My thoughts on WWE2K14 thus far

[best in the world]

I picked up WWE2K14 yesterday and so far overall I am impressed for the most part.  There are many great things about this game and also a few bad things that need to be improved upon for next year.  So I will start with the things I liked and move on to the things I feel should be addressed for next year by 2K;

 

Things I liked:

 

-the new audio improvements: Whether it is Daniel Bryan & Sheamus having authentic words in their voice-overs in entrances or the simple things like mat sounds, the audio is vastly improved from WWE '13.  This may be a minor thing to most but every detail adds something to realism in my opinion and 2K has done justice to what was missing in past THQ games.  Even better sounds effects from weapon strikes make for more realistic matches.

 

-30 Years of WrestleMania mode: Every fan who has been watching for any amount of time would be a fan of this mode.  Even casual gamers and fans of WWE would be entertained by the wealth of material in this mode.  I was specifically impressed with the Macho Man promo from his match with Hulk Hogan because it was a well done in-game cutscene with his real life promo being used for the voice over. 

 

-Music jukebox: Not many will care about this, but I thought it was a nice touch to be able to specifically select who's theme you liked as a personal soundtrack for the game.

 

Things that need improvement:

 

-The collision detection: One of the first things I noticed in my first exhibition match was the collision detection still being off.  Especially during the running strike/grapple function.  They look like big dumb goofs running into each other and the whole thing comes off looking very sloppy and weird at times.  Also, some weapon interaction as far as collision impact is still off.  Maybe 2K can totally revamp or innovative this feature next year because I feel that definitely detracts from realism.  Especially because you don't see guys on WWE television running into each other and I've practically lost count of how many times I've seen that happen in matches which is just disappointing.

 

-Table interactions: Tables are something I use a lot whether it is in table matches, TLC, or extreme rules matches and there are too many issues with them in this game.  Also, older games had better innovations like table stacking and table finishers unique to certain stars like Cena having the AA through a table.  Just simple additions like those make the game seem more authentic and closer to what we see on television. 

 

-Commentary: This is a big part of WWE programming whether it was Gorilla Monsoon & Bobby Heenan, Vince McMahon & Jesse Ventura, or JR & The King, these guys are a major element in any past, present, or future PPVs/weekly show.  The biggest disappointment to me was hearing JR and The King doing commentary for 30 Years of WrestleMania when WWE could have easily cut audio from past Manias to have Gorilla Monsoon & The Brain doing commentary for their Manias and then had JR & King do the current Manias for the ones they did call.  Or having Cole and JBL for the newer ones they were involved in.  Also, commentary has been lacking emotion for years and comes off sounding robotic.  Especially Michael Cole, his stuff sounds horrible and just lackluster!  2K should look into ways of making the commentary sound more personal and catered right to the audience and emotional. 

 

 

 

Overall, I'd say WWE2K14 deserves at least an 8.5 out of 10 because while it is an awesome game, it still has some things to improve upon to make it a perfect 10.  I haven't even finished 30 Years of WrestleMania or even begun WWE Universe mode.  Also, I am waiting for a few weeks to get online to download creations off of CC so I can't speak of how good the creations are.  I am also waiting a few weeks or a month to get the season pass for DLC but I feel that is so great this year that I will definitely be checking that out.  WCW is always a big part of my WWE Universe so having all the NWO guys and other additions make that great.  I have greatly enjoyed my experience with the game so far and I'm sure once everything is unlocked, I'll be even more content with the changes we did get this year.  What did everyone else enjoy most about the game?

Edited October 30, 2013 by best in the world

[the King Lives]

well  have enjoyed the game thus far and i streamed some gameplay of my universe.. I had almost a 15 minute match between the all americans and tons of funk.. lost the divas title to natalya in a fatal 4 way and lost to ryback as cena in a submission match.. every match the difficulty was on hard and not legend.. gotta say the AI kicks ass this year!

[best in the world]

well  have enjoyed the game thus far and i streamed some gameplay of my universe.. I had almost a 15 minute match between the all americans and tons of funk.. lost the divas title to natalya in a fatal 4 way and lost to ryback as cena in a submission match.. every match the difficulty was on hard and not legend.. gotta say the AI kicks ass this year!

 Yeah, Universe is always the highlight of the game each year.  I spend more time with Universe than anywhere else.  I haven't gotten started on it because I am still doing 30 Years of WrestleMania and wanted to wait until I had everything unlocked and got the NWO dlc pack to start Universe.  Also, I must say that the AI is seriously aggressive this year!  If you play on normal, hard, or legend you must be a damn good player because I left the difficulty level on normal for the first couple of exhibitions and got beat a few times before I adjusted to some of the changes.  Reversals have to be perfectly timed which is cool for realism but can get frustrating when the AI is totally kicking your ass

[the King Lives]

 

well  have enjoyed the game thus far and i streamed some gameplay of my universe.. I had almost a 15 minute match between the all americans and tons of funk.. lost the divas title to natalya in a fatal 4 way and lost to ryback as cena in a submission match.. every match the difficulty was on hard and not legend.. gotta say the AI kicks ass this year!

