WWE 2K14 Post-Honeymoon Review: In-Game Quirks Stall Authenticity

If your Google search of "WWE 2K14 Reviews" has brought you here first, quickly click "x" in the top righthand corner of your screen and find another review. Because if you're trying to decide whether or not to buy this game, I can make the decision very easy for you: buy it. If you're a fan of wrestling, or were a fan of wrestling at some point and are just looking for an awesome video game, purchase WWE 2K14. It's that good, and every other review will tell you as much.

There are plenty of things to celebrate in WWE's most recent console installment—a rich, diverse cast of characters from different eras of wrestling and a smorgasbord of matches that can be had across a wide spectrum of WWE events. It's uber-customizable, and Universe mode pretty much makes the user the WWE booker. Play the wildest rivalries and storylines you can imagine, great stuff. 

But now that we've played this game for nearly a month, it's evident that this game isn't perfect—and it's a shame because it's so unprecedentedly close. There are frankly too many blunt gaffes that make me ponder if anyone making 2K14 actually followed professional wrestling. Because more important than anything else, wrestling video games demand brute authenticity for the best experience. Wrestling games are traditionally repetitive and easy to tire on, so the challenge is to make a game that keeps players from leveling their experience on some plateau of familiarity—keep it different, exciting, unique.

While WWE 2K14 comes close, the mistakes are elementary and enough to disappoint you more than upset. 

The audio voice tracks are authentic in the sense of identification but entirely too robotic. The commentary is so vital to an authentic experience. They bring you the action, they vocalize your performance. So imagine my surprise when I score a meaningless victory over one of the lames from 3MB, with the Immortal Hulk Hogan, only to hear Lawler say it may be the biggest win of Hogan's career. But you soon realize it's not all that surprising because Lawler denotes nearly every victory in that game as the biggest in your wrestler's career. Can't wait to beat El Toro with Scott Hall and score Hall's biggest win to date.

The retro characters are phenomenal, but what's with the gaudy, bright yellow and blue WrestleMania entrances? You might consider this minor, but again, if an authentic WWE experience is the goal, the vibrant minitron screams "VIDEO GAME"  in my ear with a bullhorn. And there is nothing authentic about the likes of King Kong Bundy, Macho Man, Stone Cold and Bret Hart all volunteering themselves as billboards for the game's WrestleMania mode.

Why not just give me normal entrances? You have the power to edit, but it takes a lot of time to delete that nonsense for those interested in doing so. 

Another small gripe about "30 Years of WrestleMania" mode—the video previews to some of the matches are great, but I say cut the cheesy narration, unless you have the voice of NFL films. Instead, why not just replay the actual promos that were being aired leading to that event? That's easy authenticity, with minimal work involved.

The Universe mode is cool and it may deliver the bulk of your 2K14 experience. But it's far from authentic, unless you're really willing to spend time and work at it. Because if you don't, prepare for some of the worst wrestling booking since David Arquette won the WCW belt. To avoid this, you can literally script your events, all the way down to dialogue that you physically type. But creating these scenes demands time, and you'll spend more time doing that than you will in the ring, which is counterintuitive. Pick your poison because if you're prepared to let WWE Universe run your stories for you, you're in for absurdity.

I picked Hogan to feud with Goldberg in Universe. Well, on the way to the ring for a standard Monday Night Raw match, Hogan is attacked by Sergeant Slaughter. OK, no big deal, historic rivalries, I dig. Problem was, after the match, Hogan was assaulted by Andre the Giant, with a pipe. Rough night for Hogan indeed, but another glaring example where authenticity is challenged. Now Hogan is feuding with Slaughter, Andre and Goldberg?

Sticking with that example—Slaughter attacked someone else that same episode of Raw. Maybe the developers thought this is common in the WWE? Assaults are common, but there's traditionally a focus. They seem to have mistaken focus with martial law. You can however rest assured if your character is attacked the beatings literally do nothing but make your character start on the ground. If there's an impact, it's hardly noticed.

Careful about playing multiple one-on-one rivalries at the same time. You'll notice the exact same things are happening in each, which makes it a little embarrassing as a booker when your pay-per-view rolls around and you have three submission matches for three different titles.

Universe mode demands a ton of labor if you're looking for an authentic experience. Otherwise, prepare to play your WrestleMania main event every single week leading up to it. That's right. That epic match you're trying to showcase, promote and tease is scheduled to happen every week. WWE 2K14 assumes a WWE rivalry means fighting your opponent weekly, so that by the time the pay-per-view arrives, there's nothing left to settle what's already been settled every Monday for the past month(s).

I can't state it enough, if you ever enjoyed wrestling, you'll want to buy this game because it's the pinnacle of its genre. There has never been a greater effort than 2K14, which makes the aforementioned blunders even more disappointing. It's so close to being a perfect game, but fails to reach it because of mistakes that could've been denoted by even the youngest of Cena fans.