8 CRAZY New Features In WWE 2K19
In which Finn Balor becomes an NBA Jam character.
Like most major sports game franchises, the WWE 2K series isn’t exactly associated with year-to-year innovation.
Developers Visual Concepts typically eschew outright revolution for a glut of incremental annual tweaks. Roster stats are updated, graphics are refined, and pre-order bonuses align with whoever’s being pushed at the time. New features come and go with each new incarnation, but the core game remains largely unchanged.
While WWE 2K19 almost certainly won’t reinvent the wheel either (despite the typically overwhelming marketing campaign), it looks like the latest game is about to bring oodles of mad sh*t to the table, with the first batch of trailers peppering the usual vanilla gameplay footage with dashes of complete weirdness.
It started with ‘The Phenomenal One’s’ supernatural undertones, and continued through this exclusive IGN feature reveal and a new MyCAREER preview. Who knows how prevalent they’ll be in the final form, but for now, it looks like the developers have lost their minds this time around.
Whether or not 2K19’s newfound wackiness elevates this release beyond “annual re-skin” territory remains to be seen, but this is shaping up to be one of the oddest wrestling games yet...
8. The Broken Multiverse
WWE never truly delivered a fully realised version of Matt Hardy's wonderfully bizarre Broken Universe while the injury-ravaged 43-year-old was active. Perhaps it was always going to be this way, as Vince McMahon has often been reticent to go all-in on gimmicks created elsewhere, and the comedic concept likely came with a midcard ceiling in his promotion anyway. The disappointingly diluted 'Woken' version we got didn't hit the mark, even if the Ultimate Deletion was bags of fun.
Fans of the character will be pleased to learn that Hardy's wild, imaginative world comes to life in 2K19. At one point, the MyCAREER trailer shows Matt decked out in full Woken regalia, welcoming the player to his Multiverse. There's smoke, a cosmic backdrop, and a glowing green window, but that's the extent of what we know so far.
If the footage is representative of the final product, this scene comes after your character is knocked out by a red-masked mystery assailant, sending you to Hardy's realm. Here's hoping it's more than just a single scene, though: exploring this Multiverse sounds like fun...