WWE 2k15

[The Buscher]

Booker T, Ric Flair, and Kevin Nash are on WWE.com's list but not on the WWE 2K15 website, so that leads me to believe there is a legends roster yet to be announced. Retro versions of Triple H and Cena were already confirmed to be in (again). Vince will be in, he always is. Hell they may even shoehorn Edge into another game as he's one of the very few to be in every game since SmackDown 1. I've long said that I could do without there being any legends in in favor of getting all of the current roster in, but simply put it's not going to happen. I'm in the minority of people who would rather play as, say, Heath Slater instead of Steve Austin.

Heath really is the only main roster exclusive I'm fussed about, really. He's been the top comedy jobber in the company for years, appearing on TV every week. With his exclusion I can only assume 3MB would have been left off if they were still around, which is a bit surprising considering some of the guys who did make it in. I do also want Rusev, Dallas, etc. in but I always thought they could have fallen into DLC territory. 2K said they had a later cutoff, but years and years of THQ blowing smoke about various features, the roster, etc. has caused me to take anything said by the producers about a WWE game with a pinch of salt.

The reveal overall was handled pretty poorly in that they weren't clear at all that it wouldn't be the whole roster and they didn't even show footage or anything. Still not as bad as the roster reveal for SVR...08 I think. THQ openly said "there are 75 characters in this year! Roster reveal will show all 75 characters!" then the reveal came and it turned out that the 75 characters included about 20 NPCs. They technically didn't lie but it was blatantly misleading.

[Nikki]

So the rest of the roster is being revealed today?

[Owen]

Is Hulk Hogan not in the game if you don't pre-order? I thought retro Hogan was in the game but he doesn't appear on the roster page?

[Silverback]

The entire roster hasn't been revealed yet. They seem to be holding off on the legends and NXT guys (if they are in the game which I hope they are) but since old school Hogan was among the first superstars confirmed and his render one of the first pictures posted I think it is safe to say that this version of him will be in the game.

[Dan]

Operation Sports did a hands-on preview of this:

 

WWE 2K15: Full Hands-On Impressions

  Submitted on: 08/20/2014 by

Scott Burress

WWE 2K15 is making it's way to the new generation of consoles this fall and with it there are a number of changes coming to the franchise.  I recently got a chance to see a full presentation by gameplay producer Mark Little who highlighted a number of changes. The Visual Concepts team is now essentially the lead developer for the game with assistance from long time developer Yukes.  With that, you can feel the 2K influence in the game right away.  

Visual Concepts has redone the entire lighting, crowd and arenas. You can see the improvements immediately when you first fire the game up. The crowd now has kids in it, you'll see people taking pictures with their cellphones, as well as multiple other lighting improvements making the game look like a WWE broadcast.

The wrestlers have not only been face scanned but also fully body scanned.  I asked Mark Little about what was done to wrestlers they were unable to scan for whatever reason and he responded with they were done the old fashioned day with photo reference when putting a wrestler in the game, adding "We are able to borrow some of the information from scan data even on to people who don't scan".

Little went on to say that 90% of the roster on the game was full body scanned, which is great news. I followed up asking about the roster models for some characters who recently had recent changes and I used the former Shield members Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins, he didn't answer the question at this time but left me with, "Obviously we do our best to keep everyone up to date".

I did ask if John Cena gets a new shirt can we see that in an update a week or so later. Mark stated that it's in the plans, maybe not for 2K15 but "It's in 2K's DNA" to have roster updates to match TV.

The development team has spent more time on commentary than any previous cycle, as WWE 2K15 now has five times the amount of commentary as any previous WWE game. Most of the commentary had Michael Cole and Jerry Lawler in the booth together to create more fluid commentary. In my limited time of gameplay, I didn't notice any new commentary outside of the 2K Showcase but that could also just be a demo detail at this point, my build only had John Cena, Goldust, Randy Orton and Cesaro in the build.

For the team to capture gameplay at the most realistic level to date, WWE actually shipped 2K Sports an authentic size WWE ring for the mo-cap studio.  Motion capturing was done over 40 days and the result is WWE 2K15 has five times the animation data over any previous WWE game. It really shows when you see the entrances of the superstars as all of them looked stunning in person and in HD.  Then to see little things in the ring with new moves and animations I've never seen before, like a downed wrestler using the ropes to get up or getting up on one knee due to being tired.  

There are real physics now which affect you when you collide with the ropes as well instead of them just being there and moving. The game really looks good in person.  Another new animation I noticed was you can go to the inside 2nd turnbuckle now to do a move, such as Bret Hart's diving elbow.

