WWE 2K22 - The Most Authentic WWE Game In History
It's been a long fuckin' wait for WWE 2K22. So long, I barely even remember the marketing and release of the disastrous WWE 2K20 (Which I enjoyed, but I can fully admit it was...bad)
Two and a half years since the last WWE game release, Visual Concepts returns with an entry in the series that really does "Hit Different" and puts all previous iterations to shame, at least in the authenticity and addiction department.
First off, let's talk about the redesigned engine and gameplay. Everything flows so, so much smoother. Plenty of subtle transition moves and blending has been inserted in this game, as well as a new homing and targeting system to help bring superstars to where they need to
be during a certain move.
The combo system fully integrates these changes, as each combo strings together nearly without issue. No matter how you customize them in Create-A-Moveset, you combo should end up looking quite smooth in the ring.
The fighting game influence is the best injection of fresh air the game has added in years. Once a combo is started, it can only be countered by a breaker. A breaker can only be done by guessing the right string of the opponent's next combo. You may also block and dodge the first hit of a combo, making some moments give me flashbacks to Fight Night Champion.
Grapples are now done by either combo-ing into them (e.g X-X-A-B for a grab combo), or starting with a grab lockup and deciding whether to do a Light, Heavy or Whip Attack.
Everything about the game feels incredibly more smooth, precise and fast paced. The complete overhaul in the way you defend, as reversals are less common and harder to pull off, allows for constant back and forth WrestleMania-quality matches against the AI with the right wrestlers. The game feels like it actually has the seeds of what could become a great emulation of ring chemistry. Some characters work together better than others, and can pull off some amazing matches with the right moves.
Showcase features the legendary luchador Rey Mysterio. Anyone can admit the match choice is incredibly weak, but unfortunately this is on WWE and their restrictions, and not 2K. However, the Showcase boss, Dino, seemed incredibly enthusiastic about making a Rey Mysterio showcase in the Ringside Report, and it shines through in the game.
Each match has authentic arenas, belts, and character models. The attention to detail in some of these is absolutely wild. Halloween Havoc 97, vs Eddie Guerrero, has a fantastic detail that if you lose, Eddie actually unmasks Rey like he would if he won the real match.
During this match as well, after it blends into the video footage of Eddie ripping up Rey's mask, the mask will become ripped in the game as well when we return to it.
Although the objectives haven't felt that much more fun than previous entries, the presentation is far better with Rey Mysterio commentating the matches from his point of view.
Another new addition in the series is MyFaction, a WWE version of Fifa/Madden Ultimate Team. This mode allows you to collect superstar cards, build a faction, and level them up.
However in my opinion, the execution is quite weak. It's just a paid reskin of the 2K Towers mode, and now we can't even use any superstar we want.
When MyFaction was announced, I was under the assumption we would be able to face off against other players' AI teams for a leaderboard, but you can't.
You are able to customize your team logo, banner and name at any time, and have multiple factions. These items come in expensive card packs, as the credit payout is abysmal to promote transactions.
One has to wonder though, if I'm never going to see another players' faction, and they're never going to see mine, why am I even bothering? It's like an offline version of WWE SuperCard, which would get quite boring after a few hours. However, if you enjoy this kind of mode of offline towers with loot, it may be for you.
While I have not completed all of MyRise yet, half way through the Men's storyline, I feel extremely disappointed. I'm going to assume this mode's overall weakness is due to WWE releases over the last two years, but it REALLY shows here.
The positive is that skill trees and everything else over-complicated about MyRise is now removed. Your overall is simply improved by earning skill points in storylines, and using them to upgrade a list of 12 stats, pretty simple.
Social Media page allows you to see tweets from the WWE Universe, your opponents, and DMs offering storyline opportunities. Some of these stories build quite well on the history and canon of WWE 2K characters within the previous MyCareer versions.
The negative part is that all these storylines are isolated, and there is nearly no overarching narrative to this mode, unlike 2K20's which focused on the life and career of Red and Tre. In this, your character has almost no importance to the overall lore of WWE. The Roleplay aspect feels almost non-existent, as title wins mean nothing than just another storyline before you jump to the next one and win the next title over and over again.
Universe returns with Superstar Mode, which allows you to follow the career of a single superstar in your sandbox. It's a toggle that can be changed at any time. You can also edit matches during a show in progress, as well as delete them. There are plenty of nice QoL fixes amongst Universe that we've needed
Graphic wise, WWE 2K22 is stunning, even on old generation. My copy was for Xbox One X, and I was blown away at the level of detail. The only negative I see on old-gen compared to new is that shadows get more crushed and the lighting is slightly less higher resolution, but other than that everything is as beautiful as it's intended.
Entrance animations all feel cinematic with the new motion-captured camera data, and the motions are performed with a level of authenticity you'd see in a CGI WETA short.
Hair receives a small upgrade in both physics and visuals and many legends including The Rock and Chyna have been retouched to be up to standard with the rest of the roster.
The audio has improved, as the crowd is much louder during matches, there are more unique chants and the ring foley work is far more apparent to the player. The wrestlers grunt and vocalize far more often as well.
The game is not without it's flaws however, as no new match types were added, some tag entrances were randomly removed, MyGM lacks any sort of depth and there are some minor bugs to be ironed out in future patches.
However, WWE 2K22 is an absolutely stunning video game, and the most broadcast-accurate game ever made. The redesigned engine brings a new dopamine rush that hasn't been felt in over a decade with the series, possibly more. Congrats to the team at 2K, Visual Concepts, and more for making the public realize the power behind your team when you actually have the right people working on it, and not an incompetent studio like say, Yukes.
