Grappling with change

WWE 2K22 might be the most hotly anticipated WWE game since 2K took over the license. It’s been 3½ years since the release of the very solid 2K19, and 2½ since 2K20 (which your intrepid reviewer classified as “the most glitchy, terrible looking, and generally broken major release from a major publisher I have every played”). With such a long layoff since the most recent playable entry, fans are expecting big things from this new entry. While I’m pleased to report that this game is a dramatic improvement over 2K20, and in some ways even over 2K19, a slate of legacy problems that have plagued the series for too long continue to hold it back from being the true King of the Ring.

First things first, the gameplay between the ropes in 2K22 is mostly very good. Several major changes have been made to the minute-by-minute fraudulent fisticuffs on display here and nearly all of them enhance the overall experience. Strikes are divided into light and heavy, and a grapple button allows you to grab your opponent and deliver moves by using additional button combinations to either perform moves or carry your opponent around the ring. The big new addition this year is the Combo system. This allows you to chain together light/heavy strikes along with grapples to pull off a sequence of impressive looking moves more seamlessly. Each combo has an ending maneuver that is only available through the combo system, so it’s a great way to not only keep the pressure up on offense but also to add some variety to your matches.

MSRP: $59.99
Platforms: Xbox (reviewed), PlayStation, Switch

Reversals are another area of the game that seen a significant overhaul with the addition of the combo system. Individual strike reversals as well as reversals once a move has “started” are handled with the block button. Once a combo or grapple has been initiated however, the reversal system switches to system which requires you to correctly guess your opponents next button press and match it by pressing the same button. If you believe the next move in your opponent’s combo will be a light strike, you reverse by pressing the light strike button and so on. I really like this improvement to the standard reversal system, and it certainly tones down the number of reversals in a player vs player match. The only draw back when playing against a human opponent is that it’s very easy to reverse certain actions that are obvious (i.e., Irish Whips into the wall of the Hell in the Cell) but that doesn’t come up all that often and can be solved by changing your strategy up a bit.

There are two meters at play with respect to special actions you can take during the match, a Special Meter and a Finisher Meter. The Special Meter charges as players give and take damage throughout the match and consists of three bars. The first filled bar allows the wrestler to take some enhanced defensive actions (like rolling out of the ring when knocked down). Payback moves return from previous entries in the series and can be done when the wrestler has two bars of meter to burn. Players can select which Payback move to assign the wrestler at character selection, and these are always good for a quick turn of the tides. At three bars of meter, they’ll earn the ability to use one of the Signature Moves and if this move is successful they will immediately fill the Finisher Meter. Players can also fill the Finisher meter through offense, but it’s generally much faster to get it full by pulling off a signature move.

Not all is sunshine and rainbows in the ring, however, as several of the series most frequent legacy issues continue to crop up in this entry. First off, the AI still reverses way too often. While the new reversal system corrects this issue against human players, the AI did not get the memo and will still reverse moves at a very high rate. Secondly, the artificial intelligence in multi-man matches is still awful and actively makes them no fun to play or simulate. This is particularly egregious in Mixed Tag matches, where male wrestlers are limited in their ability to interact with female wrestlers to keep them from breaking up a pinfall. It also leads to a lot of frustration in matches like Money in the Bank, where you’re constantly trying to find very small windows to get up the ladder and slowly work the briefcase’s “health” (for lack of a better term) down. It becomes clear that the AI is tuned to prevent the player from winning the match, rather than winning the match themselves. That’s a subtle difference, but nowhere is it more evident than if you simulate a Royal Rumble match.

As an example, I played a Royal Rumble where my chosen wrestler was to be the 27th entry (of 30) in the match. The game will only support 8 wrestlers on screen at a time, so the way the Rumble is handled is by having short intervals between new entries until there are 8 participants on the screen, and then pausing the clock on new wrestlers until someone is eliminated. Unfortunately, the AI is not good at understanding that the primary goal of a Royal Rumble is to throw competitors over the top rope to eliminate them. The side effect of this is that I had to sit and watch as invariably the ring would fill with wrestlers and then just stay in that state for a long while (up to 15 minutes at times) because no one was even attempting to eliminate anyone else. They would do all sorts of moves and taunts and everything else, but nothing even resembling an elimination. This makes these matches an absolute slog unless you make your character come in first or second so you can handle the eliminating and keeping the match moving.

