When I heard 2k was taking a year off from the WWE series I was excited to hear after the disaster that was 2k20. My thought would be that they would put 100% of their efforts towards enhancing the title to focus on creating a stellar title the following year. Instead we got 2k Battlegrounds, and cartoony style wrestling game. Granted I was quite skeptical about the title when I first saw it, remembering how much fun All-Stars was, it had me excited to give it a shot.

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First off, 2k Battlegrounds is a breath of fresh air for the wrestling game genre. Considering the overly complex simulation style found in the mainline 2k series, Battlegrounds offers an easy to pick-up and play gaming experience that anyone can join. Most of the controls are pretty simple with the Square and Triangle (X/Y) buttons controlling the punching and kicking, and X (A) controlling quick grapple attacks and Circle (B) allowing you to Irish whip players. Most of the match you will spend striking the opponent to weaken them and filling up your special meter. You can also use the right analog stick to do random, more powerful grapples. The gameplay is fun, frantic, and over-the-top in presentation which looks both funny yet cool. Certain maps will include environmental elements also like a giant Alligator in the crowd that you can throw others into to cause damage. The only drawback is the gameplay can get repetitive after about an hour of gameplay. The amount of moves each character can perform is extremely limited and while the finishers are hilarious to watch, they are not enough to keep you coming back for more.

Battlegrounds offers quite a few modes to try out including your typical cage, fatal four way, etc. matches that come in the yearly 2k titles. The game mode that stood out the most to me had to be the campaign mode which follows Stone Cold Steve Austin and Paul Heyman as they recruit various wrestlers across the globe to form a rival company to the WWE *cough* AEW *cough*. Giving a comic book style display, the story is comical and completely weird, and it works! You play through said campaign as six different characters in various parts of the globe; each with a unique venue to face off in also. The story gives off the late 80’s, early 90’s vibe of wrestling characters that are purely cartoony, but it feels right in the overall feel of the product. The only drawback to the campaign is the lack of the stories blending into the side missions especially since the side missions are one of the ways to unlock many of the game’s characters. Without the added story to follow, doing 3-4 random side missions to unlock a character can bore you quick.

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The biggest drawback to 2k Battlegrounds is the continuation of microtransactions that make the tough to play at the start. Unlocking characters involving grinding through numerous matches to buy the characters from the shop, unlocking them through side missions in the campaign mode, or buying coins to buy the characters with actual money. Considering that the game doesn’t offer enough to keep you playing for long periods of time, grinding to unlock all of the characters is far more than just a chore. This is a massive letdown that pulls a large portion of fun from the game as many of the character lack individuality to make it work the time or more it would take to earn the characters.

2k Battlegrounds had a lot of potential to become an incredibly fun beat’em up wrestling game, but is littered with all the issues from the mainline series; and then some. While the gameplay is fun in spurts, the lack of individuality in the characters, numerous graphical glitches, and limited roster at the start makes the game difficult to journey through. The campaign is the closest thing to a redeeming factor for the title, however even it has undeniable flaws that keep you from finishing it.

THE BREAKDOWN

PROS:

• Gameplay is easy to pick-up and play solely, or with friends
• Story mode is cartoony, funny, and brings a old-school WWF vibe

CONS:

• Lack of individuality for wrestlers makes the huge grind to unlock them unbearable
• Gameplay gets stale quickly
• Graphical glitches make the game look rough
• Microtransactions