A stamina meter has been added to the game as well.  It's a blue bar that as you run, do moves, get beat up, etc slowly drains down to the point when you are just tired out.  I was concerned about it as I've felt it's never truly worked correctly in previous games but after playing the game I really had no issues with it.  

The stamina meter is not nearly as drastic as I feared and actually helps add the realism to the game that 2K is striving for. I asked if the stamina meter can be turned off, and the answer is no. The reason for that decision is that there is animation data which occurs, especially with long matches, that can only be seen with lower stamina to add to the realism. There will be a slider to tweak stamina for users though.

A big feature that we've all wanted for a long time is true weight detection. Now Rey Mysterio is unable to body slam Big Show or toss him around the ring.  All of the wrestlers have more of a weight to them now in the ring and 2K wants every character to feel unique and different. This is a big move that will help this game feel like a WWE event each time we play it.

The biggest change you feel right away is the chain wrestling which starts most matches.  It limits you out of doing big moves right at the start and getting into a natural flow of gameplay. I know this was a big concern out there for many fans of the game but rest assured that after I played it, I was in love with the new mechanic. The game gives a nice tutorial at the start (which can be turned off, as can the entire HUD if you want) to ease you into the new gameplay.

When you do the collar and elbow tie up to start the match you have one of three button presses to make, which then determine which true lock up you do and these are set up like rock, paper, scissors where you basically hope your pick is better than your opponents. If you then get the upper hand, it's your turn to chain it into the next move. You simply move the right stick in a circular motion until you find the sweet spot and you hold it there. You know when you have it as the controller vibrates and the meter fills up red. It's very much the same feel of the lock picking mini-game in Skyrim.  This works both ways as the opponent is also trying to find their sweet spot. Whoever does it first gets the advantage for the next string. Now if you are the offensive wrestler to start, you can punch or wrench down on the opponent to break up their sweet spot and have it reset. Once this happens 1 or 2 times the match moves on as normal and we would expect it, just a more realistic start to the match. Wrestlers like the Big Show won't even do a chain grapple however and will start off without it as it's not their style. This further adds to roster feeling very unique between each wrestler.

Another new change is now R1 or RB switches between signature move and finisher if you have both stored up, something we've all wanted for a long time. Along with that, you may have noticed from the leaked videos a percentage for each wrestler displayed, that is their momentum. A signature move requires 100% and 150% is your finisher. Momentum does reset during the match but grows quicker as matches wear on.  It's basically what we had before in the WWE series but now with an actual number to see how close you are to getting your big moves.

If you were a fan of the breaking point submissions, well, I have some bad news. They are gone, replaced with a whole new meter which I didn't really get to play around with much. Hopefully this explained in future previews of how it's fully working. Another change is the wake up taunt has been replaced with a charged finisher, it essentially works the same except now you hold down the finisher button to have your wrestler get in position to do their finisher when your opponent gets up. It flows much better than it did in previous games.  And never fear, catapault finishers are still in and fully working in tact. Also, I did the big swing with Cesaro in his match and yes, it's an OMG moment. Which tells me that we will see more OMG moments in this year's iteration as well. Excited to see what other moves could be an OMG moment, Roman Reigns jumping boot outside maybe?

The 2K Showcase was very impressive, and has the same production values as the previous Wrestlemania storylines we saw in WWE 2K14.  I got to play the CM Punk vs. John Cena feud which had a great opening video laying out the feud.  The first match is Money in the Bank in 2011 beginning the Summer of Punk where Punk was trying to win the WWE Championship and then leave the company with the belt. If you remember the match, it plays out and looks exactly as it did back then. Was a lot of fun to play through and my only disappointment falls into the CM Punk model as you can fully tell that he wasn't full body scanned like the other wrestlers shown in this demo. Either way, it doesn't take away from the game in any way and they have plenty of time to improve upon Punk's model.

In the coming weeks we will hear about My Career (which was teased briefly with taking your wrestler from NXT to WWE to eventual Hall of Fame), Universe Mode, and the Creation Suite. This is the first full cycle that 2K/Visual Concepts has got with the game after the short cycle for 2K14 and then running into the XB1/PS4 console releases shortly after it's release

The 2K/VC dev team is pushing the tag line of "What story will you tell in WWE 2K15" because every match tells a story.  This is evident right when you pick up the controller for the first time and dive into the matches. I came into the event skeptical of the changes but left very optimistic and excited to see what is coming next.

WWE 2K15 releases October 28th on PS3/PS4 and Xbox 360/Xbox One

[zero]

A big feature that we've all wanted for a long time is true weight detection. Now Rey Mysterio is unable to body slam Big Show or toss him around the ring.