The final legacy issue that just won’t seem to go away in this series is the abundance of physics glitches and clipping issues that rear their head in just about every match. During my time with the game, I experienced wrestlers floating in mid-air, climbing invisible ladders, clipping through each other or parts of the geometry around the ring, and crazy behavior from foreign objects. Most of these can be laughed off (just look online for the abundance of creator accounts doing just that) but some of them create more serious issues. At one point I was playing a one-on-one match against my son and I used my Payback move to call down another wrestler to interfere in the match. I was knocked down on the mat when the interfering wrestler came in, attacked my son, and left up the ramp. The referee in the match stopped paying attention to anything else and locked on to the interfering wrestler even after he had gone all the way to the back and was no longer around. This meant that not only could my son not pin or submit me, but I couldn’t even get up off the ground. I was stuck in a facedown position while the referee continued to berate an invisible man who was already back in catering. Even attempts at knocking the ref down to get his attention refocused were unsuccessful. These glitches and issues have become a hallmark of the series, and it’s inexcusable that they haven’t been corrected this many games in. It’s particularly egregious that they haven’t been corrected after both the insane amount of backlash to WWE 2K20 (which I will say had many more issues than this one) and the extended development time for this title. I would say this is a primary item of focus needed for future games in the series, but I’ve lost confidence in this engine’s ability to be corrected in this area.

In terms of game modes, you’ll find some old favorites mixed in with some brand-new options at your disposal. Showcase mode returns with some fantastic additions. This year’s Showcase centers around the legendary luchador Rey Mysterio and follows his career through 11 matches (and 1 secret bonus match) from the famous showdown with Eddie Guerrero at Halloween Havoc 1997 all the way up through 2020. Rey provides his own commentary for the mode, both between matches and during the action. The mode plays out similarly to past iterations, although the objectives required for full completion of each match are much simpler and more intuitive this time around. The major change in Showcase this year is in the presentation. Previously, completing objectives during the match in this mode would trigger in-game cutscenes showing key aspects of the historical matches. While that still happens, these in-game cutscenes now flow seamlessly into actual video of the match in question. The transitions between gameplay, cut scene, and actual video are super smooth and really add a ton to the overall package of this mode. My only gripe with this mode, although I understand the reasons, is that Rey spends all his commentary time speaking about the match and his rivalries as if wrestling is completely real, and not predetermined. I would have much rather this mode take on the tone of the many WWE sponsored documentaries that have come out over the years or podcasts from wrestlers walking through the planning and execution of the various spots on display. Instead, we get Rey doing his damnedest to put the kayfabe genie back in the bottle. Again, I get that kids play this game and the WWE likely doesn’t want to expose the business to them through their own video game, but it certainly strains credibility.

Showcase isn’t the only single-player focused mode on display here. You also get an updated version of MyPlayer mode (now called MyRise) where you create a wrestler and take him or her through their career, from fighting for a spot in the WWE Performance Center to slugging it out on the main roster. Generally, the mode plays out similarly to the way it has in the past. You’ll select different people in the locker room to talk to, which can lead to different challenges, or you’ll head to social media where many of the playable actions in the game originate. It’s your standard sports game career mode and is a decent play to kill time if you’re playing solo. Keep in mind, because of the heavy reliance on your created character the load times can be oppressive compared to the exhibition matches using WWE Superstars.

Also making a comeback this year, all the way from the Smackdown Vs Raw series, is MyGM mode. In this mode, you’ll take over as General Manager for one of four WWE brands (Raw, Smackdown, NXT, NXT UK) and will have to compete against another GM for brand supremacy. You’ll get to choose from a roster of GM candidates or use a custom one if you prefer. Each has his or her own special one-time use talent (William Regal’s for example is allowing players to hire their first legend for free) and each brand also has its own one-time use perk. Once players draft a roster, using a limited amount of funds, they will battle week to week to try and beat their competitor in the ratings. This is accomplished by making sure you have a diverse set of wrestlers, with plenty of different in-ring styles and heel/babyface pairings.

