I can hardly believe it, but we are just a few days away from the release of WWE2K18. This year’s edition is shaping up to be one of the best ever. This post is designed to be the ultimate primer, showcasing every new feature in this year’s edition. In addition, every video clip and image released for the game will be presented. I am very excited about this game, so let’s get right down to the basics.

THE BASICS

• Title: WWE2K18
• Publisher: 2K Games
• Developer: Yukes Media Creations and Visual Concepts
  
• Platforms: Sony Playstation 4, Microsoft X-Box One, Nintendo Switch, PC
• Release Date: October 17, 2017 (Early Access: October 13, 2017), Fall 2017 (Nintendo Switch)

COVER ATHLETE

This year’s Cover Athlete is Seth Rollins. He was revealed in a Special Trailer called VANDAL,
in which he breaks into, and lays waste to, the WWE Archives

PRE-ORDER BONUS

Last Year, it was Goldberg. This Year, the Pre-Order Bonus Superstar is WWE Hall of Fame, Class of 2017, Inductee, and Current RAW General Manager: Kurt Angle. Angle was revealed in a second trailer called Survivor

 

THE ROSTER

     Always a point of contention, this roster is fairly current, and features a well curated mix of current WWE Superstars, Male AND Female, NXT Superstars, Male and Female and Legends.

The Roster, was mostly revealed in a four part series on IGN. That series revealed the initial 172 members of the roster. Since then, the announcement of additional main roster characters and DLC has ballooned the roster to over 200 characters. 2K has been nice enough to release a poster showing you all of them. NOTE: This Roster is ONLY Playable characters. Managers and NPC are NOT included in this list. Here is the Poster. Click to enlarge.

NEW THIS YEAR

As is always the case, a number of new features have made it into this year’s addition. First off, the game has been given a complete graphical overhaul, with more realistic textures and sharper character models. The motion capture for the various holds has also been completely redone, resulting in more realistic movement and increased accuracy to the actual WWE presentation.

Also returning this year are backstage environments, one of the most requested features. There are a number of them, and they all look spectacular.

The audio also gets an upgrade this year, thanks to an all new commentary team, consisting of Michael Cole, Cory Graves and Byron Saxton. The commentary for this year’s game was recording by all three announcers in the same room, at the same time, giving it a more “natural” sound than it has had in the past. Commentary includes banter between the announcers, particularly between Graves and Saxton.

The arenas have also received a graphical upgrade, incorporating the new sets introduced last year, along with better lighting effects and camera angles.

Finally. 8 person tag matches are now possible in the game.

There are also exciting new changes to the creation suite, WWE Universe Mode, and the MyCareer Mode, which will be discussed in their own sections of this preview. 

This August, as part of WWE SummerSlam weekend, the first gameplay footage was released

Last Month, the Official Gameplay Trailer, called Burn It Down, was released. It includes Entrances and in ring action.

 

MYCAREER MODE

Perhaps one of the most exciting aspect of the game is the revamped career mode. Called MyCAREER, It is full of very exciting concepts I can’t wait to see the execution of. Here is the overview.

WWE 2K18’s MyCAREER mode will enable players to live out their dreams and experience the lives of WWE Superstars through strong story narratives.

This year, players will choose from two very different paths – Company Man or Fan Favorite –and decide how their roads to WrestleMania (and beyond) will unfold through match performances, promos, alliances and other actions.

Additionally, this year’s MyCAREER mode introduces a free-roaming backstage, an updated promo generator, and enhanced MyCAREER invasion, where the MyPLAYERs of friends can still populate a player’s MyCAREER save but now play a bigger role through face-to-face interactions, tag team alliances, side quests and more.

For more details on WWE 2K18’s MyCAREER mode, please check out 2K’s blog post here: https://wwe.2k.com/news/entries/wwe-2k18-mycareer
 

MYPLAYER and ROAD TO GLORY

As mentioned above, this year, created Superstars are referred to as MyPLAYERS. However, new this year is an incredible new mode called Road to Glory. Here are the details.

This year, players will create their MyPLAYER characters, which get stronger and more powerful along with player progression, to use in both MyCAREER and ROAD TO GLORY. ROAD TO GLORY is a completely new online experience where MyPLAYERS from all over the world battle against each other.
 
