WWE 2K23 Review On PlayStation, Xbox, And PC

Platform: PS5
Also on: PS4, Xbox Series X and Xbox One
Publisher: 2K
Developer: Visual Concepts
Medium: Digital/Disc
Players: 1-2
Online: Yes
ESRB: T

It’s WrestleMania season and that now means it’s WWE 2K season! 2K has rescheduled its annual releases. It will no longer be releasing in fall. Instead, it will release in March right in time to Wrestlemania. Releasing during this “season” is smart because it has the most eyes on the product that you will probably see all year, but could also be a burial if the game is terrible. Well what I must tell you ladies and gentlemen is not a prediction, but a spoiler; WWE 2K23 is even better than last year’s release! This release was a great improvement on almost all aspects of 2K22. Follow me as I take control of creative for Trips (or VKM according to some dirt sheets) and guide your journey through WWE 2K23. (Heavy on the wrestling puns, just stick around with me).

Let’s start with the Showcase Mode; the feature that is flaunted in nearly every release of the 2K franchise. This year we get to go through some of John Cena’s iconic matches, but they gave us a unique spin on it for once. You see this year you aren’t playing as the featured superstar and playing through all their memorable wins, you’re playing as the opponents in some of Cena’s memorable losses. I really dig this to be honest, for one I DEFINITELY didn’t want to play as John Cena with his five moves of doom repeatedly, and secondly you get to play as different superstars each matchup with different unique objectives. So, without going into all the matches they chose for Showcase, this year has you play through memorable moments in Cena’s career, but not in chronological order. So it opens with you as RVD taking on Cena at ECW’s One Night Stand, which was a fantastic match and translates really well to Showcase mode. So along with playing as RVD, you’ll also play as Kurt Angle, Undertaker, The Rock and more. The varied superstars had me saying; “just one more match” multiple times. Rey Mysterio, Daniel Bryan had been my previous years. This year I had to push through it.

One issue that I had with Showcase is a carryover complaint from last year’s release and might just be the way it’s going to be going forward. Blurring historical videos is still an issue. Some fans are also present, as well as referees’ faces and shirts. You’re playing a match and it seamlessly switches from gameplay to video package and then boom, you’re taken out of the flow with some jarring blurring all over the screen. Maybe it’s just a peeve of mine but it just irritates me and it’s also worth noting this is my only real complaint with Showcase. Some people are already saying the exclusion of some matchups from Cena’s career are glaring, but in my opinion
They were able to do the best with what they had, including the licensed legends. Obviously, they won’t have the classic matches with CM Punk and Daniel Bryan. There are some great unlockables in Showcase this year as well… make sure you see them all.

Showcase is great, but MyGM and all the improvements that have been made over the years are the real star of 2K23. MyGM was back in 2K22 after a long hiatus. It was great, but there were not many match types or options. 2K has heard everyone’s complaints and added a ton of improvements. There are now more choices for GMs, shows and match types. Hall of Fame goals can also be added. MyGM was launched and Eric Bischoff was selected as my GM. WCW was my brand. It was time to revise the Monday Night War. MyRise, MyFaction and WCW both saw improvements this year. However, MyGM is still the mode I go back to. Becoming “The BOOKER” bay-bay, has always been a dream of mine and setting up the angles and seeing how they shake out just tickles me. You can compete against four brands that have a mixture of AI and real players. Perfect for all you internet marks to finally bring AEW to be ACTUAL competition for the WWE (oh that’s gonna get me some heat).

I’m not going to hammer on about the returning stuff that’s still great such as the “Create” options. From doing it yourself, to downloading superstars, arenas, movesets and more—I have no complaints. They continue to improve just how easy it is to build out wrestlers from other organizations or legends, or download other people’s creations (the amount of wrestlers that are already up and how great they look is extremely impressive). But I do want to mention the inclusion of a brand-new match type, which doesn’t happen very often anymore, THE WAR GAMES (insert William Regal voice). Now for us wrestling dinosaurs, War Games has been around a long time and this isn’t what you’ll remember from the WCW days, but it’s the current WWE iteration. It’s still a lot of fun to play this match type with teams of 3 or 4 and I believe it is the first time a wrestling game has featured the double ring. You have the double ring and the cage. Also, you can pick up toys (weapons) on the way to the ring. War Games will be one of my favorite modes, joining my favourite rotation of Royal Rumble & Elimination Chamber. The new Backstage Brawl match type features a large Backstage setting. This one is a bit more difficult to prepare and can be tedious. The interactive items are fun, but they do take a lot of time.

Here we are at the post show press conference and what’s the verdict? WWE 2K23 does all the right moves, and continues to improve on the great foundation 2K22 has established over the past few years (no pun intended). Some of the entrances and visuals this year really rival the on-screen product and really make other products look absolutely terrible, despite them not even being released yet (cough—AEW Fight/Delayed Forever—cough). With the already announced DLC plans, the roster (when all is said and done) is the most complete it’s been in a very long time and it’s damn impressive. You can create your own matchmaking options by combining this with the creation suite. As you can see, I’m really smitten with this year’s release and I highly recommend it. Can we have more Throwback Showcase models? ECW? WCW? History of Monday Night Raw Four Horsemen I’ve got plenty of ideas, give me a call.

2K provided a WWE 2K23 PS5 Code for review.

Grade: A-

Manufacturer: 2K
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