WWE 2k24 Review - Hollywood Apologetics

Personally, I’m glad wrestling isn’t a tired punchline of “fake-ry" anymore. In the beginning stretches of WWE 2k24, wrestling commentator Corey Graves defines wrestling as an art form, and I very much believe him. It’s a theater of grandeur so vast and hedonistic, that you can’t help but be impressed by the ego. It’s a mindset that has brought the WWE lineage of games to a yearly franchise, with the newest installment about to hit the ring.

This is the latest installment in the now-yearly WWE 2k franchise and kicks off the 40th anniversary celebrations of Wrestlemania. Because of this monumental milestone, WWE 2k24 is largely dedicated to the Wrestlemania brand, similar to WWE 2k14’s celebrations. Alongside that, there’s a gargantuan set of different campaign modes, returning match modes like casket and gauntlet matches, and the usual cavalcade of custom creation tools to make your world the stage.

If the main goal you want to achieve in the latest WWE 2k entry is a direct way to scrap with your mates, or to create comedic versions of your most hated enemies with the lowest stats possible, 2k24 provides. It’s still the same brawny showcase of physical entertainment that has become a staple in culture for centuries now, and why fix what isn’t broken from a customer demand standpoint? Even the character creator is immensely friendly with whatever you’re trying to create.

I will say that the game has a rather difficult time trying to factor weapons into the mix of the battle. Anything bigger than a kendo stick is just an obstacle until it breaks, and trying to integrate it into the flow of the match is a pain in the ass. Most of the animations also have a tendency to just not connect, leading to a lot of whiff shots for no good reason other than the match engine is trying to consider a million different options at once. In layman's terms, it’s jank, which may be what you’re here for.

It’s something that extends to the visuals also, as WWE 2k24 falls flat in certain regards. You expect pompous pyrotechnics, a crowd of hundreds moving frantically and waving their cardboard signs in the air, but it’s hard to extract that feeling, even on the main stage. Everything looks like it’s 10 years behind, which deflates the whole ordeal, to the point where you wish the 2D crowds with 3-frame animations would return just to add some jagged life to the process.

There’s not much else to say in regards to a general gameplay experience, honestly. As a franchise, WWE 2k has perfected most of what it sets out to do, and the best it can do now is play around and switch out the bit parts. Before we get into the nitty-gritty with certain modes, it should be stressed that WWE 2k24 cuts the BS by simply having quick play center stage on the main menu. Straying from that path sets you up with so many opportunities that it’s hard to know where to begin.

It’s certainly not light on content, that’s for sure. With a game celebrating as much of the WWE brand as humanly possible, it’s not surprising that the actual UX of WWE 2k24 is a daunting, unfriendly experience. It’s one that constantly struggles to emphasize what’s most important, as a mode like "MyGM" reads like a spreadsheet from a sleepy intern, with contextless icons galore. You’ll battle with a lot of it, that’s for sure.

As a yearly franchise, WWE 2k24 has everything you’d expect and more, as admirable and gluttonous a task as that may be. In an effort to cover all bases, this had led a lot of the game to feel a bit anemic when it comes to the new offerings on display like the Wrestlemania celebrations. It’s nearly identical to WWE 2k14’s “30 Years of Wrestlemania” in scope and scale, where you’ll be trying to recreate famous matches that took place under the Wrestlemania banner.

It’s a nice place to indulge in nostalgia, even if actually playing it feels antithetical to the style of WWE games. Following these strict checklists of objectives and moves just to relive history, when at the same time, WWE 2k24, like 2k14, is also perfectly fine with showing you what happens. It’s a mechanic that’s also infected the other new campaign modes in the “MyRise” mode, dubbed “Unleashed” and “Undisputed”.

It feels silly, right? Engaging in pedantry about a game where you can repeatedly punch the crap out of a creation of your current favorite meme, but this is WWE 2k’s problem: not an issue of “what can we add?”, but “what is important to showcase this year?”. In this case, it’s the concept of Wrestlemania, but even that feels relegated next to staple modes that have been in the games for years, and thus, suffer because of it.

It’s a poorly presented state of affairs, but at the very least, the actual pacing of the Wrestlemania pseudo-documentary is fine. As the main mode meant to highlight WWE 2k24’s Wrestlemania celebrations, it’s an inoffensive “greatest hits” of WWE’s brightest and best, but in execution, it's not the main event, and honestly, I’d struggle to tell you which mode that accolade belongs to. Forget too many cooks in the kitchen, which meal is the main course?

Between a suffocating set of game modes, the actual magic of WWE 2k24 tends to get lost, but between the lines, that magic is still there. It’s not so much “yearly franchise fatigue” as it is just stuffed to the brim with content, to the point where it might burst and all feel thinner than usual. There are steps made towards a solid core here, but some of the fat definitely needs to be cut.

WWE 2k24 Review | Final Verdict

If all you’re looking for is wrestling, and I mean good ol’ fashioned Westernized “wrasslin’”, then WWE 2k24 has you covered. Sure, there’s more than enough content to tide you over until WWE 2k25 - hell, maybe even the 50th anniversary of Wrestlemania - but you do have to consider how much of it is going to be fulfilling. It’s hard to see the main event for the knock-offs in front of it.

WWE 2k24 was reviewed on Xbox Series S using a copy provided by the developer over the course of 25 hours of gameplay.