It's taken almost a year but Anchors sequel to last years Raw is finally here. While their first effort had some good points, overall it was a bit of a disappointment so fans had to put up with it or look elsewhere for their grappling gaming fix.

Because of that reason wrestling fans have been waiting for Raw 2 basically since the day Raw 1 was released and with the limited media released by the developers and THQ, anticipation has been extremely high to say the least. I admit to being guilty of underestimating how much people were looking forward to this title, and one small mention that we had review code and our forums were abuzz with hundreds of new members all signing up in one day just to ask questions about it!

Raw 2 comes fully packed with features. The standard 'exhibition' mode is there as well as 'quick match' for those wanting to jump straight into the ring. The Royal Rumble and King of the Ring are there too and the matches can take the form of standard 1 on 1 matches, tag matches, 1 versus 3, 2 versus 3, Hell in a Cell, Cage matches, Tornado matches as well as Hardcore and Street Fights. The high number of available match types is excellent and offers plenty of variety. When starting a match you can also select the amount of time, turn count outs on or off and select the venue (raw, smackdown and PPV stadiums as they are unlocked). You can also pick the referee and turn interference on or off. Anchor really seems to have everything covered this year so WWE fans should be pretty happy with the huge selection on offer.

The best new addition is the 'season' mode. This lets you pick an existing WWE Superstar or import your own created wrestler from the sublime CAS (Create a Superstar mode, more on this later). You participate over the course of a year through Raw and Smackdown events as well as the Pay per Views such as No Way out, Armageddon, Unforgiven (to name a few) all the way to the pinnacle event, Wrestlemania. During each event you get to look through the matches on offer and check out who you have to fight. At each match you then have the option of doing nothing or involving yourself in the WWE storyline (actually its your story line as if you spent the whole year doing nothing you wouldn't see any cut scenes at all). You can select from loads of options such as taking a rest, stealing an item from someone's bag in their locker room (which enables a new costume item in the CAS), set a trap for someone, encourage someone, choose a manager,complain, manipulate as well as attack another wrestler for a bit of locker room fisticuffs.

Depending on what option you select you then get a cut scene according to the action that you selected. The season mode is the main reason to keep playing the game in single player mode so it's a shame that the backstage action is mostly pretty unexciting. The cut scenes are repetitive and feature no dialogue at all as no subtitles or voice overs are provided at all. It's up to you to work out from the body language what is actually going on until the end when the game tells you if you succeeded or not. As you make enemies you get attacked occasionally between matches but even though you are at different events throughout the year, the backstage fights all seem to take place in the exact same locker room. I wouldn't say that I got bored with certain elements of the season mode but a lot more could have been done to make it more exciting. I had been waiting since Raw 1 to be able to punch on in the stadium car park, hallways, cafeterias and toilets but sadly all that is available is that one sad locker room. What makes this situation worse is that even in Hardcore or Street Fight matches you cannot take the fight up the ramp, onto the stage or out the back. You are limited to the ring and the area around it. Try and irish whip your opponent up the ramp and they slam into an invisible barrier which looks very ordinary. The good points of the season mode include being able to take your own character to the top of the WWE and after plenty of sucking up to Molly Holly and Trish Stratus I was enjoying 'Date' cutscenes involving them and my character. Motivation enough to play through the season mode I say!

What Raw 2 doesn't offer outside the ring it certainly does provide inside. The character graphics on show are amongst the closest looking representations of their real life counterparts that I have yet seen in a computer game. Sure, some look better than others and more attention has been paid to the top line WWE Stars such as Undertaker, Kane, Triple HHH (who now looks amazing compared to last years attempt) and the Rock. There are a few exceptions though with the women and lower ranked wrestlers such as Crash, Jazz, Trish Stratus and some others but none of them look awful and Anchor are to be congratulated on the amazingly high number of graphical improvements.

