Review: WWE 2K Battlegrounds Garbage Fighting & Microtransactions Galore

Reposted on Wednesday, June 30, 2021: We are bringing this review back from the archives following the July PlayStation Plus line announcement. The original text follows.

Honestly, there is something sinister about WWE 2K Battlegrounds. And no, we’re not talking about Bray Wyatt’s spooky mask, or the grotesque character models that look like they were designed by someone looking at Wrestlemania with one eye after a big night at the gin. No, there is a nefarious aura around this game as it looks like a free mobile title that inexplicably found its way onto PlayStation Store with a price tag of € 34.99.

This prize is more like a blow and hope, maybe-mom-and-dad-won’t-do-their-research than a real value proposition. We can’t imagine that there won’t be at least a slight reaction from the people who have chosen this game assuming it is meant to be played, only to find out that it is in fact meant to be played. to be paid. But we’ll come back to economics later.

First of all, the gameplay. WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a cartoon wrestling game where your objective is to hit the square repeatedly until your opponent is dead then you can pin them for victory. You can also tap triangle if you want, or if you’re feeling really fiery, you can use the right analog stick to do one of four different grapples. You don’t need to do anything because artificial intelligence is so dumb that just tapping square will get you through most battles.

Wrestlers are split into a handful of classes and all wrestlers in the same class have the same set of moves with the only difference being their finishing moves. Essentially, every wrestler is just skin that comes with a few special attacks. Unlocking Superstars should be exciting, but since they all play the same way, you’ll probably end up feeling like you’ve seen all the game has to offer in an hour or two.

The Short Campaign is the most fun you can have on your own battlegrounds. The story is told in a comic book style and involves Paul Heyman convincing WWE owner Vince McMahon to start a new, more extreme wrestling show set in different locations across the country. The story is really fun at times, although we don’t know if it’s by design. You can complete it all in about five hours.

You’ll play as a handful of fake wrestlers created specifically for the story, each trying to make a name for themselves in WWE. Considering that there is a character creation sequel in the game, it looks like the campaign missed an opportunity to feature some seedy, make-up wrestlers that you won’t have any affinity for, but then they should have offered you lots of character creation options from the start rather than locking them behind a paywall in the store, and that just wouldn’t do.

The art style of the game is meant to evoke hyper-styled WWE action figures coming to life, right down to the blister pack they come out of when you buy new wrestlers from the store. They look a little hideous, like a Toy Story scam on wrestling figures made on a budget.

Wrestlers have their official entry music, but they don’t really have entries – they just fall from the sky into a crate at the start of the match and sit there oddly for the first twenty seconds of their music.

As for the game modes, in addition to standard one-on-one matches, you can also hit square to win in matches with three or four wrestlers, or you can spice it up by breaking squares in a tag team match. There is also a Royal Rumble mode where you hit a bunch and then you can mix it up by hitting L2 and R2 to throw your opponent over the top rope to take them out before you do it to someone else.

Caged matches are slightly different in that you have to knock over your opponent – by hitting square – then climb up the side of the cage to collect money (we don’t know why) and then once you’ve picked up enough money, you can climb on top of the cage to win. Maybe the wrestlers just bought WWE 2K Battlegrounds and collect the cash to feel better before they leave the cage. Who knows?

You can play all of these types of matches with friends or enemies in multiplayer, and this is where the game is at its best. Playing with another person is undoubtedly more fun than playing alone, but only insofar as a blackout is more fun if you are with another person: it helps to have someone to talk to during the game. doldrums. We certainly don’t recommend that you convince your friends to buy this game so that you can play together, as they probably won’t be your friends for much longer if you do.

We’re guessing it’s time to talk about economics now, as this is clearly the part of the game that has given the most thought.

You can unlock wrestlers and extra bonuses just by playing the campaign, but rarely the best. You’ll unlock Baron Corbin after a handful of fights in the story mode, but then why would you want to play as Baron Corbin? He looks like a thumb with a beard, and honestly we’re not convinced he’s even a legitimate baron. No no no if you want to unlock the best wrestlers you will have to fight.

There is an in-game currency called Battle Bucks which you will earn by playing the game and you can use it to purchase additional wrestlers, new wrestler outfits, or character creation items. Generating Battle Bucks to pay a wrestler like Andre The Giant or Brock Lesnar takes a long time. If you don’t mind that because it would involve playing the game, you can just use real money to unlock them – that works out to a few pounds per wrestler.

There are over forty wrestlers to unlock with more to come as future DLC, so all in all, it will take a lot of time or a lot of money to unlock them all. It’s really fishy.