My WWE 2K17 Review

WWE2K17 has been one of the most overly anticipated sport games of the year, offering a complete makeover and an adjustment to any of the past editions of the game. Although they have been able to fix many of the problems they have had in the past, a number of their newest features are creating problems for players, and are not living up to the expectations of the build up. I will go in to detail about my personal experiences and my overall rating of the full game.

Let’s begin with the positives. The additions to the creation suite are a stand out this year. The “create a video” section stands out to me, because it’s one of the many modes that you can spend time on where you can make the game your own. Not only that, the significant improvements to creating an arena, a show, a championship and a superstar means that you can put all of your creative genius to use.

Also, I think that the choice of roster for this years game was terrific. The majority of the roster are up to date in attire and entrance, and include all of the superstars that had been highly requested by fans. Besides, if there’s someone who isn’t on the full roster, you can wait for the brilliant line up of DLC coming out over the next few months. Names such as Goldberg, Tye Dillinger, Austin Aries, Eddie Guerrero, The Fabulous Freebirds, The Von Ericks, Gallows & Anderson plus many more will be available for purchase to add to the already stacked roster.

I didn’t expect myself to consider this as an important point, but the addition of Backstage Brawls and being able to wrestle within the crowd have really added to the tremendous gameplay that 2K has improved on this year. The ability to battle with your opponent in the backstage area, throwing your opponent in to TV’s, tables, doors and so on; it may have been the most fun I’ve had with a wrestling game in years. These additions are especially satisfying when playing in a falls count anywhere, as you are able to take your opponent all over the arena, making it feel just as realistic as when we watch it on TV.

The My Career mode has shown noticeable improvements since last year. Everything that has been added means that you can control your own path in your career. If you perform well in the performance center, you are sent straight to the main roster. If not, you will be doing your grind down in NXT. I think this is a very important feature because it feels more realistic and it gives the player a sense of true achievement when you are able to achieve your goals. The Paul Heyman Guy challenge is a brilliant addition to Career Mode because it will give you a more dominant path to superstardom through a great wrestling mind like Heyman’s; similarly to how Lesnar made his name in the WWE. This year, Career mode will give you full control of your own destiny.

Other Pro’s:
Improvement in gameplay
Taunting
The ability to have more than one manager
The soundtrack
Additional cut scenes for Universe Mode and My Career
Promo engine
3 save slots for Career mode
The addition of the victory scene

One thing that must be pointed out in the negatives is the current state of Universe mode. When vivid games first saw the screenshots for the Mode, people were eager to get their hands on the game to test the gameplay. For me, Universe mode has had it’s problems that need to be patched sooner rather than later. One problem I have been having is the match card for your shows. It seems as if whenever I edit one of the matches on a card, another match gets added to the end of the show that I don’t want to be there. At one point, I entered a show that I had edited, and there were fifteen matches booked, when I had only booked six. I have been able to look past it, but it’s not something that should be happening. Additionally, I had set up a match card for my Raw show, and I left the tab only to see that the whole card had been simulated by itself. I also had some match problems too; I booked a triple threat Steel cage match, and Seth Rollins was trapped under the cage from the beginning. Also, I had booked a tag team match, and only Big Cass and Bubba Ray made it to the ring. For a game that had been promoting such a huge concentration on that mode, I am sadly disappointed with it all.

These bugs within Universe mode also makes me wish that the game had a showcase mode. I understand that they wanted to concentrate on improving on Universe mode and Career mode, yet I feel as if the game is really missing the showcase mode. No matter who it was about, the showcase modes from the part 2K games and beyond have all been outstanding, and have given players purpose to play for hours on end. Without this mode, the game is missing a huge gap that they have not been able to fill.

The VC system on 2K17 is a good idea. It means that you have to play the game to earn the superstars or features that are locked within the game. However, the VC you earn apply for both Career mode and game unlockables. I think this is a bad idea for WWE2K17 especially because it makes it more difficult to unlock all the features that you want. I am fully aware that they would want to have the currency to be similar to NBA2K17, but it simply does not work the same way. This year, I recommend purchasing the accelerator from the store for 2K17 so you have everything unlocked.

Other Con’s:
No change to the commentary team
Ratings are ambiguous e.g. Big Cass- 84 overall

Final Thoughts
Conclusively, I think that the tremendous gameplay is able to overshadow the troubles that Universe mode have for some, but for those who were eagerly anticipating the updated game mode may have been let down due to what they had expected. WWE2K17 is rough around the edges, but if you are able to ignore its issues, you will not find a wrestling game that is more enjoyable than this one.
Overall rating: 8/10