WWE 2K19 (XB1) Review

Step into the ring.

Every year is supposed to be “the year”. The year the WWE 2K series finally breaks the trend and lives up to its potential and the history of incredible wrestling games. WWE fans spend the months leading up to release poring over screens, features, and roster announcements hoping that this year is the one. For most of the history of the WWE 2K series fans have been disappointed by the final product. Glitches, poor gameplay, or half-baked features seem to have been par for the course over the last several years.

So here we go again. The post-Summerslam lull is almost over. The build to Survivor Series is on and the build to the Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania will soon begin. The WWE is dealing with its own real life turmoil as fans battle the company over their upcoming event in Saudi Arabia and their biggest star, Roman Reigns, fights his own battle against leukemia. For the first time in a long time, another wrestling game backed by a major worldwide promotion (although a very different game in form and function) launched just months ago. In this environment, can WWE 2K finally hit the heights fans have been expecting? Well…yes and no.

MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: XB1 (reviewed), PS4

WWE 2K19 features all of the modes and gameplay options that fans have come to expect over the years, with some critical expansions to high profile modes like Universe and My Player. All your favorite match types are here, with some expansions for multi-man brawls thanks in part to the improved performance when there are more than 4 wrestlers on screen.

The gameplay in the ring is what generally makes or breaks a game like this. WWE 2K19 certainly contains some improvements, the striking animations in particular are much better and flow more naturally. The new Payback system allows wrestlers who take damage to build two levels of Payback moves which help to turn the tide a bit. Most of these moves are actually very helpful, although I occasionally had issues getting them to trigger. As you would expect you can battle all around the arena and into a very well fleshed out backstage area to jump off semi-trucks and throw tinfoil banquet food heaters into each other (as one does). The ability to use button mash controls instead of the analog stick for submissions is a godsend to people like me who grew up having to wrap socks around my thumbs during particularly long or competitive matches of WCW Revenge or No Mercy.

Hell in a Cell matches now take place in a much more realistically sized cell which adds to the drama when fighting around ringside. You can also smash through the cell with regular moves now, which is a much needed change. Another major change to the Hell in the Cell formula is the ability to fight on the side of the cage, which is assisted by the ability to free climb any side.

In general, the opponent AI seems improved this year. They are smarter about using weapons and environmental opportunities and going for pins when they make sense. I had very few occasions where I felt like the AI just flat out behaved in an unrealistic way. Opponents are still way too reversal happy for my taste, even on normal difficulty.

While I recognize that this may seem like a stretch, I think the overall design of the gameplay lets the core concept of professional wrestling down a bit. The game as a whole plays and feels much more like a fighting game that takes place in a pro wrestling setting rather than a true simulation of fake sports.

There is a real “win at all costs, that’s the only thing that matters” feel to the entire gameplay mechanic here, which really is at odds with the entire spirit of the prosthetic pugilism in the real WWE. Never is that more evident than online, where cheap shots, repeated moves, and constant stomping make up the majority of the matches. I much prefer the gameplay style of Fire Pro Wrestling, which makes no bones about recognizing that winning and losing is the least important thing in fraudulent athletics, where the back and forth of the show is the real star. I’d love to see this series lean in that direction over the years. Instead of canned objectives like “hit your opponent with a top rope move” give me objectives that mirror the real stages of a pro wrestling match. If I’m a babyface (good guy) give me specific objectives to make my comeback on the heel. If I’m the heel, give me objectives centered around getting the heat on the babyface and feeding into the drama when he ultimately attempts to make his comeback only for me to have victory snatched out of his hands. At the very least give me a mode (both online and offline) where the winner is pre-determined and the name of the game is making the match as engaging as possible and pulling off the planned finish. That would be the next evolution in wrestling gaming.

Glitches are still unfortunately a part of the experience that just won’t go away year after year. Ropes are still the games worst nightmare and they bounce around, get tangled on competitors, and cause limbs to clip in strange and frightening ways. Any geometry with corners is prone to start either making your character flop around or have them clip through. I had to restart a Hell in the Cell match when my opponent clipped through an unbroken Cell and I couldn’t escape to attack them. I will say that glitches seem minimized compared to prior years, but anyone expecting a completely clean and polished experience, well, simply hasn’t been playing these games.

Showcase mode returns and this year’s version is based around the returning Daniel Bryan. Fans will take Bryan from his very first WWE match (on an episode of Velocity against a wrestler you may have heard of…and his name…was JOHN CENA!) through his WWE career high (and low) lights. Daniel Bryan was the perfect wrestler to base the mode around this year and I love the interviews with Bryan between matches. Bryan’s humble and self-deprecating style perfectly matches with the tone of the mode and adds gravity to each match. As is typical the objectives required in each match are a mixed bag of moments that genuinely stand out and make sense to include player control of, to scenarios that seem kind of shoehorned in to provide a challenge or transition to a cutscene. In general though the mode works and provides a nice backdrop for folks who may have only seen the very recent highlights of Daniel Bryan’s career. I love the fact that WWE licensed footage from Ring of Honor, a (admittedly much smaller) competitor of the WWE which has also fed the Universe such stars as CM Punk, Samoa Joe, Seth Rollins, and current WWE Champion and 2K19 cover boy AJ Styles. With a fertile landscape to pick from I expect this mode to continue to be a mainstay in the series moving forward, and I’d like to see next year’s focus on the stories and key matches of the Women’s Evolution.

My Player acts as a hub of sorts where the player creates the character that they will use for both the new revamped career mode, Road to Glory, and special My Player towers. Road to Glory is an online mode where you put your character up against other human competitors to gain stars (ratings of your match) and complete challenges to further your rating with one of 8 factions and earn XP and other My Player benefits. I didn’t experience much lag during my time playing online, although I did find reversals and pinfall kickouts more difficult to reliably pull off online.

