As a youngster, I watched wrestling for two, maybe three years, and really liked the “surfer” Sting from the late 80s. I also liked wrestling arcade games, like Wrestlefest and Wrestlemania by Acclaim, that had all of the licensing and presentation and atmosphere, but also had fast paced arcade action that wasn’t very technical or realistic, but was a just fun. I have dabbled in 2K’s WWE series here and there over the years, but have yet to really commit to the series because I’ve always found it to be too sim-focused.
I knew to expect as much when starting 2K15, but I was determined to dig deeper than in years past because even though I’m no longer a wrestling fan, I still get why it can be entertaining. Besides, this year I was looking forward to using Sting, making his first appearance in a WWE videogame, but to my disappointment, he was a pre-order bonus and as far as I know it has not been made known if he will be available for purchase as DLC in the future — I sure hope (and expect) so.
So, at first launch, I just hopped right into a random one-on-one matchup. At the opening bell, the game popped up some tutorial info, including the classic elbow and collar lockup that most wrestling matches (at least used to) start with. As soon as the wrestlers are in this neutral grappling position, a mini-game starts. This is the start of the new Chain Wrestling gameplay that is meant to, at least at the start of the match anyway, provide a nice fluid, back and forth start. Once in the lockup, you press either Circle, Triangle, or Square, with one trumping the other like rock, paper, scissors. If you select Triangle and the CPU selected Circle, they win the lock-up and the second mini-game begins. In this one, you have to move the right stick around in a circle to find the hidden hot spot. You’ll know when you find it because the controller will vibrate and a red indicator starts to quickly fill up a circle. If you fill it up before your opponent, you then counter the hold they have you in, and you’re in control. From this offensive standpoint, you can wrench the hold (be it a headlock, wrist-lock, or waist-lock) or hit the opponent, up to three times, but the mini-game starts again. Soon enough, the holds are broke and the match resumes a more free-form style of play. It’s a nice way to start a match and depending on the wrestler, these lockups are easier to win than others. In my experience, though, after the initial lockup sequence, it’s hard to do another — the CPU keeps reversing or avoiding them for the rest of the match.
As with most 2K sports games, there are a lot of sliders and options that players can tweak to adjust things, including how often the CPU does reversals. More generally, you can adjust the base difficulty, and I spent most of my time in Normal but also some in Easy, which helped some, but I still had a lot of matches where I would dominate and then suddenly run out of stamina or get in a bad funk of missing reversals, and then mess-up the stupid pinfall kickout mini-game (more on these soon). Anyway, controls are pretty simple, but to my surprise, there is no block button. If I had not already made it clear in the intro, I rarely play modern wrestling games, so I don’t know if this is common or not, but it seems odd not to give players a dedicated blocking function. Instead, to counter or reverse a move, you have to press R2 within a split second of visual cue appearing. Sometimes it doesn’t appear at all, but most of the times it does, as well as the inevitable “too late” or “too early” messages, which pop-up as your wrestler is getting slammed or otherwise damaged due to missing the R2 prompt. I’m still coming to terms with this design; on the one hand, I can understand that this all or nothing approach can make things exciting, but it also makes for a lot of frustrating near misses, too. I have had numerous matches that were going well, nice and balanced, or heck maybe I was even dominating, and then it’s like I get stuck in some routine whereby I just can’t catch a break no matter how precisely I try to time the press of R2. This results in the CPU going from nearly beaten to completely reversing the flow of the match, nailing one move after another on my character until they go for the pin, and the next irritating mini-game starts in which you have to, again with precise timing, activate a mini-game. To do these, press and hold X for a moment, a fast-moving sliding visual cue starts to move from left to right. You then have to press X again as it passes through a zone, the size of which depends on how fatigued you are and other factors (i.e. smaller size makes it harder to kick out). You get one, maybe two shots and then it’s game over, which is a really irritating way to lose an otherwise long, tough, and satisfying match. As with R2 mechanic, I feel like there just has to be a better, way to engage the player in these key moments.
After some trial and much error in the random one-off matches, I decided to dive into the new MyCareer mode. Within this mode, you can design your own wrestler (male-only, no female create a wrestler this year), with a wide palette of body types and clothing and poses, even ring entrances and what signs the crowd holds up. Apparently, there are far less customization options here than in previous versions of the series, but to my noob eyes I thought there were an awful lot of choices available, more than I expected or used. With Sting out of the picture for me, I did a pretty reasonable job of creating a character like him, including a scorpion logo on the pant leg and a little bit of face paint, too. Anyway, as with real amateurs, you get your first shot at the Performance Center, with Bill DeMott providing narration and tips, i.e., training. I suspect its his real voice used for the dialogue, too. Speaking of which, during your demo matches, he talks way too much, is repetitive, and often what he says does not jive with what’s happening in the ring. For your first eight or so matches, you can fail hard, losing them all, and you still get advanced to the next level. This includes being the number one contender for the NXT title, which I was, got thoroughly beaten, but got another chance just another (lost) match later. Meanwhile, even if you’re losing matches, you earn SP which can be spent to buy different upgrades including Skills and stamina and strength boosts. How you wrestle can also determine your heel or baby face status, too. Your player starts off at about half of the overall level as the superstars, but obviously the goal is to get through NXT and then on to RAW and then become a superstar yourself.