Read the blog post for full details here: https://wwe.2k.com/news/entries/wwe-2k18-road-to-glory

Here are some screenshots of the new mode

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Universe Mode

This mode, is the “GM type” mode, where you can manage every aspect of “your” WWE, icluding shows, Pay Per Views, Rosters and more. There are some new changes to this year’s version. Here are the details.

If you’re new to Universe, think of it as a system that recreates the WWE broadcasting experience. WWE Raw, SmackDown Live and NXT shows happen every week with their own Superstars competing against one another in matches. These matches affect championship rankings and build rivalries between Superstars, which culminate at the big monthly events like SummerSlam and WrestleMania. Players are free to jump into any match and play as any Superstar or simply watch and let the action and drama play itself out.

Universe also supports a robust level of customization on many levels. You can incorporate custom Superstars, tag teams, championships, arenas and shows to create your personal WWE. With the tools available with the WWE 2K18 Creation Suite and access to downloads shared from other creators in Community Creations, you can truly create a Universe that is like no one else’s. 

Rivalries and Storylines

One of the most exciting parts of Universe is the rivalries that happen between Superstars. Rivalries occur between either two Superstars or two teams of Superstars, leading to a storyline that can play out over many months in the Universe calendar. Storylines feature cut scenes and put the rivals in scenarios that you won’t normally see through regular matchmaking. Players have a choice in creating their own rivalries or letting them happen on their own. We wanted to improve our systems for rivalries this year, and we’ve made some changes all around. 

Potential Rivalries

New for this year, rivalries are separated into two types: Potential Rivalries and Active Rivalries. As the Superstars compete in their matches, perform promos or perform run-ins on each other, a Potential Rivalry will be established between them. Looking at the Rivalries menu, you can see a meter for each Potential rivalry and the state it’s in. This meter will build up as the interactions continue between the potential rivals during their matches. Once the meter is full, it’ll enter a “Standby” state and move into the next available Active Rivalry slot in the following show. Think of Potential Rivalries as the build-up to a full-fledged rivalry between Superstars.

These interactions take the forms of promos, cut scenes, and run-ins. The interactions that happen are mostly random, depending on various factors related to the Superstars. Things like rankings, relationships, a Superstar’s crowd reactions and their personalities are some of the things that can influence the chance of an interaction happening, as well as the type of interaction. 

There are also some ways players can influence Personal Rivalries through their own actions. Think of doing something that would get under an opponent’s skin or infuriate him/her or something that would make you want to get even. For example, attacking your opponent with a chair is a definite way of maxing out a Potential Rivalry’s meter. 

Active Rivalries

Active Rivalries are the results of all the build-up, making the rivalry official and starting off many weeks of heated competition between the rivals. Superstars will fight to build momentum and have the advantage leading up to their big matches at the next PPV. The payoff varies depending on which Superstars are in the rivalries, things like climbing the ranks or  title match opportunities. The types of rivalries you’ll see, whether it’s a friendly rivalry between allies or a hostile brawl-fest between heated enemies, depends on the rivalry’s “Intensity.” 

Intensity

Intensity is a new addition this year, and it’s in both Potential and Active Rivalries. Intensity determines what’s likely to happen between the Superstars in a Rivalry and should help you identify from just a glance in the menus what kind of rivalry is taking place. Intensity has four different color-coded levels: 

• Low (Green): Sportsman-like conduct between the rivals; in short, a “friendly” rivalry;
• Medium (Yellow): Rivals are disrespectful and confrontational or growing frustrated from being on the losing end;
• High (Orange): Rivals are resorting to and responding with cheap shots and distractions against each other;
• Very High (Red): The rivalry has become hostile, with Superstars attacking each other. 

The Intensity of a rivalry will vary based on the interaction between the Superstars and is certainly likely to increase the longer the rivalry goes on. For example, a rivalry may start off at Medium Intensity after a call-out promo and then change to a High Intensity after one rival sucker-punches the other in the following week’s match. Players creating their own rivalries can choose the level of Intensity as well, increasing the possibilities further on what kinds of rivalries you can create.

