggression at Toys R US. I even remember thinking RAW 1 was called Wrestlemania X7 cause I saw the X7 arena I it
If we got a game with the roster and graphics of Raw 2, content of Shut Your Mouth, and the engine of Mania XIX, that would've been the ultimate wrestling game. It's a blessing and a curse that each game of each console was different at the time
What is the difference between XIX and the DOR games that makes you decide the xix engine?
@Alan-yw8dt It's the same engine essentially
The raw announcer sounds like the announcer that was in the Pride fighting championships game anchor also made
All you need to know about this game: Jazz beat Triple H in Hell in a Cell, and it was completely believable
lita beat brock lesnar for the wwe champuonship on my playthrough haha
Oh man I got an Xbox & RAW 2 Christmas 2003. I had so much fun playing this game by myself and with friends for the next few years. The customization in CAW mode, the cool entrance customizations and being able to put your own music in there….AMAZING. The gameplay was really limited which made the game easy to pick up and play for one of my friends that was more of a casual wrestling fan but it didn’t give too much of a challenge to us seasoned wrestling fans. The only real challenge was the AI kicking out of everything. I got to play the game again for the first time in almost a decade during quarantine back in 2020 and whew…horrible! 😂
Hahahahahaha. At least the memories are there!
Loved the line lets not forget great story lines such as... n nothing i guess we forgot
Loved loved this game one of my last memories with my uncle playing this on xbox treasured memory and great time too still for wwe
This game was my childhood... I remember my brother and i were trying create imposter Kane but the game kept crashing but funny thing we always did was mimic the ref voice after years of playing it, now just me enjoying some nostalgia moments when playing RAW 2 here and there but sad part my mom said our church need 'borrow' our Xbox because youth group needed some games to play i never seen that Xbox ever again :( but glad i collect consoles and games to relieve my childhood once more
Eeeeelliminated
Man, I loved this game so much! I think the customization options helped that, along with local multiplayer. I remember creating Jason Voorhees and giving him custom pyro. Nostalgia is probably working overtime in this case though.
Ahh now THIS is the one with the custom soundtracks 👌
I always hated how loud the "ELIMINATED" was in the Royal Rumble match 😂
at one point Steph McMahon won the wwe title from hulk hogan that’s when I stopped playing
on my season mode lita beat brock lesnar for the wwe championship belt lol
Only WWE game where you can have 100 man royal rumble I loved it
WWF No Mercy!
I remember loving the look of the game and even on the first one I would spend hours creating the most intricate entrances I could imagine lol the precision was something we would never experience in a wrestling game ever again
My love for Raw 2 was purely for the CAW features. Also no commentary made my dream feds way easier to "come to life". The AI was trash but it made it way more unpredictable and sillier for me watching.
The gameplay isn't very good but i always enjoyed the random fun things this game included. Like the season mode traps or the fact you could create a wrestler and give them weapons to use when they enter a royal rumble. That and the fact you can pick a referee.
I’m happy to see another retrospective review especially on a Friday! Thank you Ian! ❤👍🏻😎😁
My feelings on this game are severely coloured with rose tinted glasses as this was one of the wrestling games of my childhood, but in my opinion the GOAT creation suite, fantastic graphics for the time, and a really fun season mode
Dude, I specifically remember reading that WWE Raw review, and it successfully selling me on buying the game. I had been playing Revenge, Wrestlemania 2000, and No Mercy nonstop, so to hear that there was a 9.1 rated wrestling game coming to the Xbox hyped me the hell up. Boy was I disappointed lol. I ended up buying Raw 2 as well, cus I was a dumb highschooler who just wanted that next amazing wrestling game, and it also disappointed. As terrible as those games were, it's still nice to watch these to get hit with some nostalgia. Keep up the good work!
Definitely a game where I can see why some people hate and some people love. I remember me and my brother absorbing the career mode, but also getting frustrated. The straw that broke the camel's back - which I'm surprised you never mentioned - was the glut of interferences and how the person running in could somehow win a title match.
i feel like the career mode didn't get enough love here. the career mode was like a hybrid of GM and career. because they didn't deliver on a linear story, it was up to you to create your narrative. and there is no end to the career mode. i think in mine, i has like 15 years done. but how you can manipulate what happens with other wrestlers. being able to play the other matches on the card.. being able to hold really any title you want and being able to be a simultaneous champion. the shining part was definitely the customization. i was able to create CAW of current wrestlers of the time and use their themes. i can update current superstars themes as well. The roster was stacked too. AI lacked severely and less polished gameplay. but the graphics were good. 6 out 10 at best.
