WWE 2K20

2019 has been a year of upheaval for WWE. The company has been stuck in a rut, producing the same mostly-predictable content for years, but recently they’ve been forced to make behind-the-scenes changes to their creative process in the face of declining ratings, new competition, and Smackdown’s move to Fox Sports. It remains to be seen whether WWE will be able to successfully face down their current challenges, but at the moment, the situation doesn’t seem terribly promising (anybody who watched Hell in a Cell this year knows what I’m talking about).

Despite what you might have seen or read on social media, WWE 2K20 isn’t unplayable or broken. Or at least not in my experience. But it also doesn’t push the series forward in any way, nor is it polished. MyCareer mode has an entertaining story to tell, but it’s not worth the price of the game alone, and other modes don’t really offer anything groundbreaking or truly new. So overall, while WWE 2K20 isn’t terrible, there’s no reason to pick it up if you already have WWE 2K19 in your games library. Not unless you like throwing money away, that is.

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WWE 2K19 looked like it stopped the downward trend for the series, but WWE 2K20 doubles back, breaks its ankle, and tumbles down the slope. Fundamental parts that felt totally fine in WWE 2K19 now feel clumsy, the impressive roster of 238 superstars is all but meaningless when a majority of them look like they crawled out of a PS2-era wrestling game, and while 2K20’s MyCareer mode offers a better wrestling story mode than most previous WWE 2K games, that’s a low bar to clear – it’s still saddled with bad progression and a plodding pace. This is a mess that 2K needs to clean up in a hurry.

I am still excited to see what WWE 2K21 will look like, especially since Visual Concepts will have the time to actually learn how this engine works and use it properly, but it really is a drag that the entry with some of the best features just plays like hot garbage. In a way, WWE 2K20 is a true representation of WWE’s product as a whole right now, and that is just sad.

WWE 2K20 is rotten on the inside and broken at its core. It fails at doing many fundamental things properly, which actively take away from the experience. Then there's the fact that it does't improve upon any of the ideas of its predecessor – and in some cases, actually takes them a step back – and that it's an absolute technical mess riddled with bugs and plagued by bland, sub-par visuals.

If you must. catch the cutscenes from the bonkers MyCareer mode on Youtube. If you need a new wrestling game to play, seek out Fire Pro Wrestling World or CHIKARA: Action Arcade Wrestling. This way, you have a chance at playing a well-made game and will be supporting publishers that don’t see their player base as mindless ATM machines. 3/10 shockmasters

WWE 2K20 falls short in every aspect compared to previous entries all while being a technical mess at every turn.

Here comes the pain.

Completely unacceptable. This game should have never been released in this state and it baffles me that this was even allowed to be sold at all. WWE 2K20 is by far the worst game released in the 20-year history of the mainline series of WWE Games.

It's possible that the departure of Yuke's played a significant role in WWE 2K20 so completely and utterly missing the mark, and maybe Visual Concepts will get things back on track next year. The developers have said that patches will be released to address some of WWE 2K20's glitches, but they aren't even the biggest problems with the game, and it's hard to see how it can be salvaged without a complete overhaul. There is no reason to pick this game up when far better WWE 2K games are out there, and we don't recommend it to anyone, even someone that lives and breathes WWE.

It’s really hard being a WWE fan sometimes. Not just from the people who, to this day, still judge you a bit just for liking wrestling in the first place. The state of the current product is very strange, with the company flying its superstars over to Saudi Arabia twice a year for events that women aren’t even allowed to wrestle at and a new expensive deal on FOX in the US shifting focus from their current talent over to some second-rate UFC stars. At the end of the day, it’s a busines...