 Yeah, Universe is always the highlight of the game each year.  I spend more time with Universe than anywhere else.  I haven't gotten started on it because I am still doing 30 Years of WrestleMania and wanted to wait until I had everything unlocked and got the NWO dlc pack to start Universe.  Also, I must say that the AI is seriously aggressive this year!  If you play on normal, hard, or legend you must be a damn good player because I left the difficulty level on normal for the first couple of exhibitions and got beat a few times before I adjusted to some of the changes.  Reversals have to be perfectly timed which is cool for realism but can get frustrating when the AI is totally kicking your ass

 

yeah i just posted my latest live stream archive where i got my ass handed to me in every match...

[Chris2000]

30 Years Mania does look good but I bet given a day I could complete it when get game on Friday. That mode won't last very long. It's well presentated and all but isn't gonna keep me playing game

[Zark]

30 Years Mania does look good but I bet given a day I could complete it when get game on Friday. That mode won't last very long. It's well presentated and all but isn't gonna keep me playing game

[AjSim]

Been playing it most of the day and gotta say in just about every aspect (creative suite aside) it is a noticeable step up from 13.

A.I has improved infinitely, moves seem to have more of an impact, there are 2 counts galore lol...it's easily the best wwe game this gen IMO.

Main things I hope they look at significantly improving for the next title are -

• Slowing the gameplay/animation speed down (especially punches/kicks) to make it feel more like the real deal, at times it can feel a little arcade like.
• Overhauling the creation suite...it's been in need of a makeover forever.
• Continuing to build on Universe mode...main beef of the game for most people (as well as creation suite), hopefully 2K realise this and improve rather than remove.
• Take more time with character models...though they are far from awful, they could be so much better. Almost all models look top heavy, almost a caricature of who they represent.

All criticism aside though it is a fun game, and I think most people are gonna love it...It's too early to give it a definite score out of 10 yet, but my initial score at this moment would be a solid 8.

[Wolfee27]

@jeffsdomain whats your stream channel? ill be happy to follow

Edited October 30, 2013 by Wolfee27

[Wolfee27]

nvm @jeffsdomain

[the King Lives]

nvm @jeffsdomain

Gonna be a while before I stream again bc I can't stream on twitch only on jtv and I don't know how to upload to YouTube so just recording and uploading to YT instead. Stay tuned my YouTube channel is Youtube.com/Jeffsdomainxbox360

Edited October 31, 2013 by jeffsdomain

[best in the world]

Been playing it most of the day and gotta say in just about every aspect (creative suite aside) it is a noticeable step up from 13.

A.I has improved infinitely, moves seem to have more of an impact, there are 2 counts galore lol...it's easily the best wwe game this gen IMO.

Main things I hope they look at significantly improving for the next title are -

• Slowing the gameplay/animation speed down (especially punches/kicks) to make it feel more like the real deal, at times it can feel a little arcade like.
• Overhauling the creation suite...it's been in need of a makeover forever.
• Continuing to build on Universe mode...main beef of the game for most people (as well as creation suite), hopefully 2K realise this and improve rather than remove.
• Take more time with character models...though they are far from awful, they could be so much better. Almost all models look top heavy, almost a caricature of who they represent.

All criticism aside though it is a fun game, and I think most people are gonna love it...It's too early to give it a definite score out of 10 yet, but my initial score at this moment would be a solid 8.

 Totally agree here.  I think if 2K truly wanted to, they could overhaul the system and completely redo everything from graphics to gameplay and do it right.  Although I do enjoy WWE2K14, I think 2K needs to do a definitive WWE title that is all theirs and not a direct ripoff or improvement of the old THQ games, something that is entirely their own.  If WWE Universe mode is anything like last year's, it can stand major improvements that make every single part of it customizable.  Whether it is more character specific cut scenes or more smart decisions, it definitely needs more content and custom options to make that mode defined.  2K did an amazing job with character models and making them react more fluid and lifelike with the heavy breathing during selling and the sweating, which looks awesome.  But they can also stand to improve on those to make them even more realistic.  I also agree that the animations need slowing down because the button mashing fast pace does make it seem kind of arcade-like instead of more simulation, which makes it seem too impulsive and less methodical.  WWE & pro wrestling has always been more methodical than arcade like anyway, so making that change seems like the next logical progression.  As for the creation suite, it can always be better though I think that's the one area where THQ did a halfway decent job.  I want to see more simple options instead of making everything so detailed to the point where you either spend hours or days on creations else you're stuck downloading for weeks off of CC, when it should be fairly easy to recreate people in-game to the point where any gamer can make any creation with relative ease.  I'm sure a lot of people would disagree here but I have always felt like the creation suite is too complicated and needs to be easier to use for novices[like me] and master creators alike.  I guess time will indeed tell....