The world of wrestling is changing, just think of the phenomenon AEW (“All Elite Wrestling”), a new federation that many believe could be a serious headache for the well-known WWE.
In the same way, the videogame world of this sport-entertainment does not want to be outdone, and while the web community goes crazy for rumors about an elusive video game that could revolutionize the market produced precisely byAEW, one thing remains stable: the release of the new WWE game weblog 2K.
The goal that the 2K team and Visual Concepts wanted to achieve was to improve the gaming experience as much as possible (both graphically and in terms of gameplay). Will they have succeeded?
The slogan “Step Inside” and the new ideas to rejuvenate the brand
A new main menu, a choice of soundtracks that go well with the context and a catchy slogan: "Step Inside".
"Step Inside" is the slogan with which the development team presented the game, immediately giving the idea that you want to make a decisive step forward compared to the previous chapters.
One of the first innovative factors that we immediately noticed is the particular care dedicated to arena audience, now enriched with more varied animations in an attempt to make the atmosphere of the arenas more realistic.
Then the attempt to enhance the lights revenue of wrestlers and arenas in general (which in previous games, especially last year, had already been taken care of).
Furthermore we can also note how they have been updated different animations such as entrances, expressions when executing certain moves and various other details.
A graphic sector not up to par
In general, the graphics have undergone several renovations, and in fact we can see some positive aspects of this work.
A striking example is the recreation of the mask of "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt who manages to remain disturbing and faithful to the real counterpart.
However, if we go into the specifics, after all the premises made on the innovations, we might realize that some aspects have not been treated as they should have been.
In particular, it always remains embarrassing the not exactly sophisticated care in the physics of athletes' hair, especially noticeable in wrestlers who have long hair, and the expressions in general which, although you see the study that the development team put into it, still have too many imperfections.
Still missing significant gameplay improvements
Overall we found the gameplay slightly more solid and intuitive than previous versions of the game, also given the fact that the fighters will present a greater stability inside the square.
Among other things, an attempt to make the AI behavior.
For example if a fighter will want to run his own final move, the AI, unlike in the past, will take the necessary steps and move the opponent to prevent it during one seemamento, may end up on the ropes and so to break free.
Unfortunately, however, some factors persist that will irreparably affect all the good work that the development team has put into improving the gameplay, such as the different bug that plague the game and other faults such as the sistema in the target impreciso of the enemy.
Broadly speaking, therefore, this new WWE brings only minimal improvements to the gameplay which, however, are often eclipsed by the serious problems mentioned above.
Note of merit goes to musical tracks, which have always seemed to us spot on and very varied, potentially satisfying the tastes of each player.
Showcase, Career and a huge roster of wrestlers!
The main novelty regarding the various modes is the 2K showcase, which this year offers us the story of the "Four horsewomen"(Bayley, Becky Lynch, Charlotte Flair and Sasha Banks), or the four protagonists of the so-called"Women’s Revolution”, The phenomenon that began in 2014 thanks to which the conception of women's wrestling on the big screen.
Like last year, the "My Player" mode presents itself with a story and an unprecedented innovation in the videogame field of wrestling: in fact, we will have the opportunity to create our two alter egos, one man and one woman.
Also in this title the roster is very large: we can in fact choose to use emerging wrestlers not featured in WWE 2K19 such as Buddy murphy and I Shirai or unpublished legends like Jerry Lawler e X-Pac
Obviously, after the success of last year, WWE 2K20 will count on the "Towers”, That is a series of fights in which we should consecutively face several fierce opponents.
Furthermore, the "Universe”Where we could manage the WWE universe as we please. Finally, the latest news is the section WWE 2K Originals, or a series of themed DLCs that will allow you to take advantage of exclusive content.
Some news in the creative field
Every year WWE 2K offers us the opportunity to indulge ourselves as we please in the creation of characters, arenas, titles, briefcases, etc.
This year is certainly not far behind, in fact the development team has further taken care of this particular aspect of the game and has left us, as always, enormous creative freedom.
The main novelty that struck us is the possibility of change the "Wheel" of objects under the ring for each fighter, giving us the possibility to use the weapons we want to our liking (obviously at our own risk, since they could trigger disqualification in a normal match)
In conclusion
WWE 2K20, generally speaking, did not fully satisfy us.
Expectations were high, especially after the constant criticism received by the WWE 2K series due to insufficient care of some basic aspects (game physics above all), and this year unfortunately no significant changes were made.
In general, therefore, we believe that this title is great only for fans of the discipline, and we strongly advise against buying it to everyone else.
Thanks to Maikol Schiraldi, a fan of the Wrestling universe from an early age, who made this review possible by giving us the point of view of a fan of the series.
