WWE 2K19

The annual update of 2K Sports' WWE title is upon us letting you relive the golden eras of wrestling or bring you up to date on current events, drama, and surprising plot twists. So while the sport itself has gone through major changes over the past few years, its video game counterpart has remained largely the same over the last few years. Both of these (or lack of) developments are disappointing.

{WWE 2K19} is a great step forward compared to previous year's instalments, at least in terms of pure entertainment. One of the main modes is MyCareer, which sees the player's own superstar rise from small indie rings via major WWE drama towards heavyweight stardom.

Last year MyCareer felt hollow and repetitive where you wandered through empty hallways meeting voiceless wrestlers. This year every wrestler is voiced and the conversations are much more straightforward, combined with lots of irony and self-deprecating humour it makes up for the lacklustre story.

The light RPG-elements with skill improvement and adapting different wrestling techniques does the job, even if they're quite simple and upgrading should be much swifter. Wrestlers now also have two perks called Paybacks, which give you superhero-like powers from energy boosts to much more aggressive strikes. Paybacks are a nice touch, but they would not be needed if the gameplay itself had been done properly.

Unfortunately, you can't affect your character's personality, even though charisma and the performances outside the ring are sometimes more important than wrestling skills when aiming for glory in the world of wrestling. The player character, lazily nicknamed Buzz for the buzz he's created in the indies, has such childish personality with irritating one-liners, that we would never want to see him reach the pinnacle of the show. Personality aside, every cosmetic feature is customisable down to the tiniest detail as has always been the case in the series.

Besides characters, players can put their creativity towards crafting their own championship belts and entrance walks. WWE Universe lets you control both RAW and SmackDown, and progressing either by playing or simulating matches. This time you can choose winners of simulations, which gives you more control when it comes to building up feuds. Tons of small features give you great tools to create your own virtual WWE fantasies. Creations can also be shared and downloaded online, and the online side of things is also about having fun instead of competing in ranked matches.

Asses are whooped dozens of ways from Hell in a Cell to tournaments, which can also be played in the new Towers mode. The matches in Towers are the same, but you need to battle your way through a series of matches for in-game currency. Much more interesting is the returning Showcase mode, where Daniel Bryan narrates you through the highlights of his career. All the previously mentioned game modes and customisation options promise and give you a lot, along with the huge roster of wrestlers, but actual wrestling is still as painful as it has always been with this series.

Underneath all the cosmetics, the game's core is trying to time frustrating counterattacks and smashing through different Quick Time Events, which pop up at key moments. It really doesn't make a difference how ruthlessly you are handling your opponents, since the wrestlers always stay down only after charged up Finisher moves. These are blocked as easily by AI as any other move, so a ten-minute match might come down to two messed up QTEs and a pinfall. Especially in MyCareer playing the same match over and over again makes you want to rip a shirt off Hulk Hogan-style.

Matches are mostly just sitting through clumsy animations, where these baby-oiled heaps of muscles slide pass each other where they should be colliding. Even the wrestling standard of putting your opponent through a table is almost impossible when the game physics have the tables and other objectives sliding away by a mere touch. There are constant hiccups with moves, animation transitions and opponent actions.

Returning players will get a sense of déja vù as the game mechanics and character physics are in need of a full makeover to ensure that playing is as fun as the customisation experience. Visually the series has moved forward and the characters look good with improved lighting (although hair is something the game still struggles with even to this day).