Last year, 2K Sports’ WWE franchise made its debut on PS4 and Xbox One with WWE 2K15, bringing all the hard-hitting action of Vince McMahon’s entertainment league with it. We covered the game extensively, talking about how to create an ideal wrestler and listing our favorite superstars in the game.
This fall we’ll do it all over again when WWE 2K16 enters the squared circle, with even more action and a bigger roster than ever before. Most of the details are under wraps, but we have a few suggestions to help make the game the undisputed champ.
The WWE Network
The WWE Network became a huge hit for World Wrestling Entertainment, providing monthly on-demand programming alongside live events for the low price of $9.99 a month. Why can’t the Network make its way into the WWE video game?
Users would be able to program their own video game highlights into an online hub to share with others, maybe even creating a show in the process, with some of the best reserved for viewing on demand. For good measure, 2K could program a live viewing mode, where interested players tune in to a match happening right now, especially with legends like Bret “The Hitman” Hart and the Ultimate Warrior involved. We’d certainly watch that.
More Creation Features
Many people noted last year that WWE 2K15 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4 was missing a lot of creative modes. Sure, you could make your own wrestler, but not your own Diva, title belt or even finisher. WWE 2K16 could easily make up for this.
First it needs to bring back custom entrances. While using someone else’s motions for you own wrestler is a nice touch, creating more original stuff would go a long way towards defining your character.
For good measure, Create an Arena should return, in case there are some who want to build the iconic Hammerstein Ballroom, or even better, the legendary ECW Arena. Throw in a sharing option where players upload or download arenas as they please, and you have a winner.
On top of that, Create a Diva, Create a Title and Create a Finisher should come back, if only to give players more inventive means to make the ultimate wrestlers come to life.
More Match Types
Back in the day, the WWE series was known for having a number of different match types. However, for some odd reason, WWE 2K15 did not include a lot of these, so it’d be great to see them return in WWE 2K16.
We’re talking about such gems as the ladder match, which had its fair share of greatness over the years, from Shawn Michaels versus Razor Ramon to this Sunday’s forthcoming Dean Ambrose versus Seth Rollins face-off. We’d also like to see the Inferno match, if only to see Kane accidentally catch fire before getting nailed with a spear by Roman Reigns.
Why stop there? More matches could be added, including an enhanced Street Fight with more weapons, or even the Elimination Chamber, a six-sided dome that paves the way for some outstanding bumps.
Monday Night Wars
Every year, the WWE games seem to have an invasion angle, where Smackdown invades Raw or ECW tries to take over WWE. For WWE 2K16, the company could easily cover the legendary Monday Night Wars, where WCW’s Monday Nitro battled WWE Raw each week in an attempt to become the ratings champ.
With a Monday Night Wars mode, we could see many great moments from both companies recreated, and even set up dream matches, such as the Four Horsemen taking on Degeneration X in a winner-take-all battle. Sure, that would mean licensing more wrestlers for the game, but who doesn’t want to see Arn Anderson put Triple H in a submission hold, or Shawn Michaels submitting to Ric Flair’s figure four leglock?
On top of that, it would open up the roster to various old-school favorites. Sting could easily come back (as he did in WWE 2K15), and others like Flair, Goldberg and the Outsiders could join the fray.
More Involvement with NXT
Finally, last year’s WWE 2K15 saw heavy involvement from the developmental NXT league, featuring a number of favorites like Sami Zayn and Adrian Neville. Why stop now?
WWE 2K16 could set up an even bigger angle with NXT, featuring more wrestlers and perhaps an invasion of its own, where the likes of Kevin Owens, Samoa Joe (of course) and the four Diva Horsemen (Charlotte, Sasha Banks, Bayley and Becky Lynch) could leave their mark on the WWE Divas division.
This would expand the roster even further (which is what 2K wants to do in the first place) and set up some true dream matches. Ever want to see Samoa Joe square off against Sting? How about Sami Zayn taking on Rob Van Dam? We’d pay to see that match.
One thing’s for sure, WWE 2K16 will shake up the landscape when it arrives this fall. In the meantime, master your wrestling skills with Prima’s WWE 2K15 beginner and advanced tips, then we’ll tell you about wrestlers we never get tired of.
Published: Jun 9, 2015 04:45 pm