WWE2K20 is a mess of a game, a game that for every positive has 5 glaring negatives that take away
from the experience, and that’s when the game is working as intended. Limbs become inseparable from
the ropes forcing characters to morph into men and women with wingspans that would make them the
basis of a documentary rather than ever spending their time telling a story in the ring. The commentary
will constantly inform you that you’ve hit the “big one" even when it’s the 9th time you’ve hit the move
and your opponent still kicks out. The commentary will tell the same story upwards of 3 times in the
same match as if the game forgot to record more lines of dialogue and is astonished someone is still
playing it. The game manages to be unable to retain my attention even while I am playing it on the
highest difficulty that I have decided that this article will include deviations to great moments in WWE
history recounted poorly that have nothing to do with WWE2K20 just to keep both you the reader and
myself engaged as we get through this journey.
Back in summer 2006 Randy Orton wanted two things; he wanted a match with Hulk Hogan and
to take Hulk Hogans daughter on a date. These two things seem counterproductive, but Randy decided
that RKO’ing Hulk Hogan on his own rental car in front of his daughter would be the best way to
accomplish both goals in a single shot. If that sounds incredibly stupid, I can assure you it was, but it was
also incredible.
WWE2K20 is by far the worst in the series by a mile, while 2K15 was disappointing for its lack of
content, WWE2K20 managed to eclipse it by providing content that simply doesn’t work and is
incredibly boring at certain points. The highpoint of the game is its Mycareer mode where you take the
role of both a male and female superstar on the rise from the independent wrestling circuit to the WWE
making enemies and friends along the way. The highpoint of the game is certainly not the gameplay, in a
wrestling game this is a crime. Given the fact that this is a yearly release style game limited steps up are
typically seen as a disappointment, regression is never expected or tolerated. A game typically that is
such an incredibly fun time to play with friends is not worth even starting. WWE2K20 manages to
somehow be a perfect advertisement for WWE2K19 given its cheaper price and the fact that it
functions. It often crashes, the popular feature community creations which allows for you to download
other users created superstars does not work more often than not and the game itself has countless
issues such as targeting, clipping of objects and weapons becoming infused with the ring itself, We are 5
months removed from the initial October 22nd release date, so why am I talking about this? Well it is
because for some reason removed from all objective thought and understanding I can safely say I have
played WWE2K20 for upwards of 100 Hours. Part of this is because I am a professional wrestling fan
with the other part of the equation being that I am a professional wrestling fan.
The WWE has always struggled with having the crowd react the way they wanted them to, but in
the fall of 2003 Brock Lesnar had recently become a bad guy so the WWE decided it appropriate for him
to hurl famous one legged wrestler Zack Gowen down a flight of stairs while said Zack was in a
wheelchair and had no way to defend himself from the tumble he was about to take. The crowd
responded as expected.
Now aside from the fact that the game has provided for a plethora of mainstream critique and
comedy, the reality of the situation was expected for those who followed the games development cycle.
The loss of long time contributor and engine creator Yukes early into the games yearly cycle of
development was the death note for fans of the series. This pushed everything back, the annual
Summerslam event is typically when the entire roster is revealed, on August 5th we got what the cover
would look like. The roster was revealed in parts starting on October 5th, the game was set to launch on
October 22nd. From the horrendous launch to the poor communication from the developers this game
lost its content creator community before its second patch dropped. Nothing about this game is
forgivable or redeemable especially given it’s full retail price tag. So why in the hell do I still play it? Why
is a game that is so obviously flawed manage to be something I keep going back to? Well to put it simply
it’s because I’m a wrestling fan and the other options of wrestling games don’t provide what I’m looking
for. FirePro is an incredible game to watch, but playing it just isn’t the same for me. The A.I battling each
other is far more impressive and enjoyable to watch than having any control of it. WWE2K20 is about
the only option for a new wrestling game for me to play they I have not already sinked countless hours
into. There’s no defending this game, but I’ll still play it. It took them till March 2020, 5 months after its
initial release, to drop a patch that made it so every move in the game occurred in the same logic of
time. What does this mean? It means certain moves in the game were sped up so fast that in the time it
would take John Cena to deliver his Attitude Adjustment, another character could perform a
combination of kicks concluding with him running at a grounded opponent with his knees and sitting
cross legged in the aftermath and still have time to prevent John Cena from delivering the attitude
adjustment.
On the note of John Cena, he once saved his good friend’s Zack Ryder’s crush Eve Tores from a
devastating attack from Pyromaniac and noted top 2 favorite of the devil himself, Kane. John Cena and
said Eve proceeded to embrace and kiss lovingly before they both realized that Zack Ryder, the good
friend of John Cena, was watching the entire time from the wheelchair that he was put in from said Kane
with a bouquet of flowers for said crush. It was a bad time for Ryder but because the WWE is incapable
of logical reasoning, they assumed we would feel bad for John Cena instead, god bless this company.
Much like the company the game is based on it is truly a job to find items of the game that you
can defend. While the company has strained my patience far more times than I can count the game has
yet to ever come close to reaching that boiling point due in part to the fact that I knew it would be
horrible prior to my purchase of it. The game will remain an incredible moment in the gaming history of
2019 with its glitches like faces disappearing, characters levitating and most comically the game refusing
to actually work in the Year 2020, THE YEAR THAT IS ON THE TITLE OF THE GAME, for the first 8 hours of
the new year. WWE2K20 is certainly something, it is the worst game I have played in 2019 but for
reasons that I hope were conveyed to you it is something I will continue to play. Not everything needs to
be perfect for you to enjoy it, but hopefully the things you enjoy are a little more polished than this.