My love of wrestling games was quite large and also a bit fleeting. Having mostly played when I was a big fan of WWE back in the “attitude” era of the 90s, my favorite wrestling games were of that time – games on Nintendo 64 and the original Playstation such as Wrestlemania 2000, Smackdown, and WCW vs NOW. Once that wrestling phase of my youth sort of came and went, so did my interest in playing wrestling games. Having probably not played one for maybe over a decade now, I never really knew much about the controversy that plagued the “WWE 2K” franchise in recent years. Apparently WWE 2K20 was so bad that the developers decided to take an entire year off for the first time ever to get back to basics and rebuild a brand-new wrestling game engine from the ground up. With zero experience with what had come out prior, I don’t have anything to compare WWE 2K22 to, but I will say, I had a blast.
Wrestling games sure have changed a lot over the years; from what I take away, is that while it can still feel like an arcade game at times, there’s a real push to make this franchise feel like the most authentic wrestling sim on the market. There are a ton of modes to chose from, some a lot more interesting than others. There’s MyRISE, where you can create your own wrestler from scratch and play a really fun storyline that changes with how you want your wrestler to be. I feel like I could create multiple different wrestlers, play this mode and depending on my decisions, they would all be very different experiences. That alone, for me, is a really cool wrestling game. But there’s so much more.
One of the strangest modes that I actually give them a lot of credit for is MyGM. You take on the role of a General Manager and have the responsibility to curate the matches for the shows. That is easier said than done, with financials and logistics getting in the way of all your decision making. Maybe having the two most popular wrestlers may not be the wisest choice financially. It’s a mode I don’t know many people will care too much about, but it really adds a cool perspective I am not familiar in seeing in the wrestling industry. There’s also Showcase Mode, which I believe is a common mode that celebrates the career of one specific wrestler. For this game it was for Rey Mysterio, a wrestler that (don’t hate me) I’ve never even heard of, but going through his twenty-year journey getting to play his biggest matches as well as being able to watch Rey himself talk about the matches and why they were so important to him was very moving and I ended up becoming a bit of a fan of his.
My least favorite mode by far is MyFACTION, which is essentially a mobile card game that is tacked onto this one for what appears to be a way to get you to grind for loot or pay money to help speed up the process. I was wondering where the microtransactions would be and here they are. Luckily that’s the only mode they’re in. Switching gears to gameplay, I really enjoyed that there are still arcade elements to playing and is easily digestible for newcomers like me. I also like that you need to predict your opponent’s next move in order to break their combos. WWE 2K22 seems to be what all the fans wanted and I got more than what I bargained for ending in very pleasing and even nostalgic results. If you plan on ever picking up a “WWE 2K” game, it seems to be like this is the one you need to start with. I’m inclined to agree.
8/10
For more information, visit: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/games/wwe-2k22/
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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