WWE 2K18 | PS4, XBO, PC, Switch | No Mercy!

Last edited by jawafour on Sat Dec 09, 2017 10:25 am, edited 1 time in total.

Detail
Title WWE 2K18
Format PS4, XBO, PC, Switch
Launch 17 October 2017 (Switch 7 Dec 2017 eShop; 12 Dec 2017 cart)
Developer Yuke's / Visual Concepts
Publisher 2K

Cover artwork

Background
WWE 2K18 is a professional wrestling video game developed in a collaboration between Yuke's and Visual Concepts, and published by 2K Sports. It is the nineteenth game in the WWE game series (fifth under the WWE 2K banner), and is the sequel to WWE 2K17.

Featuring Cover Superstar Seth Rollins, WWE 2K18 promises to bring you closer to the ring than ever before with hard-hitting action, stunning graphics, drama, excitement, new game modes, additional match types, deep creation capabilities, and everything you’ve come to love from WWE 2K. Be Like No One.

Links
> Official website: Click
> Wikipedia: Click

Trailers

> Announcement

> Launch trailer

>Gameplay trailer

> Gameplay (PS4)

Went a bit mental and bought the Deluxe version of this Friday past :shifty:

Impressions from around 6 hours play

Pros;

- The wrestler models are incredible looking when in the ring. Sweat, veins etc. Batista never looked so (juiced) good.
- Absolutely bloody huge roster, unlocked all from the start with Accelerator that came with Deluxe. Counted 29 women wrestlers.
- Animation seems a lot better, a lot of reversals, transitions etc I don't think I've seen before.
- Largeish backstage area to explore (can go from the ring backstage up ramp Falls Count Anywhere)
- New 8 man matches are fun, particularly Battle Royales.
- No King on commentary

Cons;

- MyCareer seems very similar to last year apart from pointless 'free roam' bits backstage in between matches/segments, which are more hassle than worth. May be wrong as only played 5ish matches and made it to NXT Takeover, apparently more story driven.
- No Showcase or similar mode
- WWE Universe mode is basically the same but still fun.
- Some bizarre omissions. No Singh brothers, no Tyler Bate or Pete Dunne (UK Title is in it) with some pretty obscure NXT folk and 'Legends' making the cut.
- Backstage segments etc look quite bad, environments etc hair still as always.

I thought last years was pretty good and the gameplay was good. It is very similar, also a submission button press mini game can replace previous submission thing if you fancy. Unless you are bothered about the addition of a lot more wrestlers though and a lick of paint I wouldn't say it is worth buying again if you had last years.

Social media is rife at the moment with glitches. Seems to be all anyone is talking about. I remember one that allowed you to fight in the crowd (beyond where you're supposed to) existing in WWF SmackDown Just Bring It in 2001 and it's still there!

Sometimes I'll see a series of moves or an entrance in gameplay videos though and think 'that is absolutely spot on!' and other times I'll see glimpses of an engine that looks like it's based off of the original from 2000. The graphics go from incredible one minute to terrible the next, sometimes dependant on the wrestler. Yukes just cannot do hair.

And as for the commentary, I went back and played WCW Mayhem the other day and how it can still hold the title for more natural conversation and an ALIVE crowd is beyond me. There is more excitement from Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan in a damn soundbooth than the WWE commentators calling the real thing! But even if you go play any of the WWF Acclaim games; the commentary undoubtedly isn't as good as you remember, and lines are more prone to repeating, but it has an enthusiasm and eagerness to it that the THQ games just cannot capture. You then put the commentary and sound up against something like FIFA 18 and the gulf is enormous. And it's easy to joke 'flat crowd, flat commentary - just like the real WWE!' but this is a game, you can fake it. I dunno, maybe the commentary in the 90s translated better to a videogame because it was already so over-the-top.

"OH MY, WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!"

*crowd noise starts to really pick up in the background*

"HE...HE STUNNED HIM WITH THE CHAIR! MY GOODNESS!"

"Look how hurt he is...someone call the match off!"

*GOLDBERG! GOLDBERG! GOLDBERG!*

"This is an ugly spectacle Tony, and you know what, I love every minute of it!"

"Well folks, what started out as a wrestling match is now. turning. into. A. Street Fight!"

"THIS. IS. ABSOLUTE. MAYHEM!"

*GOLDBERG! GOLDBERG! GOLDBERG!*

"THIS IS THUNDER! THIS IS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WRESTLING! THIS IS WHERE THE BIIIIIG. BOYS. PLAAAAAY!"

Shame in a way the gameplay could never live up to the audio. Strangely, Vince McMahon seems to get it. Whenever he's done these recordings, whether it's WarZone or that cartoon on the WWE Network, it's suitably ridiculous. I can't remember what edition of SmackDown it was, but I remember everyone else's recordings were lifeless and flat as a pancake, and then Vince McMahon turns up and you can tell he's giving it everything.

I am guessing that, as the game officially launches at midnight (although Deluxe Edition purchasers can play already), reviews should hit at around 1700 (UK)?

Two reviews have arrived early, though - Forbes and IGN Spain - and both seem pretty positive.

I have watched a number of vids and, although I know little about wrestling, it looks attractive. From reading up, it seems that the MyCareer mode has been expanded this year. The roster, as Curious Oyster highlights, does appear to be huge. For wrestling game noobs like me, it is nice to see that some older, classic characters are playable as well as the newer folk.

I wonder if the long line of stipulations on reviews still exist. PowerSlam published them once. Don't show Triple H getting beaten up was one. Some of them really were farcical.