I don’t anticipate playing MyCareer long enough to get that far, largely because I’m just not that into wrestling and creating a character(s). The Creation Suite is commendable, and besides altering your created character you can also edit superstars, import photos and designs (for clothing decals and tattoos), entrances, and move sets, too. But, I’d rather play just with some superstars that have all the stats boosts and cool moves instead of spending hours building that up, but it’s definitely nice to have the option for those players that have more interest and time to spend. Plus, it’s quite conceivable that your created character will be able to import into 2K16 next year, too. Anyway, other than career mode, there are many other ways to get your elbow-drop on, although from what I have read (again, because I don’t play this series annually), there are less match-types and creation options than in previous years. Honestly, this shouldn’t be too surprising, although it’s understandably disappointing. For an annual series making its debut on a new console, it’s not uncommon for some of the additional content and modes to be missing when compared to established previous gen versions. It’s possible that this content might be included in DLC, and it almost certainly will return next year.
That said, it is known that the new 2K Showcase mode will see some additional content. This is a major game mode that allows you to play out some of the biggest rivalries in the history of the WWE. There are thirty-three matches total in this mode, fourteen of which are dedicated to the Shawn Michaels and Triple H rivalry that actually opens up with their battle at Summerslam 2002 with you controlling Shawn Michaels and hoping to finish with that Sweet Chin Music (such a classic and great move). The presentation for this mode is neat, featuring a lot of vintage clips from TV and PPV in years past that helps build up the story quickly and effectively for those, like me, who aren’t otherwise familiar with what happened all those years ago. Additional bonus objectives are presented to you going into these matches that unlock new Titles, Wrestlers, and Attire. Forthcoming DLC includes The Orton/Christian rivalry from 2011, some of big Mark Henry’s best matches, and a trip through the late Ultimate Warrior’s career, which should be a blast. WWE Universe mode is intact, giving you the ability to book matches, including PPVs, adjust rosters, and a plethora of other options that casual fans will probably find overwhelming.
Regardless of mode of play, the controls, presentation style, and general gameplay are obviously very similar. I mentioned my control concerns earlier, but let’s look at presentation before general gameplay feedback. Unfortunately, one of the first aspects of 2K15 I noticed were the numerous load screens. None of these are particularly long — there are just a lot of them, especially for having used 25GB of local disk space. I can understand MyCareer mode having some load times what with custom characters and all, but even these seemed a bit long when we’re talking about just going between the upgrade menu to the lobby to the next match. It got to where I pretty quickly disabled the entrances to save some time, too. This is something that might be addressed with a patch or two, and while it’s not a game-breaking issue to be sure, seeing that animated WWE logo pop-up in the lower right of the screen got to be pretty annoying, and hopefully it’s addressable — again, first year on a new platform has some adjustment pains, so I highly doubt this will be a noticeable issue next year anyway.
As far as graphics, I was mostly impressed — this is easily the most detailed WWE 2K game to date, with the superstars especially looking the part. Facial expressions and hair flying and other nuances are good to see. On the other hand, the animations are often still robotic, or “procedural looking.” This ties in with how the game plays, which is to say it often looks and feels sort of, what’s the term, computerized, rather than organic. In other words, watching the CPU characters closely, it’s like they’re thinking ever step of the way, and they go into these routines or procedures that are noticeable and detracting. So while on a technical level 2K15 is pretty strong, I thought from a look +feel perspective it left a lot of room to improve.
Commentary and audio are similarly mixed. John Cena apparently oversaw the selection of the twelve songs for the soundtrack, and, perhaps they appeal to the core audience, but the blend of hip-hop, rap, and country didn’t do it for me. You can turn down the music volume independently of other audio tracks in the options at least. Effects are ok, I would have liked to hear more from the wrestlers themselves who are generally completely silent. The audience is fine, and the commentary of Jerry Lawler and Michael Cole is alright, sporting far more dialogue lines than previously, but you will still get plenty of repetition or just some instances where the commentary and crowd fail to react to what happens on screen (I once did a moonsaw from the top ropes down to the floor and landed it successfully, but there was no reaction).
Two other major gameplay notes that I managed to save until the end: speed and stamina. The speed of the in-ring experience has been intentionally tweaked down, I think even in comparison to the PS3/360 versions of 2K15. That slower, more deliberate pacing is readily apparent, which for me, who prefers more of an arcade experience, negatively impacts the experience. The intent was to make the heavy and super heavyweight wrestlers feel more realistic I guess, but in my non-scientific opinion, it goes too far because in reality, these dudes move really fast despite their size. Regarding the Stamina mechanic, I think it’s promising like a lot of the rest of this game, but it’s off the mark as it is now. Stamina, which you can keep an eye on in the meters in the HUD, is critical. I have had many matches in which both wrestlers, even if one is doing way better than the other, suddenly run out of gas towards the end. Or maybe one does and the other doesn’t, or one recovers faster than the other, etc. Indeed, some of wrestling’s most famous and exciting moments happen when the face reaches out to make that big tag to his partner or manages to just muster enough strength to do their finisher, etc. These are classic and rare moments, but when you’re about to finish off your opponent and suddenly you can barely walk, it gives you the opposite sensation.
With that, let’s get to the summary…