In recent years the WWE 2K series has taken steps to shake away its original arcade trappings and slowly but surely transformed the series into something that feels a lot closer to the beloved wrestling games by AKI. The series showed huge improvements with WWE 2K16, and WWE 2K17 served to refine and improve on what came before. So while it wasn’t an evolutionary leap for the series it was an enjoyable wrestling game experience that improved on the previous year’s entry. It was a definitely a step in the right direction for series that had a habit of taking one step forward and two steps back.
WWE 2K18 refines and improves the formula once again, only this time it’s added some significant new features and changes that definitely make it a better wrestling game than last year. It may not be enough to persuade gamers that were turned off by the series in the last two entries as once again it’s not a huge leap forward. However, fans of the series will definitely find WWE 2K18 an overall improvement and quite possibly the best WWE 2K game this generation so far. Although there are some drawbacks that may hold this entry back from being seen as a classic in the eyes veteran fans from the golden age of wrestling games with the likes of WWF No Mercy. Let’s take a look at 8 of the best and 7 of the worst things about WWE 2K18.
15 Best: Brock And Cena's Pecs Have Never Looked Better
The first thing that WWE 2K fans will notice in this new installment is the visual improvements. The images don’t really do the game justice, and for once many the characters really do look excellent, and no longer have that shiny and waxy appearance they used to have. Preorder bonus DLC’s Kurt Angle and Batista, in particular, both look fantastic. The details in the muscle definition is a huge boost this year, you can really see each the individual muscles flexing - particularly Brocks pecs - when the characters pose and hit their moves, it’s subtle but it really makes a difference.
What really helps the finer details stand out more is the brand new lighting engine in WWE 2K18 and it makes a lot of difference compared to previous efforts. The first time you will notice this will undoubtedly be the excellent character entrances, and they look better than ever.
14 Worst: The Commentary Is As Awful As It’s Ever Been
One aspect of the WWE 2K games that’s always been awful is the commentary. Aside from adding Byron Saxton and Corey Graves to the commentary box, it feels as old and as disconnected as it ever did. When you consider that the old WWF Attitude games on the original PlayStation and Nintendo 64 are nearly 18 years old and still sound better than this, there isn’t really an excuse.
Furthermore, 2K’s other franchise the NBA 2K series has some of the best commentary ever heard in any sports game, so it’s baffling that commentary in WWE 2K18 doesn’t show any improvement. Maybe WWE 2K19 will produce something which doesn’t have us jumping straight into ‘options’ and switching the commentary off entirely.
13 Best: Back Stage Brawls Bring Back The Pain
Fans have been complaining for years that they wanted the ability to go backstage, and while they reintroduced that to that a certain degree with WWE 2K17, WWE 2K18 has expanded on this even further and improved it in nearly every way.
While it doesn’t have the same amount of freedom as Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain, the areas are larger and more interactive, with lots of new ways to deal the pain to your opponents. There’s now a new parking lot to fight in, with cars, forklifts, equipment boxes, and a huge truck to perform brand new high-risk moves, finishers and ‘OMG’ moments. In addition, there’s a cafeteria, a gym with running machines, the McMahon office, and waiting areas for your characters to brawl in.
12 Worst: The Spaghetti Hairstyles Are Back
Despite all the mostly excellent improvements to the game’s visual presentation, there’s still a lot of glaring issues that hold the game back somewhat. WWE 2K18 is without a doubt the best looking wrestling ever made, but some of the series most obvious drawback is still present in this entry.
Characters like Seth Rollins, The Ultimate Warrior, Roman Reigns and more still look like they have hair made out of microwavable super noodles. What’s worse they still behave in that weird floaty manner that they used to, so the hair physics are still in need of improvement.
6 and 8 man tag team matches seem to suffer from a slight drop in resolution, the wrestlers still look good, but they definitely don’t look as sharp as they do in a singles match. In addition, there is some very nasty screen tearing in the free roam. Hopefully, there is a chance that this can be addressed in a patch.
