WWE 2K16

While WWE on TV is isn’t as over with the universe as it would like to be, WWE 2K16 recovers from the injury of last year’s instalment and comes out to its biggest pop in recent years.

WWE 2K16 needs little introduction at this point. As this year’s instalment of the annual WWE wrestling series put out by 2K, the game is most likely what you thought it was when you clicked on the title of this review. In addition it’s quite likely you clicked that title because you have at least a passing interest in Professional Wrestling or as the WWE calls it Sports Entertainment. Due to these factors I won’t try and explain every little detail of the ‘sport’ to you as if you were a newborn baby coming to Pro Wrestling for the first time. So be warned there may be some terminology found within this review that may baffle the uninitiated.

Let’s start with the most important fact first; WWE 2K16 is an improvement over last year’s game. I suspect that’s what most people wanted to hear and despite enjoying last year’s game more than I should have, I can see its flaws quite clearly. Sluggish controls, a lacking roster, trimmed down game modes and more all hampered 2K’s first attempt at bringing Pro Wrestling to the current generation of consoles. Most of these issues and others besides have been addressed with this year’s instalment.

I spend most of my time in 2K wrestling games within the My Career mode and this has been greatly improved over last years. Progression through this mode has undergone a drastic overhaul. Like last year you start in NXT but moving up and out of the developmental program into the WWE proper feels far more organic and engaging. You are able to pick what belt you want to vie for and create rivalries as you compete for it.

This works by being able to interrupt other Superstars matches by either directly attacking them or supporting their opponent. The former option creating a rival whom you build a storyline with, the latter creating an ally who can become your tag partner. This can also happen to you though these ‘random’ interruptions can be telegraphed. If you play like me and always have a manager by your side it’s very obvious when they are strangely absent coming to the ring with you, it’s a clear sign that you will be interrupted during that match. Rivalries are a really fun idea though and I loved the freedom it game me to craft the WWE experience I wanted to have with the Superstars I wanted to compete or tag with.

This years My Career is all about player choice. In WWE 2K16 your face or heel (I warned you about wrestling terminology) alignment comes predominantly from the new promo parts that come up between matches. In these you are interviewed by Renee Young and presented with multiple dialogue options that will effect your alignment. It’s a great idea hampered by awful presentation, Renee looks frankly monstrous and her voice work is considerably worse than what she delivers on TV. In addition to this your Superstar is also voiced, but you get no choice in how they sound and guess what, they sound awful! While this part of the career mode doesn’t quite work, it’s still a good idea and I look forward to see how it’s developed in the next game.

Of course if you are playing the My Career mode you have to create your Superstar and I don’t think this suite has ever been better. It was a little fiddly but I was able to actually import my own face into the game and make a wrestler who looked remarkably like me. This was some top level wish fulfillment and the tools on offer are surprisingly robust. The creation options in addition to the Superstar have also been massively improved this year with the addition of create a stadium and belt being brought back to the game. I also felt like the create an entrance mode was more robust than last year even if the non Superstar specific music seemed a little lacking.

While the meat of the game for me is in the My Career mode you can still take on the role of Vince McMahon in the Universe mode as you book matches to your hearts content and the multiplayer offerings are just what you would expect from a game such as this. This year’s Showcase mode focuses on Steve Austin’s career, elements of which we have already experienced in previous games though never to this depth. He is without a doubt one of the most popular wrestlers of all time and the mode does a great job of telling his story. Many have complained that the requirements to complete a match are too specific and take the fun out of the game, but like last year most matches have a simple objective and then many other more granular ones. It’s true that if you don’t do all the lesser goals you wont unlock as many rewards, but the story can be progressed without them.

I have spent a lot of time talking about the modes on offer and what has been brought back to WWE 2K16 after its absence last year including a great deal of the more extreme and outlandish match variations, but what of the grappling itself? It’s pretty similar to last year, the chain wrestling is still there and working holds have even been added to the game. If you don’t like the slow more methodical and simulation focused style of the recent 2K games this will not win you over.

Pins and submissions have also been changed. The change to pins is fairly minor and mostly a cosmetic one, submissions however are very different. Gone is jamming on a button to break a hold, now you have to maneuver a segment of a disk to either avoid or cover your opponents. It’s terrible and I hate it, it rarely seems to work and regardless of how much I practice I don’t seem to be able to get any better with it. Frustrating doesn’t come close to describing this awful addition to the game.

While some of these new features are ones I don’t appreciate the addition of limited reversals adds a new level of strategy to matches, especially with harder or human opponents. No more can you rely on just getting out of every attack as each wrestler has only a handful of dodges before they are stuck taking a beating. If you grapple smart though you will know which hits to take and which to avoid.

Another element of WWE 2K16 that I really appreciated was how close the game is getting to the polished TV experience we all love when watching WWE. Load times no longer exist between different Superstars entrances which enables the fun interruptions. What this does mean is that initial loads into matches seem a little longer. The loads within the creation suite are also inconsistent and a little baffling especially if you just want to try a new shirt on. A preview option has been made available that doesn’t require the longer loads and that’s a god send I highly recommend using. Many of the huge roster of Superstars and Divas do look great, but just as many don’t with poor models, odd animations and faces that just look nothing like the wrestler they are meant to represent. While I appreciate such variety within the roster maybe reducing it for quality would be the better way to go.

As I said at the start of this review, WWE 2K16 is without a doubt a better game than last year’s installment and really, what more could you hope for from an annualized ‘sports’ game. At this point evolution rather than revolution is the best we can hope for from 2K, Yukes and Visual Concepts. But in spite of the tight turn around and very specific mould WWE 2K16 is produced in the game is still inherently enjoyable. The changes to My Career are creative if not faultless and the expanded roster is impressive. Having most of the match types and creation options return is also appreciated, but let’s not forget, they took them out last year and have only replaced them this year. You will not be buying or playing WWE 2K16 if you don’t already like WWE and it’s clear the developers like it just as much as you do.