WWE 2K14 Review. Relive 30 Years of WrestleMania

WWE 2K14 recreates the past three decades of WrestleMania in a special way, curating over 46 special fights by some of the most famous characters in WWE history. You’ll also get historically accurate commentary and access to a fight vault that brings back memories.

Graphics: 3.5

I’m not the biggest fan of the grainy graphics, and you are bound to run into framerate issues with this game. The characters look like the real deal only to some extent, and in some cases, they appear too short or too scrawny. At some point, the movement seems impeded, and it gets a little frustrating even if the objective is to simulate the real fighting environment where players tire and thus slow down.

Gameplay: 4.0

The game gives you all the options available in the WWE universe, from Backlash to Hell in a Cell. Three story modes are available, from 30 Years of WrestleMania, WWE Universe Mode, and The Streak Mode. Streak lets you defend The Undertaker’s 21 matches unbeaten WrestleMania streak, or you can attempt to beat it.

The best feature of this game is the 30 Years of WrestleMania fight mode. This lets you dip into the past if you never got to experience great names such as Andre the Giant or ‘The Nature Boy,’ and also allows older fans connect with these memories.

Some great cut scenes from the history of the WWE are available, based on the actual preserved footage. You can also unlock new content. Beating historical objectives leads you to WrestleMania moments. In Create Suite, you can still use other superstars as a template to create your own fighter, complete with an entrance.  The mechanics on the game are sometimes a bit off, and you’ll clearly lose a bit of thrill from seeing unreal collisions especially between players who have a great variance in their masses.

Controls: 4.0

The biggest challenge for me with the controls was how much response time it takes to pull off moves, especially complex ones. I couldn’t pull a ‘Superman Punch’ simply because the game takes too much time to react to the controller. The controls are quite clunky, to be honest, and for some wrestlers, it might be impossible to make timed signature moves especially where an AI opponent is quite fast.

Replay Value: 3.5

I’m honestly not the biggest fan of this game, and it actually takes away from the thrill of watching the real thing. While the content in WrestleMania is expertly curated, the fighting itself is a little lacking, and the fights are oddly disconnected. Creation Suite was a great idea, but the characters you create look like something out of a bad cartoon. Finally, the fights themselves are lackluster and uninspired.

Conclusion

WWE2K14 fails to live up to the expectations of the actual fight environment, with mechanics which are a little better than terrible, awkward graphics and some of the worst fighting I’ve ever seen. The game introduces some creative elements such as WrestleMania in 30 years and Undertaker’s The Streak. The fighting which is what the game should be about definitely fail-up to expectations. On the flip side, 2K14 did a good job of bringing back memorable moments from my childhood.