Calendar and PPVs

One important thing we changed this year was how our story system handled calendars with inconsistent PPV dates. Our previous system wasn’t ready to properly handle WWE’s brand split and the multiple PPVs per month. For us, this meant overhauling our system for the most flexibility possible. This is more of a back end, behind the scenes change that we worked on, but the result is that rivalries and storylines will now work regardless of when they start and when the next PPV is happening. 

I’m excited we can share these details with all of you, and I hope you enjoy the changes we’ve made. The teams at Visual Concepts, along with Yuke’s, has worked hard on these improvements and with re-working our story system.

New Systems and Improvements

Along with the changes to our storylines and rivalries, we’ve implemented new systems that add more depth to Universe in various areas. 

Power Rankings

New to this year are Power Rankings, which will rank each Superstar in your Universe based on  success. While championships define the best Superstars of a show, Power Rankings are useful for finding out who’s the best Superstar in all of Universe. Winning high profile matches, earning championships and coming out ahead in rivalries will elevate Superstars up these Power Rankings. 

Something we wanted to represent in Universe Mode is how some Superstars push past their limits and go on an unstoppable run, as well as how the underdogs can fight their way up to the very top to win and defend championship gold. Power Rankings will allow Superstars to achieve these kinds of runs by boosting them with temporary attribute bonuses if they can climb high enough in the Power Rankings. This allows low-powered Superstars to fight their way to championships and match up with the best of them or turn an already powerful Superstar into an unstoppable force.

Goals

One of the challenges we’ve faced with Universe is trying to articulate specific motivations for the Superstars. It’s easy to say everyone wants a championship, but there’s a lot more depth than that when you watch WWE’s broadcasting. As a result, we’ve implemented personal goals for Superstars that they can chase after as they compete in Universe.

Goals change for each Superstar based on various factors like their rankings and relationships. Champions want to defend their titles and the No. 1 contenders want to win those titles, close allies may want to form a tag team while a team on a losing streak may want to split up, and so on. Goals have an impact on the types of matches and rivalries that will get started for the Superstars. You’ll also have the ability to customize goals for Superstars so that you have some suggestive control over how Superstars can be booked. 

Matches and Match Types

We’ve integrated some of the match type additions and improvements from Gameplay into Universe as well. You’ll see Eight-Man matches in Universe, such as Eight-Man Battle Royals and 4v4 Tag Team Matches. Just as with previous titles, you can customize the match cards of shows to suit your needs. This even includes the Custom Matches you create in the Creation Suite, bringing your own style of competition to Universe!

As you’re playing through matches, there’s a chance that one Superstar completely outclasses and overwhelms their opponents from the very start. Superstars with significantly higher attributes than their opponents can cause a squash match to occur, putting their opponents in a situation where they must mount a considerable offense to survive or suffer crushing defeat.

DLC

It’s time to pull back the curtain on WWE 2K18’s DLC content! Featuring fan-favorites The Hardy Boys, WWE Hall of Famers, current WWE Superstars, and some of the brightest NXT talent, in addition to new moves, and in-game bonuses, WWE 2K18’s DLC has something for everyone. 

The individual content packages will begin releasing in late 2017, with some packages releasing in early 2018, for the PlayStation® 4 computer entertainment system, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch™ and Windows PC.

Peruse the list below and rest easy if you are pre-ordering the Deluxe Edition or Cena (Nuff) edition as the complete Season Pass is included in those versions. Don’t forget that the Deluxe and Cena (Nuff) Editions also release four days early on October 13^th and include Batista and Rob Van Dam as playable characters.

About the WWE 2K18 Downloadable Content Offerings*

WWE 2K18 downloadable content offerings are scheduled to include the following items and be available for purchase on the PlayStation™Network for the PS4™ system, Xbox Live online entertainment network from Microsoft for Xbox One, Nintendo eShop on Nintendo Switch and Steam for Windows PC: 

Accelerator

• Players will gain access to all unlockable content available at launch in the game’s VC Purchasable section (excluding downloadable content);
• Players can also decide the overall rankings and attribute levels for all playable characters throughout the life of the product;
• The Accelerator will be available for $4.99. 

Enduring Icons Pack

• Playable WWE Superstars: The Hardy Boyz;
• Playable WWE Hall of Famers: Beth Phoenix and The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express;
• The Enduring Icons Pack will be available for $9.99. 

