So far, so good.
WWE 2K22 is set to return the popular sports entertainment franchise back to consoles and PC next month; ahead of this, 2K provided Stevivor with up to two-hours of hands-on access to select portions of the title.
To make the best use of our time, we dabbled in its tutorial, a couple exhibition matches, and finished off getting a grasp of its new MyGM mode.
Inside the tutorial, it becomes immediately apparent that WWE looks far better than past iterations. Playing as Rey Mysterio, I noticed an almost likelife quality that could have some second-guessing themselves as to whether or not they were watching a live broadcast or a video game. Player movement is smooth rather than stompy, and fight animations look realistic and fluid. The only times I noticed a slight framerate drop was when Mysterio launched into his signature move. I also was able to appreciate a dynamic camera that pulled in and out of the action depending on what was occuring; it would get nice and close after a successful grapple, showing one opponent soaring through the air thanks to a devastating suplex.
Developer Visual Concepts isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, though — while the title’s revamped engine allows these improved visuals, combat itself looks to follow the same basic tenets as those that have come before it. That is, beat your opponent down with light and heavy strikes, grapples, counters and other such moves, waiting for the right opportunity to go for a pin. A series of exhibition modes means that last bit might not be in play; instead of a pin, you can go for a tables match, enter Hell in a Cell, or a variety of other match types that WWE fans would be accustomed to.
I decided to play it safe inside Exhibition and went for a series of simple one-on-one matches with the Ultimate Warrior and Big E. Here, I discovered that WWE’s current roster is instantly accessible for play, though legends such as ol’ Warrior come at a cost. From what I could tell, legendary superstars like Ultimate Warrior and Trish Stratus will set you back 1,000 units of in-game currency, while manager types like Vince McMahon — decidedly different from the big boss’ wrestler option — will cost you 300. An onscreen tooltip advised that this in-game currency could be earned through gameplay, but it’s not clear how much you’ll squirrel away per match. 2K and Visual Concepts have confirmed with Stevivor that this in-game currency cannot be purchaed with real-world cash, so at least there’s that.
For those new — or returning after a long absense — tooltips extend beyond 2K22‘s tutorials and into main gameplay. I appreciated their existence, slowly finding my performance was improving. By the time I got to my final match of our alloted playtime, I was eager to finish the match and head into the replay section, then able to choose from four clips showing my Warrior at his greatest. The clips load instantly and play with a smooth polish that made me take note.
MyGM was the other mode on offer, one that sets itself up with a weak voiceover from WWE royalty herself, Steph McMahon (though it should be noted that Drew Gulag’s tutorials voiceovers take the cake when it comes to being disinterested and disconnected). Just like in the tutorial, the introduction of MyGM allows Visual Concepts to unleash a cavalcade of old WWE footage into the mix, something that I’m sure will delight longtime fans. That all out of the way, it was time to get into the nitty gritty and plan a sports entertainment brand that would make any McMahon proud.
MyGM will let you create your own manager or use one of five legends, each with their own unique perk. Adam Pearce adds +1 to all active rivalries, Sonya Deville raises her roster’s morale +15, William Regal can sign his first legend at no cost, Shane McMahon gets a +2 bonus GM interference and is free to be booked and Steph McMahon earns twice as much arena attendance cash. I went with Regal, keen to foster a stable of superstars as efficientially as possible. From there, you select your WWE brand; again, there are perks involved — Smackdown gives 6 random superstars a +6 to popularity, RAW ensures that 3 ransom superstars on the opposing brand can’t be booked in a given week, NXT offers a large match rating boosts for matches and NXT UK triples network deals if you can increase your fan following.
Selecting RAW, I finished setup by selecting a duration (15, 25 or 50 weeks), AI difficulty and associated settings, and finally my AI opponent and brand (I was up against Deville and Smackdown).
With a selected roster of superstars at your disposal — selected for their qualities as a heel or face and keeping in mind class types like cruisers, bruisers and specialists — and worked to make electrifying TV. Each week of your selected brand has five main booking spots: the opening match, midcard match and main event, with two promo spots sprinkled between them. The idea is to open strong, finish stronger and keep momentum up in the middle.
In terms of matches, you can go with one-on-one or tag team affairs, with normal, Tables, Extreme Rules, TLC and Hell in a Cell formats available. You can also nominate a superstar to interfere with any competitor (at a cost, both monetary and in terms of the superstar resource themself). When it comes to promos, you can have a self promo or 1v1 call out alongside an annoucement of a role change (heel to face, face to heel), an advertisement or a charity event.
With your card set, it’s up to you as to whether or not you’ll play out the matches or simulate instead. Regardless, you’ll receive notification of viewers’ enjoyment of the event alongside updates on any new or progressed rivalries you’ve manufactured. Your ultimate goal, of course, is to impress fans, make money and have a larger viewer base then the competing WWE brand.
As the mode is new, I trusted tooltips to get going and found I make a rookie mistake quite early on. After selecting eight superstars to pad my roster, a helpful hint suggested I could pick more stars or pocket the extra, unused cash in my budget to use at a later time. As it turns out, that magic number of eight wrestlers will literally fill every booking spot in a week’s broadcast, so you’ll never be able to rest a performer or have a tag team match (unless you drop promos for that week). Live and learn.
While I’m impressed with its visual upgrade and additions like MyGM, I’m still questioning 2K’s decision to gate current-gen console versions of the title behind a higher price point. You couldn’t release a game last year because it was so broken, 2K — maybe throw fans a bone as a show of goodwill.
WWE 2K22 heads to Windows PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, PS4 and PS5 from 11 March.
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WWE 2K2211 March 2022PC PS4 PS5 Xbox One Xbox Series S & X
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