After WWE 2K20 repeatedly made headlines for all the wrong reasons in 2019, developer Visual Concepts went back to the drawing board for WWE 2K22. While it’s not quite as effective as Roman Reigns‘ heel turn in terms of repackaging a failed product, the year off has done the wrestling game series a tremendous amount of good. Even though some of its bad habits have returned, WWE 2K22‘s refined gameplay and new modes lift up the title and, more or less, give it the boost it deserves.
WWE 2K22‘s biggest change is in the moment-to-moment combat as the gameplay has been dramatically overhauled. For veterans of the series, these differences will take some time adjusting to, making the humorous and helpful tutorial narrated by Drew Gulak pretty valuable. Grappling is one of its more substantial refinements as you have to clinch before going into wrestling moves. This slows things down just a bit to create more methodical bouts but also opens up a lot of creative possibilities as players can either go into hard strikes, combinations, grapples, or perform an Irish whip from this one position.
The biggest improvement is that players have more opportunities to counter their opponent’s offensive arsenal. In old games, it was common to be on the receiving end and then be stuck just taking attack after attack until you pressed the reversal button at the right time. More moves can be countered now, such as combo strikes, which helps the gameplay go back-and-forth more often like a real wrestling match. Reversals are no longer limited and WWE 2K22 introduces a new stun mechanic to balance that change as players can’t reverse when in a stunned state. Additionally, striking is much more viable due to these changes, although they can also be blocked to make for some fun exchanges on the feet.
These gameplay improvements are paired with a number of visual ones as the engine looks a lot smoother than 2K20 with much better animation (although it still can get wonky on occasion). Now, this isn’t to say that the gameplay is perfect, as there are still many small flaws with the core gameplay and many of which that will be familiar to series veterans. For example, the A.I. can still get hung up on the ropes and the animation can freak out when pulling off more advanced maneuvers, but these moments don’t happen all that often and are usually pretty fun to gawk at. A handful of the more serious issues have to do with some match types, such as multi-man matches, which are still not all that fun to play due to constant pinfall breaks. Some of the weapons can also be unwieldy to use, as is moving around ladders during matches.
The highs and lows of WWE 2K22‘s gameplay are all best experienced in the new career mode, MyRise. Essentially just the latest spin on MyCareer, the mode once again has players creating their own male or female pro wrestler and then going through the ranks. There are a lot of choices to make this time around, as players can choose to go to three WWE brands: Raw, SmackDown, and NXT. The storylines differ in each brand with the player’s heel or face alignment also factoring into what side stories are available, giving it a solid amount of replayability, unlike 2K20‘s MyCareer which was linear in nature.
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While MyRise is more grounded than 2K20‘s absolutely bonkers career mode (one that saw Samoa Joe get his arm replaced with a cybernetic one, a match literally take place in Hell, and a fight breaks out on a movie set), there are still plenty of goofy side missions that you can select through the social media tab in the game. Besides some fun pro wrestling storylines, such as having a hit put out on you by a worried champion, there is also some surprisingly solid writing, especially regarding how one side story dives into the pressures of being born into a family of luchadores and how that can fracture relationships between father and son. Beyond all that, it also offers up plenty of variety in match types and foes, so playing MyRise off the bat will get you familiarized with most of the roster and the different match types available.
Sadly, the roster is also one of the most conflicting aspects of the game, which is no fault of Visual Concepts but rather the WWE’s real-life business decisions. A sizable amount of the in-game roster has been released by the company, which makes the game either just outdated or weirdly sad to play, depending on your viewpoint. There are enough released wrestlers in the game that players can fill an entire 30-person Royal Rumble match with unemployed wrestlers that WWE owner Vince McMahon recently called “dead weight.” There are also quite a few legends that used to be mainstays of the WWE 2K games that are not in here due to cuts, financial disagreements, or the wrestlers now being involved in rival organization All Elite Wrestling, which has its own upcoming game in development.
The lack of certain legends is most felt in the game’s Showcase mode that chronicles the career of cover star Rey Mysterio. The mode starts off wonderfully as players get to reenact the legendary match between Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero at WCW Halloween Havoc 1997. However, much of Mysterio’s WWE career is omitted, including memorable feuds with Kurt Angle and Chris Jericho, who are both not in the game. In fact, it even includes a random Raw match against Gran Metalik as one of Mysterio’s highlights when it wasn’t noteworthy the week it happened, let alone in retrospect. It’s also disappointing that all of Mysterio’s commentary for the mode is in full kayfabe rather than his actual reflections on these matches, giving little insight on what happened behind the scenes.
Other new modes aren’t quite as impacted by the limitations of the roster, which still has over 100 wrestlers and is quite sizable by anyone’s definition. MyGM is the best new addition as it’s all about booking one of WWE’s brands after a draft and going up against another GM (played by Shane McMahon, Stephanie McMahon, William Regal, Adam Pearce, or Sonya Deville). While not the most in-depth simulation of the business of professional wrestling, it still gives players plenty to worry about as they have to keep talent happy, manage finances, and put on matches that are pleasing to crowds. The balancing act is quite enjoyable, making this entire simulation aspect a real highlight that should be expanded upon in future iterations.
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MyFaction is 2K’s attempt at getting players to collect cards and eventually buy in-game currency to do so. I’ve never enjoyed the MyTeam modes in NBA 2K, or EA’s Ultimate Team offerings, and this largely fell flat as well. There are a few interesting concepts, such as having a roster and balancing the chemistry between your team, but a lot of the competitive matches are four-on-four bouts that wind up being miserable to play. It’s also just a huge disconnect to play as weaker versions of wrestlers. Fighting as a Big E that is ranked 73 and isn’t as strong until he’s been customized for hours is simply an unappealing proposition.
The popular universe mode also returns with one notable difference as you can now choose to play as one WWE Superstar and purely focus on their career rather than running the entire company. This is a clever way to streamline a mode that can get overwhelming quick as now players get to focus on their favorites and see them rise up the ranks. This means Shinsuke Nakamura can finally have the WWE Universal Championship run that he’s always deserved and any other fantasy booking you’ve dreamt up can become reality in-game. Of course, the standard universe mode that fans have come to know and love also returns, and there are multiple save slots so players can do either or even both simultaneously if they want.
Like cover star Rey Mysterio, WWE 2K22 manages to have quite a few surprises up its sleeve. Not every new mode is a huge success, but additions like MyGM should become a series mainstay as they are fun additions that showcase another side of why fans love professional wrestling. The biggest difference maker is its refined gameplay as the series has never felt better to play. There are still reminders of the series’ rough past, as you’re bound to run into some errors with this many physics at play, but Visual Concepts has finally delivered the positive shake-up that fans hoped for once the company took over development duties from Yuke’s.
SCORE: 7.5/10
As ComingSoon’s review policy explains, a score of 7.5 equates to “Good.” A successful piece of entertainment that is worth checking out, but it may not appeal to everyone.
