WWE 2K Battlegrounds Review
Welcome back Spotters, and to our first official video game review on the site. 2K Games was generous enough to provide us with a copy of the brand-new WWE 2K Battlegrounds to look at and share our thoughts. Is it a new modern-day No Mercy, or another bomb waiting to detonate a la last year’s disastrous WWE 2K20 launch?
First and foremost, Battlegrounds is not your typical wrestling sim that you’ve become used to over the years from both THQ and 2K Games, although anyone who has seen a commercial for the game probably already knew that. The character designs are significantly more cartoony, in a similar fashion to the mini-toys you can find at your local stores below the actual figures.
Going for a more arcade feel, the controls and style feel stuck somewhere between an actual arcade fighter like Mortal Kombat and the old-school WWF games from the SNES-era like WWF Royal Rumble and WrestleMania: The Arcade Game. If I had to pinpoint an actual forefather for the controls out of any wrestling game I’ve played, it would likely be WWF In Your House from the original PlayStation. This makes sense as that game also had ridiculous over-the-top moves and actions from the wrestlers, such as The Undertaker throwing demons and literal tombstones at his opponents. While mostly not quite that bad you will get used to throwing your opponent a good thirty feet in the air from a Fireman’s Carry into a cutter and flaming fists and kicks. The controls are pretty basic, with the B button being used for Irish whips, A for grapples and X and Y acting as your punch and kicks respectively. You have a stamina bar that allows you to use powered up attacks, and a Heat bar that works towards your Signature and Finishing Moves. It works for the most part but sometimes things don’t always click.
The main part of the game is a story mode that is told via comic book style panels and involves Paul Heyman and Stone Cold Steve Austin going around the world to different ‘Battlegrounds’ to recruit new talent for the WWE. As a big mark for both of those men, I can’t really find any fault with the story itself, although I did find that you would reach matches that would have an insane difficulty curve out of nowhere. The first time you face Brock Lesnar and Daniel Bryan each are two of the more difficult battles you will encounter and after wiping the floor with most of the preceding matches it comes at you out of nowhere. What most wrestling fans will find exceptionally odd is the inclusion of WWE Hall of Famer Jake ‘The Snake’ Roberts in a crucial role early in the story. His inclusion itself becomes baffling given how many talents are not included in the game (although 2K promises a heavy amount of new characters coming over the next few months) while he has been an active part of All Elite Wrestling on television for much of 2020.
As I am sure most people are expecting following last year’s launch of WWE 2K20 is if the game has several glitches or not. I’m happy to report that for the most part during my playtime that the game is smooth overall, with the occasional graphical hiccup (there were a few times where during a fireman’s carry the character on top would disappear and reappear at random) but overall 2K has done a good job ensuring we have gotten a much smoother launch this time around.
Overall, if you were hoping for a game that was going to satiate your wait for WWE 2K22 following ‘21’s cancellation, you’re going to want to sit this one out and stick with either 2K19 or 2K20 if you’re adventurous like me. WWE 2K Battlegrounds is definitely a throwback to the games of our youth, one that I look forward to throwing on and playing with my sons who may be too young to truly enjoy the more simulated games and the learning curve with those. Is it a perfect game? Hell no, far from it. But it’s a fun diversion and once you remember that the game is in the $39.99 price range as opposed to the $69.99 price most new games command these days, you can’t go wrong. With the influx of new characters and DLC coming our way over the next few months, this just might be the best game we could hope for as everyone prepares for a quarantined winter and the launch of the upcoming Xbox Series X and PS5. Hell, I may just end up streaming some of the fun for all of you in the near future!
Play Or Nay: PLAY!
Disclaimer: 2K Games provided a review copy of the game to The Signature Spot.
