[Damien_Azreal]

That's the thing, just because they "looked" better... doesn't mean they would've played any better.

It's best to not hang on "what if" ideas of how the old, unfinished builds were. Specially since most of those builds never got to a state that would be considered actually "playable".
The 2001 trailer build was probably the most playable, and even then... roughly half that trailer was scripted, "conceptual" gameplay of how the game should play.