Title: WWE 2K22
Developer: Visual Concepts
Publisher: 2K Games
Genre: Sport
Price: $59.99
Making a good wrestling game seems pretty simple conceptually. If you channel the best parts of World Wrestling Entertainment live shows and add interactivity to them, it doesn't seem possible to create a bad wrestling game. After all, any wrestling fan worth his or her salt knows that the sport has always been more about presentation and spectacle, and that's one thing video games can really pull off well. The live fights, when viewed in all their ridiculous glory, are a joy to watch when you combine each wrestler's over-the-top personas with the complexity and weight of the stunts shown. Translate that spectacle into a video game, and you have what should be the best parts of wrestling on full blast, with your favorites duking it out on the ring with not a shred of restraint in sight. WWE 2k22 embraces this ridiculousness and tightens up the mechanics and visuals in order to give the best experience it can. While WWE 2K20 was a disaster, WWE 2K22 shows that 2K Sports understood what went wrong, and, in the process, delivers a finely crafted experience that any true wrestling fan can enjoy.
The biggest of changes comes with the overhauled combat mechanics. WWE 2K22's fighting mechanics have been made simpler, and while it does remove some of the earlier titles' complexity, this overhaul has made the experience flow much smoother. Wrestlers feel much more responsive, and the various moves you can do feel weighty and impactful. The combos also feel pretty satisfying when you're able to land them, and your ability to reverse these on your opponents gives you a flexible amount of options on how to take your opponents down. You do have to watch your special meter during gameplay, though. Taking inspiration from more modern fighting games, proper use of this bar helps immensely in turning the tide, allowing you to perform signature wrestling moves or getting out of hairy situations before things get worse.
That's only scratching the surface of WWE 2K22 as well. Wrestling is more than just brawling on-stage, and whether you're in the ring or backstage, it's important to keep an eye on your surroundings to see if you can make use of them. You can toss your opponents off ledges, hit them with chairs, slam them on tables, and do all sorts of fun wrestling antics that really help seal the idea of a wrestling match come to life.
This is all sold with the game's very good looking engine. Of course, not everything with WWE 2K22 looks perfect, and some areas are visually worse – make that considerably worse – than others. Some textures can look pretty plasticky, the hair of some characters, for example. However, barring some of the outliers, there's been a great amount of detail put to work to make each wrestler come to life onscreen. This really speaks to the amount of time and quality put into making this game come to life.
You're not limited for choice with how you can enjoy WWE 2K22, either. If you feel like making your own wrestler, you're welcome to customize to your heart's content in the game's MyRise mode. Here, you're free to choose and play your wrestler as you see fit, choosing what brand to sponsor, making friends and enemies of whoever you desire, and generally living as the sport's new and upcoming talent. Progression is smooth, and your ability to frame and shape your character to your liking adds a hell of a lot of charm. It's basically your wrestler's own story mode, and it's as dramatic and as silly as what you'd expect from it.
If that's not what you're looking for in WWE 2K22, you can always just go with Showcase mode. Follow the exploits of Rey Mysterio and the key fights he fought that cemented his career as a wrestling legend. Don't feel like getting your hands dirty? Go with MyGM mode instead, and schedule the matches instead of playing in them. There's just plenty of options to enjoy the game as you see fit, and it is a breath of fresh air to see these options all laid bare, no strings attached. There are no microtransactions; you don't need to pay to enjoy them, and the plentiful modes you have on offer ensure dozens of hours of content.
Granted, WWE 2K22 is far from perfect. As with its predecessors, it runs into issues that may detract from the experience. Most of them are minor, thankfully, with the worst usually being things like shaky audio quality or texture bugs – and these can easily be forgiven, especially with how much they fixed compared to their earlier titles. If anything, the real issue with WWE 2K22 is that some of the downscaled features might be missed by longtime followers of the game. Things like the combat being faster might be more desirable, yes, but some might enjoy the more methodical pacing of, say, that of 2K19. While the upgrades have mostly been a net positive, fans who already have a set idea of how the series should play out may not be on board with them.
That said, WWE 2K22 is a surprisingly fun game to enjoy. If nothing else, it restors the faith of straddlers to the franchise. It is not only an overhaul of the series' worst mechanics; it's also a push for more accessibility and more fun, while keeping the spirit of the series alive. It still runs into some problems, but WWE 2K22 lays terrific groundwork that can be expanded on in future titles, especially if they channel the sports' best moments like this game has.
THE GOOD
- Easy, accessible, and intuitive, with a frantic, fast-paced approach to combat
- Has all the bells and whistles of a good wrestling match, combined with a solid visual design that makes it look and feel immersive
- Plenty of content to enjoy, with lots of replay value to be had
THE BAD
- Still has some quality issues that can be a bit jarring when they pop up
- Removal of some mechanics might put off longtime fans
RATING: 8.5/10
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