My Review of WWE 2K20
This is a review that’s been long overdue…
WWE 2K20 was released in late 2019 to less-than-stellar reviews but given my setup at the time would not allow me to play it without crashing, I held off until I upgraded my hardware to give it a chance. Needless to say, I should have let this one pass…especially since at the time of this writing, WWE 2K22 is widely available. Well, here’s my two cents on 2K Games’ WWE 2K20.
Graphics: A
Visually, the game is stunning! It’s a vast improvement over the WWE 2K games of the past. The realism put into the audience and wrestlers alike speaks to the improved game engine 2K Games has been using. The detail in the costumes and outfits as well as the body and facial features of the Superstars are exceptional. The Titantron videos are crisp, making you feel like you’re actually at the various arenas for the WWE shows.
Creating: B
While I have yet to experience the full aspect of the game’s creation process, the Create a Superstar option definitely has its perks as well as drawbacks. I’ve only gone as far as creating a new superstar, a move set, and a basic entrance. I have yet to create a show or a belt, so when I do, I’ll post an update to this review.
Anyway, from what I’ve seen so far, the Creation feature is very intuitive. There’s a wide variety of features that you can customize and different types of attire you can dress your Superstar in. Typically, it takes me a couple of hours to create a look that I like, and this feature held up to the scrutiny I usually give it. However, the one drawback that I found was that many of the different attires are locked and earned either by completing tasks or can’t be used with another type of attire. This makes customizing a bit annoying as previewing certain looks become impossible. I did see very interesting looks that I was looking forward to trying…only to find out that they were locked (so disappointing). 2K, if you’re going to offer a wealth of customizing features and lock many behind achievements, at least allow the players to preview them to see if their worth the effort first.
Controls: D-
Here’s where the game gets frustrating. The new and updated game controls may be an improvement, but response time is badly in need of improvement. Pressing a button in response to a prompt should trigger the desired effect, but in many cases, they don’t, and you’re left in bewildered as your character gets pinned or submits again and again in rapid succession.
Let me cite two examples of bad control responses. The game’s reversal system and kick-outs are badly in need of more work. I’m not sure if it’s just the game being glitchy or just poor programming on 2K’s part. Let’s be real here, if I’m looking to reverse a hold and press the required button, I should reverse the hold, no? Well, it only works about 20% of the time (and timing MUST be right to pull it off). Instead, I end up either standing like a fool or remaining open to another combo by the opponent, resulting in a possible loss. Add to that, the ability to kick out of pins leaves a lot to be desired. No matter how many times I hit the right button, I CAN’T KICK OUT! I should be able to break a pin early in a match, but nope, if I get pinned, I’m done. C’mon 2K, you can do better than that!
Overall Grade: C+
Overall 2K Games’ WWE 2K20, while visually impressive with a lot of customization features, lacks the ease of control that makes the WWE 2K games a joy to play. I think they realized that too as they quickly closed the book on the game once they started production of the currently available WWE 2K22. With all of the glitches found by many players, the difficult controls and the unfortunate shut down of the game’s online servers, preventing new players from uploading new images to enhance the customizing feature (I was looking forward to actually using my face on my Created Superstar).
Oh well, here’s hoping WWE 2K22 offers a better gameplay experience, at least.