WWE Games ranking...doing the double.

For those of you that don't know I have been replaying through all the WWE games I can get my hands on to rank them. Todays blog will do the double. I have played a little bit of WWE 2K17 and man is that game trash so then moved on to WWE All Stars and that little gem is short. So I just merged the blog.

Let's start with 2K17 and whats good with it. The character creator is quicker... i guess. In the previous game you would have to wait a good 10 seconds with every choice. Each hairstyle, top, beard, eyebrows....you get it. It was legitimately tedious to create a character.

The games... looks ...better. I think, they keep getting better each year, I always start with a Triple H vs The Rock match (where these characters are unlocked) to test visuals and this is probably the best so far.

The gameplay seems slightly snappier too, i'm not sure if I am imagining this but it seemed quicker and more responsive.

Career mode seems more refined from last year, you no longer have the pointless goals to get that seem endless, and pointless. However it's still the same premise as previous years. Pick a title, work up from 10th seed to number one contender then fight for that title. Problem is, it just takes forever. I played for 12 hours in the tag team bracket and didn't get a title shot, not once. Won every match, started rivalries with members of tag teams higher than me, still never got a shot at THE NEW DAY!!! for the title.

I like a storyline in these career modes something to keep me interested and intrigued even something small. This and the previous iteration have nothing, so yet again I gave up.

WWE ALLSTARS

The game is very stripped back compared to any other wrestling game, there is no career to speak of and the creator modes are limited to just a character. This is even very stripped back you pick a head and a body. You pick clothes, a move set, some other wrestlers entrance and a finisher and your'e done.

Match types are very limited single, tag, hardcore and cage. That's it, ring out doesn't result in a count out and you can pin your opponent anywhere. The game plays a lot more like a fighting game than a wrestling game. You have a light attack and strong attack and then light and heavy grapple on the other two buttons. The gameplay though is fun, really fun. Probably some of the most fun I have had playing these WWE games. It doesn't quite have the depth of the other games which hurts it a little.

Reversals though, it seems so much harder to get the timing down and the AI controlled player can smash them out like nobody's business. So much so that close to the end of the series of matches that make up this games main mode, I was getting so frustrated because my opponents would reverse everything i do and I only seemed to win through luck.

On to the main game mode, it is basically a small story. A series of 10 matches resulting in a title shot. The first of these series is for the heavyweight championship against The Undertaker, the second series is for the WWE title against Randy and the final is a Tag Title series against DX. The matches are broken up by promo's every 3 or 4 matches which are well acted and look amazing. It's basic but fun.

Talking about the look of the game. The animated style still holds up and although may look jaggy at times, still looks amazing. I like it.

There is one more game mode in this game which pits two superstars, who have something in common against each other. You pick which one you control and see who ultimately is the best. The match ups boil down to stuff like the best Warrior, Ultimate vs Celtic. Or the best Big Man, Show vs Andre You know stuff like that. These matches start with a video package in classic WWE style introducing each superstar and talking about the rivalry. It's kinda cool.

Okay the ranking:

1. WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2006

2. WWE Allstars

3. WWE 2K15

4. WWE 2K17

5. WWE 2K16

All Stars' gameplay is actually deeper than any WWE game you'll stack it up against. On the surface it's patterned after the tried and true AKI-style setup, but with additional strike based combos or grapple chains. Everything is broken down into four character classes which need to be played a certain way to be successful, with characters within each class having further varied movesets, some even have hybrid techniques. You can play it like a wrestling game, you can play it like a fighting game, but you absolutely gotta learn the feel of whoever you're playing and playing against, something that is never a factor in most wrestling games unless you were taking on Undertaker way back in 2K14's Defeat the Streak mode.

Folks complained about the decent, but bare bones character creation leaving the game with little replay value when in reality the replay value came from a fighting game perspective of learning the ins and outs of each and every character in the game, but that concept sadly went over too many wrestling fan's heads as they had been conditioned for years to rosters that played the same across the board. You could make some awesome looking peeps however...

Also, yes...the game is super reversal heavy, but that's just another layer to the mechanics as those reversals have reversals which can be blocked or reversed. Combine that with the possible neverending grapple chains for the grappler class if you got your timing down and folks online would rage quit as soon as they saw you've selected Jack Swagger (the best character in the game) in what was easily the best balanced wrestling game ever made for competitive play outside of a few glitched moves that wound up in the dlc.

Then there's the high flyer tactics that gave that class a get out of Dodge move from anywhere in the arena which sent them jumping to the closest turnbuckle for a special which can be exploited when in multi-man matches against opponents with little health allowing you to score a multi-knockout as the game's collision detection applies to everyone, not just the person you're focused on. A mechanic which allows some amazing double team move opportunities which were fuel for compilation videos for months after the game came out. Though if you managed to get yourself in a special state as well before they launching off the top rope you can catch them with a finisher of your own!

I could go on and on about this game, but I'm now itching to check out some of those vids. I'll post a few here later that'll show you just how deep it actually was. So much so I can't imagine Battlegrounds beginning to offer a product anywhere near as awesome when it drops this fall.

I played All-Stars once at a gathering, and within 5 minutes anyone that picked it up had a great time. Would love to see more.

Also, WrestleMania: The Arcade Game above all.

WCW vs NWO Revenge is the GOAT

@sombre: That is DEFINITELY not the best WWE game. Unless you're arguing that it retroactively became a WWE game when WWE bought WCW.

I guess that's my argument. It had a lot of future WWE stars. I think it's the best wrestling game ever, cause it has AKI MAN