I need your clothes, your boots and your finishing moves!
WWE has always been a type of game that I’m bad at, well sports games in general come to think of it…with the exception of tennis, I own at tennis. But still, WWE has had some moments of enjoyment for me over the years from the crazy customising you can do to all the different types of modes to choose from. WWE 2K16 is this year’s latest entry, but can it match up to it’s predecessor?
If you are lucky enough to grab a copy with the pre-order bonus, you can play as 2 versions of the Terminator, one from Terminator 1 and the other from T2: Judgement Day, it’s about as authentic as you can get…especially with Arnie himself being the model of choice, not to mention even filming a recreation of the famous bar scene but with WWE wrestlers instead. It’s a great addition to the line-up, which is star-packed as you would expect.
You have your usual modes and match variants to choose from, while adding in ones that were missing from last year’s game. It’s a return to form for the series and a welcome one, it’s about time the series felt like it’s returned to it’s roots. Is it perfect? Not quite, I’m not entirely sure why the Xbox One version took an eternity to install, not only that but it was apparently playable at 20% and when I tried it all it did was crash as soon as a standard match had loaded.
However after the install was complete, all was fine and I didn’t encounter any other crashes or freezes. The framerate seems consistent throughout and the character models are the best looking in the series to date, handling will feel at home for veterans of the series but it is still hard for newcomers to enter the fray.
The Verdict
WWE 2K16 is about as close to the near-perfect wrestling game as you can get, sure it may be a little rough around the edges at times…but it is great fun despite that and with the T-800 at your beck and call, you’ll be able to deliver many “Hasta La Vista Baby” lines at your rival. Let’s hope that 2K17 continues to improve upon this great follow-up and let’s hope Arnie sticks around in the roster too.