Five things we want from WWE games

Every year, WWE comes out with a video game which lets the WWE Universe live their fantasies. However, every year, the game is a little bit different from the previous one. Sometimes, for the better, while other times, for the worst. Nevertheless, it does the job for WWE and accelerates Vince McMahon’s bank balance.

WWE 2K14 is their latest offering and whether it lives up to the hype remains to be seen. It has some appealing and promising features, but, they are just not enough. It lacks on the ‘crazy’ that the people desire.

WWE games have the potential to be best-sellers, if the developers are willing to take the leap which allows people to get creative and do much more than they can currently do. Therefore, in order to make these WWE games more appealing to the masses, the developers should consider taking following steps:

Return of the Career Mode

Last seen in WWE Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain, the Career Mode needs to make a comeback, and desperately.

Enough of re-living the storylines. Understandably, they give you an insight into the history of WWE, but then again, so can YouTube. It is plain lazy on the part of the developers.

In a Career Mode, one can choose any superstar and, literally, live the life as him. He can make the decisions that he wants to make, interfere in any match he wants and take on any authority figure he likes to. He can also pick up arguments backstage and involve himself in storylines.

You also get to back that up with your performance inside the ring. The more matches you win, more chances you get to challenge for top titles.

You get to have your own say rather than playing the already designed, over-played and exhaustive storylines in which you have to merely re-act the original occurrence.

Doesn’t it sound that little bit more attractive?

Creating promos

Developers of the WWE games are missing a trick here. Even though they have given us a lot of options to create, varying from arenas, wrestlers to entrances and stables, they have missed out major one, promos.

Promos are the heart and soul of professional wrestling and it is these promos that define the success of a superstar in this industry. Then, why are we unable to create them in the game?

Imagine a game where we can come out in the ring, as any superstar of our choice, and talk, about anything or anyone we want to talk about.

We can use these promos in the aforementioned career mode and drive our rivalries along, or we could use these to begin a new rivalry, or even side with a superstar for that matter.

Understandably, it will be hard for the developers to give a lot of options for the same, but what they can do is provide basic templates (and a lot of them) and let us do the rest with our choice of words.

After all, who wouldn’t want to deliver an ‘Attitude Era’ promo in the current WWE scenario?

Open world scenario

WWE should take a page out of GTA’s book. Just a page. They do not need to develop a whole open world for our superstar (there’s a new game idea), but at the least they can build an open arena for us.

An arena where our superstar is responsible for his own actions. He can roam around the backstage or choose to hang out in his locker room. He can cross paths with other WWE superstars and maybe, greet them with a chair shot.

It is an ideal scenario to add fuel to existing storylines and could lead to new storylines as well. To add to that, one can also have a conversation with other superstars, staff and most importantly, the divas.

You can make your superstar interfere in any on-going matches just to make a statement, or you can sit on the commentary and bide your time before attacking the performers.

Basically, an open world will be your ticket to all the ‘crazy’ in WWE.

Better storyline designs

No matter how effective the current WWE Universe Mode is, it is a tad bit incomplete. If you are indeed, acting as the General Manager, then you should be able to guide the storylines in a proper manner.

And most importantly, you should be able to watch the show play out in front of your eyes and not just in simulation.

One should also be provided with a lot more options than the existing ones. For example, you can cut a promo as the manager, and then let your henchmen interfere in matches. You can also have the ability to restart the match or build up a returning superstar.

As the General Manager, you should be able to make impromptu matches and even add a third party in an existing rivalry.

This is the kind of independence that one hopes for when he takes up the job as the General Manager and not just mere simulations.

‘Earn’ the titles

This is a glaring problem in the recent WWE games. Right about anyone can challenge for any title in the game, which, in principality, is wrong.

A wrestler needs to fulfil a certain criteria (at least on-screen) in order to challenge for a title. And same should be the case in the game.

A superstar in the game should achieve certain number of wins, or points, in order to challenge for the title. In order to take the easy route, one should at least pin the reigning champion to gain a title shot, or win a Money in the Bank ladder match or a Royal Rumble.

It should be heavily involved in the Exhibition Mode at all times in order for it to be relevant. Basically, every win should count for something.

No more WWE Championship matches for Santino Marella and certainly, none for Khali.

Developers need to take a look at this.