Last year’s release of WWE 2K23 was a great return to form for the franchise. So how does a development team follow up that success? Well, the answer to that is quite simple. Just take what you have, and apply polish.
This year’s installment doesn’t stray too far from what we saw twelve months ago, but that’s not in any way a bad thing. When something isn’t broken, there’s no need to reinvent it. That’s not to say there aren’t issues to iron out, some of which are a bit esoteric, but if I don’t mention them, who else will?
Let’s start off with what WWE 2K24 is doing really well before getting to the parts I had issues with.
Showcase Mode makes its third appearance in the series, and this time it is focused around WrestleMania. You’ll get to relive key matches in the history of the event, combining live action footage with in-game visuals. This aspect of Showcase Mode has always been done quite well, and focusing on WrestleMania gives you a great variety of matches and Superstars from across the decades. The objectives are clear, often giving you button prompts for how to trigger the action you’re meant to trigger. Depending on what difficulty you’re playing on, each of these matches may take about fifteen to twenty minutes on average to complete. Compared to last year’s Cena-centric showcase, I much prefer this year’s for that added variety.
Austin and Owens at WrestleMania 38.
This year also brings with it new and returning match types. The Special Guest Referee match, Ambulance match, Casket match, and Gauntlet match. This effectively rounds out what is a very robust suite of matches to get into, though if I had to pick a favorite of these matches, it’d be the Gauntlet match. It is the most straightforward of the new match types, and for me, the most enjoyable. Though, you’ll want to set aside some time to play this type of match, they can go on for a bit.
The American Nightmare is ready to finish his story.
My favorite mode, MyGM, has received a number of improvements this year. Superstars can gain XP now, as they progress, giving you a reason to develop them. You can now also trade Superstars between brands, making the mode feel more sports-like. I would still like it if the more worked nature of WWE was represented more, but what we have gotten so far is a nice step in the right direction.
While MyFaction has also seen some improvements, this is not a mode I enjoyed much. The reliance on Cards and currencies turned me off immediately.
Finally, we have the improvements to the creation suite. You are now able to create a Referee and a custom sign. These added to the other items you can create, round out the custom content side nicely for the year. Within each of these, though, are an astonishing number of options to tailor your custom creations to your liking. With enough time and experimentation, you very well can create just about any sort of Superstar you want to, for example. Sadly, the “Create a bootleg Merch Stand” feature did not make it into 2K24. “My bad,” R-Truth.
I left MyRise for last specifically because it dovetails into the problems I have with the game. This story driven career mode is meant to give you a taste of a Superstar’s life. Whether they’re coming in as an underdog or Indie darling. With full voice overs from WWE talent, there is a definite sense of authenticity there and I very much like developing a Superstar and upgrading their stats as you progress.
Unfortunately, early on in the Undisputed story, you have to face Kevin Owens in a TLC match. This is where my journey with MyRise, ended. While I had no trouble wrestling and beating down Kevin Owens, getting the title was another matter. Being visually impaired, the minigame to pull the belt down was so hard to see, and failing it requires you to dismount and remount the ladder, after several attempts at this, I just had to give up.
Now, this is not a new problem. It was very similar last year, though I had neglected to mention it then. This year, though, I had figured someone out there would have mentioned it. It’s a bit of a shame, because the team at 2K allows you to switch between traditional button tapping and a timing based Pin mechanic. It would have been very nice to have similar options for other minigames as accessibility options. So, unless the team addresses this in a post-launch patch after seeing this, I will not be Finishing My Story.
Another mechanic I don’t particularly care for is the new Trading Blows mechanic. I really don’t like this. It feels clunky, and for me, just distracted from the match as a whole. Fortunately, this is one element you do have some control over, and can turn it off if you want to.
This year, the gameplay still feels really good to me. From a control perspective, everything feels just a little tighter and more refined. I also noticed that reversals may be just a tad bit more forgiving this year. Certainly not enough to make it super easy, as you do need to press the reversal button within a specific window, but that window does seem to be wider now.
The way Superstars react when they take moves adds a level of impact to those moves that was missing before. I went back to 2K23 to play a few matches to see, and the difference is quite stark. This is a definite change for the better.
To wrap this all up, WWE 2K24 continues to build on the strong foundation that was established over the last two years. I am certainly a bit bummed out that I couldn’t finish my own story, there is enough other content here for me to enjoy without having to touch the gimmick matches or modes I don’t care for. I will be playing this over the course of this year, and no doubt we’ll be seeing it evolve and improve as time goes on.