MyPlayer Kick Start

• Players will be able to unlock and boost MyPlayer ratings and attributes via a 50,000 VC starting bonus;* 
• Players will begin with 10 additional Attribute Points for MyPlayer and can boost any Attribute tower by 10 levels or spread the upgrades throughout multiple Attribute towers;*
• MyPlayer Kick Start will be available for $9.99. 

New Moves Pack

• Explore a wide variety of new in-game moves, including the Tie Breaker (made popular by WWE Superstar Tye Dillinger); the Crash Landing (made popular by NXT Superstar Kassius Ohno); the Pumphandle Death Valley Driver (made popular by NXT Superstar Akam); and the Swinging Sleeper Slam (made popular by WWE Hall of Famer Diamond Dallas Page).
• The New Moves Pack will be available for $3.99. 

NXT Generation Pack

• Playable WWE and NXT Superstars: Aleister Black, Drew McIntyre, Elias, Lars Sullivan and Ruby Riot;
• The NXT Generation Pack will be available for $9.99.
   

About the WWE 2K18 Season Pass

Players may purchase select WWE 2K18 downloadable content at a reduced price point through the game’s Season Pass. For $29.99, a savings of more than 20 percent versus individual content purchases, players will receive the following items as they become available:

• Accelerator;
• Enduring Icons Pack;
• MyPlayer Kick Start;
• New Moves Pack;
• NXT Generation Pack.

* PlayStation™Network, Xbox Live or Nintendo account and Internet connection required. Copy of WWE 2K18 required to play.

*MyPlayer Kick Start description updated.

 Editions

As it has for the past few years, this year’s game comes in three different editions. Each edition has it’s own bonus content that comes with it.

This year’s Collector’s Edition is called the CENA(NUFF) Edition and focuses on John Cena. Here are the details on it.

Limited to 30,000 copies worldwide and packed with an impressive collection of exclusive memorabilia and digital content, the offering will pay homage to his distinct position as WWE’s most frequently cheered – and frequently booed – personality. The WWE 2K18 Cena (Nuff) Edition will be available exclusively for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One at participating retailers.

Here’s the trailer for the Cena (Nuff) Edition
 

Here is a gallery of various screenshots that have been released by 2K.

[ngg_images source=”galleries” container_ids=”578″ display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_thumbnails” override_thumbnail_settings=”0″ thumbnail_width=”100″ thumbnail_height=”75″ thumbnail_crop=”1″ images_per_page=”20″ number_of_columns=”0″ ajax_pagination=”0″ show_all_in_lightbox=”0″ use_imagebrowser_effect=”0″ show_slideshow_link=”1″ slideshow_link_text=”[Show as slideshow]” order_by=”sortorder” order_direction=”ASC” returns=”included” maximum_entity_count=”500″]As the launch date was fast approaching, 2K released the final trailer, featuring narration by Snoop Dogg, I consider it one of the most amazing trailers for a game I have ever seen. Here it is. Enjoy.

So, that’s it. That’s all I’ve got. The game looks amazing. I can’t wait to play it. I encourage all of you to get it. And, If you’re smart, you’ll take Snoop and Seth’s advice: BE LIKE NO ONE!

Developed collaboratively by Yuke’s and Visual Concepts, a 2K studio, WWE 2K18 is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB. WWE 2K18 is currently scheduled for worldwide release on October 17, 2017 for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One, as well as in Fall 2017 for Nintendo Switch™. Players who purchase the WWE 2K18 Cena (Nuff) Edition at participating retailers will receive Early Access to their game copies and in-game bonuses beginning four days early on Friday, October 13, 2017 for the PS4™ system and Xbox One. In addition, players who purchase the WWE 2K18 Deluxe Edition, available in both physical and digital varieties at participating retailers, will also receive Early Access to their game copies and in-game bonuses – including all Cena (Nuff) Edition digital content – beginning four days early on Friday, October 13, 2017 for the PS4™ system and Xbox One.

For more information on WWE 2K18 and 2K, visit wwe.2k.com, become a fan on Facebook, follow the game on Twitter and Instagram using the hashtags #WWE2K18 and #BLN1 or subscribe on YouTube.