I skipped WWE 2K15 due to how bad the game was when it came out. 2K picking up the pieces of what Yukes has done for years with the series was a welcome change, but it was not for the better. So many features that were around for decades was not in that game. Epic fail on their part. And here we are, a year later, with yet another game from WWE and here I was hoping that they would do some changes. Hopefully things would've been better for the series. Boy was I wrong. As much as people harp over the PS3 version of this same game as a copy of WWE 2K14, all the way to the gameplay, I found that to be better than the 'superior' PS4 version of WWE 2K16. They brought back everything that was missing from 2K15, but that's not enough to save this game from being piss poor.
So where do I start? The core gameplay went through a complete overhaul from its PS3 counterpart and dare I say, this was not all that necessary. The controls are different, you can't switch between using the left analog stick and D-pad at all......and worse of all, there's no manual. While it may sound like nitpicking, manuals are always a blessing. Instead you have to go to the website (to draw revenue for the site obviously) and even they're a bit confusing to read. The gameplay is extremely.....extremely.....slow. Everyone moves at a very snail pace, as if they were simulating the actions of what goes on in WWE land (which is never a good thing - I.E: SmackDown vs Raw 2007 and 2008) combined with a quick depleting stamina bar and limited reversals which can thankfully be turned off. The collar elbow tie-up minigame is pretty cool, not gonna lie, but then it gets rather repetitive and boring the more and more it happens. Not to mention how the reversals don't seem to register when you clearly know they did. That is one of my biggest peeves about the PS4 version: the reversals don't usually register and unless you manually turn off the stamina and reversal limits, the matches feel like a chore.
However there is a silver lining in this cloud. This year's showcase is pretty good. 2K13's showcase was the Attitude Era (or should I say areas of the Attitude Era not including wrestlers that are on WWE's blacklist per say), 2K14's was WrestleMania with a historic match or two (or in some cases three) from each Mania from the first one in Madison Square Garden back in 1985 to the 29th one in Metlife Stadium in 2013 and 2K15's were classic rivalries such as John Cena vs CM Punk and Triple H vs Shawn Michaels. ...... Okay, not the most classic rivalries you could think of but you get what I mean. This one is all about one man: "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. This is a great showcase featuring the man back in the late 90s. This mode follows Austin's rise to stardom with his WrestleMania 12 debut, his infamous "Austin 3:16" promo at the 1996 King Of The Ring and ending with his very last match at WrestleMania 19 in 2003, with a splash of matches from WCW and ECW when Austin was much younger, healthier (and actually had hair). It's great to relive some of the forgotten moments in Austin's career; not to mention seeing arenas that have never seen the light of day in any WWF/WWE game (I.E: Survivor Series 1996, In Your House: Revenge Of The Taker, WCW Bash At The Beach, King Of The Ring 1999). For me that is a bonus in this game.
Despite the Austin 3:16 showcase, a healthy roster of talent especially with names that also would never have seen the light of day (which BTW is missing four specific women from NXT and no, Eva Marie is not one of them) and a decent amount of DLC, WWE 2K16 on the PlayStation 4 is not good. I'm sure a lot of people had fun with the game, and more power to you, but I am not happy with the current direction of the WWE games on the newer consoles. It's situations like this that make miss the likes of SmackDown: Here Comes The Pain and SmackDown vs Raw 2006. Rent it if you will. Just not a good game at all.