WWE 2K22, the review: wrestling is fun again

There is a voice in the evaluation of the meetings in WWE 2K22 which estimates the “drama”. And it is precisely on this aspect that the title of Visual Concepts and 2K Games proves to understand well the matter it handles, wrestling, or in any case to do it much better than it did in the last few releases.

Rewinding the tape of the series, fans will remember that 2K had taken a sabbatical following the major technical problems that had virtually irremediably undermined the 2020 edition. the launch of 11 March he was awaited with particular trepidation and a pinch of concern for an inside or outside that could mark the fate of sport entertainment in video games.

WWE 2K22, like in real wrestling –

The good news is that, beyond the inaccuracies that will be reported later in this review, WWE 2K22 returns to being first and foremost a fighting game halfway between simulation and arcade that knows how to entertain. The meetings are entertaining and have that touch of “drama” that distances the discipline proposed by the Stamford federation so much from all the others. As in real wrestling, which also seems to have put its best moments behind it, the game is full of interference and roll-ups, unexpected and never predictable closings, lots of special moves and finishers per gameand many tools (such as the Payback mechanics) to reverse the course of a match that could now seem channeled towards a victory or a defeat and that instead …

The movements of the wrestlers in the ring / stage and the flow of the action are quite believable, with good concatenations between the different moves and animations of discreet workmanship, even if still with some stiffness and too much binding. The interfaces and controls are assimilated within seconds, thanks to a newfound familiarity, the basic simplicity of the schemes, and the excellent onboarding and tutorials scattered here and there.

1v1 and defense –

The game is at its best in 1-on-1, whether it be characters created from scratch, whether at the center of the scene there are legends of the caliber of Batista, Edge or Undertaker. This is because, by picking up on that rigidity mentioned a few lines ago, the 3-way matches or the Fatal Four Way and the tags are more complex to manage: they promptly provide for the arrival of someone who interrupts the counts and is difficult to intercept due to a stringent disqualification system. , but above all for the slowness in framing the objective to be stopped and actually hit it.

The defense is also well done, with intuitive block and counter systemswhich always work in the economy of the show: with their excellent responsiveness, they allow at any time to get back on top and gain healthy momentum to reload (within the limits dictated by an overlying bar that is irretrievably emptied after a few strokes) the final moves and even get it right after a match spent taking hits.

Good or bad –

A novelty this year, outside the ring, is the modality My Ascent, an authentic story to live with a specially created wrestler. The creation process is quite painful, undermined by dozens of uploads to endure even on PS5, and the story itself is very basic but, from a purely mechanical point of view, it is a tasty introduction for fans of American show business.

As in an RPG, it is possible to choose a background for your character, dictating for example that it comes from Hollywood or MMA, and this will have an influence on the dialogues entertained in the story, as well as on the constitution of the wrestler. It is also possible to accept or reject quests, which will give points to be distributed to the fighter’s skills and whose success or failure will affect some narrative junctions, while the player’s conduct will determine if it will be of a heel or a face. Not a particularly elaborate job, but certainly in a passage of the WWE 2K22 genre he demonstrates that he understands the fantasy of wrestling and knows how to package it in a way that, with a handful of simple steps (leaving, for example, the freedom to be good or villains), can only exert a remarkable fascination on the fans.

Some limitations remain –

Below deck, there are still some problems that highlight how the game is still in a precarious balance, from a purely technical point of view. In the ring, the difficulty remains in managing the interruption of moves, as in most cases, when an animation starts, there is little that can be done to prevent them from completing. And the referee’s behavior, who often goes around the arena before starting to count, is at least not refined. The entrances to the scene are mostly bare, the facial expressions and eyes are empty, and the faces in general at the medium distance may also look okay, but up close they highlight some such marked inaccuracies (note the case of John Cena, to name) which is hard to explain for a product based on an official license.

To be fair, it is fair to point out that some characters have undoubtedly succeeded better than others – a virtuous example is that of Randy Orton – and a large portion of the roster has received a massive upgrade over WWE 2K20 but, also thanks to a complicated long hair management, the depiction of wrestlers continues to have something wrong. Compared to that unfortunate release, if nothing else, no particular bugs were found and overall the product is enjoyable without major interruptions whatsoever, but the strings cause some headaches from time to time, the extra ring animations of the characters are rather “jerky” and the salient actions at the end of the match are often wrapped up without a specific reason.

WWE 2K22, the verdict –

Overall, the naturalness and fluidity of Smackdown vs Raw at the turn of the PS2 and PS3 eras remain unattainable, but the series seems to be finally on the right track. The ideal will be to enrich the general picture – there are many modalities but each of them has structural deficiencies, and from a technical point of view there are details that are difficult to understand – and to streamline certain rigidity of the characters and of the AI. If you want a good wrestling game though, WWE 2K22 is finally a viable option.

March 10, 2022 (change March 10, 2022 | 17:00)

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