WWE 2K23 Standard Edition PS5

I’ve been buying these WWE games back when it was WWF SmackDown on PS1 and in recent years I’ve not got it every year as I’m not gaming as much as I did. From a casual gamer perspective I think this game is great to pick up and play. I got it for a great price and from what I’ve played it’s loaded quickly and played well. When my 2 nephews come around we can play it all at the same time in the same room. They love it, from hell in a cell to royal rumble and every match in between it provides hours of entertainment. I’m a wrestling fan and enjoy WWE, AEW and other wrestling including my local wrestling promotion. I would definitely recommend it for old and younger fans.

Whilst it’s rare that I watch WWE these days, I still have a place in my heart for the video games.

I’m 32 and grew up playing all the original PS1/PS2 games and typically felt like 2K did a lacklustre job.

2K14 was a very good game, but the annual releases seemed to get worse as time went on. 2K22 was pretty good (though My Faction is lame), but 2K23 is a noticeable step up. Everything has been smoothed out. Whilst it’s still occasionally glitchy, overall it runs very well.

The graphics are the best they have ever been. The frame rate used to suffer a bit during entrances on 2K22, but this has been fixed. Hair looks much better than it used to. The gameplay is very nicely polished. I’ve completed the John Cena showcase mode and it was relatively fun – you get to play as his rivals so it keeps things varied and enables you to unlock some hidden wrestlers.

I have played a lot of random matches, and have now unlocked everything – it’s nice to be able to get a new legend every few matches, as it gives you something to work towards (I prefer not to pay to unlock everything upfront). I believe there may be a few more hidden superstars within the career mode (which I have yet to try).

One of the best things about this game is the community creations. Look up Smack Talks on YouTube for highlights of the best – whilst you obviously cannot add the original theme music, you will get stars like Chris Jericho, Jeff Hardy and CM Punk and they look good enough to be true game models. Some of the creations even contain hidden commentary. That’s another thing that is better by the way – commentary can still be repetitive, but they’ve put some work in. Depending who you put in the ring together, the commentary team will reference past matches/their history.

Overall, this is a lot of fun. As I’ve got older, I’ve become more of a solo gamer. I sometimes miss playing wrestling games with a big group of friends, but this is still fun to play by yourself. I’ve personally always found the online mode to be a pain to deal with, so usually play against the computer on hard.

Hopefully 2K24 will continue to push things in the right direction.