At the time of this writing, many bugs have been fixed, and the worst gags identified by our colleagues and most players have largely disappeared. But it would be far too utopian – and not frank at all, ultimately – to discuss WWE 2K20 as a whole without dwelling on the (too) many technical shortcomings from which this 2020 version suffers. 'Achilles of the game which would probably have deserved to see its release in stores be postponed. WWE 2K20 is technically unfinished, and there are many reasons for this resounding hiccup. The change of studio – the old versions were in the hands of the Japanese at Yuke's – is certainly one. Accustomed to working on NBA 2K, Visual Concepts ended up with this imposing baby on their arms and an engine dating from Methuselah, with the consequences that many of you could see here and there on the net. Hair detached from the heads of the wrestlers, elements of the decor merging with the wrestlers, caught in the wind, wrestlers caught in immobility, or even completely lunar stunts; the Web has been able to feed in recent weeks on an anthology of technical failures as laughable as they are heartbreaking.
NOT STRONG LIKE THE ROCK
As you will have understood, the WWE 2K20 engine is at the end of its life, and despite the fixes made by the publisher, the end result is far from satisfactory. If we recognize most wrestling stars, their entry kinematics immediately betrays their difficulty in moving correctly in space and their propensity to jerk at each change of direction. The rendering is even more difficult in the ring, with a questionable hitbox and latency times as long as a day of strike between the request for a take and its execution - we will not even talk about the loading times, much too long but not exotic for regulars of NBA 2K. Problematic for a title that plays the card of diversity in terms of blows and interaction with the decor, whether on and around the ring. Annoying, too, when you have to effectively place a counter – which requires very precise timing – to get out of a submission hold, or even get up after a fall. And to make matters worse, the fights are on the whole uneven…and too long. The AI may want to end the ring very quickly – with wrestlers likely to counter ALL your blows, which makes the duel a bit cheated all the same – like preferring to take its time. In this second case, the fight can last for ages. No need to draw a picture when a final take does not pass – sacred latency, sacred technical problem – and in return, you end up on the ground on a lapidary fall. Damned.As you will have understood, the WWE 2K20 engine is at the end of its life, and despite the fixes made by the publisher, the end result is far from satisfactory.
WWE 2K20 is frustrating as possible and is certainly not to be put into the hands of neophytes. No training mode, no tutorial, explanations that are not always clear, and endless and untidy tips during loading times. We are all the more jaded as the game takes up the content offered in the previous part. Cage fight, silver suitcase to pick up, last standing in the ring, fight at 4 or more; everything is there. The solo experience, if not turned upside down, is just as rich. In addition to the 2K Towers – themed fights mixing superstars of the discipline, Roman Reigns in particular in this opus – we find the Showcase mode which this time puts the spotlight on the Four Horsewomen, namely Charlotte Flair, Sasha Banks, Becky Lynch and Bailey. Each of them traces its history and its rise through dedicated games. There again, if the videos introducing them IRL are appreciable, they have difficulty in making people forget their poor ingame modeling, which is quite distressingly ugly. The solo campaign also allows you to marry the career of one or two wrestlers of your choice and your wishes. Anxious to open up a little more to female wrestling, WWE 2K20 gives pride of place to its ladies; Besides the Four Horsewomen in Showcase mode, the game requires the creation of a female avatar in addition to your male model.
Your two creations (Red and Tre), who start their tribulations in college, will try to stick together to reach the heights of WWE. Let's be frank, their career is bleak and includes frankly useless passages – the canteen scene, an all-must of what we could save ourselves – not to mention the much too long loading times (we come back to this) and replies no more successful than a good old South American soap. Moreover, special mention to Tre and his absolutely infamous ends of sentences, because each time tinged with humor could not be more weak. And tell yourself that with 18 chapters on the program and nearly 270 dedicated cutscenes, there will be something to criticize, especially when thinking about the adventure of WWE 2K19 much better done and interesting over time. Here again, the finding is damaging given the very complete customization offered to the player for his avatar, from his combat outfit to the color of his beard. For the rest, namely the provocations towards his opponents or to excite the crowd, it will be necessary to go through the famous VC box which is not foreign to NBA 2K players. It is less expensive than in the basketball simulation but very present in WWE 2K20, especially in terms of obtaining the firm's historical wrestlers such as Bret Hart, Sting, Undertaker or Shawn Michaels. In total, we end up with no less than 186 wrestlers-wrestlers divided according to their style and weight.
If their signature moves are present, and if we easily recognize the characteristics of each other (technique and agility for some, strength and endurance for others), this does not always translate either controller in hand, the fault again to this poorly optimized technique.
If their signature moves are present, and if we easily recognize the characteristics of each other (technique and agility for some, strength and endurance for others), this does not always translate either controller in hand, the fault again to this poorly optimized technique. History to pass the many pills of this opus to forget definitively, Take Two - who did not have the desire / the courage to postpone the release date of WWE 2K20 despite the many problems raised during the various presentations - does as if nothing was wrong with four DLCs, two of which are already available (Bump in the night and Wasteland Wanderers). The other two (Southpawn Regional Wrestling and Empire of Tomorrow) will land later this year. Not sure if that will bring WWE 2K20 back to the top of the charts.
