WWE 2K17

WWE 2K17 is a curious beast. I used to love wrestling, but I can't exactly say I'm a fan now. Stone Cold, The Rock, Chris Jericho, Kurt Angle and so many more were part of my life growing up. The "please, don't try this at home" warnings were consistently ignored. I loved the theatrics, but around 2005 I stopped watching. A little over a decade later I've seen a little and the production is arguably the best it's been in a long time.

WWE 2K17 doesn’t make any big, drastic changes, but its smart gameplay tweaks have revitalized match types I’d ignored the past few years. I really miss 2K Showcase, and 2K17 is still weak in areas that I feel should have been shored up by now, but its excellent combat, and generous amounts of customization help it retain its title.

Most people around my age remember seeing Hulk Hogan, The Ultimate Warrior, Andre the Giant, and so many classic wrestlers fighting it out for the Heavyweight Championship and watched them with admiration. While many WWE games have offered you the chance to become the champ yourself, WWE 2K17 feels like it’s the first time you are truly earning it. A few years back, the WWE series shifted its focus to being a simulation title rather than its unique blend of sports and arcade. While the latest title in the series has some incredible improvements as it becomes more and more real, it drops a fold...

Overall

Like previous versions, WWE 2K17 takes some major steps forward, but then takes even more steps backwards and unfortunately, it takes even more steps backwards than WWE 2K16. There is still plenty of fun to be had in WWE 2K17 but the nagging issues that rear their ugly heads year after year will eventually pop up and ruin said fun, once again.

Oh my!

By acting as a simulation rather than embracing the promotion silliness, WWE 2K17 misses the mark wildly. What chance they had to make MyCareer a marquee game mode and a game changer was wasted by half-baked ideas. There’s a lot going on with the other modes on offer and it plays better than most wrestling games out there, but its presentation suffers greatly as a result. As a tool for promoting Goldberg vs Brock Lesnar 2, it’s done its job, it’s just a shame that was the best thing WWE 2K17 achieved.

For most annualized franchises, 12 months is barely enough time to add new features that will entice fans to return to the series year after year. With WWE 2K17, however, developer Yuke’s decided to subtract instead of add. Rather than bolster a bloated feature set, WWE 2K17 ditches the popular Showcase mode in favor of polishing existing systems. But while the core combat has improved over last year’s entry, Yuke’s grappling skills still aren’t strong enough to make anyone other than hardcore WWE fans take notice.

I am not sports entertained.

WWE 2K17 is a poor simulation of the WWE product, often because it seems ashamed of pro wrestling. This is a television universe where Jon Stewart has interfered in back-to-back SummerSlams — you either get on board with the nonsense or you give the license to somebody else. Adding a promo mechanic is a vague half-step towards acceptance, but it almost feels like an obligatory nod to the parts of the show where people talk into microphones. WWE’s current weekly programming is arguably better than it’s ever been; that level of quality deserves a game to match. That game is not WWE 2K17.

WWE 2K17 Brings Suplex City to a Dead End

Since 2K Games took over the WWE franchise a few years ago, year on year we’ve seen tweaks and changes to the tried and true wrestling formula, with slower and more methodical gameplay that really matches the pace and style of the bouts you see on TV every week. WWE 2K17 is no exception, with further enhancements to what was already a solid entry last year. Where the gameplay has grown in leaps and bounds, the feature set this time around has almost remained exactly the same, which is a sh...