It was time for WWE 2K to take a break. The long running series had been running on fumes for a few years. There is a frantic pace for sports games who come out yearly, and problems can get bigger and bigger. So Saber Interactive hit pause on the franchise and decided to go in a new direction. The result is WWE 2K Battlegrounds, a throwback to the arcade wrestling games of the past.
Paul Heyman has decided to create his own wrestling organization. His matches will be all around the world and involve rings that might not be totally safe. An Extreme promotion if you will. You choose your favorite superstar, or create your own, and take to the ring. It seems that these new places have an effect on gravity, as superstars jump twenty feet in the air and perform moves not quite possible in the real world.
Lets’s just state it out front: Your enjoyment of WWE 2K Battlegrounds will come down how you thought the gameplay of the 2K series was. Don’t get me wrong, I love those games, but it seemed that the mini games during matches kept getting harder and harder. This game is one that you can just know what button does what and you can advance in the game. If your family likes wrestling, this would be the game to have your kids play with you.
The art style of the game has been brought up long before the game was released. I don’t mind the more cartooney look as it fits within a world where wrestlers can be thrown to alligators. As stated before, the controls are easy to learn and hitting insane combos feels really good. The matches do seem to get a little repetitive, but this is a game you play with your friends. Yes, there are micro transactions. No, you don’t need to buy them to unlock things you want in the game.
As a little bit of a breather while the development team looks to revamp the 2K series, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a fine way to spend time on. It reminds me of seeing the WWE arcade games when I was a kid. Will this series totally replace the original? I don’t think so. But for what it is, a WWE arcade brawler, it is a lot of fun.
7/10
Available on PC, Switch, PS4 and Xbox.
