Review — WWE 2K24
The time has come to finish your story in WWE 2K24.
For several years now, the Road to WrestleMania has also been accompanied by the latest release of the WWE 2K game, which has been developed exclusively by Visual Concepts since the 2020 debacle. This year they are giving us a particularly festive edition with WWE 2K24, as it marks the fortieth edition of this extravagant wrestling show. As you can expect, the game is pretty much dedicated to forty years of WrestleMania.
Like previous years, WWE 2K24 treats us to a whole slew of play modes that highlight the different facets of the WWE universe. The basic mode is obviously Play, where you simply choose the type of match, arena and wrestlers you want to play with. However, it is the other game modes this make it interesting to get this game in the house. Although no new modes have been added, the old faithful MyRise, MyGM, MyFaction, Showcase and Universe are back and the biggest change is that these modes were enriched as the game looks back at forty years of history.
Welcome to WrestleMania
The first mode to reflect these forty years of WrestleMania is, of course, the Showcase mode which is all about the Showcase of the Immortals. This year’s Showcase lets you relive twenty-one iconic matches from WWE’s WrestleMania history. These matches are talked together this time by none other than Corey Graves and once again feature a seamless transition between gameplay and real footage thanks to the amazing Slingshot Tech. The objectives you have to fulfill during these matches are easier to complete this year, in my opinion, and along with the diversity in the matches, it all makes for one of the more successful editions of the Showcase mode.
The biggest problem with this mode, however, is the selection of matches. With twenty-one matches, we already get more of them there previous years, but those who played WWE 2K14 back then were presented with no less than 47 matches in the 30 Years of WrestleMania mode. The selection itself luckily includes some true classics such as Hulk Hogan vs Andre The Giant, Brett Hart vs Roddy Piper or Steve Austin vs The Rock. But along the other hand, it is also regrettable that of those 21 matches, three are from last year’s WrestleMania and that for WrestleMania 38, Steve Austin vs Kevin Owens was chosen instead of one of that year’s memorable women’s matches. Furthermore, it was also noticeable that there is no women’s match from before 2019 and thus you will not see Tori Wilson, Beth Phoenix, Lita or Trish Stratus. Another problem is that there are obviously a lot of important matches missing because stars like Bryan Danielson, Adam Copeland (Edge) and Ric Flair are now under contract with AEW.
Tell Your Own Story
The Showcase mode is a fun interlude and an ideal way to learn the tricks of the trade, but the real deal is of course found in the other modes. Like last year, MyRise presents you with two stories, one for a female character and the other for the male counterpart. In MyRise Unleashed, you play as the promoter and wrestler of a small indie wrestling organization and it’s up to you to prove that you ultimately deserve a place among the all-time greats in WWE’s female division. In Undisputed, Roman Reign relinquishes the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship to make it in Hollywood and you, as the so-called Dark Horse, get the chance to succeed him as champion. The developers have already done their best to make two entertaining stories for the players, and it was especially fun to see a run on reality in the Undisputed story.
If you prefer to play as a general manager, you can once again enter MyGM mode. Here it’s up to you to manage one of the brands and make sure you run the number one show and are Hall of Fame material. Overall, little has changed in this mode from last year. You do have more managers to choose from, including even Paul Heyman or Eric Bischoff, and brands such as WCW and ECW. Another new feature is that you can now trade wrestlers with the other GMs you are competing against after each Premium Live Event. Of course, the biggest problem remains the matchmaking in this mode, which is still far too formulaic. Universe mode, on the other hand, is a giant playground in which you control everything, from the matches to the belts to the rivalries. Again, there are no groundbreaking innovations to note here, but some tinkering was done to the mode by adding new cutscenes and new rivalry options such as the Loser Leaves Town stipulation or the ability to organize matches in which two titles are defended, for example.
Carload of Content
The FIFA Ultimate Team-like MyFaction mode is of course also back in, but again I didn’t pay much attention to this because it’s not my thing at all. Furthermore, you have a very extensive creation suite, where you can not only create or customize wrestlers, but also arenas, shows, move-sets and even championships. Of course, you can share all this through Community Creation, where you will be able to download the most insane creations. Thus, you will still be able to play with absent superstars or even wrestlers from other promotions such as AEW, TNA or NJPW. So a dream match between Kazuchika Okada and Seth Rollins is perfectly playable here. Although you certainly don’t have to complain about the number of playable characters in this edition, which seems to have the largest roster in the series. Especially if you are a fan of the older generations, you will be able to get to work with a lot of legendary wrestlers. The list is quite impressive. Unfortunately, though, some important names are once again reserved for paying DLC, which is yet another regret. Especially considering these are stars such as the recently returned CM Punk, Kairi Sane and Nia Jax. Graphically, there doesn’t really seem to have been a step forward, but fortunately most of the superstars look great. Though unfortunately there are some exceptions this year, including Bayley, for example, who herself has already expressed her displeasure with her model.
Another thing you might want to know is that the soundtrack was curated by Post Malone, and although I find the songs in the menus pretty standard, they do fit the overall package the game offers. Otherwise, the biggest innovations are some added match types such as the casket match, ambulance match and guest referee match, all three nice additions. There were also some gameplay changes such as a new Trading Blows minigame, the ability to throw objects, control over the camera in Spectator mode and more opportunities to do things ringside such as break the commentators’ table with a super finisher. All these additions do make the game just a little richer and fun rom to play. But the changes versus WWE 2K23 still remain a bit on the light side.
4/5
Reviewed on PlayStation 5.
This review as originally written for BeyondGaming.be.
