I should be able to easily browse WWE 2K22’s selection of Frankensteiners without having to scroll through the list to find obscure names like “flying Frankensteiner” or “splendiferous Frankensteiner.” This problem has been there for years and has never been addressed. I don’t know why I can’t apply a search filter when setting up my wrestlers’ moves. On one hand, they were pretty powerful to begin with, but on the other, they desperately need new navigational tools. Many of the other customization suites have been untouched. I’d say that the whole system has been so thoroughly shaved down that we’re now at the token minimum. Then you can change the movies playing on all the screens throughout the arena as if anyone pays much attention to those.
Now, you just choose whose entrance you’re aping in its entirety. You could also modify the lighting and pyrotechnics if you were feeling sassy. Previously, you could stitch together other wrestler entrances to create one that fits your design. Were you hoping for a return of custom entrance music? Prepare to not only be disappointed but also crushed as custom entrances might as well have been entirely extracted. Once again, when you look at the cream that rose to the top, the tools for customizing your experience are either spectacularly unchanged or bizarrely scaled back. It still has to convince me to abandon all the custom wrestlers I built up in 2K19 just to make them again here. Yes, I’m essentially saying that it feels like WWE 2K22 threw away the baby to play with the bathwater. I would like to preface this by saying that if anyone had asked me what my priorities were for a better WWE game, an upgraded engine would have been somewhere near the bottom. However, there has been a lot of work done on the game engine. If you’ve played the last half-decade or so of WWE titles, you’re going to feel like you’re slipping into a familiar pair of tights. The customization suites feel the same, the UI is still an annoying slog, and it still plays an initially far too shallow playlist of songs at you while you’re interacting. On the surface, we’re looking at exactly the same game.
#WWE 2K22 XBOX ONE SERIES#
WWE 2K22 ( PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X)
So here we are with WWE 2K22, which they claim hits different, but does it hit different enough? So bad, apparently, that 2K’s internal developer, Visual Concepts, did the unthinkable and skipped a year for the series. Regardless, we hit what was potentially the nadir of the main series with WWE 2K20, which was a glitchy, horrible mess. Whether or not it was 2000’s WWF No Mercy or 2003’s WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain, there’s a good chance whatever your favorite WWE licensed game is, it doesn’t have a number in the name. Includes the WWE 2K20 Originals: Bump in the Night DLC featuring “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, a spooky 2K Showcase, additional playable characters, arenas, and more! All subsequent WWE 2K20 Originals DLC packs also included, along with the SmackDown 20th Anniversary Pack featuring playable characters Hulk Hogan, Chyna, The Rock, and Mankind.It’s pretty telling when the best entry for a particular annual franchise is from decades ago. WWE 2K20 will also feature a brand-new 2K Showcase focused on the story of the Four Horsewomen/Women’s Evolution, the return of 2K Towers, including a story-driven tower based on the career of Roman Reigns an all-new M圜AREER that prominently features both male and female playable characters, and Mixed Tag Matches featuring male and female competitors. Step Inside the ring with WWE 2K20, featuring your favorite WWE Superstars, Legends, Hall of Famers and NXT’s best! WWE 2K20 will feature key gameplay improvements, streamlined controls, and the most fun and creatively expansive entry in the franchise to date.