WWE 2K24 Review (Xbox Series X|S)

WrestleMania season is officially upon us, and 2024 marks the 40th anniversary of WWE's grandest event. Last year's show ended up being a memorable two-nighter in front of a combined attendance of over 134,000 people, and we're expecting WrestleMania 40 to eclipse that spectacle once again. That's pretty much what we're getting with WWE 2K24 as well, as even though 2K23 was a great game, 2K24 is just bigger and better across the board.

That's not to say it's a major evolution or anything. In fact, 2K24 feels largely identical inside the ring aside from a few minor new features and adjustments, all of which add up to a more enjoyable gameplay experience overall, but nevertheless don't have a massive impact on the action inside the squared circle. You can throw weapons now, for example, which is a hilarious new feature, and there's a new "Trading Blows" mini-game that accurately mimics the back-and-forth slapfests often seen in modern pro wrestling matches - but if you're expecting a major overhaul to any of the key elements, that's not what you're going to get. Instead, it's simply the the most polished and in-depth gameplay the series has seen thus far, and we've been having some really fun and memorable matches with the AI during our review period.

There are also more match types than ever this year thanks to the addition of Ambulance, Casket, Special Referee and Gauntlet matches, and you can tell a lot of care has been put into these. Our favourites at the moment are the first two, which throw you into button-mashing scenarios when the ambulances and caskets get involved, similar to how the Buried Alive matches used to work in the old SmackDown Vs. Raw series. When you add these to the pile, WWE 2K24 features an exhaustive set of ways to battle inside and outside of the squared circle, including a newly-upgraded match type in the form of the Backstage Brawl which is now larger and more interactive.

Of course, the big highlight feature this year is the 40 Years of WrestleMania Showcase mode, which allows you to relive some of the greatest moments from the event's history via an objective-based gameplay system. If you've played Showcase before, you know what to expect - at moments in the action you'll see cutscenes that transition into real-life footage, and it all blends really well for the most part. Showcase can still get a bit dull at times because of the need to follow instructions so rigorously, but otherwise the team has done a good job at bringing these classic matches back to life, even if there are quite a few absentees that we would have liked to see.

For those who prefer a more traditional single-player campaign, the MyRise mode returns with separate men's and women's stories that you can embark on with your created character. The core of the mode remains similar to how it was in WWE 2K23 (obviously with different stories this time), and features some well-crafted cutscenes along with plenty of voice work from various WWE Superstars. Branching paths come into play as well, with your decisions having a fairly significant effect on the narrative at times, so there's incentive to replay the mode multiple times. 2K has fumbled on the "career" part of these games a few times over the years, but it now feels like they've settled on a formula with MyRise that really works.

It's actually the MyGM mode that's our favourite though. We've been playing this fairly often over the past 12 months in WWE 2K23, and it returns with some fantastic new features in 2K24 such as trades and a levelling system where you can improve the wrestlers on your brand and gain access to specific perks. Then, there's also the Ultimate Team-style MyFaction mode which hasn't truly got its hooks into us yet despite offering plenty of ways to engage with it, and the always-popular Universe Mode returns with what appears to be fairly limited changes, although it's the kind of mode that requires deep investment before it fully reveals itself.

Basically, there's a whole lot of content here to keep you busy over the next 12 months, coupled with great gameplay that represents a new peak for this series. The only grumbles we have are pretty much the same as they were last year, such as collision detection issues, occasional bugs, unrealistic crowd reactions at times, and a couple of modes feeling like they haven't reached their full potential yet. It feels like 2K has focused on simply accentuating last year's strengths with WWE 2K24, and while it's not a perfect package by any means, the positives definitely outweigh the negatives.