https://redd.it/9lvqxp

My career being regarded as "fun", universe mode being a straight up hour soaker, creation suite being less strict and more polished

The initial impressions have me pretty hype to pick this entry up on pay day

Turns out speeding up the matches and making real stories to give a shit about was the missing ingredients literally everyone kept telling the cooks was missing lol

I have liked most of the 2k entries in the series but I believe this is the best one. Animations are smoother, matches move more fluid, the career mode actually has a somewhat interesting story that is the right kind of dumb

I played some at a friend's house, he gets the game every year, and the series seems to be slowly getting better. I still think they are several years off from me getting back in to series but the actual wrestling is now serviceable save for targeting in multi-man matches. I hear the single player story is kinda decent because it's self aware and embraces the goofiness that is pro wrestling.

That's great news. I've always been a big fan of the Smackdown games back on the ps1/ps2 and to see them become garbage over the years was a bummer. Good to know they're at least trying now.

I don't know about the animations being smoother, from what I've seen the ramped up speed has made some of the older moves look too fast. I kinda hate they increased it for everything instead of incorporating weight physics and noticeable speed differences between each wrestler which was the problem, that and not coming up with a buff that lets you go on a speedy comeback-like tear through you opponent like Kenny Omega frequently does throughout his matches. I think they got that buff down this year, but increasing the overall speed is kinda lame as it's gonna make old school matches look off the mark, hopefully it's not as bad as it was in 2K14 which was a real problem with how fast the strike moves were. There's gotta be a way to offer customizable speed settings in the future if they're not gonna show each weight class the appropriate love.

Also, once again the sound, specifically the crowd reaction is terrible....despite thankfully adding a "quiet" Japanese crowd this year which I hope is available in Create-an-Arena. If only we could get special ref back to make Red Shoes we'd be one step closer to full-fledged NJPW game with all the great CAWS that will be available eventually on Community Creations.

I’ve played a bit with my kid and a bit on my own. Not nearly enough to offer anything definitive.

It seems more polished, better performing, less glitchy, and faster than past years.

There’s a proper story mode which is entertaining enough, and LIGHTYEARS behind last year’s embarrassment.

So far, so good.

As someone who has played these games yearly on release, this is the first once since about WWE 12 where I'm actually having fun with the in ring gameplay instead of finding my fun through simming Universe and acting like a story teller/booker. What 2K19 does well are the little things that seem incremental but actually make the core gameplay fun (assuming you're into this style of wrestling game). The Payback mechanic is a good way to, well, turn the tides in a major way, the A.I. is smarter about pins, the reversals often feel contextual, cage matches are a lot of fun, Universe mode makes a lot of smart changes regarding managers and show booking and titles (you can have a show be six tag titles if you want, or you can have one show just have all ladder or table matches or whatever), the game plays smooth even with 8 man matches, the framerate is stable even on older machines and the load times (which were a goddamn CHORE last year) are good and swift.

It's not all pretty. MyCareer, while goofy and fun, still suffers from dumping you on the main roster FAR before you're ready and there are loot packs that you can't buy with real money but it makes it so if you want to unlock attire, moves, taunts, entrance animations/music, or boosts for the online then you have to use your fake currency which is doled out like a drip across all modes. 2K Towers is fun if you like that sort of thing but unless they constantly add more then it' basically a fun distraction that, with any hope, will resemble something like a Mortal Kombat tower in 2K20. The commentary is better, especially during entrances, but it's still not great. Big Head Mode is dumb but fun for a match or two, and the Wyatt Compound is a fucking disaster that has no point.

WWE 2K19 wont convince someone who is staunchly against the series, but it is a good WWE 2K game. Take that as you will. It feels like a good mix between sim and arcade while leaning more in the sim direction still.

Watched a stream of New Legacy Inc. taking on the AJ Styles Million Dollar Tower and that looked legitimately tough. Basically you got beat 15 wrestlers on Legend difficulty with AJ Stylesthen I guess you get a chance to cut a promo on Styles about how you will beat him to be entered in for a chance to play Styles for a million dollars.

Going by the stream the key seems to be getting your opponent down with hard strikes, apparently the Pele Kick is hard for the AI to consistently counter, and keep stomping and repeating until they waste their reversals. Also to switch from the analog style submission wheel to the button mashing one for the submission only matches. Here's hoping someone on this forum wins the million dollars.

Never use the button mash submission style, the analog is way better and actually lets you escape when critical while the button mash is wonky with that. But yeah, the best strategy in these games is to bait out A.I. reversals with strikes and such then unload. The A.I. is better about not just spamming reversal on stomps which is good.