WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a brand-new WWE game from 2K Sports that serves as this year's edition of its yearly wrestling series. Since WWE 2K21 will not be coming out this year, this game serves that audience a different flavor. It's a more cartoonish game with outlandish moves and high-flying combos at the expense of visual detail and character stats. It is much more of an arcade game than 2K Sports titles normally are, which has led to disappointing reviews. If players are looking for 99 ovr ratings or ultimate team cards, this game isn't what they want. WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a multiplayer smash game with cartoonish combos and outrageous action.
Historically, WWE 2K has been a simulation series with lifelike models. Realism was one of the top goals, and graphics were focused on displaying just how sweaty the fighters were when compared to each other. 2K Battlegrounds changes all those preconceptions. It starts with the art style, which leaves the focus on each wrestler's face but animates the body as a more cartoonish model, with generic pecs and abs for each character. Overall, there's much less difference between individual characters. The only difference between Edge and The Rock, or any characters in the same class, are finishing moves. Everyone has their own finisher, but classes define mostly everything else about a character. There's powerups to use, such as earthquake and flaming fist.
The roster is full of top-notch names like John Cena, 'Stone Cold' Steve Austin, Randy Orton, The Undertaker, and Hulk Hogan, along with 70+ more. There's five different classes, which define each wrestler's moveset and the combos available. For example, Andre the Giant is a powerhouse, The Miz is a technician, and Rey Mysterio is a high-flyer. It's structured this way so that it would be easy to learn one class of moves while still being able to have multiple characters to play with. It might not be the deepest experience that 2k Sports has ever come out with but that's okay. It's an arcade game running around in the sports genre.
What WWE 2K Battlegrounds Does (Both Good & Bad) Differently
Campaign mode is long and gets stale after a while, but the comic-book storyline following Paul Heyman is entertaining, and completely different from any WWE storytelling for a change. There's ways to adjust the rules and a few game modes to explore. Cage Match mode involves pulling opponents off the fence, which is a fun mechanic. King of The Battleground is an online king-of-the-hill mode that is also fun to try out; it's an infinite online brawl where anyone can step in.
Some serious complaints have been made about framerate drops during crucial moves, which is a flaw that's enough to ruin any game. On top of that, there's microtransactions at every turn. There's 46 wrestlers that aren't unlocked at the beginning of the game, and all of them are hidden behind large sums of in-game currency. Yes, the full roster is available without spending a penny, but some aspects of character creation are locked by paywalls that require real dollars.
Overall, the game lacks the traditional depth of a 2k Sports title. There's little individuality between wrestlers, and since each character costs hours of grinding for currency they're more like character skins (which are also available via microtransactions). If a player is looking for the sequel to WWE 2K20 because of its realness and depth, they're going to be disappointed. But be honest, no one wanted realness in a pro-wrestling simulator. WWE 2K Battlegrounds is trying to be different, and so far it's looking strong.
WWE 2K Battlegrounds released on September 18, 2020 for PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Google Stadia, and PC.