Because the calendar quickly approaches WrestleMania 40, the eyes of the world are as soon as once more skilled on WWE’s large home of muscular lads and lasses. With The Rock’s involvement on this 12 months’s shindig elevating the occasion’s profile to even loftier heights, WWE and 2K have pulled out all of the stops to strive and make sure the newest entry of their ongoing grappling simulator cuts the mustard. However have they caught the touchdown, or will WWE 2K24 go down as a misfire on the highway to wrestling’s most prestigious present?
Should you’re aware of the final two WWE video games, you’ll be proper at residence with WWE 2K24. Controls and gameplay are virtually unchanged from WWE 2K23, with a easy combo system permitting for button mashing fans to get in on the enjoyable, and extra complicated controls on provide for many who need to have a extra direct affect on the course of a match. Making its debut this 12 months, nevertheless, are the three banked finishers — requiring Tremendous Finisher, and the flexibility to Commerce Blows. Right here, as soon as per match, a performer can throw a punch that’ll set off this back-and-forth minigame, with the participant who comes up brief ending up Staggered for a time.
Moreover, 2K’s spectacular lighting engine continues to make the large roster of WWE 2K24 look incredible… for essentially the most half. Whereas arenas and costumes shine brightly, and there isn’t a hair misplaced on most megastars, not all performers are created equally. We have been actually just a little stunned by quite a lot of visible inconsistencies in character fashions, with just a few members of the roster both a sickly shade of beige, or in possession of weirdly clean pores and skin, trying as a substitute extra motion figure-like than lifelike. We suppose that’s the worth you pay for such an enormous variety of playable Superstars, however nonetheless, odd.
Fortunately, mode-wise, the title as soon as once more virtually groans beneath the load of the deep and various content material on provide, with the showrunning MyGM, card-based MyFaction, and wrestling sandbox Universe modes every making a return with added bells and whistles.
MyGM continues to develop year-on-year, with this entry being no exception. Select your required present, draft a roster of Superstars, and compete in opposition to as much as three mates or CPU opponents to remain beneath finances and win the scores struggle. Aspiring Common Managers should rigorously arrange every week’s present to make sure appropriate performers — be they Cruiserweights or Fighters — placed on essentially the most thrilling occasion potential to get bums in seats. Past the reserving of matches and choice of venues, gamers can ship out expertise scouts to search out rising stars so as to add to their rosters, full elective aims to earn rewards, and play Energy Playing cards to affect their foes and increase their very own possibilities of popping out on prime. The sheer variety of menus and stats is a tad overwhelming, however MyGM has critical depth if you happen to’re keen to dedicate the time.
Equally, MyFACTION, the Final Group-inspired card mode that 2K would actually such as you to spend all of your cash in (please), includes a comparable onslaught of menus and choices. From day by day matches, to Towers, challenges, and extra, MyFACTION has completely tonnes of content material for keen card-collectors to battle by. With its service nature, it shouldn’t get stale both, assuming you’re within the trappings of such a mode. The addition of a card market for the acquisition of particular person performers signifies that gamers aren’t reliant on dumping all their factors into thriller packs, and with some playing cards unlocking beauty modifications for that Celebrity throughout all recreation modes, there are much more causes to keep it up than ever earlier than.
This 12 months’s MyRISE profession mode story paths are titled Unleashed and Undisputed for the feminine and male protagonists respectively. Within the girls’s marketing campaign, the participant is positioned because the fiercely proud and completed champion of an unbiased wrestling promotion who, regardless of being approached a number of occasions, has had no real interest in signing with WWE till now. The male story, however, follows the sudden upward trajectory of a middling WWE roster member who’s thrust into the principle occasion scene following Roman Reigns’ shock trip of the WWE Common Heavyweight Championship.
MyRISE performs because it has in earlier years, with protagonists initially dropped at life within the distinctive Creation Suite, and sat in hubs between cutscenes and matches the place they’ll interact in aspect tales, challenges, or proceed the principle narrative. XP and unlockable cosmetics and wrestlers are your reward for every engagement, and we have been pleasantly stunned by each the inclusion of extra actual WWE personnel — moderately than the menagerie of made-up 2K originals which have littered the mode up to now — in addition to the portrayal of each female and male characters as assured and confident. There are, in any case, solely so many occasions MyRISE can place you as a plucky underdog newcomer.
That’s to not say it’s excellent, nevertheless. Tonally, the mode can’t get away from feeling like a full blown comedy at occasions, which solely serves to undermine the story’s extra critical moments. Plus, awkward backstage conversations have characters look extra like animatronics than individuals, and we’re not big followers of the social media feed as a method of sourcing matches and tales, and would like a extra pure method for this elective content material to suit into the principle plot. We did, nevertheless, actually benefit from the elevated give attention to the branching narratives, with the sport going so far as to extend the save slots for this mode to accommodate for future playthroughs.
Returning in WWE 2K24 is one other sequence mainstay within the playable documentary mode, Showcase. This 12 months focussing on 40 years of WrestleMania, it exposes gamers to a number of iconic matchups from throughout The Grandest Stage of Them All’s illustrious historical past. Whereas not yearly is represented, these which have been chosen are preceded by an in-depth recap of the story that led to the match, with commentary and speaking heads from a few of the wrestlers concerned giving an actual perception into the historical past of those bouts.
Enjoying as the last word victor in every battle, you’re tasked with obeying the aims displayed on display, which may vary from a request to deal sufficient injury, to a requirement of performing a transfer in a selected location. Detailed directions are fortunately obtainable within the pause menu for extra superior manoeuvres, with the gameplay transitioning into cutscenes and actual footage of the matches themselves. Sadly, nevertheless, we discovered this 12 months’s Showcase to be moderately missing.
Whereas the premise itself is attention-grabbing, and it’s as soon as once more very effectively offered, the gameplay to cutscene/footage ratio is surprisingly unbalanced. There are quite a few matches the place we discovered ourselves performing a single transfer and have been then subjected to a number of minutes of video earlier than we regained management. Whereas we totally recognize the tense, narrative intricacies of Hulk Hogan powering out of The Final Warrior’s devastating bear hug submission, asking gamers to take a seat and watch grainy, early ‘90s footage of an oily man shake his head in sweaty resistance for two and a half minutes with out touching their controller, is past the pale.
Outdoors of the marquee modes, WWE 2K24 has thrown just a few vital additions into the combination. Chaotic Backstage Brawls now assist as much as 4 gamers, and Casket, Ambulance, and Gauntlet matches present enjoyable new methods to trigger grievous bodily hurt to mates, household, and any CPUs daft sufficient to cross you. You possibly can even create an unique referee to hitch the debuting roster of actual WWE refs, or just cosplay as one whereas taking part in as a Particular Visitor Referee.
Conclusion
Far faraway from the haunted carnival trip that was WWE 2K20, 2K and Visible Ideas have settled into an especially dependable groove. The quantity of content material on provide is completely staggering, with grapple followers sure to please in not less than one of many many obtainable modes and 200+ obtainable Superstars. Some visible inconsistencies and a considerably lacklustre WrestleMania Showcase let the aspect down, however past that, WWE 2K24 is one other robust, if protected, entry within the 2K-driven WWE sequence.
