Review:
As a big fan of the WWE games I have to say I'm pretty dissapointed. This game needs an Attitude Adjustment and fast. In general it's not a bad game, it has it's share of good, but sadly it is outnumbered by the bad. With a new engine 2K tries it's hand at it's truly first ever WWE game(since they didn't have as much time with 2K14) with the help of Yukes of course, so let's break it down:
Graphics: The first thing you notice, the graphics have been improved by a lot, fans of the games should be pleased by this, the detail in the wrestlers is great although some facial reactions still need some work, a good example being Summer Rae when she accompanies Fandango to the ring her mouth well....just looks terrifying and hilarious at the same time.(Fandango beat me up after I said this, guess he didn't agree, he still thinks she's beautiful no matter what awww) Also Cena seems to always be grumpy and has a scowl at all times in his face, these kind of things could use some work, but never the less doesn't take much from how great the game looks.
Gameplay:
The gameplay has been slowed down drastically, which in my opinion is for the better, if you like the simulation route that they are taking this is good for you, if you prefer the arcade fighter route, you will disagree. The glitches has been reduced drastically(they still happen, but less frequent) the new stamina feature is far superior to SvsR 2007's stamina system and it adds some new elements to the game, making you have to be more careful when you wrestle. The game still relies heavily in reversal's and it's ok, but could be better, the A.I. still feels incompetent, improved maybe a bit from previous games , but not much, instead of relying on harder and smarter A.I. the game relies too much on reversals in the difficulty which too me still feels too easy even on the hardest level. There are still some detection errors as usual in the game when wrestling, sometimes when I press a button when my opponent is down the game doesn't respond as fast. These mistakes are what ruin what otherwise would be a great improvement, but most WWE game fans are used to them by now. The new chain wrestling system can be fun at first, but eventually get's repetitive and usually ads virtually nothing to the overall match since it's used 2-3 times at max, which is a shame for those hoping for more technical matches. Overall the gameplay is still a lot of fun even with these mistakes and hopefully will only improve from now on.
Sound:
Well...the sound still feels pretty meh...some moves still don't sound as impactful as you would wish, but that's the least of the worries compared to the commentary, which is still really mediocre, many of the same lines of the previous WWE games are still here and the commentary feels random as always, there are some nice new additions and all, but they aren't enough to improve the commentary. The crowd still doesn't sound as good as one would hope for and it's far from realistic. The soundtrack, simply doesn't fit a WWE game, the songs aren't that bad or anything, but most of them don't make me feel like uppercutting someone and then Neutralizing them, some are great songs, but just don't fit the game(2 exceptions being the Avenged Sevenfold and Rise Against songs, which are the best) but the soundtrack really isn't as bad as some make it seem.(Not bad Cena).
Game Modes:
Career Mode:
The most anticipated mode in the game is a big letdown, it's far better than the Career mode from SvsR 2009 and 2010. But it's still not what we expected, it feels more like one long road with random events every once in a while than a bunch of roads and paths. You go from NXT to Superstars to Main Event to Smackdown to Raw, why does it work like that? I have no idea. And depending on which show you are at that's how the game decides what championships you can fight for, which is rather bad. Since you can't choose what championship you want to go for. You don't get as many decisions as you would hope for and 75% of the time you are just competing in random matches and grinding, being given the option to be in Tune up matches(random tv matches with no meaning) or dark matches(non-televised matches) you get more followers from Tune up matches and you get more currency from dark matches. Rivalries are mainly done by twitter and text based, with very rare cut scenes that almost never happen. The rivalries simply don't feel as exciting as they should be and sometimes months will pass and simulate without you getting any actual rivalry, heck at times I only compete 1 match a month. As time flows really fast in the game when you aren't in a rivalry. There aren't any statistics in Career mode to tell you your win/loss record or the amount of championships you have won, or rankings or anything which is sad compared to NBA's career mode, you can upgrade your attributes or get abilities with SP(Special points). Or buy skills or managers with VC(virtual currency). SP and VC are few at first, but you get a lot really easy later on your career. There aren't any options in career mode, so the difficulty is set at normal, although it can be hard to take on Ryback and Henry when my overall is low, once you level up a bit it's pretty easy to dominate them, most matches are easy although every once in a while one can get hard(Fandango beat me up badly and took my title...although maybe that was because of the comments about Summer..) overall it's not very challenging(but maybe that's a good thing considering how much grinding you have to do in the mode. Overall career mode is really unimpressive.
Universe Mode:
Pretty much more of the same as previous years. You now have the power to add stories to the rivalries, which is nice. Although they don't feel unpredictable at all. You can still only have 3 rivalries per show, either 1 vs 1 or 2 vs 2 which means no 1vs1vs1 rivalries or more, which is unfortunate. Not much new is added to universe mode, which in my opinion should be the game's main mode and biggest focus. Smackdown and Raw are still separete and you aren't given the option to change that and you can still only have 2 singles titles, 1 tag title and 1 divas in the shows and can't replace the tag or divas for other singles titles, which is a bummer. The new interface doesn't fit Universe mode as well as I would like and that's pretty much it about the mode.
Showcase Mode:
Just like in previous games, Showcase works like a 30 years of wrestlemania except it focuses on the 2 rivalries between CM Punk vs Cena and HBK vs HHH. If you are a fan of the WWE history and past, you will enjoy this mode, you are given objectives in the matches that you can complete and cut scenes after the matches to see how the stories played out, more of the same as the previous games.(Admittedly it's the least played mode for me since I don't really care much for it and I could just watch a DVD about the rivalries) Still a very fun mode for the fans of the past that want to play out these great rivalries.
Creation Suite:
Very limited, with many features gone(Create a Diva, create a title, create a story, create an arena and create a finisher) it's really bare bones, not many options to choose from. Although it has the fantastic new feature of being able to upload images or pictures of your face to the game to add to your created wrestler, which works great and gives you more options for your caw's. But even so, the vanilla creation suite is still very small and for fans of creation it's very unfortunate, especially with only 25 caw slots. You can now "edit" the actual wrestlers, they take a caw slot and become a new wrestler that you have to give attributes too though and don't just become a separate attire. The caw entrances are also extremely limited, since they have removed all entrances that aren't of current wrestlers except for one cellphone entrance...which ain't even great and since you can't upload your own music you are left with either some really bad generic music or the music of the actual wrestlers. Overall I feel very dissapointed about the creation suite, although the ability to add any design that you upload is a nice bandage, that eases the pain a bit. But the removal of every entrance from non-current wrestlers ripts that bandage away with full force.
Online:
Sadly I haven't been able to play the online since I don't have a PS+
Extra opinions:
The game is lacking many features such as match types.(oh and the ability to change the song that's playing...)
It's terrible that you still have to buy the accelerator in order to change the wrestlers attributes and it feels like a way to earn some extra cash same goes for not having some active wrestlers in the game and charging extra for them.
Overall:
As many have said this game lay's out a solid foundation for new WWE games to come with it's new engine, graphics and gameplay, but that's the future and this is the present and in the present WWE2K15 is a very limited game, that although solid, doesn't stand out as more than Pre-WWE2K16. I recommend waiting until the price drops before buying. You can still get a lot of fun from the game no doubt I am having fun but if you choose to skip this game I won't blame you.
Graphics: 8/10 - Best Looking WWE Game ever!
Gameplay: 8/10 - Great Feel to it.
Sound: 5/10 - Mediocre
Career Mode: 5/10 - Failed to meet it's true potential.
Universe Mode: 6/10 - Could be so much more.
Showcase Mode: 7/10 - More of the same, nice touch of history.
Creation Suite: 5/10 - Limited.
Fun: 7/10 - Can give you hours of fun if you are a big WWE fan. Especially with friends.
Overall: 6/10 - Fair - Not a bad game, but outweighted by the negatives.
The Harbinger is hardcore gamer and WWE Fan, who spent countless hours playing the game and still has more to say about it, but the review is long enough as it is.