2K’s WWE games have always been a mixed bag. They are easy enough to jump into and enjoy, but have failed to deliver a more compelling experience beyond that. Sadly, WWE 2K18 follows in the same footsteps. There’s a significant visual upgrade, and playing it is still fun for the most part. However, sticking with it for the long run also means having to bear with many of the game’s issues.
Let’s discuss some of the positives first, since I did and still am having fun with the game. The visual upgrade is instantly noticeable. Wrestling superstars look more lifelike and realistic, and movement animations are vastly improved. Their likeness is stunningly recreated on screen, and it gives way to a more immersive experience overall. The player roster is also massive, with over 170 players available to start with.
Then comes the character creation tool. It’s massive. There are so many options, and so much that you have control over, that it can become a bit daunting. However, I absolutely enjoyed picking out the minutiae, and going all in. It does take a good long time to finally have a character ready, but the final creations do look good, and I came away satisfied with what I had created. Facial and physical details can be tweaked to a great degree, and you can create a superstar or monster of your choice.
If creating a custom character feels like too much work, you can always go online to pick from the roster of player created characters. Many of these are actually really great, and range from political figures, Hollywood stars, and many more.
The problem comes in putting your custom character to work. Sure, Exhibition mode is always there, but the real meat of where your character comes into play – the My Career Mode – is not all that great. Everything just feels good enough and average. There’s not much quality here, neither in the acting, cutscenes, or the story progression and there’s no voice over either. It feels like it’s there to check off a box, and offers very little value.
The gameplay is as solid as it has ever been in these 2K wrestling games, which is to say that it’s as janky as ever. I could go on about odd animations, slow action, and the numerous glitches. However, it feels like due to almost zero competition from other developers, gamers have accepted the game for what it is, and 2K sees no reason to make improvements. Sure, it’s still fun, but it’s no more fun than the previous games.
None of the issues have been addresses, and the most annoying part is the obsessive focus on reversals. A reversal is a prompt that pops up when you are being hit. If you get the prompt in time, you will have the advantage. However, the window for hitting the reversal prompt is so small and inconsistent, that early on it kept throwing me off all too often. Slowly, I did get a hang of it, but still do not like it.
You know what though, despite the issues, the game is still a blast with friends. There are a ton of game modes, and is a really enjoyable to play the game with a group of friends who are all into wrestling. My only disappointment is with 2K’s stubborn refusal to do better. More dramatic moments in the Career mode, improved gameplay mechanics, and other quality of life fixes would go a long way in making this a much better experience. But maybe that’s the thing about making a franchise with a dedicated audience who don’t have other options – while there’s room to improve, there’s no real incentive to do so.
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