Latest News and Rumors Surrounding WWE 2K15 for November 17

In the leap to next-gen, WWE 2K15 will become a more handsome video game, a refined and revamped edition of the series complete with a new MyCareer mode.

The trouble is, a few things fell out of the game's pockets during that leap. The majority of reviews of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions have griped about how stripped down WWE 2K15 is. The latest buzz around the game points to the next-gen versions having issues with missing content as well.

The current-gen editions have been out since October. The time for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 owners to get their versions of the game is upon us.

WWE 2K15 comes out for those systems Nov. 18 in North America and Nov. 21 internationally.

If you live in Orlando, San Francisco or New York, you can celebrate the game's arrival with one of three Superstars. Daniel Bryan, Hulk Hogan and Sting are set to appear at three separate midnight events on Tuesday night, as WWE Games notes on Twitter:

Fans' enjoyment of WWE 2K15 will largely depend on if they focus on what's new and improved about it or what elements of the series are no longer around. The creation suite, for example, is better overall but is stripped down in terms of options.

Creation Suite Details

2K Sports is reworking how players customize and create in the game. While that means the core system is improved and Superstar Studio allows for some fine detail work, this edition has some key holes.

Art Director Lynell Jinks posted on WWE.2K.com, "We were unable to support new versions of Create-an-Arena, Custom Divas, Create-a-Championship and Story Designer."

Not having any Divas to work with is a huge blow to one's options. The arena- and championship-creating elements were more novelties and won't incite a riot by not being around. Leaving out a whole gender is harder to swallow.

The lack of stories hurts as well. That's a feature the armchair bookers of the world could get immersed in for hours. 

As for the positives of the change, players can now keep Superstars' attires more up-to-date by allowing one to go beyond just changing color threads. The Logo Manager tool uses downloaded images to customize how a wrestler looks.

Jinks explains that "a Superstar can use up to 128 points or 64 layers worth of attire parts," that there are 20 slots for downloaded images and that "up to eight different images can be used on your Superstar, but those eight images can be used as many times as you want."

That frees up fans to go nuts with details on a single wrestler. The creation suite has a narrower scope, but it should make for a deeper experience for that reason.

Gameplay Videos, Entrances

A number of fans got their next-gen copy of the game early and got to sharing clips of it in action.

CMPuLs3, for example, posted a video of AJ Lee taking on Nikki Bella. One can see the new grappling system at play.

There is a more natural feeling to this match thanks to the early feeling-out process. The animations aren't perfect, but they are smoother and more realistic than previous editions of the series.

Both of the Bellas look especially spot-on. 

Tubby Emu provided a look at Seth Rollins vs. Dean Ambrose inside Hell in a Cell. The reversal pins the two men pull off are among the highlights. 

Tony Pizza Guy posted gameplay where Undertaker battled Sting. 2K captured Sting's moves, including the Stinger Splash, quite well.  

The biggest takeaways from seeing these peeks at the game are just how far the graphics have come along, for one, and secondly, how match flow has gotten better.

All three bouts are pretty entertaining to watch. They build toward a climax much like the matches we see on TV usually do. Kick-outs are exciting; momentum swings are fun.

To help fans learn about the changes to gameplay, 2K posted a video highlighting the game's controls: 

The chain wrestling looks smooth in these clips, adding realism to the action. It's also clear that 2K made an effort to better differentiate how it feels to play as different wrestlers.

Executive producer Mark Little explains that Big Show will lose stamina more quickly than smaller Superstars but that he counterbalances that with being more powerful.

This is something previous games in the series have lacked. Move sets and appearances were mostly what separated Superstars. Now, in-ring styles and body types will affect the experience of being various members of WWE's roster.

For more looks at the game, WWE's YouTube page has provided a litany of entrance videos.

They feature Randy Orton, Ultimate Warrior, Batista and others making their way to the ring. Mark Henry, Rob Van Dam and Adrian Neville were crammed into a single clip:

The graphics are worth applauding here. How much will a better-looking game make up for what it's missing, though?

More Reviews, Missing Match Types

• Mr. Pinkerton for Metro: 4/10
• Kenny McDonnell for Movie Pilot: 5/10 (Next-gen version)

Pinkerton's review lines up with older ones. He essentially says that WWE 2K15 on the current-gen consoles is worse than a retread of last year's game—it's a step back.

He writes, "The amount of cut content is as bizarre as it is insulting, with a smaller roster, less game modes, and missing options. Graphics are still poor and all the same bugs as usual."

That's a lot like what we've been hearing from other reviewers, IGN included:

McDonnell has plenty of nitpicks for the next-gen editions as well. He's overly harsh at times, though, criticizing the game for not improving enough in the graphics department, one of the game's strengths.

It's the trimmed-down match options that are causing the most negative buzz right now. Darryn Bonthuys of LazyGamer.net posted some screenshots from the game's menu, which seems to indicate that the following match types are among those not in the game: 

• Inferno
• Ladder
• I Quit
• 2-out-of-3 Falls
• Special Referee 
• Casket 
• 3 Stages of Hell 
• Backstage Brawl
• Tornado Tag
• Elimination Tornado
• Elimination Table
• Mixed Tag

There are reportedly also no Ladder or Cage matches for tag teams, Triple Threats or Fatal 4-Ways. And The Authority would hate to hear about this—no Handicap matches of any kind.

While it's preferable to have a game that plays better and more smoothly than one with more options, some fans aren't going to be happy with this trade-off.

The absence of casket matches won't break anyone's hearts other than The Undertaker, but taking out Ladder matches is going to inspire some complaints. As 2K was looking to rebuild the game rather than just tweak it, as it did last year, it clearly had to make sacrifices.

The game's innovations have swept away some of its fun elements. Developers will be hoping that the infusion of the new offsets having to abandon the old.