It's funny that the title is WWE RAW, because it describes the kind of deal Xbox owners are getting with it.

It all seems promising enough as you are treated to a frantic opening video and heavy metal music blasting out. The presentation of this game is excellent, but unfortunately that's really its best feature. It does boast an impressive range of match modes and options though, so let's take a look. Exhibition mode is the quickest way to get into a match. From here you can choose a Single, Tag, Tornado, Triple Threat, Fatal 4 Way, Battle Royal or Handicap (2-on-1 or 3-on-1). All of the match rules can be set including its length, whether pinning, submission and disqualification are allowed and so on. There is also an amusing option where other wrestling stars can turn up during your match to interfere! But there is only one arena to play in and no options for cage, cell or ladder matches.

As well as Exhibition mode, there are other game features. You can play Title Match mode where you work your way up the wrestling ranks to win each of the six WWE titles available. In this mode there are extra wrestlers for you to unlock. There is also a fully customisable King of the Ring mode. Finally, there is an editor that allows you to create your own WWE Superstar or customise existing ones. There is a good variety, but it is not quite as flexible as other editors that I have seen. It does have some good extra features though, the amount of detail and variation you can put into the wrestler's costume is excellent, with extra features to unlock as you play. Also you can set up to four other wrestlers to be an ally or enemy, choose a voice and customise the entrance your wrestler makes. Finally, a wide range of moves can be chosen from.

But it doesn't matter how much choice you have unless the game is actually fun to play. And I'm sad to say that this one isn't very much fun. The control system is not that easy to get to grips with, mostly because the in-game controls seem sluggish and unresponsive. There isn't really that much variety to the moves you can perform and it's often hard to get your timing right with things like Irish whipping. There is plenty of freedom to the game, you can knock your opponent out of the ring or jump out yourself and find a weapon with which to assault him or her, but the problem is it's all very slow. The wrestlers just don't move at a realistic speed, especially with getting up the turnbuckle or bouncing off the ropes and charging their opponent, it looks as if it's in semi slow motion. The walking animation for almost every character is very stilted as well, there is no movement between the waist and hips making it look almost comical. However, the animation for most of the moves is very fluid and realistic, despite not quite seeming fast enough. There is a good amount of detail on the players too, although their bodies still look more like a collection of polygons than the real thing. The arena looks authentic but the audience is faceless and quite basic looking.

The entrances are pretty impressive and styled on the real thing, with each of the 48 wrestlers coming in with their own theme music blasting and video footage playing on the big screens. The Undertaker rides in on his Harley and impressive volleys of sparks fly when Kurt Angle enters the arena. However, the sound isn't anything special and the hectic in-game music very quickly becomes intrusive and irritating - I think you'll be switching that off fairly early into the game.

The winning system of the game is pretty basic - there is a meter at the bottom of the screen shared between each wrestler's colour. This represents the crowd's attitude towards the wrestlers and the more spectacular the moves you make, the more the crowd loves you. When the bar flashes you can make a finishing move on your opponent. There is also a stamina meter that is attached to each player in the ring itself, indicating how fit the player is. When the meter is down to empty, the player will be unable to move until it climbs back up again. This isn't a bad system, but those stamina meters are very intrusive and if you turn them off you have no way of knowing how much stamina each player has. They really should have been placed at either the top or the bottom of the screen.

WWE RAW is a technically faithful wrestling game, with plenty of game modes and customisable options. The graphics, animation and sound are all good, but surely not pushing the Xbox anywhere near to its limits and it fails to capture the essence of WWE, feeling outdated and sluggish to play. Best avoid this one until a real next-gen wrestler comes along.

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).