Well this one is coming in a bit late considering 2k24 came out like a month and a bit ago. But hey-ho, better late than never. Plus I’ve yet to pick said new iterations for this year so I may as well go for this one in the interim. Not to mention it’s Wrestlemania weekend, time to get hyped.
Now if you are just a casual fan of WWE a hardcore WWE is the only wrestling show for me or even just a fan of the games, you’d be aware of the year gap of 2021, this was because 2K20 was such a steaming pile of shit they needed to build it up from the ground again. This gave us 2K22 which was the year of Rey Mysterio and I gave the game a deserving 8/10.
I bring up this because 2K22 was one hell of an upgrade to the series, it was a blast not without it’s faults though. Multi man matches especially ladder matches were just an absolute shit fest. They were a mess, albeit sometimes fun but mostly 40 minute slogs that the AI refused to target anyone other then you. Some of the character models were awful, the my rise story was a bit ass. My faction was too pay 2 win for no real gain and MyGm was lacking. Now some of these issues were addressed this time round. MyGm is definitely more in depth and comprehensive still half a game though if you ask me. Not enough control over your shows still, its a tad limited in all the options for the slots of the show even if there’s far more match types to choose from. You can’t do much from a promo, trying to build feuds is wobbly at best. Not too mention if you don’t want to wrestle the matches yourself the chances are they will all be lowly ranked. Which negatively impacts you winning the ratings and getting more followers. I am waiting patiently for a football manager style wrestling game. I think there is money to be had there.
Now multi man matches are still broken, it is definitely the least fun part of the game for me, especially when you have to do one in either of the story modes. Which there’s two to choose from and they both have slightly branching choices which allow for multiple play through. Still I’m not sure why you would again this year it isn’t much better. You can tell they are working on it but the lock story, the main character even with dialogue options just comes off as a dick bag and it isn’t the most enthralling story. Then the other story, the legacy has a bit of a better story but again not worth the hassle or the fact one of the new original characters again just is highly unlikeable. I think this was more of a planned choice though. It’s still a noticeable improvement however.
Now in terms of just match variety or creating your own character there’s just so much variety to be had. I think attire selection is the weakest area, not much to use unless you are willing to go that extra mile and mess around yourself to create something from scratch,but there’s an endless amount of moves you can choose from. You can even make and edit your entrance again not the most in-depths and I think a lot of people won’t bother but it’s nice to have the option.
The graphics are slightly better and I think the game play is slightly tighter overall, reversing doesn’t feel as horrendous and there’s more option of attacks to do. It has the same reversal and dodge system or if you want to counter that’s still in play. There’s a more pronounced stamina gauge in the wheel that turns up. So the wrestlers get more tired, you can launch over the top ropes set up more moves with ladders, putting some through a table etc. Just small quality of life improvements or additions. Which is what it needed to be 22 should be the ground level and for the foreseeable future it should just be a myriad of improvements rather then system overhauls. I think the combo choice and grappling works well, just a couple button inputs and the move-sets auto changes on your position to you opposition. Same as if the are grounded, outside the ring on the apron, going for a superplex etc. I’m gonna judge the hair graphics though, that still blows I’ not sure why they can’t seem to do that well. In fact a lot of the background graphics and NPC in the story modes were fucking dreadful as well. Including dodgy body movements and voice audio. I think though for immersion sake it’s not the worst thing in the game.
You get wargames for the first time in game and mostly I enjoy it. I think if you crank the difficulty up and are willing to play for a good half hour, you’re in for a good time. Especially when you make your self the first entrance. Introducing weapons into the match is more fiddly then it needs to be, but for variation it’s a welcome addition.
Now this year is the year of John Cena . It runs the same as last years and those before where you play out some of their biggest matches with some nice video introduction before the match as to why and stuff. Now the slight twisty twist this time is that you play as Cena’s opponents and are aiming to win rather then lose to ol’ John boy. I like the concept and that you get some actual match footage thrown in but I do think for what it’s worth the matches do go on a bit and for some reason Cena is insanely hard to beat sometimes. I usually play on a mix of normal and hard, but for ease of unlocking everything from winning I dropped it to easy. My fucking good God it’s constant reversals, signatures and finishers its relentless yet this doesn’t carry over against him in any other mode.
I should mention as well in just standard play you earn points for your match ratings as long as you win and you can unlock more superstars, arenas and trophies which for me is a win. I’m all for a game with unlockables you can get by just playing the game. I won’t go into myfaction all that much as you either like it or you don’t. Getting ranked cards of the same superstars with better stats that can only be used in this mode. You gain points that unlock new packs or you can fork out a small fortune to buy points and get them that way I don’t see much point in that but that’s just me. I like it and I do play it a far bit, but I’d rather just play with who I want and in what match type I want, as in settings you can set each superstar to higher or lower stats anyhow.
Now I will compare it to that of AEW Fight Forever as both games dropped in the same year. Both offering different takes of the wrestling game. Now in terms of content and match variety WWE just kills it, no question. It’s the more realistic sim with probably 200 odd superstars to choose from and so many match types to piss around with. Ladder match, all the no disqualification varieties, tornado tags, hell in the cell, cage match, iron man, submission only,backstage brawl. war games, royal rumble now and that’s probably not even half. You have 1v1, 2v2, triple threat, fatal 4 way. It’s fucking loaded. Now this is my biggest drawback to Fight Forever. The lack of variety in matches, now they’ve had some dlc and have added stadium stampede as well, and in terms of ease it’s an easier game to get behind. It does the arcade style well and I regularly play it on my switch still, but it’s hard to argue that this game offers far more. Which is why if I wanna wrestle I am going to be booting this up for a couple hours of mindless fun.
I’m going to give this game the same as last year which is highly tasty 8/10.
Now for the most part outside of a change in roster slightly it’s basically the same game as last year. This comes with the still weak story option, long and annoying campaign but this comes with a better MyGm and MyFaction. As well as slight graphical tweaks and gameplay tweaks. It’s still a ridiculously enjoyable game which I think the biggest fix needed is the bigger multi man modes ’cause they just don’t work. Even if you don’t keep up to date with every years version I think I’d go for this over 2K22 and stick with it for a while and maybe buy 24 when it’s on sale.
Released 14th March 2023 on Sony Playstation 5.
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