WWE 2K24 Review (PS5) | Push Square

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As the calendar rapidly approaches WrestleMania 40, the eyes of the world are once again trained on WWE’s big house of muscular lads and lasses. With The Rock’s involvement in this year’s shindig raising the event’s profile to even loftier heights, WWE and 2K have pulled out all the stops to try and ensure the latest entry in their ongoing grappling simulator cuts the mustard. But have they stuck the landing, or will WWE 2K24 go down as a misfire on the road to wrestling’s most prestigious show?

If you’re familiar with the last two WWE games, you’ll be right at home with WWE 2K24. Controls and gameplay are practically unchanged from WWE 2K23, with a simple combo system allowing for button mashing enthusiasts to get in on the fun, and more complex controls on offer for those who want to have a more direct influence on the course of a match. Making its debut this year, however, are the three banked finishers — requiring Super Finisher, and the ability to Trade Blows. Here, once per match, a performer can throw a punch that'll trigger this back-and-forth minigame, with the player who comes up short ending up Staggered for a time.

Additionally, 2K’s spectacular lighting engine continues to make the enormous roster of WWE 2K24 look fantastic… for the most part. While arenas and costumes shine brightly, and there isn’t a hair out of place on most megastars, not all performers are created equally. We were honestly a little surprised by a number of visual inconsistencies in character models, with a few members of the roster either a sickly shade of beige, or in possession of weirdly smooth skin, looking instead more action figure-like than lifelike. We suppose that’s the price you pay for such a huge number of playable Superstars, but still, odd.

Thankfully, mode-wise, the title once again practically groans under the weight of the deep and diverse content on offer, with the showrunning MyGM, card-based MyFaction, and wrestling sandbox Universe modes each making a return