During the whole time that I was playing WWE 2K20, I was only thinking of one thing: How 2K Games could launch such a mess as the final and complete version of the game for $59.99? If you want a brief comment from me on WWE 2K20 without reading the review to the end, I have to admit the game is incomplete enough that it can be called as an early access title. The new iteration in the long-running WWE simulator series is more like the suicide of the development team than an outstanding improvement from the last year’s mild success. If you still need more evidence to change your mind on buying the game despite these early warnings, follow the WWE 2K20 review to the end.
It’s been almost a few years that story-driven modes have made their way through sports genre to live out the dreams of being a superstar in a more engaging way. 2K Games has had a good pace of improvement on its narrative-driven modes over the last few years in NBA 2K series, but for WWE 2K20, everything has just fallen all of a sudden. MyPlayer story features a bunch of interesting scenario events and I don’t deny them, but the dialogues between characters and the path they go through are written in the worst possible way. When it makes you listen to all those awkward dialogues between the characters without allowing you to skip them, there’s nothing to help but muting the TV.
Aside from that, gameplay-wise, you have to follow certain instructions in MyPlayer matches to beat your opponent, and every action out the determined objectives leads you to victory is not acceptable at all. I don’t how the team at Visual Concepts has concluded such an annoying structure for gameplay, but this hurts the game even more than the uncountable bugs. For instance, the instruction tells you (forces you) to hit the opponent’s arm, then perform a certain move-skill, then wait for an in-game cut-scene to heat up the match and then follow dozens of other objectives to finally leave the ring as the winner. The game makes you do all these while you can knock-out the opponent much easier if you wrestle in your own way.
The only thing that I partially like about the game’s MyPlayer mode is its expansive customization system that allows you to set a unique outfit for both in and out of the ring. However, regarding the game’s grindy progression system, it’s not that easy to unlock the cosmetic items.
Now that we are done with MyPlayer, it’s time to take a look at other modes, especially the Universe mode, but before that, let’s see what we have in 2K Central. While it’s Originals mode is yet to be added, The Four Horsewomen showdown is a worthy addition that follows the most epic fights of four women wrestlers including Becky Lynch. Although this mode also includes instruction-based matches, at least here you are remaking a true event, so it seems fair to do it exactly as it’s happened. The last option in 2K Central is Towers which makes you fight against certain wrestlers in certain difficulty levels.
Speaking of Universe, you are going to need a fully open schedule to get drowned for many hours in the series’ new mode which simulates a season of WWE with full control over the matches and wrestlers. This new model is what a WWE fan was dreaming of. While you can play all the matches and choose your side, you can also just manage the matches and simulate them. However, taking part in a full season of WWE with your favorite fighter isn’t something a WWE fan could miss.
Aside from the three main modes above, there are dozens of other modes to play solo or with friends locally that you’ve seen in most of the previous games as well.
Thus far, if your intention for playing WWE 2K20 has made it out alive, here is the boss fight: graphics and technical issues. WWE 2K20 is the worst game of the year in case of bugs and technical issues by far. If someone had shown me an in-game screen of the game before playing it myself, I’d think it’s a last-gen title. Just a quick look at Becky Lynch’s face in the game describes the developer’s laziness in character design. The problem goes even worse with the dull animations and infinite bugs that are all over the game even the customization menus. Besides, WWE 2K20 struggles with serious issues in servers. During the 7 days that I was playing the game, I could never join an online match and play with others due to unsolved matchmaking problems.
2K Games almost killed its long-running WWE franchise with the newly launched iteration. Although the game features a bunch of worthy modes and features, the number of issues is huge enough that overshadows every good aspect of the game. This game will never satisfy you unless the developer tackles a major part of the existing issues.
Note: A key was provided for the purpose of review.
