WWE 2K22 – Review

After a horrible release at first, WWE 2K20 received a lot of bad reviews. We, on the other hand, received our review copy several months later, and at that time, a lot of bugs and issues mentioned in those bad reviews were solved, which resulted in a good review. To prevent this from happening again, the developers skipped a year and put a lot of extra effort into creating the WWE game fans were waiting for. Now with the release of WWE 2K22, the much-requested General Manager from the SmackDown vs. Raw games has now been added with the MyGM mode. In combination with the other great game modes and stunning graphics, we were treated to perhaps the best WWE game in the series as of yet.

Story

WWE 2K22 now has two modes available that are purely focused on story content. The first is Showcase, a mode that revolves around the history and career of the famous wrestler Rey Mysterio. This mode will let you fight in several historic matches during his career. Each match is accompanied by a full intro by Rey Mysterio himself, where he explains how he felt at that time and how he experienced it all, with both good and bad moments. This mode is definitely one of WWE 2K22’s best features. The second one is the MyRISE mode, where you create your own character in the men’s or women’s division and start your own wrestling career in the weight class and brand of your choice. By making different choices in separate playthroughs, your self-made characters will end completely different, which offers a lot of replayability and variation as with each new character, you can choose a different background, fighting style, and more that will lead to different storylines and other mentors assisting you in your rise to superstardom.

Graphics

The wrestlers in WWE 2K22 definitely look very lifelike, and when playing on a next-gen console, everything looks absolutely stunning. The game does have some issues in terms of graphics, like a ‘shaking leg’ while waiting to make your move when performing a charged finisher attack. To make some attacks connect, the wrestlers will sometimes slide into place too. Granted, this doesn’t really happen often, but it’s still something that ruins the immersion. The various arenas and the audience look very good, with each arena having its own distinct characteristics. One of the most amazing things in WWE 2K22 is the real live footage that’s embedded within the Showcase’s historic matches in the career of Rey Mysterio. Visually speaking, this definitely is the most impressive-looking WWE game to date.

Sound

For music, there’s a great line-up of artists ready to fill your journey through the menus, with great music varying from rap to rock and heavy metal. These ‘aggressive’ music genres fit this wrestling game perfectly. The story-driven MyRise mode is fully voiced and the quality of the voice acting is extremely high. When in the ring, all the sounds, music, and voices give you a perfect feeling of a real wrestling match, and even for spectators, it’s very fun to watch.

Gameplay

WWE 2K22 is a wrestling game that offers you quite a few different ways to beat your opponent. These include wrestling matches where you need to win by pinning your opponent to the ground, forcing your opponent into submission, or by landing a powerful move that knocks your opponent out. You can also win by slamming your opponent through a table, grabbing an object you need to reach by using a ladder, and more, as all the variations you can think of in the wrestling universe are available. If this isn’t enough for you, you can also choose to set your own rules in custom matches or even fight without rules.

With the catchphrase ‘It Hits Different’, the developers immediately point out that they’ve given WWE 2K22’s gameplay a complete makeover. With an updated and intuitive control scheme, the game has become more accessible than ever. Now, it’s more about simple button combinations with three buttons linked to light, heavy, and grapple attacks. The rest of your moves are formed by a combination of these, leading to a unique move set for each wrestler. Whether specializing with your own character or one of the existing wrestlers, you can easily master their moves and become a star in the ring, just by playing the game. The game only features a short basic tutorial, but this is enough to make you ready to kick some ass in and outside of the ring. This also makes it easy for your friends to pick up a controller and have some fun in the ring without needing to learn all of the game’s finer mechanics.

The game also features an upgraded Creation Suite where you can customize nearly everything the game has to offer. You can truly go all out here, as you can customize actual superstars, championship belts, and the wrestlers’ entrances. Of course, you can also create your own custom arenas, belts, move sets, and much more. This way you can bend the universe of WWE to your own will. If you’re into all these customization options, you can literally spend hours customizing everything before even playing one match.

As for game modes, WWE 2K22 definitely has a lot to offer. The Play mode is perfect for quick single matches with the wrestlers of your choice, in a format of your choice. In the Showcase mode, you’ll fight as Rey Mysterio in historical matches throughout his career. When fighting in these battles, you’ll be tasked to perform specific attacks to complete objectives to unlock rewards, and some of these will trigger special animations that transition to real live footage from the actual matches back in the day. When this happens, you can kick back for a while and enjoy these moments, and when it’s almost time to continue the match, the video will switch back and the match will continue. In MyRISE, the other story mode, you create your own custom wrestler and fight for Superstardom in an amazing story-driven mode. The path of your story is defined by your choices in conversations, how you perform in matches, and more. As you make different choices, each playthrough will be completely different.

Of course, a modern sports game wouldn’t be complete without a mode that lets you build your own custom team of wrestlers earned by purchasing random card packs with earned credits or microtransactions. This mode is called MyFaction and it is very similar to the MyTeam mode in NBA 2K22 and FUT in the FIFA game series. As you fight in matches, you will earn MyFaction Points (MFP) that you can spend on new card packs to expand your roster; and earn new cosmetics, and more. This mode is also perfect for those who are a bit lazy, or like the ‘gambling’ aspect of the random packs, as you’re able to spend more real money to have a chance at some of the best characters in the game, but this could cost you a lot.

The fan-favorite general manager mode from the SmackDown vs. Raw game series has returned in a somewhat different form called MyGM. In this game mode, you take control of a brand and put on shows every week. After you pick a manager and a brand, you get to customize your session with many different options. In this mode, it’s your goal to beat your opponent in the ratings and generate more revenue. The Universe mode mainly plays like the MyGM mode, but without the managing aspect, which is perfect for those who want some more free reign and variety.

Conclusion

WWE 2K22 is definitely a big improvement over WWE 2K20, with a new fan-favorite game mode and a lot of other great modes, the developers made a good choice by skipping a year to make some needed improvements for this latest installment in the WWE game series. With both new and returning game modes, there’s a lot to do in this game, be it playing single matches with friends, trying to make a successful career as a professional wrestler in MyRISE, managing in the MyGM mode, or creating your own randomly picked roster of wrestlers through card packs in the MyFaction mode. With the best graphics ever seen in wrestling games, and a more accessible control scheme, WWE 2K22 feels even better than its predecessor after it had most of its flaws fixed. The only things dragging down the experience are the visual bugs, which ruin the immersion rather quickly. Luckily, these bugs are not too annoying. All in all, the developers have listened to their fans, which led to the creation of an even better WWE game that will definitely satisfy both fans of the series and newcomers.

Nickskuh

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Administration is my job but gaming is my passion!

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