- [Narrator] Hey, we're
back with another episode of "Before You Buy," that show we give you some straight up gameplay and
you're not gonna believe this, some first impressions of
the latest games releasing. And today we're just taking a quick brief look at "WWE 2K24." We've been casual wrestling
game fans here since, like, the N64 days and for the past few years, every year we've been
taking a look at these newer "WWE 2K" entries and they've kind of been all over the place. You know, some have
been
really buggy, glitchy, unfinished or lacking modes. Some just really struggle to
find the right gameplay balance and some are just filled
with micro-transactions and 2K stuff to get
you to spend more money and not much else. But after a bunch of ups and downs, I'd say by about last year's entry "2K23," they really figured out the
gameplay and the feature set. It wasn't really lacking
anything and it was fun to play. The style of gameplay might
not be for every wrestling fan, but they essent
ially
built out a full featured regular old fashioned WWE
game with a bunch of stuff. And to be completely frank,
that continues this year. That's the gist of it. You know, at least from
our first impressions here, it does seem like they
really keep the train rolling this time, you know, with some
fun new additions and tweaks, a couple of new little fight modes, an updated roster and a new
showcase mode, of course. So I guess I'll start with that one, because I tend to like them, I gravitate tow
ards them, showcase mode. So if you don't know, showcase
mode is usually a cool pillar of these games. You know, it's, like, a mode
centered around the career of a specific wrestler and
it's kind of documentary style. So you get, you know,
Stone Cold Steve Austin or John Cena talking about their career with real archival footage of old matches, and then you get to play
some of those famous matches and hit certain parameters
and requirements. They've also done it
with, like, Rey Mysterio and a fe
w others over
the past couple of years. But this time around it's not centered around a single wrestler, but WWE and the history of wrestling and really WrestleMania itself. It's a cool little history trip but it didn't quite land for
me like the other variants did. You know, I like seeing a wrestler talk through their career documentary-style with passion and insight and
then get to play those moments. For me, the journey is usually
getting to know a wrestler that I didn't know too much about,
or reliving some cool moments from one I used to enjoy in the
'90s or early 2000s. Plus, I mean a lot of these wrestlers are just absolute stars. They're interesting, they're charismatic. So this time around with it
just focused around, like, events, to me it felt a bit
more just like marketing. Like, WWE is awesome, the brand is great, you know, a bit advertisement-y. Still cool and it's got
the presentation factor, but I just didn't care
as much as seeing, like, Rey Mysterio rise through
the r
anks or anything. That's all down to personal preference. Might just be me. You might see an early
WrestleMania and shed a tear and have fun playing it, but you do you. Now the wrestling gameplay
itself, like I said, they really nailed it last year
at least in terms of, like, fine tuning what they were aiming for. And as I've said in the past, they do take some more technical, almost simulation-style
wrestling gameplay mechanics and make it a bit faster and more engaging and a little bit easier
to pick up and play. Grappling and combos feel good, carrying and moving your
opponents around still feels good. There's a lot of options there, although dragging is still a bit slow, but hits are really satisfying
with good sound effects, physics, actually seeing
the characters in pain with really good graphical
detail that I'll get to in a bit. And also just, like, a little
bit of onscreen visuals for, like, the really nasty
hits, the screen will flash or shake a little bit when
there's a real
ly good slam, and it works, it really sells it. The payback system is
still good in a pinch. Last year they really
dialed that in, right? And now this year there's more, and you can also come equipped with more. Combat can still get a
little frustrating here and there because combo
breakers and reversal timings are still very challenging. They're basically a crapshoot
unless you take the time to really understand
the grappling animations and transitions and essentially
know when things are comin
g, which as you might be able
to tell from the gameplay, I am definitely a little
rusty from last year. I haven't played too much,
so I need a few more days to get those timings really down. It is challenging, but it's all still fun once you get to grips with it, especially with new super finishers. Also, there is a new
camera angle you can change to from the settings and it's
a bit wider and much nicer. I didn't capture it much here 'cause I wanted to show off
some of the graphics up close, but
I think people are
gonna use it quite a bit. Now the modern 2K games
are, like, a good balance of technicalness and good
old arcade style brawling, and it is a good time. Positioning feels less awkward,
animations line up better than they have and the AI
doesn't come off as goofy. I remember having more of an
issue with that last year. Now visually, I think
there is a big upgrade this year graphics wise, specifically with the character models. There are a lot of
wrestlers in this roster, so not
every single one looks 110%, but a lot, lot more this year
seem to look really great. I know some of the biggest
stars always get, like, extra attention to their character models, but this year the fidelity
