WWE 2K22

Honestly the game isn't bad, but the story line is just pure cringe. I wanna skip the cut scenes but I can't that's how awful they are. I'm glad I got it on sale. And they need to stop with the micro transactions ! Hurt them with no payments . Just buy the game and don't give them money . Enough.

I decided to get it based on all the ads focusing on how the gameplay has been completely reworked. It hasn't in any meaningful way.

Recent additions had an increasingly prioritised focus on 'hit the reversal button at the right time to take control or you can effectively do nothing since you're dizzy or stunned'. All the cool abilities, in strikes and combos and grapples and ring-techniques were mostly irrelevant because it's all decided by quick timing with the single reversal button.

The supposed new gameplay seems to be the addition of extra combos and additional ways to do reversals... but none of that matters because it's still all about pressing the one, main reversal button at the right time. Such boring gameplay.

A minor additional frustration is with the special events. The very first one I tried had a challenge/requirement to put Batista on the top rope, assuredly near the end of the match since it was about the 7th or 8th challenge. But I couldn't find any information about how to put someone on the top rope. It's not clearly explained in the tutorial, nor any of the standard control pages, nor the wrestler specific pages. While trying and trying and trying, Batista eventually lucked out and pinned me.

Just as bad as any of the recent 5-10 expensive, annual rip-offs. Will they ever bring back the great gameplay from 20 or so years ago?

I've been playing the new game, wwe 2k22 nonstop for the past two days, while playing, I've noticed quite alot of improvements, the graphics look fantastic, and the gameplay feels so smooth, I know some people would disagree with the new controls though. I have however noticed that alot of gameplay, is a copy and paste from recent games, which can be quite repetitive, however, I can definitely see an improvement from past games, my rise is fantastic so far, and universe mode is solid, I've seen a few glitches, but nothing compared to 2k20, my gm could be improved, however I am very happy with the game produced.

While they started strong with 2K14 (even though THQ was there when the game was being made), the folks over at 2K has been struggling a bit with the series. 2K15 being the most divisive and each game afterwards, at best, being "pretty good, but not much more than that", it was clear there needed to be a new direction. 2K19 was the beginning of that new direction, as it seemed to be the culmination of what worked from each game was nearly perfected...which also meant the game also had some places left to grow. But other than that, 2K19 was the first game in the series in years that was truly great. It was just a matter of time where the developers would add on to that excellent formula and make something truly spectacular.

Come 2019, that rug was violently pulled when Yukes decided to stop developing WWE games; which, from what I've heard, happened because 2K were too involved by not letting Yukes do what they truly wanted to forward the series. So instead, Visual Concepts stepped up to the plate for the awaited 2K20. And it undid absolutely every single thing each WWE 2K game did right, as it was all samey and, much more noticeably, broken. You just flat out couldn't play it without running into a game ruining glitch. Sure, it could be comical and hilarious at times, but then you remember that the game was $60. It was such a disaster, that Visual Concepts had to take an entire year off, because it was obvious they didn't really know what they were doing at the time. While the likes of "2K Battlegrounds" was a slightly engaging time, it wasn't a real alternative to a true WWE 2K game as it was basically a mobile game ported to consoles; still WAY better than 2K20. So after 2 and a half years after 2K20, did they remedy their wrongdoings?

For the most part, absolutely. Visual Concepts has proven that the time off was worth it, as they managed to make a WWE game that's better than most of the ones made by Yukes beforehand; though, because of the aforementioned circumstances with 2K butting in, I don't blame Yukes for. But damn, this is one of the most genuinely fun wrestling games I've ever played. It seemingly mixes the simulation gameplay we're used to with the more arcadey feel of earlier "Smackdown vs. Raw" games, and it's the best gameplay in a WWE 2K game yet. And the modes, overall, are all great. Whether it be the expansive and awesome look of the legendary career of Rey Mysterio in this years 2K Showcase, the customizable and powerful Universe Mode, the long awaited return of GM mode, or the immensely improved MyRise with a better emphasis on progress, what you've got here is a game that is bursting at the seams with awesome content; with the only throwaway being MyFaction (not a bad mode, just one that doesn't appeal to me). Everything in this game is, for the most part, a massive improvement over any other WWE 2K game out there. Really, the only thing that might be a downgrade is the roster, as there's a few faces that didn't make it that were in 2K19, but even that complaint doesn't really work, because the DLC and community creations fix that problem and then some.

