They clearly want a different style of game, but instead of simply admitting that, and moving on, they go on the same tired ass agenda fueled tirade tossing out false statements left and right as they've done each time they've discussed 2K's series this year, and to top it off, they insult the people that actually enjoy them....or some elements of them. I get Alex being extra salty because he has a horse to back with Fire Pro....which is a great game, I played Returns for nearly a decade, but Jesus Christ...shit isn't nearly as black and white as they paint it.
Yes, the overall package 2K offers isn't very good, but the two things they get right is their always amazing creation suite and the core (in-ring) gameplay. I'm not talking about gimmick matches, or weapon physics, I'm talking the basic foundation of the engine, which is not only totally sound but the best anyone's gonna be able to come up with anytime soon which is pretty amazing from a simulation standpoint. Despite the guy's insistence that the gameplay "fucking sucks", which I would take with a huge grain of salt given Jeff hasn't seemed to enjoy a 3D wrestling game this side of All Stars, Alex is all about the Fire Pro, and Dan....well...Dan is one of the most impatient gamers I've ever seen, it's understandable not all of them (or any of them) would be engaged with the current gameplay which requires a great deal of give and take for it to be rewarding. It's not the button masher Dan wants it to be and has treated it as being. The matches now have a great back and forth flow to them letting you recreate the televised product pretty accurately....though the slower paced old school match ups fair better as Yukes haven't been able to come up with a decent way of pacing the modern indy influenced action with their frequent bursts of speed (giving us several comeback states would help in those regards).
Wishing 2K would just "stop" is ignorant as hell, not just because of the fact they have a dedicated fanbase of us "idiots" that still enjoy the games despite their many issues, but the idea that anyone else could just come along and nail a wrestling game on their first try or would even want to despite the industry being hotter now than it has been in over a decade. 2K has a solid foundation to build on, it's just they don't have the time to work out all of the bugs that have been piling up after two decades of recycled code when they're still trying to come up with an acceptable replacement for their ditched story mode, and to keep a large portion of its (never satisfied) fans happy by making sure each release is up to date with all the bells and whistles. It's an uphill battle each and every year, and 2K's been caught in a rebuilding process over the last four installments. Also, no matter how much shit they get for not delivering, whoever else that would take a stab would be slammed just as much regardless if it was a sim or arcade experience as the main audience that supports these things are so set in their ways. That's why All Stars, despite being the most fun wrestling game since No Mercy (or Def Jam in some respects) didn't catch on because of it's over the top nature and it lacking an extensive character editor.
Things aren't gonna change until the WWE finally allows 2K and Yukes to take an extra six months to a year to iron things out or approves an installment that is meant to last several by the way of regular updates and dlc. I wish there was a b-team developer in the mix. Years back I hoped THQ San Diego had been brought on in that capacity either to put out All Star sequels on the off years, or have them take another stab at a simulation as their first attempt, TNA Impact, was released unfinished when Midway went under. The class based gameplay they came up with was such a breath of fresh air and was something I had hoped THQ would've implemented into the Smackdown legacy games despite trying something similar a few years earlier.
But yeah, the guys really need to get off their restrictive view of what wrestling games should be, realize they want something arcadey in nature, and go find that something, and if they have...focus on that. They went so far with their hatin', their months long critique of the series eventually fell apart for anyone that's actually played them as they start tossing out things that just aren't true with no grey area at all in the quality of the product outside the creation aspects, and that along with them now directing insults to those of us that do enjoy the games for legitimate god damned reasons is frustrating as hell given if I wasn't a fan of theirs, I wouldn't care what they think...but everything is just good...or bad to them, there's no middle ground and if it doesn't fit what they think it should be, it "fucking sucks." Personally I'd say having a stubbornly narrowminded opinions would "fucking suck"...but that's just me.
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