WWE2K24: Beat 'em all in the ring

It took a long time, but at least now we can say, we finally have a basis for a successful wrestling game that can pull the series for years to come - WWE2K24 - the new simulation game of WWE and 2K kept the strengths of the game from the previous year, but introduced enough additions and upgrades to excite the audience again.

It is important to emphasize, those who played last year's game will not immediately feel that this is a new release, seemingly not much has changed - the graphics and models look like the previous version, even some of the menus are the same and of course the mods. The change is felt mainly when you get on the mat, also in the level of the new options for battles and most importantly the AI. The improvement made in the way that CPU plays against you, using the advantages of his character, much more aggressive and less stupid than before, make the battles themselves feel more realistic. A huge improvement over previous years.

New Battle Types: This year we get a treat that fans have been asking for for years, which is the return of some of the most popular battle types in the game's history: Guest Referee, Ambulance, Coffin Battle and one of my favorites, the GAUNTLET - which is actually a "Mortal Kombat tower" where you need Defeat a new opponent every time. These battles add a lot of interest to the game, especially when combined with other mods such as Universe Mod.

Additions to game mechanics: As we mentioned there are not many changes in the way you will conduct the battles, but there are some minor upgrades, some of which add a lot of interest. A lot more moves got a fatigue animation, so if you do them if you don't have a lot of STAMINA you will fall on your back. Another nice addition is the ability to trigger a sort of fist fight in the middle of the arena, a mini-game where each side has to press in time to land a blow on the opponent. The most interesting addition is Super Pinsher - that is, one devastating move from which there is no return. To complete this you actually have to keep three normal Pinschers, so it changes your strategy completely.

The game contains the same mods as the previous year: MY RISE which contains two stories, wrestlers and wrestlers on their way to glory and championships. While there were parts I found interesting, this experience could be shortened significantly, most of the battles and transitions are not interesting enough. MY FACTION also returns, this year with another internal mod and a little more variety of battles. I'm less into card collecting, so last year I didn't spend much time in the mod, however this year some of the cards are also alternate characters that you can play with in the game's other mods, so it's worth following.

The mod that did get love and a serious upgrade is GM MODE which is getting better and better year by year. In this version there are more types of fights, the ability to search for talents in a deeper way, many more options to trade wrestlers between different programs and a lot of options for dialogues with your roster, really a lot of fun this year.

And we got to UNIVERSE MODE, the mod I like the most in the game and every year I'm disappointed because it could be so much more. Here you create your world, the program, the arena, the wrestlers, choose where who and what. There are some new additions to scenes where you can have different interactions between wrestlers, but it's still not a big change and you can still only produce one-on-one or two-on-two rivalries, with very few additions.

However, it's still important to say that WWE2K24 is the best wrestling game out there in years, it's polished with very few bugs, the AI does what it needs to do and there's enough variety of fights and mods to keep you here for at least another year. Ha and yes, CM PUNK is in the DLC, we should have just opened with that. The copy of the game was received by Adli United, the official importer of the game in Israel.