WWE 2K22: Hands-On Preview
WWE 2K20 had some well-documented issues, and that’s perhaps putting it lightly. So with a two-year absence and an apparent back to the drawing board approach, you’d expect the latest entry in the grappling series, WWE 2K22 to come out throwing its hardest lariat. Well, from what my short hands-on time with the game has revealed so far, it seems as if it’s come out Cesaro swinging… mostly.
At first WWE 2K22 doesn’t quite feel like the radical evolution for the series that was promised. Sure, everything feels more polished and refined, but that’s to be expected from an extended development time, but it’s when compared to the last entry in the series, though, things begin to shine and the evolution pushes through.
Beyond the graphics and sound, which are notably improved, the real progression feels to be in the overall presentation of the WWE product. Clever adjustments in things like the camera angles and lighting really help bring the simulation closer to the television experience. The ring feels smaller, and more in proportion with the wrestlers that are inhabiting it. Minor tweaks for sure, but they all contribute to that wider, aforementioned quest for the ultimate WWE experience.
There’s also attention to detail that really helps bring the whole package together. Little details such as music hitting the instant a pinfall is registered, real faces littering the screens of the pandemic era’s Thunderdome, and audiences reactions and responses feel far more in tune with real WWE. And I couldn’t help but smile when the audience began singing along with Shinsuke Nakamura's entrance theme, just like you hear every week on Smackdown. That’s not to say this attention to detail hasn’t been there before, but this time the general
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