11 Best: 8-Man Matches Are A Blast With Friends
Although there is a drop in the game’s resolution during large-scale matches featuring multiple wrestlers in 6 and 8 man tags matches, and Battle Royales, these matches are not only long requested by fans, but they can be great fun too.
They can be chaotic, but this is part of the appeal. Those who love inviting a few friends around will definitely get a huge kick out of playing these massive free for all matches with tag team matches, royal rumbles, and proper Survivor Series elimination style matches, featuring more wrestlers in the ring at the same time than ever before in a WWE 2K game.
10 Worst: Can You Smell What The Glitches Are Cooking?
One of the biggest criticisms leveled at the WWE 2K franchise is always a number of bugs and glitches at launch. Even though 2K eventually addressed these issues with some huge hard drive devouring patches, WWE 2K17 had several games breaking bugs that infuriated fans. As a result, some gamers lost patience and gave up before 2K rolled out their patches.
We can confidently say that WWE 2K18 isn’t anywhere near as bad as that, and even in its early stages prior to its official launch the game plays very well for the most part. However, there are occasionally some problems with lag and slowdown in 8-Man tag matches, there were issues with wrestlers interacting with the environment, which sometimes resulted in wrestlers walking around in mid-air. Fans have also complained about the game crashing when setting up customized promo sequences and at the time of writing there is an issue with multiplayer where parental controls are blocking guest players.
9 Best: Presentation That Rick "The Model" Martel Can Be Proud Of
With exception to the commentary, the overall presentation is superb. The first obvious example of this is the clever menu screens showing three-dimensional stills of two wrestlers battling it out in the ring. Each image is highlighted in either blue for Smackdown or red for RAW and represents a feud which took place over the last year on its two flagship TV shows.
The MyCareer mode is more fun to get to grips with and feels a lot less grindy, this is helped by the faster loading screens and user-friendly menu screen. The entrances are top notch and feel more authentic than ever. There are brand new OMG moments to discover, and even the wrestler taunts are filled with nice little touches, from Braun Strowman’s signature roar to Kurt Angle lowing his straps there’s a ton of new things and see or do.
8 Wost: Still No Custom Soundtracks
The ability to add your own custom soundtracks was an amazing feature on the last generation of consoles that helped add a level of authenticity to your created wrestlers or if you were trying create a wrestler that’s not on the roster for any particular reason. As fans know, as much as you can create an accurate Hulk Hogan it’s really unsatisfying when he walks out to some generic rock tune instead of the iconic “I’m a Real American.”
The lack of this feature will absolutely frustrate fans who love to spend hours and hours recreating their favorite wrestlers. Adding to the frustration is the fact that 2K has been totally silent about adding the feature. At the very least fans should be able to download officially licensed WWE entrance music through the creation suite for past stars since they own rights for that music, and surely it's another opportunity for 2K to make some extra cash via downloadable tracks?
7 Best: An Amazing Legends Roster
WWE 2K18 is missing some Legends such as Hulk Hogan, the Dudley Boys, Legion of Doom, Demolition, and even Rowdy Roddy Piper. Some are missing because of legal reasons, most notably Hulk Hogan’s controversial comments, and Demolition and The Legion of Doom who is taking the WWE to court because of concussion-related injuries.
Yet despite this, WWE 2K18 has a fantastic roster of Legends for old school wrestling fans, such as Sting, Ric Flair, Lex Luger, Kurt Angle, Goldberg, Andre The Giant and others. You can even select up 30 classic wrestlers and create a 30-man Legends Royal Rumble.
Fans can create their own versions of The Hart Foundation, The NWO Wolfpack, The Outsiders, and the Dream Team with likes of Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake and Greg “The Hammer” Valentine. Fans also have The Hardys and Rock 'n Roll Express to look forward to.
6 Worst: Some Female Wrestlers Still Look Like Mannequins
WWE 2K18 has improved its character models a great deal, with the likes of Jinder Mahal looking incredibly detailed and lifelike with his trademark vascularity, and Braun Strowman looking like a walking brick house with his well-detailed character model too. The women, however, don’t look like they have been treated with the same level of care and attention as the males wrestlers.
