There is no getting away from how much of a misfire WWE 2K20 has been for the franchise. The game is buried under a mountain of bugs and even the so-called fixes that are being released are creating new problems for players.
This is a shame because hidden under the mess is still a fairly solid wrestling title. The developers added new moves, new OMG moments, and more authentic Payback move sets like the Hulkster’s. Unfortunately, for every good thing they did the developers broke or removed something else. It’s another case of one step forward, two steps back for the series.
With fans of the series returning to the vastly superior WWE 2K19, it may be too little too late for the latest entry and fans are left with no choice but to hope that WWE 2K21 will learn from its mistakes.
10 Change: More Showcase Modes
Getting a women’s Showcase mode in WWE 2K20 was a great and long overdue addition to the series. However, the games need more than one Showcase to appeal to fans from all walks of life, especially as it’s there to add more replay value beyond MyCareer.
The Wrestlemania showcase mode from WWE 2K14 and Legends Showcase from WWE 2K17 have proven to be some of the most popular. Wrestling fans love matches of historical relevance too. The fact that the WWE Network’s most popular shows are the ones that focus on the Golden Era, Attitude Era and the Monday Night Wars only proves this.
9 Keep: Chain Wrestling
The original developers Yukes always worked hard to make the WWE 2K games as accessible as possible. Yet, they understood that real wrestling fans still love match building and technical wrestling.
With Yukes gone 2K’s Visual Concepts need to hold on to what made the fans purchase a new entry in the series every year. Thankfully, they not only kept the chain wrestling feature in the game they slowed its pace down allowing for a more realistic experience. However, these moves can only be initiated at the beginning of the match, being able to do this at any point during the contest should be an option for the next game.
8 Change: More Legends
One of the most glaring omissions from WWE 2K20 compared to its predecessors was the complete lack of legends. Bringing Hulk Hogan back to series was a great move for fans of the golden era of wrestling. Wrestling fans could once again recreate Wrestlemania III with Andre the Giant or face off against Ric Flair in a battle of the legends.
Unfortunately, 2K has removed nearly half of the game’s legends compared to last year’s entry. Instead, players have to put up with multiple but nearly identical versions of the same characters like Sasha Banks and Charlotte Flair.
7 Keep: MyCareer Mode For Both Genders
There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to the WWE 2K MyCareer mode to make it a less clunky and ugly experience. However, there’s a lot of replay value in the game mode that goes way beyond climbing the rankings seen in old-school wrestling games.
2K further extended that replay value by adding the choice of gender. Not only is this a great feature for gamers but it covers all demographics, making it more appealing for female wrestling fans and gamers too.
6 Change: Bring Back Preset Moves
The preset moves feature was a set of prearranged wrestling moves and wrestler-specific taunts that either belonged to wrestlers that were missing from the roster or are in other promotions. This means that gamers can edit accurate recreations of missing legends like The Road Warriors or Lex Luger or AEW stars like Kenny Omega.
Unfortunately, this feature was completely removed from WWE 2K20 with no explanation being provided by the developers. It’s a sorely missed feature in this year’s entry because of the complete lack of legends wrestlers.
5 Keep: Alternate Entrances
A great feature that hasn’t gone unnoticed with fans of the series’ creation suites is the addition of more than one entrance for several wrestlers. This means that wrestlers like Tommaso Ciampa and Bobby Lashley have both heel (villain) and babyface (good guy) entrances.
This allows gamers to stay as up to date as possible with the ever-changing storylines in the WWE and keep up with the endless heel and face turns some wrestlers have in response to fan reaction. Furthermore, some wrestlers even have alternate entrance music like Triple H.
4 Change: Limb Targeting
A feature that didn’t go down very well with fans of the series was the remapping of the game’s controls. Not only was it completely unnecessary but it made several moves more difficult and awkward to pull off.
The limb targeting feature was one of the biggest casualties of the new control system. In previous games, players could select what limb they wanted to target and wear down with a simple press of a button. Now limb targeting is worked by using the analog stick along with holding down R2 and square. Worse still, to target a limb on a downed opponent, players need to awkwardly get themselves into position by standing near the body part and hope for the best.
3 Keep: Towers Mode
WWE 2K’s Towers mode is a Mortal Kombat-inspired feature where players can work through an arcade-style gauntlet of opponents. Each battle will have stipulations that will reward the player with more points when completed.
WWE 2K20 also has story-based Towers mode that focuses on one of its biggest stars Roman Reigns. There are more than 30 Towers for players to work through that feature modern superstars and legends all with their own themes.
2 Change: Get Rid Of The Originals
The Originals DLC packs may be the most ill-conceived and most idiotic thing seen in a wrestling game since WWF Wrestlemania: The Arcade Game. Fans of wrestling games were comfortable in the knowledge that they didn’t have another grappling title that featured silly moves like Doink the Clown hitting opponents with a giant electrical boxing glove.
The Originals Bump in the Night DLC lets players attack their opponents with a magical book. It also adds horror movie versions of the characters that already exist instead of giving them an alternate attire. It’s painful that 2K opted for this instead of more Legends and Rising Stars packs.
1 Keep: Limited-Time Events
The concept of having limited time events in-game is a good idea if it can unlock extra content for players. The recent events have been more focused on adding alternate attires for certain wrestlers like Rusev.
These events have been related to The Originals DLC packs like the Pilgrim outfits. However, in future titles, it would be preferable if the 2K gave players the option to unlock more attires, new moves and finishers, and more features that wrestling fans would enjoy.