Last year’s release of WWE 2K23 was a great return to form for the franchise. So how does a development team follow up that success? Well, the answer to that is quite simple. Just take what you have, and apply polish.
This year’s installment doesn’t stray too far from what we saw twelve months ago, but that’s not in any way a bad thing. When something isn’t broken, there’s no need to reinvent it. That’s not to say there aren’t issues to iron out, some of which are a bit esoteric, but if I don’t mention them, who else will?
Let’s start off with what WWE 2K24 is doing really well before getting to the parts I had issues with.
Showcase Mode makes its third appearance in the series, and this time it is focused around WrestleMania. You’ll get to relive key matches in the history of the event, combining live action footage with in-game visuals. This aspect of Showcase Mode has always been done quite well, and focusing on WrestleMania gives you a great variety of matches and Superstars from across the decades. The objectives are clear, often giving you button prompts for how to trigger the action you’re meant to trigger. Depending on what difficulty you’re playing on, each of these matches may take about fifteen to twenty minutes on average to complete. Compared to last year’s Cena-centric showcase, I much prefer this year’s for that added variety.
Austin and Owens at WrestleMania 38.
This year also brings with it new and returning match types. The Special Guest Referee match, Ambulance match, Casket match, and Gauntlet match. This effectively rounds out what is a very robust suite of matches to get into, though if I had to pick a favorite of these matches, it’d be the Gauntlet match. It is the most straightforward of the new match types, and for me, the most enjoyable. Though, you’ll want to set aside some time to play this type of match, they can go on for a bit.
The American Nightmare is ready to finish his story.
My favorite mode, MyGM, has received a number of improvements this year. Superstars can gain XP now, as they progress, giving you a reason to develop them. You can now also trade Superstars between brands, making the mode feel more sports-like. I would still like it if the more worked nature of WWE was represented more, but what we have gotten so far is a nice step in the right direction.
While MyFaction has also seen some improvements, this is not a mode I enjoyed much. The reliance on Cards and currencies turned me off immediately.
Finally, we have the improvements to the creation suite. You are now able to create a Referee and a custom sign. These added to the other items you can create, round out the custom content side nicely for the year. Within each of these, though, are an astonishing number of options to tailor your custom creations to your liking. With enough time and experimentation, you very well can create just about any sort of Superstar you want to, for example. Sadly, the “Create a bootleg Merch Stand” feature did not make it into 2K24. “My bad,” R-Truth.
I left MyRise for last specifically because it dovetails into the problems I have with the game. This story driven career mode is meant to give you a taste of a Superstar’s life. Whether they’re coming in as an underdog or Indie darling. With full voice overs from WWE talent, there is a definite sense of authenticity there and I very much like developing a Superstar and upgrading their stats as you progress.
Unfortunately, early on in the Undisputed story, you have to face Kevin Owens in a TLC match. This is where my journey with MyRise, ended. While I had no trouble wrestling and beating down Kevin Owens, getting the title was another matter. Being visually impaired, the minigame to pull the belt down was so hard to see, and failing it requires you to dismount and remount the ladder, after several attempts at this, I just had to give up.
Now, this is not a new problem. It was very similar last year, though I had neglected to mention it then. This year, though, I had figured someone out there would have mentioned it. It’s a bit of a shame, because the team at 2K allows you to switch between traditional button tapping and a timing based Pin mechanic. It would have been very nice to have similar options for other minigames as accessibility options. So, unless the team addresses this in a post-launch patch after seeing this, I will not be Finishing My Story.
Another mechanic I don’t particularly care for is the new Trading Blows mechanic. I really don’t like this. It feels clunky, and for me, just distracted from the match as a whole. Fortunately, this is one element you do have some control over, and can turn it off if you want to.
This year, the gameplay still feels really good to me. From a control perspective, everything feels just a little tighter and more refined. I also noticed that reversals may be just a tad bit more forgiving this year. Certainly not enough to make it super easy, as you do need to press the reversal button within a specific window, but that window does seem to be wider now.
The way Superstars react when they take moves adds a level of impact to those moves that was missing before. I went back to 2K23 to play a few matches to see, and the difference is quite stark. This is a definite change for the better.
To wrap this all up, WWE 2K24 continues to build on the strong foundation that was established over the last two years. I am certainly a bit bummed out that I couldn’t finish my own story, there is enough other content here for me to enjoy without having to touch the gimmick matches or modes I don’t care for. I will be playing this over the course of this year, and no doubt we’ll be seeing it evolve and improve as time goes on.
by Filippo Dinolfo