In recent years, women’s wrestling has been getting the exposure and the respect it finally deserves in the WWE. Now (finally), the women are treated like competitors that are equal to their male counterparts rather than eye candy competing in “underwear” matches like in the late 1990s. Yet despite this, the female wrestler's character models look like an afterthought in comparison to the men.
There is a small improvement on WWE 2K17, but many of the women look like mannequins, feel awkward to handle, and don’t ask what is going on with Bayley’s face. She has the unfortunate look of someone in a constant state of strain...like she needs the toilet.
5 Best: The Best Wrestling RPG And The Best There Ever Will Be...Until Next Year
Much has been said about WWE 2K18’s new MyCareer features and how it improves upon previous entries. While there is still some room for extra refinement, this year’s entry is a definite step in the right direction.
This year WWE 2K18 has taken some inspiration from role-playing games by adding two different story paths in career mode, these are Company Man (Heel) and Fan Favorite (Face). Company Man will have your character conspiring with general managers, ambushing fan favorites during interviews and other villainous deeds. Being a fan favorite means you have to earn the respect of your fans and peers and work hard to keep the fans interested.
Another major feature adding to that RPG feel is the free roam mode. This allows your character to explore and wander backstage, taking side-quests and starting rivalries with other superstars.
4 Worst: The Road To Annoyance
WWE 2K’s online matches have always been more miss than hit, and this year’s entry is no different. Waiting for a specific match type can be a lengthy and boring process, and if you’re lucky enough to get a match with no lag, you’re likely to encounter players that don’t make the matches worth waiting for.
You’ll often play against someone who consistently spams the same moves over and over again, or exploiting the game in some way. Additionally, you’ll also encounter quite a few “rage quitters” as there seems to be no penalization in place to tackle it.
Furthermore, the game's biggest addition to online play is the Road To Glory mode, which requires you to play against other online gamers to earn loot boxes and unlock new moves, attire, and other content - although it can be purchased at a slower rate in MyCareer. Those who purchased the accelerator pack to unlock all the content in previous games will likely get upset with this pretty big change that drags an otherwise great MyCareer mode down a little bit.
3 Best: The Gameplay Steps Up
Building upon the successful gameplay mechanics that began with WWE 2K16 (WWE 2K15 was one of the worst games in the series) 2K has added even more refinements to the core gameplay that really add to the overall experience. Last year’s entry was a major improvement in the gameplay department, seemingly taking inspiration from the likes AKI wrestling games and combining it with the modern series grapple system, and this is refined further in WWE 2K18.
However, some matches could go on forever especially when playing against another human. This was because the original kick-out bar was fairly predictable. So this year it’s a little more difficult kicking out after your opponent hits a finisher, this helps emulate a match in a more realistic manner. It’s minor changes like this which helps improve the overall experience. Also new to this year's entry is the ability to carry your opponent from the bodyslam position. This allows players to get even more creative and hit brand new finishers from this position.
2 Worst: A Universe With Limits
Every year the developers at 2K hype WWE 2K18’s Universe mode to oblivion, always promising big changes and improvements to the system every year. In many ways the Universe mode should be a dream come true for wrestling fans, you can create your own rivalries, shows, teams, and events.
So while this mode has the foundations to be something truly special, it is still bogged down by its repetition, and worst of all the stories and cutscenes really aren’t very enjoyable. So how much you enjoy this mode depends entirely on your imagination and creativity. It just would have been nice if there was something that really took the Universe mode to the next level.
1 Best: Get Creative With Custom Matches
One of the biggest aspects of being able to enjoy the WWE 2K series is how creative the game allows you to be, especially if you’re a fan. Creativity was often limited to participating in the matches themselves or in the Universe mode, but not anymore.
New to this year's entry is the ability to create your own custom match types, and it’s definite step in the right direction for fans that have been complaining about lack of match types available in the game. If you want to create a 2 out of 3 falls steel cage match or a First Blood match you can. As long as the stipulation doesn’t conflict with the match type you can be as creative as you want to be, it’s a simple yet fantastic addition that will leave you wondering why 2K didn’t include this before.