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Its another year with yet another WWE 2K release. The last few years have gone by quite well for the franchise, with bangers like WWE 2K24 that built upon the strong foundations laid by WWE 2K22 and WWE 2K23. We now have WWE 2K25, a game that hopes to use the aforementioned foundations to build an even larger platform by being more than just a yearly roster update like we tend to see in other yearly sport-based game franchises. WWE 2K25 has a host of new features that touch every aspect of the game, from an enhanced creation suite to the WWE Universe mode, and even a brand new story through MyRise. However, some of these new features dont quite manage to hit the high bar set by the games predecessors.Lets get the biggest new additions out of the way; WWE 2K25 has some new match types to play with, chief among them being the new Bloodline Rules match. Much like you would have seen on WWEs TV shows and Premium Live Events (PLEs), Bloodline Rules matches tend to be chaotic affairs where not only is the use of weapons completely legal, but there will also often be an onslaught of allied and opposing wrestlers coming in to help or hinder you throughout the match. WWE 2K25 is able to accurately recreate almost the same level of chaos with the new match-type. While relatively dull in single-player, the Bloodline Rules match tends to be great for when you have a party going, since every player can take control of each one of the interrupting wrestlers.MyRise has also seen some changes. Unlike the last time, the new MyRise story, dubbed Mutiny, allows you to take on the role of both a male and a female wrestler. This comes down to the fact that the story mode is no longer divided between those two individual storylines. The story revolves around current and former wrestlers from the NXT rosters that have decided to invade Raw and SmackDown to ensure that their organization becomes the dominant brand for WWE going forwards. The story involves a host of well-established as well as up-and-coming wrestlers, from Tony DAngelo to Kevin Owens and Bayley. Fighting off the Mutiny alongside your two created wrestlers are legends like CM Punk, as well as NXT alumnus like Becky Lynch that dont agree with Mutinys methods.MyRise tries to bring in more variety in its storytelling by using branching paths. Every once in a while, the player gets to make a choice that will define where the story will go from there. These choices can range from something as simple as setting up your characters past working experience, to even defining what kind of smaller stories they get embroiled in, from more serious ones revolving around championships to comedic and lighthearted ones. There is also a big emphasis placed on intergender wrestling in MyRise, which is another one of the big features in WWE 2K25. This brings a great change to intergender tag team matches, since you arent forced to tag between your characters just because your opponents did so. You can take control of Becky Lynch to continue beating up Kevin Owens, who was tagged in by Zelina Vega, for example."MyRise tries to bring in more variety in its storytelling by using branching paths."While I cant argue about the replay value in MyRise, I do find that the overall quality of writing to be much lower than what we last saw in WWE 2K24s storylines. While the Mutiny storyline does feel like it has larger stakes with the fate of the entire company hanging in the balance, the smaller stories in WWE 2K24s MyRise felt more interesting, largely because they were more personal. Trying to save a company can seldom be as interesting as exploring the relationship between the former owner of an indie wrestling company and the larger corporate machine that is the WWE.Even the Universe and MyGM modes got upgrades. The Universe mode is the more interesting one here, since players can now set up full-on promo segments that allow them to better build rivalries between members of their rosters. While not quite as in-depth in customization as, say, WWE 2K14 was way back in the day, the addition is still a welcome one, and brings quite a bit more depth to Universe mode as a whole. MyGM mode is largely still the same, albeit this time around with the addition of online multiplayer.Rounding up the big modes where most fans of single-player will find themselves is the new Showcase mode. Focusing on the legacy of the Bloodline, the showcase mode gives us a historical look at various Samoan wrestlers from throughout WWEs history. The matches in the mode range from the Headshrinkers taking on the Steiner Brothers at WrestleMania 9, to more recent matchups like the The Usos taking on The New Day at Hell in a Cell 2017. The mode also features some alternate history matchups, like Three-Minute Warning taking on Authors of Pain. All in all, the new Showcase mode is pretty fun, albeit not as intriguing as what we got to see in the Showcase modes of WWE 2K22 or WWE 2K23, which focused on the careers of Rey Mysterio and John Cena respectively. The scope of the latest Showcase mode feels too wide to be worth playing more than once just to unlock everything."The scope of the latest Showcase mode feels too wide"When it comes to shortcomings, the biggest one in WWE 2K25 is its performance on PC. There have been a number of choices made by developer Visual Concepts and publisher 2K that indicate that not too much attention was paid to the PC version of the game. Chief among these is the fact that we just cant get higher frame rates than 60. The game is hard-capped in that regard, and by default, it even turns the frame rate down to 30 FPS for parts of the match that it dubs to be cinematic. These parts could range from a suplex off the top rope to landing your finisher. These dips in the frame rate do more to hinder the gameplay experience rather than adding any cinematic value to matches.The in-game cutscenes are all also capped at 30 FPS, which is pretty disappointing. Having said that, WWE 2K25 tends to look really good while in motion. While not really a massive visual upgrade over its predecessor, the title does look slightly better at times, with wrestlers faces getting touch-ups. Sadly, these minor visual upgrades are hurt by the choppiness of the cutscene frame rates. This becomes especially obvious during wrestlers entrances or MyRise cutscenes. This decision, coupled with the fact that there just arent many options in the games settings to tweak visuals, indicate that priority was lower for the PC version.In many ways, WWE 2K25 feels like a game that has taken two steps forward and one step back. Its new match types are excellent, and it is trying to be more ambitious with its new MyRise story and the focus on the Samoan history of the WWE. These ambitions seem to have been too high, however, since the Mutiny story in MyRise isnt quite as fun or personal as the stories from WWE 2K24, and playing through Showcase mode feels more like an obligation just to unlock everything rather than a more interesting look at historical matches. Add to that the performance issues with the PC version and you get a game that tends to trip over itself every now and then with every step it takes towards the future.This game was reviewed on PC.
