WWE 2K22 Review – Head of the Table Once Again
WWE 2K22 – Written by Lyle Arends | Reviewed on PlayStation 5
The best redneck soap opera is back after a lengthy hiatus, and this time, with a new engine, new gameplay, and a new attitude.
King of Fighters
With WWE 2K22, gameplay has gone through a big change, with 2K22 turning the franchise into more of a fighting game, abandoning the technical control schemes of the past in favour of a combo-driven experience. Combining this with the removal of stamina and limited reversals, 2K22 has embraced the arcade roots fully once again, but for long-term 2K players, this could be a problem.
The previous games had a nice balance of back-and-forth action to simulate a real match, but now the controls feel a bit convoluted, and take a bit of an adjustment to get into. However, once you get used to them, you’ll find a fast-paced game that plays a lot better than its previous iteration, WWE 2K-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named.
Bring the Campaign
When you’re not putting on dream matches, the game once again has a story mode in the form of MyRise, where as usual, you create a new superstar (male of female) and have to fight your way to the top of the WWE, with both the male and female superstars having completely different stories that change according to what choices you make.
The story isn’t as crazy as the previous games, but it’s still decent and a fun ride to experience.
Outside of that, there’s Universe mode, where you can freely create, manage, and play your own shows, from rivalries to teams to champions; the Rey Mysterio showcase mode has you play through the iconic matches of the legendary Luchadore, and FINALLY, after 32 million years, the beloved GM mode finally returns, albeit a bit limited. Here, you have to draft a roster, and from there, try to book the best matches in order to beat your rival show.
You’ll have to manage your finances and roster to ensure you have the funds and healthy, happy superstars to put on a banger of a show. The mode feels incomplete, though, and doesn’t feel as immersive or expansive as it should be, but it’s still really fun to go through, and this is a great template to build upon, whether through patches, or with the next entry in the series.
It’s Showtime
WWE 2K22 has greatly benefited from the long hiatus since 2K20, as the game looks, sounds, and plays fantastically.
The game looks crazy good, with character models looking amazingly accurate, and it even sounds better than ever, especially thanks to the commentary team who actually do a good job calling the action, instead of just being an endless loop of the same thing. The game also brings a lot of quality of life changes that make it feel better, like for example, tables no longer fade away once you break them.
The 2K22 team have put a lot of effort into fixing the train-wreck that was 2K20, and they truly have pulled off a miracle.
Verdict:
