I've enjoyed wrestling games since I had my Nintendo 64 and played WCW vs. NWO for hours on end. I thoroughly enjoyed the Smackdown! series and I like the direction the franchise has taken in the recent years. However, every great game can always make improvements. I don't expect a great deal to change with WWE 2K14 because the franchise was just recently handed over to 2K, but I expect them to really put their stamp on the game by the time WWE 2K15 comes out. Here are a few things that I want that will make my experience with the game better.
The main thing I want is the option to pick the winner of every match and even the time limit of the match before said person wins. This is 2013, most people know that wrestling is scripted, so let me script the action in the video game. I love playing the game, but sometimes I like to put matches together and just watch, but if I want a certain superstar to win then I almost always have to play. This tends to get boring when you have to continue to play as the same character repeatedly. If I want CM Punk to be in a rivalry with John Cena, I almost always had to play the matches if I wanted Punk to win because he could never beat Cena if the computer played. Let me choose that I want Punk to win the match after 12 minutes. Once 12 minutes is up, if the match isn't over then it cuts to a scene of Punk hitting several of his signature moves followed by his finisher to win the match. You know, sort of like real wrestling.
I'd also like to have more control over interferences. I dislike the way it's been done in the last two installments. Again, if the options were tuned more like a sim game then you could choose X superstar to win the match because Z superstar interferes after seven minutes of action and attacks him.
More options to make it feel like I'm in control of every aspect of the match are what I'm looking for. Sort of like story mode, but streamlined in the WWE Universe mode.
One thing I would also like to see is a more natural way to turn superstars face and heel. In WWE, it is hardly ever a sudden moment that a superstar goes from good to bad. Once in a while, sure, but for the most part it's a gradual process. The fans play a role in it as well. The fans get tired of seeing a certain superstar, they start to boo him, now in my owner position I have the option to run with that and make him a heel (So put him in several matches against faces) or ignore the fans and continue to push forward with him/her as is (Which could hurt superstar's popularity.) I don't want to go to a screen and just select face/heel.
The fans are another aspect that can be improved. Enough of booing every bad guy and cheering every face, that's not how it works in reality. One of the most booed superstars is John Cena, who is the biggest face in the company. The longer someone is on top, the more the fans start to dislike him or her in the WWE. Why can't it be like this in the game? If Cena is champion for 16 months, the fans would hate him, so you'd hear more boos than cheers when his music plays. It doesn't mean he has to be a heel, but he's not going to be loved everywhere. However, if CM Punk were a heel in the game, he would still get a great reaction from the crowd if the show were in Chicago. This could happen in the game too. We know where superstars are from, so when the show is in their hometown the fans should (and would) cheer them, regardless of whether they're a face or a heel.
Now that 2K has taken over the series, I wouldn't mind seeing a story mode, or some sort of superstar mode (Which they may already be doing with their becoming immortal trailers.) Starting out as a rookie superstar in some low-level wrestling circuit, performing in front of 30 fans all while you try to put on an entertaining match when your superstar only knows three real moves.
You want to learn more moves, well, wrestling school cost money and you're making $40 a night wrestling so you aren't going anywhere anytime soon, not to mention your outfit is pretty outdated, but if you want new clothes then you better be willing to wrestle in events all across the state, which hurts your stamina (meaning injuries are more likely), but you don't have much of a choice. I would love if they run it like a real wrestling promotion too, where some nights you're scheduled to win and other nights you're going to be on the losing end but you still need to put on a performing, dramatic match or the fans won't take to you.
Of course, you could go against what the booker wants you to do, which may help your popularity with the fans because you won, but may hurt your chances at wrestling with that promotion again. It's all chances that you have to take without having Vince McMahon yell "You're Fired!" right into your face because you pissed off the wrong people. Get hurt because you were running yourself into the ground? You better understand that by the time you get back there are new kids in town that have taken your spot and you got work to do. This all leads up to making it into the WWE, doing your time on NXT and Smackdown! before you get the call to be a full-time RAW superstar. This still includes traveling and performing at House Shows so injuries and fatigue is still a real possibility.
As your superstar becomes one of
the biggest names in the business, the company will even start to go to you for
ideas on where your career should go. Do
you want to be a champion again and have a long title reign? Do you want to form up a tag team and
dominate that division? Do you want to
give a young superstar his moment to shine by letting him scrape together a few
wins over you? It's up to you at that
point. I know that's an ambitious
undertaking and I wouldn't expect it all in one shot, but gradually making this
a real mode and making all of these sorts of improvements could make it one of
the best modes in any sports game.
So just a few things that I would like to see in a wrestling game down the road. Again, I hardly expect to see any big changes in WWE 2K14 because the team hasn't had a very long time with the game, but I do expect big things from the game by next year's installment. If there is anything you want to see or have a question about my ideas please let me know!