WWE 2K16 really could've been special. Two dozen hours into the latest wrestling sim from Yuke's and Visual Concepts, I can confidently say they are beginning to figure out what makes a great wrestling game. Even if the WWE 2K16 team's efforts still ultimately leave fans wanting more.
Let's get this out of the way. WWE 2K16 is not great. It's not particularly bad, but seems designed for a very specific audience - hardcore WWE fans. But there are moments when you'll wonder whether the WWE 2K16 dev team bothered to get any outside input before shipping the latest addition to a 15-year-old franchise. Because it often doesn't feel like it.
First, let’s talk about what WWE 2K16 does right. Parts of the game look real enough for your non-gaming family members to mistake it for WWE programming. Ring décor, in particular, looks better than ever. Even custom ring gear manages to look pretty life-like. Wrestlers finally interact with the environment in a realistic manner, like bouncing off the ropes after whiffing a clothesline. And a new set of OMG moments make the “squared-circle” feel more weapon than wrestling ring.
WWE 2K16 doesn’t have many unique arena models, or any licensed buildings, so many of the buildings you’ll perform in look nearly identical. But WWE even opened its extensive vault to the WWE 2K16 team, giving them the original audio files from many of the televised events in this year’s 2K Showcase. So players can look forward to hearing the same iconic moments audio recordings they’ve come to expect from repeated viewings of Stone Cold’s top performances. And, for those of us alive during the Attitude Era, the “Austin 3:16” promo is right up there with Dusty Rhodes’ iconic “Hard Times” speech.
That level of detail extends to a portion of the WWE 2K16 roster. Many of the Superstars shown in early screenshots do look quite good, particularly the top-tier performers like Triple H or Stone Cold Steve Austin. The WWE 2K16 team even managed to nail the look of performers who rely heavily on face and/or body paint; including Stardust and Finn Balor. That paint still doesn’t chip away over the course of a match but wrestlers’ makeup looks better this year.
The controls in WWE 2K16 remain largely unchanged. Despite skipping last year’s entry, it only took me a couple of matches to get my feet back under me. Once again, fans can look forward to learning an entirely new set of mechanics for pinfalls and submissions. Neither is particularly difficult to pick-up, though. The reversal process remains largely unchanged, requiring properly-timed presses of the right trigger; however, a new meter has been implemented to eliminate the endless reversal chains we’ve seen from WWE 2K16’s predecessors.
Match pacing is noticeably slower and an increased focus on wrestler stamina prevents players from hopping from one two-minute squash match to the next. But the slower action does feel a bit closer to what we see on WWE television and makes the flashes of high-speed action feel that much more special. Even rest holds finally have mechanical purpose.
Fans disappointed by WWE 2K15 will be happy to know 2K’s latest wrestling game is much more feature-complete. All of the match types you’d expect are available in Exhibition and WWE Universe, from singles competition to three-team TLC matches, and players can interrupt their opponents’ entrances for the first time since WWE Raw 2. The creation suite is vastly improved, featuring the return of created Divas and Championships, and there are significantly more options when it comes time to create custom Superstars and/or their movesets.
The move list, in particular, might be one of the most comprehensive I’ve seen in the modern era. WWE 2K16 has the Pepsi Plunge, you guys. I lost count of how many hours I’ve wasted in WWE games that let you build your own finishers, hoping to cobble together something that looks like the top-rope pedigree CM Punk used on the indie circuit. Now, it’s just a part of the experience; one of hundreds of beautifully animated grappling moves from WWE 2K16.
From a mechanical perspective there are small improvements to the WWE 2K engine. Less downtime between the start of the first entrance and the opening bell, no loading screens between each Superstar's entrance and players can enable/disable entrances before each match. WWE 2K16 even handles Superstar run-ins, which typically begin with a short animation showing the attacker’s arrival, pretty seamlessly.
Similar improvements are evident during matches. For the first time, heels who find themselves on the losing end of a severe beating will abandon the match, giving the player a DQ finish instead of a clean win. Other times, the heel might grab a weapon and get disqualified. Both situations feel exactly like the kind of surprise turn-of-events fans expect from WWE.
All of these changes bolster the career mode in WWE 2K16, which might be one of the best we’ve seen in two decades of wrestling games. Players guide a custom Superstar from a non-televised member of the NXT roster to the WWE Hall of Fame. To do so, you’ll need to win dozens of matches, improve the skills of your Superstar and (in most cases) earn a couple of WWE titles. A series of primary/secondary objectives, which ask players to do things like hold a championship belt for 365 days, offer some guidance. But it’s up to you to find allies in the locker room, maintain friendships, overcome rivalries and earn title shots.
WWE 2K16 delivers more content than we've ever seen in a modern wrestling game: There are four different game modes, dozens of potential match configurations, more than a hundred performers from throughout WWE history and hundreds of fully-animated strikes, grapples and finishers to ensure each Superstar's moveset is as accurate as possible. The game's MyCareer mode is substantially improved and many of the creation tools stripped from last year's wrestling game return in WWE 2K16. But sticking around long enough to see it all will be trial of patience that many gamers simply won't be able to overcome. There's a host of problems that must be ignored to get any real enjoyment from the game.
Let's start with the game's roster.
A few months ago, Vince McMahon told Stone Cold Steve Austin the current crop of WWE Superstars doesn’t compare to the larger-than-life performers we grew up with in the 80’s, 90’s and Early Aughts. And nowhere is this fact more apparent than WWE 2K16. Sure, there are still promising up-and-comers, like Finn Balor, Hideo Itami or Kevin Owens. But some of WWE’s most-promising future talent, like the Four Horsewomen, remain noticeably absent from WWE 2K16. And those who remain can’t possibly hope to compare to the likes of “The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels or “Macho Man” Randy Savage.