Review code for Xbox One X nWo Edition provided by 2K Games
Check out my YouTube for upcoming WWE 2K22 Mods: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnUqKyv-zqOoeR1jtrXdXQw/
It's been a long fuckin' wait for WWE 2K22. So long, I barely even remember the marketing and release of the disastrous WWE 2K20 (Which I enjoyed, but I can fully admit it was...bad)
Two and a half years since the last WWE game release, Visual Concepts returns with an entry in the series that really does "Hit Different" and puts all previous iterations to shame, at least in the authenticity and addiction department.
First off, let's talk about the redesigned engine and gameplay. Everything flows so, so much smoother. Plenty of subtle transition moves and blending has been inserted in this game, as well as a new homing and targeting system to help bring superstars to where they need to
be during a certain move.
The combo system fully integrates these changes, as each combo strings together nearly without issue. No matter how you customize them in Create-A-Moveset, you combo should end up looking quite smooth in the ring.
The fighting game influence is the best injection of fresh air the game has added in years. Once a combo is started, it can only be countered by a breaker. A breaker can only be done by guessing the right string of the opponent's next combo. You may also block and dodge the first hit of a combo, making some moments give me flashbacks to Fight Night Champion.
Grapples are now done by either combo-ing into them (e.g X-X-A-B for a grab combo), or starting with a grab lockup and deciding whether to do a Light, Heavy or Whip Attack.
Everything about the game feels incredibly more smooth, precise and fast paced. The complete overhaul in the way you defend, as reversals are less common and harder to pull off, allows for constant back and forth WrestleMania-quality matches against the AI with the right wrestlers. The game feels like it actually has the seeds of what could become a great emulation of ring chemistry. Some characters work together better than others, and can pull off some amazing matches with the right moves.
Showcase features the legendary luchador Rey Mysterio. Anyone can admit the match choice is incredibly weak, but unfortunately this is on WWE and their restrictions, and not 2K. However, the Showcase boss, Dino, seemed incredibly enthusiastic about making a Rey Mysterio showcase in the Ringside Report, and it shines through in the game.
Each match has authentic arenas, belts, and character models. The attention to detail in some of these is absolutely wild. Halloween Havoc 97, vs Eddie Guerrero, has a fantastic detail that if you lose, Eddie actually unmasks Rey like he would if he won the real match.
During this match as well, after it blends into the video footage of Eddie ripping up Rey's mask, the mask will become ripped in the game as well when we return to it.
Although the objectives haven't felt that much more fun than previous entries, the presentation is far better with Rey Mysterio commentating the matches from his point of view.
Another new addition in the series is MyFaction, a WWE version of Fifa/Madden Ultimate Team. This mode allows you to collect superstar cards, build a faction, and level them up.
However in my opinion, the execution is quite weak. It's just a paid reskin of the 2K Towers mode, and now we can't even use any superstar we want.
When MyFaction was announced, I was under the assumption we would be able to face off against other players' AI teams for a leaderboard, but you can't.
You are able to customize your team logo, banner and name at any time, and have multiple factions. These items come in expensive card packs, as the credit payout is abysmal to promote transactions.
One has to wonder though, if I'm never going to see another players' faction, and they're never going to see mine, why am I even bothering? It's like an offline version of WWE SuperCard, which would get quite boring after a few hours. However, if you enjoy this kind of mode of offline towers with loot, it may be for you.
While I have not completed all of MyRise yet, half way through the Men's storyline, I feel extremely disappointed. I'm going to assume this mode's overall weakness is due to WWE releases over the last two years, but it REALLY shows here.
The positive is that skill trees and everything else over-complicated about MyRise is now removed. Your overall is simply improved by earning skill points in storylines, and using them to upgrade a list of 12 stats, pretty simple.
Social Media page allows you to see tweets from the WWE Universe, your opponents, and DMs offering storyline opportunities. Some of these stories build quite well on the history and canon of WWE 2K characters within the previous MyCareer versions.
The negative part is that all these storylines are isolated, and there is nearly no overarching narrative to this mode, unlike 2K20's which focused on the life and career of Red and Tre. In this, your character has almost no importance to the overall lore of WWE. The Roleplay aspect feels almost non-existent, as title wins mean nothing than just another storyline before you jump to the next one and win the next title over and over again.
Universe returns with Superstar Mode, which allows you to follow the career of a single superstar in your sandbox. It's a toggle that can be changed at any time. You can also edit matches during a show in progress, as well as delete them. There are plenty of nice QoL fixes amongst Universe that we've needed
Graphic wise, WWE 2K22 is stunning, even on old generation. My copy was for Xbox One X, and I was blown away at the level of detail. The only negative I see on old-gen compared to new is that shadows get more crushed and the lighting is slightly less higher resolution, but other than that everything is as beautiful as it's intended.
Entrance animations all feel cinematic with the new motion-captured camera data, and the motions are performed with a level of authenticity you'd see in a CGI WETA short.
Hair receives a small upgrade in both physics and visuals and many legends including The Rock and Chyna have been retouched to be up to standard with the rest of the roster.
The audio has improved, as the crowd is much louder during matches, there are more unique chants and the ring foley work is far more apparent to the player. The wrestlers grunt and vocalize far more often as well.
The game is not without it's flaws however, as no new match types were added, some tag entrances were randomly removed, MyGM lacks any sort of depth and there are some minor bugs to be ironed out in future patches.
However, WWE 2K22 is an absolutely stunning video game, and the most broadcast-accurate game ever made. The redesigned engine brings a new dopamine rush that hasn't been felt in over a decade with the series, possibly more. Congrats to the team at 2K, Visual Concepts, and more for making the public realize the power behind your team when you actually have the right people working on it, and not an incompetent studio like say, Yukes.
Review code for Xbox One X nWo Edition provided by 2K Games
Check out my YouTube for upcoming WWE 2K22 Mods: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnUqKyv-zqOoeR1jtrXdXQw/