WWE 2K24 Review: The EST of Creativity

We're now three full releases removed from the dark days of this franchise, and the arrival of WWE 2K24 continues to push this series forward across the board. Almost every game mode saw improvements, new match types were added, and even relatively small upgrades were felt in every corner of WWE 2K24.

Even the greats slip up sometimes, and there's at least one botch keeping this from being a perfect game. If you're still on the fence, our WWE 2K24 review will break down everything players need to know before diving in.

WWE 2K24 Review: The EST of Creativity

For an annual sports release to see sustained success, the fundamentals have to be nearly perfect. You need a foundational gameplay system that players will want to keep coming back for as new content gets added and game modes expand. Fortunately, that's where WWE 2K24 shines the most.

Truly the EST of creativity, WWE 2K24 is hands-down the greatest sandbox fighting game available today. The Creation Suite was already top-notch, and additions this year like Create-A-Sign only empowers what players can come up with and share in Community Creations.

Fluid gameplay keeps the fun high even as matches get chaotic, and new additions like the tag team interference debuff and Super Finishers only heighten the tension in the best ways. The new Ambulance, Casket, and Special Guest Referee match types all delivered as much as fans would hope.

All of this translates into the customization of Universe Mode and MyGM to make something truly special. Whether you're just looking to download a few creations by others or want to make your own, WWE 2K24 has something for everyone.

MyRISE, MyGM, and MyFACTION Level Up

Where players spend their time in WWE 2K24 is going to vary, but MyRISE and MyGM may be the most important game modes in the title. Career mode has always been a favorite in this genre, and both the men's and women's storylines this year offer an engaging and entertaining ride players will want to replay at least once to see how differently things might go.

You can easily import a Create-A-Superstar, yes even that Goku you downloaded from Community Creations (RIP Akira Toriyama), and if you create a custom character within the mode you can export it at any point to use elsewhere in WWE 2K24. For players who'd rather look at the bigger picture, MyGM has more options and strategic paths than ever before.

WWE 2K24 MyGM has taken the kernel of a revival we saw a few years ago and pushed it so much further with additions like trading between brands and an extensive talent scout feature for signing free agents. ECW joins as a brand, and to ramp up the difficulty (and be painfully accurate to ECW history) there's no women's championship to utilize. 

As for MyFACTION, after continued fan requests they've added a Persona Card feature which allows unique alternate versions of characters (like the WWE 2K24 Locker Codes delivered action figure John Cena) to be unlocked and used elsewhere in WWE 2K24. New MyFACTION rewards tied to other game modes give players an incentive to try them all out, but chances are MyFACTION will still be something players either enjoy or ignore. There's plenty else to do if you don't want to fall into a card collecting mode with microtransactions.

Showcase Botches the Perfect 10

There's a lot to love about WWE 2K24, but Showcase is where that hope goes to die. Even in the last few releases, the WWE 2K Showcase suffered from the minor frustration that comes with the game's very specific cutscene trigger objectives. Having to whip your opponent into a corner and punch them sounds easy until they reverse six Irish Whips and your manager takes off the turnbuckle pad for the eighth time, meaning your one successful Irish Whip makes them hit the exposed buckle and drop to the mat so you can't trigger the cutscene.

For as seamless as 2K has made the transition between gameplay and archival footage, the archival footage itself is so comically censored and altered that it provides almost none of the nostalgia some fans want or the actual learning experience new fans might benefit from. Every player would be better off checking the list of matches and watching the originals that interest you rather than this diet caffeine free version covered in Corey Graves' lackluster narration.

If you're aware of the sex trafficking lawsuit against Vince McMahon and WWE that implicated Brock Lesnar, that's certainly going to be on your mind when McMahon is all over the archival footage from one match and you're forced to play as Lesnar in two of them. The timing of that lawsuit being filed in late January absolutely put developers in a time crunch they did their best to address, as both characters were removed as unlockables and aren't playable elsewhere in WWE 2K24. No one who made this game is at fault in that situation, but it's a reality that makes an already flawed mode even worse.

WWE 2K24 Rating & Verdict

While it's not quite perfection, WWE 2K24 is the best this franchise has been in years. The WWE 2K24 roster is packed with even more on the way via post-launch DLC, and Community Creations continues to be the fan-driven cherry on top of that. MyRISE, MyGM, and Universe Mode use that foundation to deliver tenfold. MyFACTION isn't quite on their level yet, but it's the best that mode has been so far.

The WWE 2K24 Showcase is really the only major flaw in this game. Players that purchase the 40 Years of WrestleMania Edition will at least auto-unlock the playable characters earned through it, but anyone hoping to get all the WWE 2K24 unlockables including arenas will still need to trudge through those objectives.

Even as someone who was thrilled when Showcase was over and done with so I'd never have to open it again, I'd highly recommend WWE 2K24. Playing through each MyRISE storyline once wasn't enough, and after dozens of hours in the game it feels like I've only scratched the surface of what MyGM and Universe Mode bring to the table.

WWE 2K24 Rating: 9 out of 10