Players who feel the same way I do will find the lackluster roster only magnifies elements of the game’s mediocrity. The game’s roster is also one of the few areas were MyCareer mode shows weakness, particularly during the player’s stint in NXT. After capturing a championship belt, you can generally expect to wrestle the same handful of Superstars over and over again. It’s less of a problem once you reach the main roster but that shortcoming doesn’t ever really disappear. After all, a certain jorts-wearing wrestler is never far from any title picture.
Players will rely on their own booking to keep Universe mode entertaining, making it little more than a glorified exhibition mode. WWE 2K16 randomly generates rivalries, including an annual WrestleMania opponent for the Undertaker, but Universe mode lacks the backstage/out-of-ring action that makes those rivalries so memorable. It is easily the weakest portion of WWE 2K16.
There are inexplicable design choices; like the decision to license a diverse, semi-recognizable collection of music to play on menu screens without giving players the freedom to use those songs as the entrance music for their CAW creations. Which makes even less sense when you find out WWE 2K16 still doesn't support custom soundtracks. You know, the (relatively easy to implement) feature that's been missing since WWE 2K14. Some fans will also lament the continued absence of the Create a Story offering.
The in- and out-of-ring action still feature their fair share of cringe-inducing bugs, too. I've seen my Superstar walk straight through ringside barricades and character models occasionally catch on one another in ways that can make it look like both performers are drunk. Entering/exiting the ring can be a headache thanks to collision detection issues near each turnbuckle, and I've actually lost a few matches because WWE 2K16 didn't properly register my attempts to get back in the ring. Sadly, they weren't the only times that wrestlers seemed to defy the laws of physics in WWE 2K16.
The submission and pinfall overhauls are likely to be some of the most polarizing changes in the game. As I’m writing this, less than eight percent of the WWE 2K16 community has successfully submitted an opponent, and those who purchased the game in its first week would ostensibly be those most-familiar with the series. Once you learn it, though, it’s easy to exploit. In a similar vein, tweaks to the WWE 2K16’s chain-wrestling mechanics haven’t made the opening moments of a match any more enjoyable. A lack of explanation, of how strikes factor into the chain-wrestling mechanic, will leave some players at a distinct disadvantage. The game may let players control the frequency with which the AI counters certain attacks, or how it handles specific scenarios, but that's not always enough to fix the problem. A lack of consistency from AI performances, particularly with regard to reversals, make it impossible to know if you've ever really tuned the AI's capabilities to your liking.
Perhaps the most baffling issue with WWE 2K16 is the discrepancy between the appearances of each Diva, Legend and Superstar on the roster. For every picture-perfect John Cena or Randy Orton, there are half a dozen members of the WWE 2K16 roster that look as if they’re recovering from some sort of facial trauma. Many Superstars would be unrecognizable, were it not for their distinctive ring gear. On launch day, comedian Ron Funches described the bulk of the roster as “fat cheek goblins.” And he’s not wrong. The model for Renee Young, who appears countless times throughout MyCareer mode, might be one of the game's worst offenders.
An assortment of mechanical improvements, proper handling of certain situations and a fantastic take on MyCareer mode make WWE 2K16 a necessary part of the series' greater evolution. There are plenty of small ways the game improves upon last year's foundation. But the series’ biggest issues, insufferable reversal mechanics and snore-inducing Universe mode, remain major thorns in its side. Network issues don't seem to be as big of a problem this year. But, as someone who doesn't enjoy playing WWE games with other people, I'll admit to not spending much time with that portion of the game.
Truth is, every time I found something to like in WWE 2K16 it was only a matter of times before one of the game's other shortcomings brought me back to a horrific reality. Whether it's the reversal system, a weakness that has plagued the series for close to a decade, similarly terrible chain-wrestling/submission mechanics, or the laughably bad digital recreations of the WWE roster, WWE 2K16 is quick to remind you it’s a far worse game than should be accepted in 2015. If we think of the last 15 years of wrestling games as fans’ own personal Iron Man match, pitting their annual expectations against each year's finished product, then WWE 2K16 is the series' rest hold. Longtime fans will appreciate it for what it is, a chance to recuperate, but there will be no shortage of "Boring" chants while it's present.
If there’s one area where WWE 2K16 excels, it’s mirroring the mediocrity of WWE programming in 2015. The game’s roster is larger than we’ve ever seen from a wrestling game but its over-reliance on the stars of yesteryear remains as obvious in digital form as it is in real life. Diehard wrestling fans and/or those who skipped out on WWE 2K15 will find the most enjoyment from this year’s release. But anyone who still feels the sting from 2K15, or unwilling to spend time balancing WWE 2K16 to their liking, might want to hold off for now. It's not the worst wrestling game we've ever seen. At its best, when the AI doesn't feel like the boss of a fighting game and players manage their stamina wisely, the excitement of a WWE 2K16 match could rival some of the best performances on WWE television. But, at its worst, 2K16 feels like the same tired crap we've been dealing with for a decade-plus.
There are great ideas on display in WWE 2K16. Many of which I'm hoping to see return in 2K17. But Yuke's and Visual Concepts clearly needed another 12 months to prepare some of those ideas for public consumption. Let's just hope we're not saying the same damn thing this time next year.
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for more WWE 2K16 coverage throughout the rest of 2015 and for as long as 2K continues to support WWE 2K16 in the months ahead.