I wouldn't be surprised if 2K gave reviews copies out very late, thus so few reviews prior to launch.

KK wrote:I wonder if the long line of stipulations on reviews still exist. PowerSlam published them once. Don't show Triple H getting beaten up was one. Some of them really were farcical...

Screenshots are usually dreadful across all media - online and magazines - nowdays. I believe that few outlets use their own shots and just use ones that the publisher has provided. I wonder if this is because the reviewers are seeking to cut costs or whether it is due to daft requirements from publishers?

KK wrote:...I wouldn't be surprised if 2K gave reviews copies out very late, thus so few reviews prior to launch.

I think most publishers set very strict rules on publishing reviews now. I’m feeling positive about the game from what I have watched in vids, though. There are loads of early plays on You Tube as Deluxe Edition purchasers could start playing on Friday. Sure, there are a few bugs that need to be looked at, but it seems that the game has atmosphere and is a lot of fun to play.

I've always found the recent WWE games a bit too "realistic" to really be genuinely fun. They've been getting slower and slower and slower gameplay-wise, and now all it takes is one stumble from the top of the cell and you're pretty much written off for the entirety of the match. I kind of wish there was an "arcade" or "PS2 Smackdown" mode where they made everything a lot swifter and less damaging and let you play matches with the same wrestler eight times (which gave us the stealth best credits ever).

For a subject like wrestling, I'm not sure that realism is something to be aiming for.

For those that wanted a more adcade, faster paced game you had Yukes and SmackDown, and those that wanted something slower and in-depth had the AKI titles. They complemented each other very well.

In terms of capturing the look of WWF, I don't think anyone has matched WWF RAW IS WAR on the original Xbox. The arena felt massive. Shame it played like gooseberry fool.

Is that the one that introduced the "play the show" mode where you could just go through a whole Raw show week by week and left it up to you to make your own feuds and alliances (I just remember being able to set someone up as your rival by stealing out of their gym bag?)?

I think it must have been another one; if I remember WWF RAW IS WAR didn't have any sort of career mode. There was one arena, a load of title matches, King of the Ring and Create a Wrestler. The main thing was unlocking weapons by running into crates (one next to the ramp, and the other near the stage).

WWF Royal Rumble on Dreamcast was another one lacking modes; there was 1 arena, Royal Rumble, and 1 v 1 and that was it, I think. It was the first game where you could have 9 wrestlers in the ring at once, but incredibly the game didn't have enough wrestlers for a Rumble match so they repeated. It felt like a SmackDown-light because it was equally as fast and looked a bit similar.

Some of the glitch videos are brilliant, but as with Mass Effect it could be blown out of proportion. Granted 6 hours play isn't a lot but I only encountered one bug the entire time and that was the ref not keeping up with me & COM controlled opponent brawling backstage so when going for pin had to go back a bit to find the ref milling about before he would count.

Throwing people off the production truck backstage is great though

Funny named trophy as well...

PS Roman Reigns is highest rated in the game, 95 :slol:

Huge Roman fan but come. on.

Any news yet on the switch version?

I loathe the timing based stuff. I'm going to assume it's still the exact same core game as 2k16 the last one I played?

Return_of_the_STAR wrote:Any news yet on the switch version?

It was originally due to release a little later than on others formats but then I’m sure I read somewhere that it was going to be out at roughly the same time. I don’t think a date has been confirmed yet; Nintendo UK’s website currently says “Autumn 2017”.

Feature-wise it is meant to be as per the other versions albeit the maximum number of wrestlers in the ring will be six rather than eight.

PC version is £23.99 at CDKeys.

How out of date is the roster in this one?

Mafro wrote:How out of date is the roster in this one?

I’m not enough of a fan to know if the clothing and designs are all accurate but, apparently, it has the biggest roster in a WWE game. Here is the full list of wrestlers.

jawafour wrote:
Return_of_the_STAR wrote:Any news yet on the switch version?

It was originally due to release a little later than on others formats but then I’m sure I read somewhere that it was going to be out at roughly the same time. I don’t think a date has been confirmed yet; Nintendo UK’s website currently says “Autumn 2017”.

Feature-wise it is meant to be as per the other versions albeit the maximum number of wrestlers in the ring will be six rather than eight.

We preordered it for my son and amazon are claiming on my order that it will be delivered tomorrow but I’m very dubious of this as everywhere else still has it listed as TBC including amazon.

jawafour wrote:
Mafro wrote:How out of date is the roster in this one?

I’m not enough of a fan to know if the clothing and designs are all accurate but, apparently, it has the biggest roster in a WWE game. Here is the full list of wrestlers.

The community for the downloadable stuff is insanely on the ball anyway if there are old outfits, roster wise I can't think of people who have been 'future en devoured' that are still in the game etc. If anything it's the most up to date there's been off the top of my head, folk from NXT like TM-61, entirety of Sanity, Roderick Strong, Ember Moon + more (Drew Galloway + Lars Sullivan are DLC).

New SHIELD t shirt debuted last Monday and there's uploads of all 3 members wearing it on the downloads already. Finn Balor had special gear for No Mercy about 2 weeks past and someone has uploaded his entire one off gear including jacket, mental. I think you must be able to add them from photographs now because they are ridiculously accurate.

CuriousOyster wrote:The community for the downloadable stuff is insanely on the ball anyway... I think you must be able to add them from photographs now because they are ridiculously accurate.

Sounds good, Oyster, and, yeah, I believe the game allows images to be uploaded for designs.

WWE 2K18 | PS4, XBO, PC, Switch | No Mercy!

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