just seems to be ramped up. Muscles move and skin often bounces in a bit more of a
convincing, realistic way. Textures look more detailed, and, like, for example, when
The Rock did the eyebrow, when he did the thing, I
actually said, "Holy shit," out loud because it just
looked eerily realis
tic. Like, we're bordering on
"Uncanny Valley" here. I actually think that
some of these characters are so detailed, that the
environments themselves are starting to feel kind of flat. You know, crowds, you
know, signs are cool, but the crowds, the lighting,
the detail of the rings, you know, all of it just
feels a bit bland looking. I don't know if it's just
because, like, the characters just look so detailed at this point or the rings weren't the priority. I don't know, but it's
noticeable som
etimes. Still good looking and minimal
glitchiness, which is nice. There's always gonna be
some couple of weird things here and there, but it
performed pretty well. And as for just hopping in and playing, the new fun additions are
gauntlet making a return finally and special guest referee
matches with some customization. There's also ambulance and casket matches where you just kind of, like, throw your opponent into a thing. They could be a bit finicky but fun, and I think some wrestle
heads wil
l really dig it. And then of course there is the creation, all the stuff you can make. Of course, there's so much at this point. Like I said before, there's
some referee customization specifically with the special
guest referee matches, which are pretty cool. I know some people have been
really looking forward to that. And you can also create a sign now on top of all the other stuff. This year I kind of dabbled
in making my own videos a little bit, like, creating
the video that plays on the jumb
otron with a surprisingly good little video clip editor
that will actually process and render what you create
on an editing timeline. As an editor, I just think that's cool and how they make it
accessible for people. Also, creating entrances is always fun. I made The Undertaker do
the Xbox suck it move, and I just like doing dumb shit like that. Creating dumb rings is always a blast. Like, you can probably
see here my weird green, purple hued arena that I built. It's dumb and ugly and I love it.
Now you're playing with all
this stuff in the various modes. And then of course, there's
my GM for the statisticians, you know, the real nerds and My Rise, which features essentially
two career modes, and I've only scratched the
surface with them to be honest. But they immediately seem
to be a bit more engaging than the last two years. Some of these My Rise in
the past have just been brutally slow and undercooked
and low budget in the past and it feels like we're
finally getting past that. Now
My Faction and My Universe stuff, I can't speak to too much. I didn't get access to all of it, and that's where the micro-transactions and the addictive nature
of these modes come in. And I'd rather just pass on that. And I say that thankfully
because all that stuff seems to just be kind of
sequestered away to that. And with all the other modes
and customizations and options, I feel like I got my money's worth, and the game doesn't
present a storefront to me in my face right after I
paid $70 for
this game. And I appreciate that at the very least. 2K games are gonna
always have their thing, and you know, they push it
to various levels each year. Now really that's the
gist of it, to be honest. We just hopped in here
for some first impressions to see what was new and to
see if anything was broken. And so far the game seems
to be performing well. This footage was captured on PS5, and since launch
yesterday, at least, like, that pre-order launch thing, we've been getting along just fine. An
d again with everything here, it's kind of how it goes at this point with sports games when
they have it figured out. And "WWE 2K24" now seems to join the ranks of those solid yearly
sports games releases that may not be the most
exciting things in the world, but still noteworthy
for fans, nonetheless. And in terms of just
little things they trickle throughout here in the creation suites and things you can access, I think that real wrestling nerdery, like, when you can really dig into that stuff
, the lower and mess around and tweak and create your own fantasies, that's where this game probably
provides the most value. And of course, play in
matches with your friends. But like I said, that's really it. This is "Before You Buy." You
know how this goes by now. We give you some pros, some
cons and some personal opinion. And now we wanna hear
yours down in the comments. What's your experience with these games? Are you still just playing
the old classics on, you know, PS1, PS2, N64, or are
y
ou into this new stuff? Did you like 23? Are
you interested in 2024? Let's talk anything WWE and
2K down in the comments. Now if you like this video
and it helped you out and just talking games with us every day, clicking the like button does help us. Thank you. But if you're new, consider subscribing, because we put out
videos every single day. And as always, thanks for watching, and we'll see you guys next time. - [Announcer] Smashing their face. Batista launching a savage attack. Call Animal
Control. Batista's loose. Troy is capable of throwing some monstrous strikes inside though. How can he best make use of
it in this match tonight? - [Announcer 2] Like you said, Drew can put some incredible power behind his blows and I
think the key for him is to make sure he gives every hit his all. There's no room for glancing
strikes or quick jabs. Drew needs to go all out. (wrestling mat thudding)
(crowd cheering) Misses.
(crowd exclaiming) Drew fending him off. (crowd cheering)
Comments