There was a time when WWE's games were absolutely fantastic (alongside the show itself) and many will have fond memories of titles like Smackdown 2, Just Bring It or series highlight Here Comes The Pain. However, something that forever bogged down subsequent instalments once the series moved to an annual release schedule, was the reuse of the same animations over and over. So, come the turn of the generation, 2K promised a total overhaul of what had gone before, alongside a gorgeous graphics engine that would create the most realistic wrestling experience possible. What arrived in the end? A broken, featureless mess, devoid of any of the passion the older titles had, alongside a graphics engine that only really applied to the grade-A talent. Triple H, John Cena and Randy Orton all appeared fantastic whilst the rest were left to look more like over-animated potatoes, interacting with each other through even more glitches and scenery bugs as their ever was. Throw in a new gameplay system that forced any match to go through a horrible rock, paper, scissors-style minigame, and even beyond the sheen of the next-generation it' shocking how off-putting everything feels.