Hopefully this doesn't end up with situations like when Rey Mysterio couldn't punch Matt Hardy.

Rest sounds pretty promising, actually.

[thatshortguy]

A big feature that we've all wanted for a long time is true weight detection. Now Rey Mysterio is unable to body slam Big Show or toss him around the ring.

Hopefully this doesn't end up with situations like when Rey Mysterio couldn't punch Matt Hardy.

Rest sounds pretty promising, actually.

When I read about the lock-up, you-can't-bust-out-big-moves early system, I really hoped they wouldn't pair it with weight detection/classes.

There had better be a trophy or achievement for beating a super heavyweight with a cruiserweight (as well as the option to turn off weight classes), because it's gonna get old fast having to gently swipe Mark Henry 560 times before I can even attempt a rana.

[TCO]

I'm glad they're talking about the visuals a lot because I had a quick game of WWE 2K14 this week and it has some of the worst character models I've seen in a licensed game. The detail levels were PS2 quality and if Punk's hasn't been improved, he's going to stick out like a sore thumb.

The weight class thing is worrying, I remember there was one game where using a cruiserweight was pointless. Any move done on a bigger guy would just have him try to pick him up, fail and hold his back. This was the same game where Khali was unstoppable and was seriously spammed online.

Edited August 21, 2014 by TCO

[Sousa]

"OMG Moments" is a terrible name and they should just rename them "CESARO IS VERY STRONG."

[TheWho87]

I do hope with the weight detection their is something simalar to the No Mercy mechanic, if you were to do a lifting move you would go into a body slam animation and try and slam the bigger opponent and if you do hit the slam it would be as if hitting a finisher, it might be a good variant on the system if slighty unrealistic.

[Arjen Robben]

Didn't they have a thing in before where any move that a cruiserweight couldn't do to someone like The Big Show it simply replaced it on the fly for that match with a move he could do like a high flying one or something? Or have I just made this up? Swear it happened though.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

I vaguely recall that, so I don't think you're imagining it.

[9 to 5]

Not read a thing there that inspires me to buy this. Talk all the flashy graphics you want, but if the gameplay is just the same as the old tired system and it seems that way, then I have no reason to even want this a little.

[The Lusophone]

Didn't they have a thing in before where any move that a cruiserweight couldn't do to someone like The Big Show it simply replaced it on the fly for that match with a move he could do like a high flying one or something? Or have I just made this up? Swear it happened though.

In the last game you chose a 'weight detection' move that you did instead of a lift-up move if you were you against someone two weight classes above.

Still had people like David Otunga life Khali and Show though...

[Slogger]

I'm glad they're talking about the visuals a lot because I had a quick game of WWE 2K14 this week and it has some of the worst character models I've seen in a licensed game. The detail levels were PS2 quality and if Punk's hasn't been improved, he's going to stick out like a sore thumb.

The weight class thing is worrying, I remember there was one game where using a cruiserweight was pointless. Any move done on a bigger guy would just have him try to pick him up, fail and hold his back. This was the same game where Khali was unstoppable and was seriously spammed online.

Would have been SVR 2007, First game I ever had for the 360 - Last challenge in challenge mode was beating Khali with Micky James on super hard if my memory serves me correctly. (Never did have the patience for it personally)

Didn't they have a thing in before where any move that a cruiserweight couldn't do to someone like The Big Show it simply replaced it on the fly for that match with a move he could do like a high flying one or something? Or have I just made this up? Swear it happened though.

Yeah, That was definitely a thing. Recently too.

[zero]

Still had people like David Otunga life Khali and Show though...

At his height as a wrestler, Otunga was ripped.

This reminds me of when CM Punk first started doing the GTS and people were concerned he wouldn't be able to do it to "big guys... like Triple H." People seem to have different ideas of who should be able to do what and that doesn't necessarily translate well into fun gameplay.

[peteypirahna]

I don't get why people keep banging on about weight detection.

It's just a video game and it just makes it really boring and unfair to play as a smaller guy even if they have similar stats to a heavyweight, especially if the heavyweight doesn't have any similar penalties for attempting certain moves.

[Skummy]

They'd be balanced, though - similar to how on a good beat-'em-up one guy's speed advantage would give you an edge over someone slower, but the slower guy would be more powerful.

[peteypirahna]

Problem is if you have two wrestlers both hitting each other for 10 seconds, even though the smaller guy will have put in more hits, he'd still have done less damage than the other guy.

Maybe some people like hitting someone a few times and then running away and then hitting them a few more times and so on and so on for an hour, but it's just really boring.

[apsham]

That isn't exactly how it would be played out though.