WWE 2K16 Hands-On Impressions: 12 Things You Need To Know

5. Submission Mechanics Are Fiddly, But Rewarding

The submission mechanic is new for WWE2K16, but not for anyone who's ever played a UFC game. Ditching the simple "JUST HAMMER BUTTONS UNTIL VICTORY" strategy of previous games, whenever a submission is slapped on, both players are given control of a differently-coloured bar. A red bar for the attacker, a blue for the victim. The victim must then avoid his bar being engulfed by the attackers', his ability to do so being drastically altered by how much punishment he's taken throughout the match. It's a fiddly mechanic, and particularly alien to me, someone who's never played a UFC title, but it recreates the struggle of maintaining/escaping a submission hold much more intuitively than simple button mashing. Finally cornering a slippery opponent after numerous attempts to lock in a hold is deeply rewarding, and a welcome change in mechanic.