I’ll first off by saying I am a big wrestling fan, if that hasn’t become apparent over my previous posts. I watch WWE, AEW and try to keep up some what with ROH, impact and even some of what goes on over in NJPW. It’s hard getting to fit what seems a 100 hours of wrestling in a week as is with having a new wrestling game to play. Having already got WWE 2k23 on PS5 which I should probably get round to reviewing at some point. I opted to buy this on the Switch as there isn’t many options for wrestling on it.
I’m not normally so on it with reviews in the sense I’m normally about half a year behind. This time though having the portable aspects coming in handy. As I’m currently on holiday enjoying the sun and drinking from 11 in morning at my all inclusive hotel. During the flight here and in the later hours of the day I’ve actually played a substantial amount of this game.
There’s a lot to like about it. Obviously at this point in the switch’s life with its hardware it’s not as pretty as the big boy console version. Mostly it handles what I’d assume to be the same. Load times aren’t that bad and you can mostly get through a match with very few to no problems. The frames do stutter from time to time, or if you go to pick an object up you will go through it or the game is trying to achieve a body horror element to it. The game doesn’t look too bad though. A bit rough around the edges and for some reason in handheld mode sometimes when you’ve elected your wrestler their image goes this wider shitty PS2 level image, that really doesn’t do the graphics any justice. It’s super fuzzy for no reason. Overall the models are a bit more arcade like, but that’s clearly the aesthetic it’s going for.
The controls are simple, three buttons for attack and mixing them up achieves varying combos. You can grapple and Irish whip producing more moves. You can do attacks from the apron, the corners and jump over the ropes. It’s fairly similar to the later 2k games for WWE. It even shares in where you attack/grapple from will produce different moves or submissions. Front facing, from behind and off the mat etc. Not to mention the silly amount of usable weapons which cause an excessive amount of blood. The matches aren’t designed to go on for long, again adding to the arcade experience here. You have health but you don’t necessarily see that as everything runs off a momentum bar. This increase every move or taunt until you can trigger a signature move. Then you can taunt to upgrade it to a finisher. Which once both have been hit you’ll pretty much get a pin.
You can chain wrestle by trying to guess the opposite sort of move your opponent will trigger until one eventually is wrong and gains the upper hand. You have to button mash to submit or get out of a pin. So again nothing too difficult to do and centred around the same 4 main buttons of steak and grab.
You can create your own wrestler, with their own move set. With every match either exhibition or from triad to the elite you gain money from the match rating. Plus your daily challenges you complete. This money allows to unlock new characters, skins, arena parts, entrances and moves. It’s fairly in depth and again not too dissimilar to WWE 2k23.
There isn’t much in the way of different match types to wrestle which really is something that lets the game down. It’s something that 2k23 does very well. It aids in the fun being able to play all your favourite match types, which for me is a steel cage/hell in cell match you just can’t go wrong with that. It’s also lacking in a fully realised roster, I mean this could be due to how long it’s been in development and who’s come/gone and become more popular. There is glaring omissions though, and unless their is going to be more DLC added or a few free updates it’s not gonna change all that much.
Road to the elite is fun, it’s separated into 4 month of show blocks leading to the four main PPV. You can use pre existing wrestler or your own custom one. Each month block has branching routes so you can have different feuds and outcomes. Even taking a pin changes the outcome. It can stop you from winning the title. I went first time round with the American Dragon Bryan Danielson, one of my all time favourites. Namely just as he always elegantly puts, ‘I’m going to kick his fucking head in’. Naturally I won all but 1 match. The one I lost is where death triangle gang fucked me in a lights out match . The multi man matches sometimes go full clusterfuck and not in a good way.
The casino royale mode is odd as only 4 people in one go will ever be in a ring so you don’t get h to e full experience as you do in the royal rumble mode, over in WWE. Strangely as well in road to the elite you have gauntlet matches but they aren’t an option to play in exhibition. What you do get though is many more mini games. Every week in road to the elite you fly to a new city, where it ends with a match but you also can wrestle on dark/rampage prior. As you have to keep motivation health and stamina up. You do this by going for food , where it’s suspiciously the same table at every restaurant. Go site seeing, go gym, recuperate at hospital if you get injured. In these you can run into a bother wrestler for a sneaky picture for the album, or if in a feud. Anna hay during a press conference power bombed me through a table setting up a PPV match with her and Christian Cage. These mini games are also an option to win more money and skill points, to unlock new moves for your custom character. From quick memory games, general knowledge quizzes, following dance moves, running from one end of a stadium to the other without hitting a hidden hole etc. You can play these at your leisure as well unlocking more every time you finish road to the elite. Strangely these features give me Yakuza vibes in a good way. I think they are a nice touch but I’d have preferred a deeper pool of match options even if the exploding Barb wire death match is an option. And I’d say that is definitely is the top math type to go for .
I really like the combat in this game and that it’s not that stat geared so every one is equal. Along with making the matches be quick rounds, like old school mortal kombat, street fighter and the likes. I mean I’m not that fussy about graphics, so I don’t think it looks to bad, I appreciate the lack of entrances as well as I always turn them off to get straight into the action. However the bit walking down the ramp if you press the attack options you can trigger pyro and stuff. It even has hidden unlockable characters, Owen Hart, Paul White and Mr Brodie Lee. Something most games no longer do.
Overall I’d rate this game a 7/10 positively Tasty. Which admittedly wasn’t as high as I’d like to rate it. The gameplay and combat is fantastic, quick, fun and easy to get the hang off. I should mention reversal is an option but doesn’t tend to work. It does need more match variety, that is something that is clearly lacking. More wrestlers wouldn’t go amiss either. If you’re wrestling fan or just like combat games, this is worth while but it’s definitely a game that’ll need to grow or if a sequel happens improve upon.
There will be a V.2 of this post once I’m done soaking up the sun and drinking and eating far more then my girthy body should be having. I’ll add a bit more content as well as som pics and vids of gameplay. Sprucing the goose a tad as it were.
Released 29th June 2023, Nintendo Switch.
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