Game Review: WWE 2K24

 

Another year has come and gone, and with the dawn of a new year, so follows the newest entry in the WWE 2K series. I only recently picked the 2K series back up in 2023, after a notable hiatus from the wrestling video game series since I last played WWE 2K19. I made notable mention of the downward spiral of quality the series fell into with it’s 2K20 entry, so much so that they took an entire year off in 2021 to redefine their series and focus on delivering a quality-focused product in the following year. So the story goes, WWE 2K22 and 2K23 showed 2K and Visual Concepts understood the assignment and delivered a product which serves to emulate professional wrestling to a near perfect level. I’m happy to report that the latest release, 2K24 continues to reinforce this new focus with a few nice additions accompanying it.

Developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K, WWE 2K24 was developed and released across PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC on March 8^th 2024. This year’s entry came out on the 40^th year of WWE’s annual WrestleMania event, an event much akin to a Superbowl of the professional wrestling industry. This also bears some notable relation to the cover star for this year’s entry as Cody Rhodes was in the midst of his pinnacle storyline heading into WrestleMania 40 to beat Roman Reigns and “finish the story”. Some of the new additions to this year’s entry are the inclusion of 3 new gimmick matches like Casket and Ambulance matches as well as Special Referee mode and a brand new Showcase mode pivoted around highlighting some of the best matches in the 40 years of WrestleMania. Apart from these notable additions however, it seems Visual Concepts has taken the same approach as they have last year in choosing to refine their already existing systems as apposed to any major redefinitions.

WrestleMania is the highlight of any wresting fan’s year.  Taking place usually in the early spring period, the event serves as the biggest and most spectacular show the year.  With grand stage designs and big-time match ups, these events draw in the biggest crowds from around the world, who all to come witness WWE’s annual showcase of the immortals. With over 40 years behind its illustrious history, it seemed a very fitting choice to utilize this history as the primary backdrop for this year’s Showcase mode. Consisting of 21 different matches, the mode focuses on the matches from the many different eras of WrestleMania, ranging from the 1980’s, 1990’s, 2000’s, 2010’s and 2020’s. I try not to compare when laying criticism, but in this case it has to be said it’s a notable shame that for 40 years of wrestling’s biggest event, that Visual Concepts was only able to pump out 21 matches when you consider 2K14 had 45 matches in their 30 Years of WrestleMania mode; that’s more matches for less years! Another criticism I have to lay on this mode is its inherent laziness.  Like last year with the John Cena showcase, the matches themselves feel like 40% actual gameplay and 60% cutscenes. It’s even more egregious when a lot of these matches end with the cutscenes as apposed to letting you play out the actual finish of the match.  Nothing cuts the momentum of the moment more than realizing you may as well put your controller down for the next 2-4 minutes because Visual Concepts would prefer to play footage of the actual match rather than animating or letting you play them out. There’s a high level of attention put into the presentation of these matches, with a pre-match rundown with Cory Graves and some interviews, but these all seem to take up the largest portion of time with this mode. I personally come to this mode to play out these matches and it just feels like tedious work when I’m having to stop and start regularly and listen WWE hype the match up more than to actually let me play it. Some praise I will give though is the game’s attention to detail in arena and wrestler design.  They capture the details of the wrestlers during their iconic matches incredibly well and allow you to play as these variations of the characters outside the mode once you beat their respective match.

MyRise is next on the list and its main focus is on delivering two separate narrative storylines, each for a male and female wrestler specifically.  In this mode you will create your own custom superstar and take them through a specifically tailored narrative which follows their rise through the ranks of WWE to become one of the very best.  The male storyline is labeled The Undisputed and follows your superstar as he seeks to defend his WWE Championship and break the 1,316-day streak of Roman Reigns.  What I like about this narrative is it doesn’t really feel like you’re starting out as a rookie.  The WWE title is put on you fairly quickly and the core focus of the story is about defending it as apposed to obtaining it.  This puts you in a flurry of storylines and matches with other wrestlers on SmackDown as the Miz in his role as General Manager seeks to dethrone you.  It’s a fun and engaging story, assisted with the additional side-plots and activities you can get involved in as you navigate behind the scenes and social media. The female storyline is called Unleashed and it is feels considerably weaker than its male counterpart.  Whereas Undisputed felt grounded and focused on the core objective of defending the WWE championship, Unleashed feels really bizarre in comparison, focusing on several odd gimmicks including magic and split persona’s. It doesn’t feel nearly as rewarding to play through because of how unbalanced it feels as a storyline. It doesn’t help that you aren’t even playing as your superstar for half of this storyline, what’s the point in calling it MyRise is it doesn’t focus on your wrestler for the majority of it?

