Over the last few years, the WWE brand of 2K has been going through the wringer. The series has been all over the place in terms of how fans and players have received the games. However, with WWE 2K22 the franchise has been getting new life. With WWE 2K24 on the horizon, now is a good time to see if the series can continue to be the Face of the sport with our review.
A new challenger enters
Learning the ropes in WWE 2K24 is a lot easier than in UFC 5. This is because gameplay in 2K24 is less technical allowing you to feel powerful at the start. Since I’ve played only a few WWE 2K games, my knowledge of the move sets of each wrestler was limited. Through the gameplay like matches and the many modes, WWE 2K24’s learning curve is far more forgiving than many of its counterparts.
For this review of WWE 2K24, I played through a large chunk just to understand how moves work for certain fighters. The good news is that gameplay is a far cry from what I went through for UFC 5. WWE has always been about the theatrics and how the momentum of any fight can dictate the outcome. Being in control of the fight is much easier in 2K24. A few well-placed blows on the upper body can pull the event in either way. With the crowd playing a pivotal role in these matches, they can make you feel like a rockstar every time your attack connects. Whenever this happened, I became noticeably hyped that I was doing something well.
What you do in the matches is quite important as well. Meaning, if you fight with a vanilla style by using simple attacks, the fights become repetitive. What I enjoyed about this aspect is that WWE 2K24 forces me to change my strategies. This is great because it can teach you other more potent moves from the fighter. It’s cool and rewarding when you can chain combos together fluidly and knock out your opponent.
Be a superstar
Most if not all sports games will have other things to do like having a story mode. WWE 2K24 has been growing with what goes into the game. It’s probably one of the few combat sports games that is the full package. You have the typical exhibition mode which is free play. My favorite is the WWE Universe which has been overhauled. In the older games like WWE 2K22, you could live out an entire WWE timeline based on your actions. In the 2024 entry, much is the same, however, there’s Superstar mode that follows one wrestler you have picked. For me, I picked the best fighter in the women’s division Alexa Bliss. Because of her 90 ratings, I was able to plow through the competition. It is just an immersive experience told in the best way possible.
Another stand-out mode is the MyRISE mode which acts as the story for the game. Like WWE Universe, it’s been revamped from the 2K22 edition where it features two different storylines to follow. So you can spend a lot of time here playing out your dream career as a top-tier wrestler. For a sports game, the career mode is deep. Every choice you make develops your mythology which might bar you from participating in certain events much like in real life. The MyRISE mode is a fully fleshed-out feature and got me really into the world of WWE. I highly recommend playing it.
The WrestleMania Showcase is a great new addition to these modes — if you’re a fan of the sport. Even though it’s for the celebration of 40 years of WWE, the mode works if you have a wider knowledge than I do. The mode is full of clips and moments throughout WWE’s history that didn’t hit the mark for me. However, if you know a thing or two about the sport, you can find some nostalgia in it.
Looking the part
Full disclosure, I got the review copy of WWE 2K24 so, understandably, the game can behave erratically. Since the game doesn’t have a Day One patch, I was expecting issues to pop up. They did. The game crashed several times, I needed to restart it quite a bit because WWE 2K24 wouldn’t recognize my Xbox controller. Moments like that made it feel like a slog. There were times when I was playing and I spent most of my sessions problem-solving to fix the game. Hopefully, this is just a pre-launch issue because the problems did become game-breaking at one point.
However, not everything is doom and gloom. WWE 2K24’s presentation. Much in the lane of UFC 5, when your punches land — they land. It can be felt throughout the arena and makes you feel like you’re accomplishing something. Even down to the faces of the wrestlers is a cool detail that Visual Concepts seems to have perfected. When you counter or catch an attack, the face of your opponent tells what exactly going to happen next. By paying attention to those minor details much like in real life, WWE 2K24 is a well-polished product.
The highlight of this part is that whenever you have the momentum and are the fan favorite, the crowd shows that. It gets louder causing your energy as a player to skyrocket. This happened to me, and I began to spam combos as if I were an expert in the game.
Post-match results
Once you get passed the technical issues, there’s something under the surface. Going into this review, I expected the game to be just for WWE fans. But the deeper I went, I found there was a lot more going on. I can see the story mode being a crowd winner because it teaches you the world of WWE as you’re going along. Unlike UFC 5, each mode and each match you go into will be different because of what you need to do. Such as outright knocking out your opponent or being creative in how you win. That sense of challenge is rewarding in the game and can make WWE 2K24 stand shoulder-to-shoulder with other heavy hitters in the genre.
For non-fans like me, there’s a whole range of content to pick that can make you somewhat invested in the world. Even if you don’t know what the best fighters are or how certain matches work like Money in the Bank, the game does an excellent job of letting you explore those mechanics — without being overwhelmed.
To get the most out of WWE 2K24, you’ll need to unlock a lot of things. VC can help you with that, but is somewhat challenging. By following our guide, you could potentially increase your VC output.
7
While plagued with technical issues, WWE 2K24 is still the full package. The dynamic modes offer more than just the typical rough style of play. If you’re looking for an entry point for the sport, WWE 2K24 could be it.