You’ll book the show, including matches and promo time, and get graded afterward on each individual segment as well as the show overall. From there, you’ll watch the ratings and dollars roll in. You can build rivalries to take feuds to higher levels and sign the aforementioned Legends to give your brand a boost in the lead-up to a big show. Unfortunately, the mode is limited in scope to a minimum of 15 weeks and a maximum of 50, so don’t expect 83 weeks of dominance here. Also, you are limited to only one men’s championship and one female championship, no mid-card or tag-team belts here, which can make a lot of the matches outside of the main event feel pretty directionless. You have the ability to either sim the matches that you book for the show or play them, but bear in mind that despite the mode’s heavy reliance on star ratings this is the only mode where you won’t see the active star rating of the match that you are playing in real time while you’re playing it. This is a huge oversight in my book and diminishes the value of actually playing through the matches. Overall, I can see the potential for MyGM if they get an opportunity to expand on it, but as it stands now it’s kind of half baked.

Universe mode, the persistent mode where you can book the entire WWE calendar with rivalries and more organic storylines playing out as you go, also returns and is (as usual) the standout single player mode. More importantly, a new feature has been added to Universe mode this year which allows you to control one WWE Superstar through the Universe, similarly to Road to the Show or other sports game career modes. This is where I spent most of my time playing the game on my own, and it’s an excellent way to experience the events and storylines that play out in the mode without having to micromanage or sim through everyone else’s matches.

Rounding out the playable modes is MyFaction, which is your standard card collection mode common to pretty much every sports game under the sun these days. I will admit, I am not generally a fan of these and WWE 2K22 doesn’t do anything to change my mind. If you’ve played any card collection mode from any 2K sports title thus far you’ll know what to expect here. Collect cards, build factions, battle with them through challenges or towers to earn upgrades and more currency to buy more cards with. I will say that one of the disadvantages WWE 2K22 has in this arena is that one of the pillars of this mode is the 4 on 4 Faction Wars mode, which is hampered tremendously by the previously mentioned issues with AI in multi-man matches.

As you would expect from a WWE game, the creation suite on display here is top notch. Whether you’re creating your own superstars or downloading ones from other creators, you’ll be hard pressed to find a wrestler you can’t add to the roster. All the creation tools you would expect are here, not just to create wrestlers and move-sets but championships, entrances, victory celebrations, arenas, shows, MITB briefcases, custom match types and even entrance videos. Folks who love the creative side of these games will find a ton to dive into here. The one drawback to this mode is that even on a Series X the load times in the creation suites are very laggy, particularly when creating a wrestler. That makes the whole process take much longer than it should and can create some tedium on particularly complicated builds.

When I reviewed 2K19, I mentioned that I felt like the game had a good “base” to build future iterations off of. It’s tempting to write something very similar about this entry in the series. The gameplay in 2K22 certainly feels fresh, as do the improvements to Universe mode and the Showcase mode, but the reality is that the series is still held back by legacy problems that absolutely should have been solved by now. I can’t in good conscience give the game a pass on some of the same problems that I brought up two entries ago, just because this one is an improvement over the last (absolutely wretched) game in the series.

With all the extra time between 2K20 and this entry, I expected several things. I expected the roster to be out of date, and it is. Many of the 180+ wrestlers featured here are no longer with the WWE (although that’s more WWE’s fault than 2k’s). I expected many of the wrestler characterizations and storylines to also be out of date, and they are (for example, Seth Rollins is still operating under his “Messiah” character). Most importantly I expected some big improvements, and while some of the items here definitely meet that qualification the game is still stuck in a rut with respect to AI and physics/clipping issues. There’s talk that WWE may look to partner with EA on future games, so this may be the last go around for the team at 2K, but if it’s not I hope that their focus for WWE 2k23 will be on fixing some of these issues so that the solid base they’ve built can actually live up to its potential. Hopefully I’m not revisiting that sentence again next year.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.