➤ Big trouble in Suplex City 🎮

As highlighted in the WWE 2K16 review, the move from the defunct THQ to 2K Games and the support of the talented Visual Concepts team with the experienced developers of Yuke's, who have been dealing with the franchise for sixteen years now, have not led the series to pursue. that evolution which was strongly felt the need.

The brand has instead continued to entrench itself on its characterizing elements, giving up a more immediate and fun gameplay in favor of simulative ambitions that wink only and exclusively to the most avid fans of World Wrestling Entertainment shows. The numbers for the moment give reason to the choices made by the publisher, but it is also true that compared to the episode of 2015, that of the substantial graphical improvement, there has been a significant drop in sales (source: VGchartz.com) and it will be necessary to understand how WWE 2K17 will be welcomed. The feeling, in fact, is of a project carried out without too much conviction, perhaps in the middle of a path that could lead the franchise to abandon the technical limitations of the previous generation platforms. in favor of a native design for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The problems, however, do not lie in the graphics, further improved and capable of offering us polygonal models and faithful animations for a greater number of characters than in the past, but in the quick time event style solutions adopted for the gameplay, which on the one hand add a certain thickness. strategic matches, on the other hand they make them be terribly slow and cumbersome in the eyes of those who would expect a bit of frenetic action from a wrestling game, also mindful of the origins of the series. There are some small innovations, a differentiated taunt system and a better approach to attacks in progress, but in our opinion we would need to rethink the philosophy behind the experience rather than pursue the usual conservative policy.

WWE 2K17 is a rich and complete product, but this year lacking the story mode and relevant news

Via the Showcase

As reported a few weeks ago, WWE 2K17 does not include the traditional Showcase mode, which has always been the flagship of the single player sector. Last year this option saw us retrace the intense career of "Stone Cold" Steve Austin from his origins to his consecration, so it would have been nice for this edition to be able to try something similar, perhaps in the role of Goldberg (who is a character reserved for pre-orders) or Brock Lesnar, the cover athlete.

The choice to cut such a large part of the experience is surprising, also because we are talking about a mode that has always been able to characterize the entire package, to offer fans one or more stories to relive and complete before trying their hand at the rest of the offer; always rich, for heaven's sake, but necessarily more generic. The narrow main menu, graphically a clear step back from last year, allows you to try your hand at a lot of different matches, in which two to six contenders can participate: normal matches, Falls Count Anywhere, Backstage Brawl, Extreme Rules, Ladder, Table, TLC, Hell in a Cell, Steel Cage, Iron Man, Last Man Standing, No Holds Barred, Submission, Normal Tag Match, Elimination Tag, Elimination Tornado Tag, Triple Threat, Fatal 4-Way, 6-Man, Handicap Match, tournaments and the inevitable Royal Rumble with ten, twenty or thirty wrestlers. The return of the Backstage Brawl opens the door to the possibility of going behind the scenes (after a short loading) in the matches in which there is no disqualification for count out, and there to fight wildly between speakers, barriers, lights and so on.

The rest of the offer

In addition to single shows, My Career mode, WWE Universe, online multiplayer and the powerful editor that allows you to create superstars, sets of moves, entrances, belts, celebrations and even videos, shows and arenas from scratch. The developers have done a clear optimization job with regard to uploads, much shorter than those of WWE 2K16, and this is reflected in particular on the editor., which therefore becomes immediate and pleasant to use, with its countless possibilities.

We will be able to use it immediately, when we go to create our fighter for the career, which exactly as in WWE 2K16 will see us starting from the Performance Center in Orlando, under the indications of coach Albert, to then debut in the NXT roster, improve our skill and gradually gain the popularity necessary to become part of the main roster, perhaps aiming at the title and storyline capable of attracting the attention of the spectators. In this sense, a new feature has been introduced, the promos, that is the interventions on the microphone that superstars and divas do to increase the hype with respect to a certain rivalry or to build one from scratch, as well as to identify their role on the basis of the reactions of the public. On paper this is an interesting novelty, in which you have to select topics as the character speaks and try to find the right option to get a good response. However, the fact that the promos are only textual, inevitably, greatly diminishes their potential. For the rest, career progression is similar to that seen in past editions, albeit with some variations on the theme (see the challenges addressed to the Authority, the stable that controls WWE shows). Structure almost unchanged also for the WWE Universe mode, which is the one where you can really indulge in customizing the roster, changing the titles, creating rivalries, organizing weekly shows and pay-per-view, with the possibility of playing in first person all meetings or to instantly simulate the outcome. At the time of Smackdown Vs. Raw you had to manage your roster and create the most sensational events to obtain ratings higher than those of the competition, but this aspect has been lacking for years in favor of a more generic approach, certainly complete and with some small news (see the reactions of the fighters, who can take a defeat badly and carry out an unexpected run-in at the end of the show that changes the cards on the table), but also here basically already seen. Finally, a few words for online multiplayer, which allows you to challenge a single user, participate in 2K Tonight events or create a team of three fighters to face as many. Matchmaking is confirmed to be quite slow, with few people online, and unfortunately excessive latency often occurs, which results in the impossibility of hitting the quick time events that are essential to avoid the opponent's moves or even get out of the pin. The advice, therefore, is to organize with friends and avoid matches with overseas users.

PlayStation 4 Trophies

Fifty-nine Trophies are included in WWE 2K17, and many of them must be unlocked by fully playing the My Career and WWE Universe single player modes, but also by performing special actions during standard matches: ending a match in the backstage, hitting the opponent with a belt, perform a certain amount of counterattacks, insult the crowd or the opponent, and so on. There is also no lack of achievements related to online activity, above all the 2K Tonight mode, which at the time of writing is not yet available.

"Believe that", or #believe

With over one hundred and fifty superstars and divas, WWE 2K17's roster is the largest ever, as well as the most curated. We have already mentioned the technical improvement made to the series since the release two years ago, which has been extended in this edition to a greater number of characters, with in particular the female fighters who have really benefited a lot from the extra work of the developers.

It is clear, there are still characters not exactly faithful to their real counterparts and / or with generic animations, but we are getting closer and closer to completeness from this point of view. The reflections on the wrestlers' skin, but also the polygonal composition of the models, which finally no longer seem to suffer from old-gen shoulder joints, give an additional degree of realism to the experience, although some aspects remain anchored to an "old" conception , you see the hair, the fireworks, the scenarios in general and the audience, as numerous as you want but tending to perform the same animations in unison. As for the sound, the voice of Lilian Garcia was used for the announcements, clearly improving what we heard last year, but the commentary by Michael Cole and JBL is too essential, listless, without treble ... ah, just like in reality! Nothing to say, then.

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WWE 2K17 is a very rich and complete product, designed exclusively for die-hard fans of World Wrestling Entertainment shows, but this year comes with a less attractive edition than usual, given the lack of Showcase mode and the few innovations that characterize the rest of the offer. The technical improvements, on all the shorter loads and a greater number of "premium" characters, very faithful to their real counterparts, are counterbalanced by the usual graphic ingenuity and a gameplay that does not come undone from the slowness and woodiness to which we are now unfortunately get used to it.