WWE 2K16 features two more minigames to considerably less success: chain wrestling and submissions.
This is the simplest and most intuitive of 2K16's minigames. A golf-style strength meter will pop up, giving that player three chances to stop the meter within the target escape zone. A pinned player can try to avoid the pin using one of WWE 2K16's new minigames. Pinning downed opponents is easy you just push a button. As it stands, you have to either learn the timing for reversing the various attacks by experience or just get lucky. I wish the prompt gave more indication about the actual correct moment to press the trigger. But pulling them off isn't that easy, as the game often judges the button press as too early or too late. Reversals are one of the most important mechanics to master, because they can easily turn the tide during a match. This new limitation on reversal frequency comes as a result of fan feedback about last year's game. If you press it at just the right time, your wrestler will evade the attack and likely strike a counter-blow.Įach wrestler can only perform 3-5 reversals before waiting for them to recharge.
You'll know the general time to attempt one when the Right Trigger prompt appears above your wrestler's head.
Nearly any attack can be interrupted by a well-timed reversal. Of course, nobody is going to just stand there and take a pounding. If you whittle the unlucky performer's health down enough, you should be able to succeed in a pin and win the fight. The key is to land a strike or grapple on your opponent, and then follow up with more attacks before he or she can recover. The way matches in WWE 2K16 work, one player tends to dominate the fight at any given time. And if you're new, be sure to turn the difficulty down to Easy if you don't want the computer to curb stomp you Seth Rollins-style. Novice players like me would do well to start there, although I actually played through 2K Showcase first. That said, one of the game's three primary single-player modes does introduce mechanics and ease you into the game more than others: M圜areer.
And even that manual doesn't go into much depth about some of the mechanics.
The in-game Help option just unhelpfully pops up a URL for the PDF manual on the WWE website. But if you want to look up how chain wrestling or something works, forget about it. Of course, you can look up the controls, and you can pause to view each wrestler's three or four Signature and Finishing moves. Nor is there much in-game reference material. There is no clearly marked tutorial mode, something the game badly needs.
The WWE 2K series leans more towards simulation than arcade-style play, which means the gameplay is more complex than I expected.
I did not know how to play, and the game didn't do much to ease me into it. 2K Sports and Yuke's can safely assume that most WWE 2K16 buyers also picked up last year's edition, and so they already know how to play. Starting in on a yearly franchise so late in its lifespan is a curious thing it definitely makes you feel like an outsider.