WWE 2K18: 10 Ways To Make It The Perfect Game
2K17 was solid, but there's so much room for improvement.
2K Sports have yet to confirm an official release date for WWE 2K18, but we're likely no more than four months from it hitting the shelves. The last few incarnations have all dropped in October, and with WWE confirming a fall release in their latest earnings report, that's probably where the next version will land.
2K17 was another case of minor tweaks and adjustments over complete innovation, with a new promo system, backstage brawling, and the usual mechanical alterations among its biggest upgrades. Core gameplay was largely the same, however, and 2K17 was pretty much exactly what we've come to expect from the developers.
Yuke's and 2K Sports have fallen into the familiar habit of presenting a handful of minor new features and stat updates as a brand new game, and while the series is still enjoyable, it's always disappointing when a new instalment feels like a glorified patch.
The developers could be doing so much more with the franchise, and while 2K17 was a solid effort, it remains a deeply flawed game. Perfection might not be attainable, but that doesn't mean the developers shouldn't strive for it, and the following changes would go a long way to transforming WWE 2K into the series it should be...
10. Better Commentary
Live commentary has been part of WWE games since 2001’s SmackDown! Just Bring It, but the developers have never been able to nail it. In most versions, the announcers speak through a series of repetitive, chopped-up soundbites that rarely reflect the action going in the ring, detracting from the game’s presentation rather than enhancing it.
While the announcers have greatly improved over the years, 2K17’s was still distractingly bad at times. The baffling thing is that the commentary in the NBA 2K games (another 2K Games/Visual Concepts series) is close to flawless, and makes you feel like you’re participating in an actual game of basketball rather than a simulation. Who knows why they haven’t been able to match that quality in the WWE games, but this has been a problem for years, and must be addressed in 2K18.
2K usually do a good job with the game’s visual presentation, but the commentary always feels so jarring and disconnected. The hectic schedule kept by WWE’s busy announcers would make tying them down for the necessary recording period difficult, and perhaps an impossibility, but you can’t create the perfect game without impeccable presentation.