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WCW/Monday Night Wars story mode
This may be a good point of continuation for this series, as you can bring in a few more Attitude Era related matches and wrestlers WHILE focusing more on the WCW end of the Monday Night Wars. Wouldn't it be awesome to play as the original nWo? Win the WCW World Heavyweight Title with Luger in early 97 and Sting at Starrcade? Control DDP and Karl Malone against Hogan and Rodman (or DDP and Jay Leno against Hogan and Bischoff)? Squashing jobbers in two minutes with Goldberg? How about controlling Ric Flair in the Yapapi Indian Strap Match and David Arquette and Vince Russo as they begin their reigns as WCW Champions?
OK, maybe not that involved in the mishaps of WCW, but still...this would be interesting to see. On the other hand, I highly doubt they recruit Tony Schiavone, Larry Zbyzko and the much different sounding Bobby Heenan (and DEFINITELY not Mike Tenay) but you never know. It could be interesting, especially if enough interesting WWE content is presented as a kind of counterbalance to the WCW matches.
If not that, a "Greatest Matches in Wrestling History" story mode. Possibly dating all the way back to the days of Bruno Sammartino in the WWWF, through Flair's matches in NWA/Jim Crockett Promotions/Georgia Championship Wrestling, into the mid 80's with Hogan, early 90's with Bret, mid-late 90's with the WCW, nWo and Goldberg, into the early 2000's with the McMahon-Helmsley Regime, Two-Man Power Trip, The Invasion, Rock/Hogan at WMX8 and the rise of Brock Lesnar, then into the mid-2000's with the rise of Cena/Batista and into the present day with Punk/Cena at MITB 2011. Such a story mode may be enough for two games, but...hey, that's what a wishlist thread is for, right? Besides, I have a good feeling NBA 2K11 and 2K12 did enough to inspire THQ to do something similar with the WWE. Now that they're under the Take 2 umbrella and possibly into the 2K Sports lineup, the sky is the limit. More of the same would be amazing, since it was the first story mode I played all the way through since the early games of this generation (and the only one I've truly enjoyed since the PS2 era).
Improved Weight Detection and "Possibilities to Lift" are a Must
Yes, it's nice to see wrestlers "struggle" to pick up heavier opponents, but Day of Reckoning did it so much better. Make it so anyone can pick up anyone else, but make it so difficult that even the most manic buttonmashing will cause such a result to happen. Mysterio bodyslamming Big Show at Wrestlemania will never happen, but at least make it sorta possible.
WWE Universe Is Still OK, Better Than Nothing...But That Must Change
I love playing Universe Mode and watching my own miniature WWE evolve as time goes on, allowing me to put whatever wrestlers in any fantasy booking situations imaginable. However --- it's nowhere NEAR where it should be. Kofi Kingston randomly walking out and turning heel by attacking the Undertaker may increase the "anything can happen in the WWE" feel, but we all know real-life pro wrestling isn't as out there as something like that. Complex angles should develop over time and have enough presentation flourishes to make it seem like you're watching a real show. Why there still isn't commentary during entrances outside of Story Mode/Attitude Era is strange, especially in a mode where you essentially create your version of the current WWE.
UFC Undisputed 3 did this idea amazingly well with its "Event Mode", which included real intros, graphics, on-screen cameos by 3D versions of the commentators, pre-fight movies/analysis and tons of contextual commentary designed to make you feel like you were part of a UFC event (not to mention Fight and Knockout of the Night honors that make your experience different every time). WWE (2K)14 needs something like this as well --- promos (even in text form), pre-fight hype videos, stat-specific commentary (since championship reigns are now tracked --- I want to hear that CM Punk's defended his belt for a year during his introduction).
I like Universe's momentum rating (which could be a good way to describe "overness" or "heat" in kayfabe terms) but it does nothing but improve a wrestler's standing in a title race. It doesn't affect how loudly the audience cheers, nor does it make said wrestler "unstoppable" in the ring or boost his/her stats. If Kofi goes as far as to sneak attack a fan favorite like Taker, I want the crowd to hate him to the point where I can barely hear his theme music as he enters. Stuff like this is part of real-life wrestling and stuff I try to include in the URWL (my CAW wrestling league). Other sports games include this for players who injure others (NHL 13, for example). Why not turn up the boos for someone with immense heel heat or cheer an incredibly over babyface. The WWE videogames have zero "big match feel", in spite of what the "Epic" match setting does in the menu.
Finally, I'd bring a "match rating" system back for Universe, similar to what Day of Reckoning had. How good a match is can determine the momentum of your Superstars, bring a wrestler closer to his #1 Contendership, make the crowd cheer louder in his next match or make it easier for him to do incredible things during a match...like, say, Rey picking up Show due to increased crowd support. Again, not saying it will ever happen in real life, but WWE is all about "incredible moments". Let's have them mean something to a match instead of the only evidence being in Lawler and Cole's canned post-match commentary. "This is a match they'll be talking about for quite some time!" Why not include an end of the year Slammy Awards where the year's best (user-played) matches and strongest wrestlers are honored? Again, it may not mean much to many people but immersion is something Universe Mode lacks in spite of its authenticity in certain areas.
Of course, the gameplay isn't exactly perfect, either. More attention needs to be paid to flow, physics and reversals. I recently bought a Gamecube to play the old GC titles I bought while I had a Wii. I still think Day of Reckoning is among the best wrestling games in terms of realistic flow during a match. It's not perfect, but it's as close to No Mercy/WM2K as any WWE game has come since the N64 days. There's a realism to wrestling and an art that the current games don't really include. It's far too fragmented. Sure, you can have realistic matches in the new games but there's just something off about the in-ring happenings in comparison to the older Gamecube and N64 titles. WWE 13 is a nice step forward but many legacy issues need to be resolved.
As for CAW...I think it's time for custom image downloading/importing. NCAA Football had this for years. Why not the WWE games? Copyright is copyright, but it's not like NCAA fans were able to create teams with pre-existing logos anyway. An online creation suite ala FIFA with all the options we have offline could be a way to take CAW into the next generation. Highly doubt it, of course. Also --- I've talked about this for years, but re-adding the ability to copy layers will only streamline the CAW making process and make it far less tedious. Even more control over individual sections of clothing (laces of boots, et cetera) will provide more detail. More face textures.
Finally, I want to believe fully-featured Create-a-Belt and Create-an-Animation modes will eventually make their return to the series. The former seems most likely after WWE 13, though the latter is probably something they'll save for next gen. It's sad to think older titles in the Smackdown series on PS2 had both at one point.
What do you think should be included in WWE (2K)14?
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