My Player Towers are an extension of the Tower dynamic that the game also features outside of your created character. Towers are just what they sound like. You fight through a themed “tower” of matches beating generally increasingly difficult wrestlers to make your way through the final match. Some towers allow you to pause in the middle and go do something else, some require you to play them start to finish. Some allow you to heal between matches and some are gauntlet style where you have to finish them with one health bar. These are a nice distraction but overall I didn’t find myself returning to them all that frequently.

The real star of WWE 2K19 is the career mode, and this is the area where the game has seen the most improvement. Your character starts out wrestling for BCW, a small struggling independent promotion run by a former WWE star. The story twists and turns as your character makes his way to WWE, only to have the rug pulled out and have to make his own way back. Between matches, you’ll generally have a cutscene and then an opportunity to talk with a couple characters in the environment. Some of these interactions will offer choices to the player which change up gameplay sequences. You also have a smart phone which, in addition to hosting options and progression information also contain some fun stuff like mock podcasts (including one with a not subtle at all Jim Ross impersonator). Overall I appreciate the story and the time and attention paid to this area of the game. The writing is good and the overall scenario tells a very different story for WWE. There are several times early on when a primary character actually implies the player can make a big name and a lot of money for himself on the independent scene, which for anyone following the industry right now is not only a very realistic comment but something that WWE doesn’t really seem keen to point out.

My one complaint regarding Career mode is that your character starts out too weak. I understand wanting to give the player the feeling of progression, but your character is a real jabroni at the start of the mode, and new equipment parts and moves need to be purchased before they can be used. This is where one of my primary issues with the game lies.

The game has three different currencies. Two open loot box style packages that contain an assortment of moves, equipment, or other goodies. One is used to buy unlockable wrestlers, arenas, belts and moves for your created character. The move selection in My Player is unbelievably limited to start, and the earning rate for virtual currency ensures you’ll be stuck using basic moves for quite a while. The rate of earning and unlocking feels custom built to sell their My Player accelerator (which came with preorders). There’s no reason why they couldn’t have greatly expanded the number of initial moves to choose from while still keeping some premium moves as unlocks for later. The new skill tree system is an ok substitute for the prior management method but can feel a little confusing and overwhelming at first glance.

Universe mode is where most players will probably spend the majority of their time and it has undergone some really great changes. The game now gives you an expanded arsenal of ways to “book your territory” as you take control of the WWE machine and decide on match cards, rivalries, teams and show layouts. You can now select match winners without having to sim and cross your fingers which gives the whole mode a little bit of a modern EWR feel (for those who have played the classic booking simulator). The mode can be as overwhelming or streamlined as you’d like it to be, giving you control over a ton of different levers while also taking control of things you don’t feel like managing. I like the new updated promo system which pulls in recent happenings to make the conversations feel more connected to your universe.

From an audio/visual standpoint the game is ok. Graphically I find it’s very hit and miss with some wrestlers, hairstyles, and arenas looking great and others looking very last gen. The production values for pre-match graphics and the menus in the game look fantastic, but then the game will snap you right back out of it by showing a poorly rendered version of JoJo (the WWE’s ring announcer) announcing the participants while her mouth stay completely closed. I’m pretty underwhelmed with the overall visual style of the game and it, like main roster WWE, is due for a visual overhaul.

The commentary is similarly inconsistent. They talk about some good stuff on occasion, the history of different rivalries and superstars, key moments in previous matches of the same type, but in general the descriptions of what’s happening in the ring still feel pretty generic. Voice acting in the career mode, particularly of the three primary “BCW” characters is good. Wrestler voice acting is a little more sporadic with some notable Superstars not voicing their own virtual selves.

The game features a huge roster of grapplers with many more to unlock. If you get bored using the stock roster though you can always use the superior edit functions in the game to build your own. The community creation section is a huge plus to this game and there were already several great versions of non-WWE wrestlers to add to your stable. Speaking of that, very curious by omission is NXT Champion Tomasso Ciampa, who was in the game last year. There are some good creations of him though. Creation tools aren’t limited to just Superstars of course with create modes for arenas, entrances, belts, move sets, and many others. A cool new addition is the ability to create your own custom Money in the Bank briefcases that your characters can cash in for championship opportunities. You can even create sideplates for championship belts, which is a nice touch.

Overall 2K19, while certainly not perfect, is the best version of this series that we’ve seen yet. Tons of options and modes, a nearly endless list of creation options, some cool new gameplay changes, and a fantastic career mode add up to a game that long suffering WWE fans can really sink their teeth into. Some glitches and an overall staleness to the style of the gameplay in the game keep it from really getting to it’s potential though in my opinion. At the very least there’s a good base here, but I feel like we say that every year. It’s time for this series to take a real generational leap before next year’s game to revitalize and reinvigorate the brand and get folks excited again. If they can do that, while maintaining the things that make 2K19 at the top of the WWE 2K pile thus far they could have an all-timer on their hands. For now, this year’s game fits solidly in the upper mid-card and I have an appreciation for where they come from compared to where they are now, and hope that next year they’ll put the pieces together to really make something special. Which, honestly, feels about like watching the actual product around this time every year.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.

Good
  • Best WWE 2K game to date
  • Interesting career mode
  • Good choice for Showcase mode
  • Expanding “booking” options in Universe Mode
Bad
  • Opponents can be a bit reversal happy
  • Hit and miss graphics/animations
  • Too many unlocks/currencies
8
Great
Written by
Wombat lives by the code that if you are playing a game from this year, you are doing it wrong. His backlog is the stuff of legend and he is currently enjoying Perfect Dark Zero, Skies of Arcadia and Pong.