REVIEW : WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS (PC)
Last year’s release of the WWE title in a series related to the famous catfish was, to put it mildly, a disaster. Copied elements by predecessors, a series of old and new problems that prevented players from at least some kind of pleasure.
Since this had been going on for a couple of years, the franchise owner decided to cut it. WWE 2K21 will not come out, the game has been completely abandoned to devote more time to making updates and more credible innovations, which are planned for a possible WWE 2K22. It was thought that we would have a break from the WWE games this year, but that is still not the case, since Saber Interactive created the WWE 2K Battlegrounds.
If the name of this game and the visual style seem familiar to you, you are right. Battlegrounds are modelled on the NBA Playgrounds, which can be seen by the disproportionately created characters, generally with large heads and small bodies, but the character of the person who inspired it is preserved. The characters look like plastic figurines that are ready for sale. Therefore, since the approach here is not to be true to reality with simulating fights, the gameplay has been changed, so it represents an arcade-style of fights in the ring, with jumping a few tens of meters in height, tying combo blows while helplessly hitting the opponent.
Different game modes are generally present and provide opportunities to experience different types of games, in addition to the basic 1v1 or 2v2 modes, which is natural for WWE games. There is the Royal Rumble, fighting each for himself, a mode where you have to throw your opponent out of the ring to win. There are a campaign mode and tournaments that can be played with some of the 70 characters on offer, both male and female. The setting also includes the older stars of the WWE world, but to be able to play with everyone, you have to unlock them, since there are about twenty of them available at the beginning. As the look of the fighters is simplified by the graphic style, so is the set of moves and punches, since everything is banalized. Okay, it made sense to simplify some of the mechanics compared to the simulation predecessors, but Battlegrounds offers very few options for creative combat which is why it will soon fall into monotony.
Now, WWE 2K Battlegrounds suffers from one far bigger problem – microtransaction. Unfortunately, this is not surprising, since 2K is behind the game, which in all other titles also has several negative reactions from the audience directed towards microtransactions. It is understandable to try to extract extra money from players, but it is extremely rude to lock 70%, and even more, of content behind microtransactions, especially since it is a $ 40 expensive game. Even if it was a free mobile game, since WWE Battlegrounds fits more there, microtransactions would still be excessive. Most of the characters need to be bought because it takes a few hours to unlock them through gameplay. To make matters worse, the major stars of the WWE world are locked up.
The option for customization abounds, naturally, and for them, it is necessary to set aside a solid amount of real money or far more valuable time.
Due to the weak mechanics, the multiplayer does not provide pleasure either, but you will quickly leave the controller and switch to playing something else instead of wasting time here.
Unfortunately, the problems do not end here, since technically Battlegrounds does not shine. The AI is extremely bad, which is why after a couple of games you won’t even get close to Tag-Team mode, there are as many bugs as you want, the game is shooting, the frame rate is falling.
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