12 Most Surprising Metacritic Scores Of 2018
6. WWE 2K19 (77)
Long-suffering fans of the WWE 2K franchise have likely made peace with the fact that 2K Games just doesn't seem capable of delivering a technically sound, mechanically fun and richly rewarding wrestling game on par with the greats.
After all, the immensely sloppy WWE 2K18 received indifferent reviews from critics (66), 2K17 wasn't much better (67), and in fact the last time an annualised WWE game scored 75+ was THQ's WWE '13 back in 2012 (78).
So what a pleasant surprise it was, then, for WWE 2K19 to score strong reviews from most critics, citing the slicker and more fluid core gameplay, pleasantly surprising improvements to MyCareer mode and enhanced progression suite.
Sure, 2K's approach to DLC still stinks and the online multiplayer is a mess, but the focal experience feels a good deal better-crafted than in recent years and less like a rushed-out, perfunctory annual cash-grab.