The action in the ring is handled via the d-pad for moving around, the left stick for when you want to run, the 'X' button is for attacking, 'A' is for grappling, 'B' is for your counter move, 'Y' is for pinning your opponent. Black is used for making tags in tag team matches as well as getting in and out of the ring and White is used for interacting with objects such as chairs, tables, ladders, garbage cans, snowboards, guitars and other numerous objects that can be found under the ring. Each wrestler has loads and loads of moves and you definitely won't see them all in one or two matches. Different moves are pulled off depending on what direction you press on the d-pad when attacking or grappling, your position to the opponent and your position in the ring. 'Special' moves are also available once you get your opponents 'voltage' meter flashing 'danger' and it's easier than ever to pull off the Pedigree and the all popular Peoples Elbow. Item grapple moves are also available so select RVD and get those chairs ready for the Vandaminator!

There is absolutely loads of depth to the game and matches can take the twists and turns that they seem to in real life. We've been playing loads of multiplayer and had a few matches that were totally incredible. Choke slamming your friends through the top of the Hell in a Cell only to have both players plummet down back into the ring when the roof breaks is pretty damn cool! One other match went for almost half an hour as a mate of mine and I battled it out. No amount of top rope action, german suplexes, ddt's or chair shots to the head could put either of us away and we kept kicking free just before that 3 count over and over again. Eventually the match ended and we felt almost as drained as if we'd gone toe to toe in the ring in real life!

There is a downside to all the great new graphics and game modes and sadly for Raw 2 it's with the games artificial intelligence. Sometimes your opponent will have you stunned on the ropes and miss attacks giving you ample time to get free and ready to attack again. It looks quite funny watching the A.I launch attacks that connect with nothing but fresh air while you're unconscious. The other major problem and one that should never have slipped through testing is when you're in a match and another wrestler chooses to interfere in the match (especially during season mode as you make enemies from all those locker room attacks and trap setting) they attack your opponent! This left me dumbstruck as you spend all that time in season mode making other wrestlers hate you to try and get a bit of heat going and when they finally hate you enough what do they do? They unwittingly become your lackeys, invade your matches and then beat down your opponent for you!

Another area for concern is in a tag match when you are going for a pin. Yep, the opponents tag team partner will get in the ring to stop you but your partner gets in the ring as well and tries to grapple you or the opponent under you when he should be trying to watch your back. While there are so many great points about this new game, it's a real letdown to see such shoddy A.I programming. While the flaws aren't always obvious they have been responsible for ruining a handful of matches in season mode but my created character is performing pretty well, and promises of more eye brow raising dates with Trish or Molly don't hurt!

It goes without saying that once you see the 'Create a Superstar' mode in Raw 2 you will be hooked and tinkering for hours setting up past wrestling greats, updating the rosters or creating your own new wrestlers from scratch. The CAS system in Raw 2 is truly mind blowing and has so many options that it is impossible to go through them all. Just about every detail of your future superstar is editable. From the skin colour, face, body shape, hair, size (you can also edit the size of individual body parts such as shoulders, arms, legs etc), costumes, accessories, through to even what you will wear on your elbows or knees. Loads of masks are available and if you don't like the selection of costumes available you can edit the colour of any existing ones to customise them to what you want. With a bit of patience it should be possible to create just about anyone you can think of. To top off the excellent character creation system you can also create 2 appearances for him or her, a match outfit and a backstage outfit. Still not satisfied? You can take your created wrestler and then build a totally personalized entrance for them complete with fireworks, lasers, smoke, custom arena, stage and ramp lighting all the way through to being able to create custom titanatron videos! To finish things off nicely you can select a custom soundtrack from your Xbox hard drive as well.

The CAS system in Raw 2 has to be seen to be believed and what Anchor have done is basically give Raw fans the tools to create any wrestlers that may have been left out of the game. Once you get into the editing of your wrestlers moves you will see just how in depth it really is as you can customise all your moves with moves from other wreslters or the dozens of extra ones provided. My created wrestler comes out to a bit of pyro followed by a laser show carrying a Kendo stick all to the tune of 'Powderfinger ' On my mind' a great Aussie rocking tune! He does a few karate moves down the ramp, jumps in the ring and then does a few more kicks while the crowd cheer and camera flashes are going off all around. Cheesy? You bet, and the possibilities are just about endless.