There are a number of other modes alongside Showcase and MyRise, which you will get a notable level of enjoyment out of depending on how you like to play these games.  Universe Mode is your typical sandbox mode, in which you get to play out a WWE universe of your own design. Build your own rosters for each show, choose your own champions, set up your own rivalries and storylines. The creative scope of Universe mode is near limitless all with the intent of letting you as the player build a universe to your own image.  It’s not perfect, as its rivalries feel a little bit more limited this year but it does a very fine job in still allowing you the perfect level of immersion to set up storylines and championship bouts to enjoy. MyGM also makes its annual appearance too, allowing players to experience a more managerial perspective of WWE if they so wish.  Akin to many other manager games, the core aim of MyGM focuses on building and maintaining your show from a financial perspective. Ensuring you’re delivering excellent matches, paying your wrestlers well and negotiating trades or settlements with other shows.  I’ve never personally synced with manager simulations but I appreciate the fact Visual Concepts still put the time and effort to give those kinds of players a mode they can fully get lost in. Then there’s MyFaction which serves as a sort of deck-building/challenge tower mode in which you can obtain packs of cards to obtain wrestlers and build a faction of your choice to take on other players or weekly and daily challenges.  It’s a broad mode with a lot of variety to appreciate, especially if you like to experiment and build up different teams.

It’s also worth highlighting the plethora of creative options the game gives you with regarding creation.  The options are near limitless, with the ability to create wrestlers, arenas, championships, money in the bank briefcases, entrances and so much more.  What really embellishes these creative features is the depth and scope behind them.  It’s not just a case of picking a pre-set model or item, there’s hundreds upon hundreds of options to play around with, giving you the ability to detail things to a near intimate level. The worth you will get out of these expansive options will come out of the level of detail you wish to put into them.  However, the benefit of these creative options is it gives these types of players the tools they need to creative anything and everything.  Then there’s the added benefit of sharing these creations with other players through the community creations hub.  It’s worth buying these games just for the creation options alone, they are than expansive and that rewarding for players to utilize.

Let’s talk about general match gameplay though, as that is the core foundation of how we end up experiencing these games.  As mentioned earlier, the game doesn’t really redefine any of the controls or mechanics from 2K23 but instead chooses to refine them.  The general approach is much the same, combat is fluid and responsive, there’s a multitude of options in how to take out your opponent both inside the ring and the AI is just as combative as you are which makes fights notably fair and balanced.  What helps support this really engaging gameplay is the number of match types you can choose from.  There’s everything from one on one’s, tag team matches, triple threats, fatal four way to more specialized matches like WarGames, Elimination Chamber and Royal Rumble. This year’s newest additions come in the form of Ambulance, Casket and Special Referee matches. These match types aren’t new to the world of wrestling games, but they have been absent for a number of entries and their return is much appreciated.  Casket and Ambulance matches are similar, the idea is you have to damage your opponent enough to weaken them so you can lock them in a respective ambulance or casket. Special Referee allows you to play or set someone as a special referee in a match so you may get some special privileges or leeway if you wish to play a match more in your favour.  As with many of the other features of the game, there’s a depth of variety to the gameplay and the match types to choose from so you can enjoy the game to your utmost desire.

From a presentation end, WWE 2K24 incorporates all the same strengths as WWE 2K23.  The majority of wrestlers are well presented and look and feel similar to their real-life counterparts. The entrances across all arenas feel grand and emulate the same style and themes as you would expect from the live shows, even with some added chants and singalongs for folks like LA Knight or Shinsuke Nakamura.  There’s a point to why I said the majority of wrestlers and not all of them however, as there are some wrestlers who definitely got the short end of the stick once again with the rendering.  Despite the minor setback though, WWE 2K24 manages to look and feel as close to the real thing when it comes to emulating the world of professional wrestling.

So, after all of the praise and criticism levied at WWE 2K24, is it a good game? Of course it is! It incorporates all the major achievements from the past two years in an attempt to keep the strong foundation of this series cemented.  Its short stumbles come once again in the form of an underwhelming Showcase mode than feels lazily put together or a MyRise female campaign which doesn’t meet the same levels of quality of its male counterpart.  Those blemishes aren’t enough to even come close to writing this game off though. Any wrestling fan will find a number of elements in WWE 2K24 to enjoy and lose a number of hours to and while it doesn’t really push the boundaries any more than WWE 2K23, what noted additions are here are much appreciate.