Lmao When He Talked About Cena Then Santino Popped Up & The Refs Definitely Was On That Foolishness 🤣
IDK Why this channel only has 100K subscribers. Good shit Ian!
“Wun… Tew… three… peen fow” 😂😂
I remember really loving the fact that you could interupt a wrestler executing a move on another wrestler.
Other games that I remember from that age had wrestlers execute and finish a move once it was inputed and the third man just stood their punching air until the animation was finished.
The GameCube games allowed that too. It was pandemonium, it was good and bad.
@@EmmettXIV
Mostly it was good, I mean, that is what happens in real life, saying this is bad would be like saying injuries in sport games are bad.
@@pafoneto1275 it was only bad in multi man matches and when I am trying to hit my finisher to finish the match, the others keep interrupting. On the flip side, it's great when I'm getting hit with a finisher and someone saves me. I would say it's more good than bad and more realistic. Unlike the Smackdown games where I have to watch the finisher, I can't do anything about it.
@@EmmettXIV
Oh, one wrestler interrupting a finisher because he doesn't want to lose... When that happened before... Surely never in wrestling history...
Is not a bad thing, it is just part of the game and is good that it was there.
Season mode was fun u can set attacks it’s fun when u have brothers to play with
When me & my buddies in college were having battles on Here Comes the Pain on a weekly basis. The friend with the XBox tried to switch us to Raw 2, only thing we were impressed with was the ability to add custom music. A full generation ahead of Playstation
15:00 used to piss me off so bad I just always skipped Cena’s entrance 😭
This game was definitely flawed, but I loved the custom soundtracks, for updating Wrestlers. You were able to edit the Superstars to keep them up to date 👍
And I really enjoyed the Season Mode. It wasn't the best, but being able to edit everybody, and just go card to card.
Not to mention unlocking their
Titantron videos an attires.
Also if you make more points the
Menu screen turns blue for smackdown.
Nobody mentions it.
Happy you are getting to some of your goals!! Hoping I can contribute soon.
What I know most of RAW2 is that single player mode which seems fun on the outside looking in, but I could see how it could get boring. Only so many different combinations of things you could do there. These games are just so odd from the announcer to the movement... it proves they weren't ready for the more realistic models to be able to match up with gameplay like it does in the trailers.
Raw 2 had VERY good graphics….that’s it.
Compared to the first game RAW is a decent game. Has a ton of gimmick matches and s good roster.
Nope, it had a story mode with creative ideas, a REALLY cool create a entrance, a quality create a wrestler
I put over 100 hrs in this game. It def had A lot going for it back then.
Methinks OP has confused _WWE WrestleMania 21_ for _WWE RAW 2_ . *#DERP*
@@lordeowsthekingRight. It’s not a ton, but for better or worse, it’s the best experience possible on original XBox with a WWE game without mods or whatever to fix any of the 3 titles up.
Loved this game growing up me and my cousin would always set traps for goldust lol
Having a flashback to the year 2000 when Austin almost got crushed by a steel crate. Them things are deadly.
Wish I could go back and play this game, because I remember loving it. Maybe its just nostalgia.
Dude I'm so happy you got some more support over on paetron, if I wasn't a recently divorced broke boy I'd be right there backing you up dude. Glad to see fellow Dan Dan's standing up, my boy no taxes Nigel is also gonna run it back for the repeat 😂
I loved this game way more than i should, i used to play it alot at my Dads house on his weekends with us. This one i would get lost in the creatuion suite and its season mode for hours. It was until years later that I realized it was not that good of a game.
On a Friday? OH helllll YEAHH!!
I got this game for Christmas in 2003. I lost my first two or three matches and then went on an undefeated streak with Kevin Nash. They couldn’t beat me anymore 😂 I can’t tell you how many HOURS I put into this game because of Season Mode and how ridiculous and hilarious it is.
I understand where you're coming from when it comes to your complaints regarding the game, but I still really love this game. It's certainly not without flaws, but it's still a lot of fun. I had a barrel of fun with this game when it first got released and I pretty much played it nonstop. Yes, the Season Mode doesn't have any kind of story to it, but it was still a lot of fun to mess around with and was pretty deep and can be played with up to 4 players. And the roster is also really big as well. Raw 2 is definitely a game I enjoy playing just as much as WWF No Mercy and Smackdown Here Comes the Pain
17:06 That is my favorite HIM song of all time! You have exquisite taste!
Damn bro. Congrats on unlocking so many of those tiers so quickly. I'm excited for your videos but its cool to see your channel growing.
I love watching reviews for games from the 2000s even though I’ve never played any of them.
