Xbox - The Official Magazine - UK (2019-12 - Christmas)

WWE2K20 cover star Becky Lynch trained at WWE Superstar Finn Bálor’s training school in Ireland

WWE2K20

THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY; 2K’S NEW WRESTLING TITLE HAS IT ALL... CHRIS BURKE

PUBLISHER 2K / DEVELOPER VISUAL CONCEPTS / RELEASE DATE OUT NOW / COST £54.99/$59.99

First, let’s look at the bad stuff. This

is a franchise in dire need of rebuilding

from the ground up. We can possibly

forgive this not happening for a couple

of reasons – ‘the crunch’ must surely

be worse for a yearly game, and the

departure of regular series devs Yuke’s

has meant that 2K’s Visual Concepts

team has had to step up. However, too

much time has evidently been spent

changing things up for no discernible

benefit, while so much legacy ‘bad

stuff’ remains. Take the control

scheme, for example. Reversals have

moved from LT to Y, and finishers are

now awkwardly mapped to pressing

both X and A – which is unnecessary

and unwelcome. The creation tools

might still be capable, on a wing and a

prayer, of making half-decent created

wrestlers, but it’s still so hard to tell

what you’re doing that you might as

well try it with the TV off. You’ll find no

less surprise in the monster you’ve

created when you turn it back on.

Some of the Superstar likenesses are

As with all annual
franchise sports
releases, the worst
we might have
expected from
WWE2K20 is that
we’d probably be able to cut and paste
last year’s review, knock off early and
go to the pub. How wrong we were.
What should have been a promising
progression for the franchise has got
everyone talking about it for all the
wrong reasons.
Leaving aside the laughable
release-day glitches, from terrible
clipping to spinning wrestlers, texture
confusion and some hideously
mutated wrestler creations, WWE2K20
has let itself down in so many of
the worst kinds of ways. It has
metaphorically gone to the toilet in
its own pants. And yet... if a promised
patch, which should be in place by the
time you read these very words, does
its job, this wrestling sim may just still
be worthy of your time.

okay, in a certain light, but at best it

feels like Xbox 360 textures have been

applied to faces, followed by the ugly

stick. Then there’s the hair. It’s not just

the fact that longer styles look like

ticker tape stuck to wrestlers’ heads,

which of course clips horribly. For

some reason it continually moves of

its own free will, like it’s possessed by

the demonic spirit of an evil wind sock.

On the ropes

Now, the better stuff. For the most

part the wrestling is good, from the

way the wrestlers move and behave

to the pacing of matches. Bouts build

dramatically as in real world pay-per-

views, while the limited reversals and

Payback abilities that can change

a match’s momentum allow for

surprising outcomes. This is an ugly

game, definitely worse-looking than

last year’s WWE2K19, but the evident

downgrade in the quality of Superstar

faces may, if we’re being kind, be a

sacrifice to framerates – which is

short

cut

WHAT IS IT?

The latest in the

annual wrasslin’

game franchise and a

bit of a social media

laughing stock.

WHAT’S IT LIKE?

WWE2K19, but

visually a bit worse

and initially slightly

broken. We really

hope it gets patched

properly.

WHO’S IT FOR?

WWE fans with a lot

of patience and

mental fortitude.

There’s a good game

in there somewhere,

we’re sure of it.

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