WWE is no newcomer when it comes to creating wrestling games and have done it since the early 2000’s. A lot of those titles were great, but in the last few iterations have fallen flat, until now. 2K has gone back to the drawing board and have redesigned the WWE franchise and honestly this one feel and looks the best it has in years.
What To Expect
Jumping into WWE 2K22 for me felt like a trip down memory lane and took me back to 2006, but that is where the similarities end. 2K has completely redesigned not only the visuals and character design but the entire engine itself to make the WWE superstars feel more alive than ever.
With this new redesign they have more accurately captured the movements of every superstar and makes them feel as good as they look. The character models are also the most accurate they have been to date and with the added skin textures, lighting and sweat really makes them feel more dimensional. In the past character models felt flat and somewhat inaccurate and often felt like they spent little to no time trying to perfect it. For me there is still some room for improvement especially when it comes to hair and title belts, but this is definitely a 1000 steps in the right direction.
With the new engine revamp also comes new controls and for me starting out, it took a few games to get use to, but as soon as I got use to it, it really was nice and I really enjoyed the intuitive nature of how you control your character. Countering and initiating finishers also felt really good and after a while almost becomes second nature.
But all that aside 2K also added a bunch of features that adds variety to 2K22. I really enjoyed it as it makes the game more enjoyable for longer periods of time and allows you to take breaks from simply wrestling to enjoy a few other game modes.
These game modes include Showcase, MyGM, MyFaction, MyRise, Universe mode and even creation suite where I use to spend a lot of my time back in the day.
Rey Mysterio’s Showcase
In showcase you get to relive and play some of the most iconic moments in Rey Mysterio’s career in a unique and awesome way.
This really does bring back nostalgia especially for those old school WWE fans. These matches were more structured to help retell the events as close as possible to how they happened and even features 2K’s new Slingshot tech to transition you flawlessly between game-play and live-action historical footage. The way it is done is really impressive and I really enjoyed recreating these icon matches and hope to see more with either updates or DLC’s. Now this isn’t just for show you will also be rewarded with extra characters and arenas when completing these events.
This was a great addition to bring praise to such an amazing superstar after a 20 year career.
MyRise
In MyRise you get to create your own superstar with one goal in mind and that is to work your way out of the Performance center and into the main cards on Raw, Smackdown or NXT.
In this mode you will have to make decisions that will alter the trajectory of your career and wrestle it out with some of the finest to secure your spot at the top of the roster. You will not only wrestle but also be faced with decisions that will ultimately lead to what type of superstar you will be and how everything will play out for you. Along with that you will also have to focus on gaining fans and staying active on social media throughout this entire journey. Social media is more often used as a tool to generate matches and progress the story and fans tend to come when you win or lose those matches.
So you won’t have to make posts or stay active in the conventional way.
Other Features
As far as MyGM is concerned you get to call the shots as a General Manager of either Raw, Smackdown or NXT.
As the GM you get to control the outcomes of matches by either playing in them, interfere as the GM or simply by calling the shots behind the scenes to create over the top matches, brew some rivalries and host some of the best Pay per views in the world.
MyFaction on the other hand focuses on collecting cards for the card game where you build your own faction using those cards.
You will need to collect these cards, manage and upgrade them through weekly events and updates. This mode has a few different currency types that can be used to buy new card packs to unlock more superstars for your faction. Some of these currencies you unlock by playing standard matches while others you collect by competing in the MyFaction events.
And then the creation suite is as it sounds a place where you can create your own superstars or title belts.
What makes this feature even better this time around is the fact that you can share it with the online community to either share inspiration or even gain some. Another cool feature for me was face scanning when creating your own superstar which will allow you to create yourself more accurately and with less time trying to play with sliders. This allows you to place yourself in the ring with some of your favorites or just add yourself to a game if that is your life’s goal.
Fully Loaded Roster
When it comes to the roster, it is fairly big with a lot of new faces and some old ones for you to play with either online or on the couch with your friends. .
Having all these superstars really makes it feel like the good old days when you would invite your friends over and recreate some of your most beloved wrestling matches with your favorite superstars in the roster from old and new. For me I never felt like I missed someone or that the roster was too small, but if you want to see the full roster list you can have a look here.
Hard Hitting Soundtrack
And then lastly the playlist was curated by the Executive soundtrack producer Machine Gun Kelly and features some great songs to listen to while you are browsing the menus or creating your character or championship belt which really takes me back to the good old days of having great playlists in games.
Verdict
Overall, WWE 2K22 was a fun game to play and all the different features really made it easy to get lost in the game for hours on end without ever feeling you are doing the same thing over and over again. The new visuals make the game look stunning, and the new and improved engine makes the game run just as smooth as it looks.
So, for me WWE 2K22 gets an 8/10, the amount of game modes really makes it a fun game to play that you rarely get tired of and all the improvements that 2K have made to this series really shows a lot of potential and promise for the series, so let’s hope it continues this way.
If you want to watch my video review be sure to check it out here.
