Initial Thoughts on WWE’s Wrestlemania Story Mode in ‘WWE 2K14’

The announcement of the Wrestlemania-themed single-player mode in “WWE 2K14” got those pesky kids chit-chatting on the Internet last week didn’t it? The roster reveal for the mode this past weekend was just as much a “talker” as well.

But after a media hands-on with the story mode this past weekend, it’s fair to say that 2K is becoming a video game version of Bonnie Raitt herself and giving gamers plenty of things to “talk about.’

The story mode is essentially all about fulfilling a list of objectives. The way the “moments” are incorporated into the game is so streamlined that at times they feel effortlessly included. During gameplay, you’ll see a list of objectives that need to be completed in order to recreate the match’s “Wrestlemania moments.” Once you complete a task, others will soon become available. Finish all of them and you advance to the next match. Even though they are simple and most of the time intuitive, they change the thinking process behind wrestling games completely. While it’s still all about dishing out damage to your opponents, you’ll have to think more during the process. From our initial playthrough alone, the mode proves to be fun and addictive.

It also helps that the gameplay in “WWE 2K14” is smooth and sound. The updated locomotion animations and speedier strikes definitely enhance the overall gameplay from last year. The same thing goes for the changes in the counter system. Gone forever are the tedious back and forth counters from last year, replaced with a much faster and easier “one and done” counter system. Overall, with speedier transitions, more logical counters and polished new animations, this build of “WWE 2K14” was downright sexy.

On the downside, some of the hidden objectives in the story mode are hard to unlock. While some objectives are easier, such as hurling an opponent across the ring via an Irish Whip or inflict a certain amount of damage, some of them are nearly impossible to figure out if you haven’t seen the match before. Luckily, you don’t have to complete all of the objectives to finish the match, but failing to finish all of the assigned tasks can affect your ability to continue the mode. For those that have some of these matches memorized, they’ll have a blast. For those who don’t have as much familiarity with the history of the WWE, they’ll have to wait for some geek on YouTube to post walkthroughs.

This is a situation however where the amount of detail and polish and shine bring out the real strengths of the game. Simply put, the payoffs start well before the matches. 45 minutes of WWE-produced videos set up the matches. Stunningly produced, they take you back in time and recreate the atmosphere behind each bout wonderfully. For wrestling aficionados, the opportunity to see what led up to classic encounters between stars the likes of Ricky Steamboat and Macho Man Randy Savage or Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon and plenty more is an element that serves this mode perfectly. Actually watching these moments unfold in gameplay is as gratifying an experience a wrestling gamer can have.

From the looks of it, the single-player story mode in “WWE 2K14” definitely screams 2K. It’s polished, thoughtful and even in spite of a few blemishes, ones that casual gamers will feel much more than dedicated fans of the series, it appears that it’ll be one that will be remembered for quite some time.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 13821 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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