’30 Years of Wrestlemania’ is your nostalgic campaign mode and it’s pretty good.  You’ll relive some of the greatest wrestling matches since 1985 such as Hulk Hodan Vs King Kong Bundy and progress up until the modern brawls that not too long ago, were aired on TV. Obviously, because the game mode is based on real events, you are forced to copy what happened or, at the very least, do something similar.  This was frustrating because I wanted to just smash someone’s face in, stomp on them a couple of times and then lay of them for 10 seconds to be crowned the winner.  Huff!!! On top of the 30 years mode there are a load of different quick match variations you can get involved in as well as creating your own calendar of events etc. Some of the events that you can take part in are: 3v3, 6v6 and cage mode. Yes these modes offer some different scenarios and gameplay variation but at the end of the day, you’re just fighting, slowly, and it’s boring.

 

Fighting is super slow and at times monotonous due to the crappy moves that you’re restricted to or feel you’re restricted to and reversing is near impossible unless you’re a good guesser. I was getting my arse handed to me because as soon as my brain had registered that I needed to press RT in order to counter, I would be too slow and it would make me aware of this just in case I didn’t realise why I was yet again laying on the floor getting crushed by a huge man in spandex. Apart from the RT annoyance, controls are simpler but still not an extension of your arms.This is a shame because a game with effective and simple controls are the ones that you get the most enjoyment out of because movement and reaction is so natural. There are a little too many button variations to do the simplest of things and being a slow game, it constantly feels like a quicktime event but in slow-motion and we all know how crap quicktime events are so imagine slowing it down a bit. AI, is a times, borderline laughable with the character being more confused at what they’re meant to be doing then I am, trying to work out a decent button combination so that I am able to walk near to them.  Ok, maybe it’s not that bad but it is bad!

 

The roster is very impressive and full of the greats. You can guarantee that you’ll come across a wrestler that you used to, or still do, love… apart from Doink the clown *Cries* and watch  their authentic entrances and mannerisms.

 

Universe mode allows you to create and customize a character and it is a long process but ultimately worth it, if only for the laugh you get out of creating a funny entrance.  This is where my main enjoyment comes from wrestling games, sadly, but at least I got some enjoyment WWE 2K14.

 

As you can tell WWE 2K14 isn’t for me.  It is well-developed graphically and the online multiplayer could create some fun but frustrating games, but the game is slow and the AI is pretty bad at times. I have no doubt that anyone could get a little fun out of WWE 2K14 and indeed I did at times but not often enough. The best bits of WWE 2K14 were the soundtrack and the 5 minutes of being back in the 80’s that hit me right before I started getting frustrated and bored. Because of this I cannot really recommend WWE 2K14 to anyone other than the 80’s kid that still holds a foam hand in the air and believes wrestling is real.

 

 

 

6/10