Overall, the game has all of the makings to be a perfect wrestling game. But, there's one issue that keeps it from reaching that status, and it's the optimization. For a game that's this polished, it sure likes to soft lock and crash from time to time. Any time you want to create a group image or make any major edits to any creation, there's a big chance the game will infinitely load, with the only thing you can do being to quit the game and start it back up. Granted, the group images DO save successfully, so at least it wasn't for nothing. But the fact that we have to do this at all is annoying, as well as sometimes heartbreaking; like making a group image in the middle of creating a complex arena only for the arena to be forever gone because the game decided to give up afterwards, which happens pretty much 100% of the time when doing so. This makes the act of creating stuff feel risky and just not as smooth as previous games before 2K20, which is a damn shame. Also, a tiny bit of the Creation Suite can sometimes stutter and lag; though, they at least work fine, so that's not anywhere near as major as the infinite loading bug, which is obviously a leftover from 2K20. I tried uninstalling it and reinstalling this game, but it did it again, so that, as well as the fact that each game before 2K20 never did that, tells me that the framework still needs some work. To be fair, every game ruining bug has been squashed, so I still think the game is well polished. It's just not super well optimized. Though, with all of the truly awful bugs gone, it gives me hope that they will iron out the bugs present here for 2K23, which will make it that perfect wrestling game if they keep up this pace.

Other than that, this game is great. Even with its less than great optimization, everything else manages to be so fun and so great on their own, that I'm addicted to it. If you're a wrestling fan, you need to get this game, ESPECIALLY if you have the patience for it; which you will need. But once you have it, this stands high above the rest as one of the best wrestling games in a long time. The only thing Visual Concepts really needs to focus on now is to keep ironing out the bugs and to not get complacent. Yes, they've made an excellent wrestling game here, but there's still work to be done. I'm a proponent of the idea that a delay of a game is always a good thing, so if they must wait until March of next year like they did with this game this year, then so be it. Even if a tiny bit later, if they improve upon this great formula, 2K23 could be legendary. But as is, 2K22 is good enough for me to say that WWE games are awesome again-something I haven't been able to say for years. It really does hit different.

This game is super trash. This game feels like it's using dead and retired wrestlers to sell a game and it feels very weird. Roster is filled with no name wrestlers that look like high schoolers. I can only name like 10% of the roster.

The layout is hash.

All I care about is playing on universe mode where I can I have freedom to do whatever I want. You can't even edit match rules. In 2k14 you had so much freedom and it was simple. This game is just complicated hash. They couldn't even make a damn calander like 2k14. 2k14 was soooo simple. They were not trying to reinvent the wheel.

Universe mode is as confusing as hash.

Wrestlers move like stiff hash.

Reverse system is filthy. 2k14 reverse system was basic and great.

Tag teaming was a nightmare.

Mitb match took a whole hour to win. I was taking breaks whilist the match was going on that's how long it took.

When you try to pick up items like a ladder it doesn't register. Instead causing the cou to attack you.

In 2k14 it was so easy to push over a damn ladder.

In this game you can't. Well I couldnt. Really 2k? I can't push over a bloody ladder?

Make an entrance use to be so creative. Now it's so basic. Not cool.

Don't get me started on the annoying soundtrack. The music was horribly hash. I had to mute the music within only 10 minutes. Usually I can tolerate bad music not this time.

I quit this game after I couldn't control my partners anymore. My gosh an easy feature turned into a disaster. In 2k14 I didn't have this Problem.

I bought delux and did not get what was offered. In 2k14 I didn't have this problem.

Downloading caws was also a nightmare.

Who ever worked on this game should 38.

I wasted my money on this crap game thinking it would be fun. It was not. I'm probably gonna trade it in for Pokemon cards.

Last best wwe game was 2k14 and 2k didn't didn't even make that game.

I tried 2k15 back in 2015 for an hour and returned it the next day.

It took me 2 weeks to play 2k22 and I wish I could have at least waited longer because this game is hash.

Don't buy 2k games.

Even their nba games are recyclable.

Horrible experience. How hard is it to get a damn wrestling game right? Jesus Christ. This is why I hate people so much. They disappoint me.