Once the ring falls apart, not only does the fight continue, but you can also pick up the fallen ring posts and wrap them round your enemies face. I’m definitely interested in what variety there is though, considering the tease of power ups that can freeze your opponents, and an earthquake shatter that breaks the ring. Unfortunately I only got to sample 3, all of which felt useful (like the ability to heal my health), albeit a bit boring. Each superstar also has 3 power ups that can be selected from 18 overall. There’s 5 character classes, each with different point values attributed to skills like stamina, health, and speed, although I’m not sure I really felt the difference until I (as Jeff Hardy) got into a High Flyers tangle with Xavier Woods, when the game changed from being less about weapons and high impact blows and more who could out-flip who. There’s also some slight hints of depth to the combat that I feel I’ve only scratched the surface with. Not feeling the weight and thud of moves is actually an issue I’ve had with WWE games for years, and I’m happy to now play a game where Undertaker’s Tombstone looks and feels as devastating as it should, especially when you’re now dropping it from 15 feet in the air. While maintaining its DNA of wrestling moves, Battlegrounds still manages to simplify the combat, making it far more accessible to a wrestling newcomer wanting to perform a leaping elbow drop assisted by your opponent's face! Moves feel incredibly satisfying, with high impact sounds adding to the devastation. The combat is surprisingly easy to pick up and the systems are relatively simple, and it wasn’t long before I was uppercutting Edge with a novelty mallet and landing 20 foot high chokeslams. The arenas, or Battlegrounds as the game calls them, are also beyond anything you’d ever see in WWE, featuring environments like a military boot camp, Florida swamp, and an auto shop the latter two of which I got to experience during my hands-on time. I would’ve loved to have seen Stone Cold Steve Austin smash through a glass plate, or the New Day come out of a giant cereal box instead.
For example: all superstars bizarrely enter the Battlegrounds from an exploding shipping box for some reason, missing out on opportunities to lean into the wackiness of each real-life WWE character. There’s no mistaking it’s WWE, although it does lack elements of its pageantry.
#When does wwe 2k battlegrounds come out plus#
All your favourite WWE Superstars (of which there are 70 plus at launch) are now cartoon like caricatures of their real-life counterparts that are both completely recognisable, but also uncomfortably odd looking. It’s bonkers.Īs mentioned previously, the presentation has also taken a hard turn from WWE 2K20’s realism. I’m talking exploding barrels, motorbikes used like baseball bats, and giant crocodiles ready to chomp down on you. Gone are most traditional wrestling moves, replaced by absurd, gravity defying variations, super power ups, and a strong emphasis using your environment as a weapon. Battlegrounds’ combat - while still rooted in its grappling blood - pushes the core loop towards more of a Smash Bros style battling system that’s masquerading as wrestling.
It’s clearly angling more towards 2011’s fan favourite, WWE All Stars, not only with its presentation (more on that in a bit), but also its combat style. Immediately out of the gate it’s apparent that WWE 2K Battlegrounds is pushing hard in the opposite direction from last years’ simulation effort.
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