Developer: Yuke's, Visual Concepts
Publisher: 2K
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
Tested on: PlayStation 4
WWE 2K16 – Review
Wrestling has a high degree of homo eroticism to it, admitted it is less homo erotic than actual gay porn or Twilight. Half naked men rubbing against each other and trading half-hearted blows doesn’t really shout out masculinity. The actual sport is different from the digitized version. Because when it’s rendered on a screen and the only damage being done is to pixels, the gloves come off. Which makes the sport slightly more plausible.
Story
WWE 2K16 leaves the choice up to you. If you want to duke it out with the champions and wrestling pros then you are welcome to do so. If you want to pave your own road to fame and glory then fret not. You’ll be able to create and customise your character to your every whim. The MyCareer is a big part of the game, and it also serves as a tutorial, so you might want to jump into it first before you tackle the rest of the game.
Graphics
What makes wrestling in real life so fake is that if you aren’t into it and you pay attention to it, you can almost see them holding back their punches and their kicks. Their over the top movement makes their fighting style full of openings, like they actually want their opponent to one up them and knock them out. This is where WWE 2K16 is actually way more enjoyable to watch. The characters in the game don’t have to hold back, at all.
They can just open a can of whoop ass and go to town on the opponent and sling their asses all over the ring. When you see a wrestling pro deck someone over the head in a real wrestling match the resulting sound almost spells out: Bullshit. When you deck someone over the head in the game, it looks realistic. Apart from the odd bug in which the object will phase through the character or the actual ring. Also, when you are grabbed or you grab your opponent and you smash their faces against the edge of the ring, you almost cringe in pain.
When the camera is panned overhead, the game looks pretty, however when the camera pans in on your character or the opponent at certain parts in the match, the graphical discrepancies start to show and they look like action figures, with waxen skin and hair that sticks together and has no texture. This is a flaw for the current generation versions of the game, but then again it still runs on the previous generation consoles so a graphical downgrade was a necessity.
Sound
When you are talking music, WWE 2K16 does it’s best to liven things up a bit. There are some really funky tunes in the mix and some rather more progressive rock. The music list is varied which makes it fun to listen to. It captures the moment and with the variety it shows the game isn’t just a one trick pony. The audio when you are in a match is so-so, there isn’t really much to say as there is little talk when you are focusing on knocking the opponent out, and there’s little to say when the crowd says it all for you. The booing will get on your nerves, which is should. The cheers will make you feel like you own the ring.
Gameplay
WWE 2K16 is a wrestling game. When you think about controls, some developers go overboard with combo’s and their button sequences needed to pull them off. This is where WWE 2K16 shines. It has a simplicity to it that makes the game easy to learn, yet hard to master. There’s the control scheme and then there are ways for you to use the environment in combination with those controls to do different attacks.
On the Playstation version, circle will launch your enemy to either the ropes or the corner, depending on where you are facing, however when you pull the enemy close you can either send him barrelling across the ring or stop right before you launch him and smack him down and do some damage. You can grapple the opponent and bash him over the head or do some over the top attack where you slam his body over your knee. There are some instances where he can break out, or you if you are in the unlucky position.
Pressing R2 at just the right moment will reverse the situation and make it so you can get back in the fight. But getting the actual timing down is a something that might leave you frustrated, because even at the easy difficulty, the button prompt is really flashy and a nanosecond too soon or too late results in you getting clobbered. When you are downed and they are pinning you then you can get out from under them by pressing the X button at just the right time.
However get downed to many times and the window of opportunity for you to escape diminishes and you might lose the match even though you have been on top the whole time. This is rather frustrating and when the enemy gets out from under you every single time right as the referee calls out ‘Two’, it might make you want to rage quit. WWE 2K16 is a fun game to vent some steam. When an enemy is downed you can just stomp on them or wail on them when they are getting up and donkey/sucker punch them silly. It’s extremely satisfying to play after a rough day at work. Just going to town on someone’s ass can be so gratifying. You can even toggle the blood setting to make it even more visceral!
There is a lot of content in the game, which will keep you occupied for several days. There’s a lot to tinker around with but there is one thing lacking. Something so simple it’s a shame they’ve overlooked it or refused to incorporate it. Offline multiplayer isn’t in the game.
There’s online multiplayer, but being able to face off against a friend who’s physically next to you is another thing all together. Sure current generation consoles thrive on the whole connectivity part and online multiplayer, but with games like this, offline can be just as fun if not more fun than online multiplayer.
Conclusion
If you aren’t a fan of wrestling games, but have an open mind, you might want to give this a shot. WWE 2K16 won’t budge from the core aspect, but it has some really well worked out gameplay mechanics. WWE 2K16 fans rejoice, because the game is all about laying on a serious smack-down.
The missed opportunity of the offline multiplayer is a bit of a let-down, but with such a vast amount of content, it feels more like a slight oversight.
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