I bought this game in 2012 and I was excited to play this game on my Xbox 360! The graphics still look good 👍🏻. I just wish it gave you a chance to have title matches.
Thank you for all you have done for this community Ian.....🎉
Word another gm showdown 🙏🏽
Loved this one. For some reason, the huge buildup to finding the 20 foot ladder, and then the clip of Lita moonsaulting straight to the mat made me laugh really hard.
This game would have been one where, if I got it, I would have tried to justify that it was actually really fun in my own head, because I wouldn’t have wanted to admit that it just wasn’t good. Which sucks because the CAW and custom entrances look awesome.
Great video, sorry you got grounded when you went to your friend’s house that day haha
I grew up poor and spent the money I was gifted for Christmas on this game. $100 AU in December of 2003. Custom soundtracks and general customization was pretty good, but the gameplay is complete ass. I'd just play HCTP when I actually wanted to play matches in exhibition and go back to RAW 2 every now and then.
Hahahaha it's alright. I still have heat about it but it is what it is. Dude I tried for so long to get a good clip using the 20 footer and this game is so terrible, nothing was good. So, forget it, Lita moonsaulting nothing is the best I got.
How could you not like the super ninja headbutt!!! That move is legendary!!!😅
The story about getting grounded i can relate to 😂😂
We had RAW 2 back in 03, we also had Smackdown HCTP that year. RAW 2 got completely overshadowed by HCTP in our house. Me and my brothers spent hours on that rather than RAW 2, so i don't have much memory of this game since we barely touched it. But, I remember the improvements from RAW 1. I would definitely revisit this game to see what i missed.
The ref voice sounds like the "HEY ABBOTT!" guy from Robin Hood Men In Tights 😂
Lmao! That story of getting grounded was great! Ur such a down to earth dude & i luv it. Just outta curiosity which one was it ur mom or dad that answered the phone & yell at ya?
P.s. i love your stories about your life friends & family...i rewatch your history of's often & the part towards the end of mk history about your dad brings tears to my eyes EVERY! SINGLE! TIME! as i lost my dad when I was 12. Anyway u da man ian, keep doing u brother.
Thanks man. I don't remember, honestly. But when I got home they were in agreement that I was in the wrong so it doesn't matter who answered, lol
I remember being a focus group tester for Sony & Sega in the Bay Area a lifetime ago. I would play terrible games that had AI like this. Or where you knew they had put in effert to not get it right. The thing is, though, because we would be getting paid upwards of $150 for 90 minutes of our time, WHILE getting free pizza, it seemed like people would always blow smoke up the devs asses, saying the games were great.
It seemed like I got a lot of clunkers, save for Jak3 (Jak & Daxter 3) & the rumored Single player Halo that they scrapped.
Raw 2 was my 3rd favorite wrestling game
I don't know if it was just me but when I was a kid I found a bug in Wrestlemania 21 where if you have a game with all CAWs the game will be stuck on the loading screen forever. I haven't seen anybody else talk about this so maybe it was just me but I remember it happening for even just a 1v1. Maybe give it a try
I can’t wait for the Wrestlemania 21 retrospective, so many memories with that game. Let’s do this, Dandan!!
I liked the multi-player season along with the way season worked, the entrance system, and the customization
Thank you for review! I have played first WWF Raw, but on PC, never played WWE Raw 2.
Great retrospective as always! I'm going to have to track this one down at some point. You did an awesome job explaining the whole patron thing as it can be confusing. Looking forward to all of the unlocks indeed!
💪🙌🔥
Thanks man. Good stuff coming!
Best thing about Raw 2... CUSTOM MUSIC!!!!! Bring it back!!
I agree, man.
idk 11:47 is pretty accurate since D-Von is scared of heights irl 🤣🤣
Quick Question: I've been trying to figure out which kind of the original XBox consoles would except burned discs. I've been trying to put some music on the 1 I own but I can't. I had 1 t gave to my little brother that does.
In short, there were different types of XBox consoles made where some except burned CDs & others don't. Did you ever use burned CD music on yours? If so, do you know why it works?
Fell off for a minute there on your channel bro.
I liked Raw 2 when I was younger and had it. I liked the Carrer mode I could play with my buddies
Watch whenever you want to, my dude.
Sorry, I won't be able to help you over on patreon (personal issues), but please keep the videos coming. Love it!
As asked before, I really hope you get to MGS!
I made the Incredible Hulk on this game and in the other attire slot I made regular Bruce Banner so Bruce was who you saw in a back stage fmv but The Hulk came out to wrestle.
😂😂😂 Thats actually awesome!
Love this channel. It's awesome work as always