With WWE 2K15 having kind of a strange release schedule, a lot of users have been waiting to see whether the new consoles make this year's entry worthy of the upgrade. After spending some time with the Xbox One version, it's safe to say that 2K's influence on this year's product is obvious. From some of the subtle animations changes and presentational flair, everything has received a boost in some way.

Then again, from what I've seen, there are clearly areas where corners have been cut to ship a product on time, such as missing modes, a smaller roster and a diminished creation suite. We're not talking NHL 15 levels of feature and mode omission here, but there are some items missing, so make sure you go in with your eyes open. Some users are quite upset at only 25 create-a-wrestler spots, for instance, compared to 100 on previous generation hardware.

Here are some of my quick impressions:

• In terms of presentation, the game has a lot of positives. Improved facial detail, better hair tech, additional lighting and denser crowds are some of the elements I noticed immediately, and some of the entrances are downright uncanny in their accuracy.

• In-match presentation seems like a half-step up from last year. There are some different camera cuts and altered replay packages, and some new fatigue and desperation animations do add a lot of emotion. It was neat seeing my created character dive from his knees to break up a pin in a triple threat match or fall down to one knee after hitting a finisher. Still, a lot of legacy animations and sliding are noticeable.

• The biggest gameplay addition is chain wrestling, and I like it quite a lot. It's a rock-paper-scissors concept. The idea is that both characters start a match fresh and shouldn't just be able to execute grapple moves. By selecting either wristlock, waistlock or side headlock, you'll go into a little sequence of cat and mouse, trying to outthink your opponent. The interface is a bit busy, but I love the conceit of the feature.

• Stuff like weapons, catapult finishers, OMG moments and finishers remain the same, but the stamina of each character is represented as well as their overall health. If you do moves in quick succession, you'll greatly diminish your stamina. This becomes a consideration later in matches, as you might not be able to follow up on a big move.

• Gameplay, on the whole, feels familiar but with some added emphasis on stamina and pacing. The emotion found in some animations and "selling" adds to certain matches, but a lot of contests will play out as squashes, one way or the other. Strike and running spam has been reduced, thanks to slower animations, but some of these repetitive elements are still present.

• The MyCareer mode is generally entertaining, if a little bit plain. The ability to go up through NXT and onto the bigger shows (Superstars, Smackdown, etc) is a solid base, and you get some level of agency about your fate. Sometimes you get several match choices, and certain matches will gain you followers on social media, while others gain you VC and more skills points to improve your character. It's a question of climbing the ladder faster or safer.

• Some moments did seem pre-destined, though, as a booker would say I had a terrible match when it was rated four stars right after. Kind of odd. It seems like they want you to progress at certain points and just kind of make an excuse to do so. Still, since you can't really lose, it's fun to see what happens when you do.

• Funnily enough, you almost have to lose a bunch in the career mode, as "doing the job" seems like part of the design. You're just not strong enough to handle most of the big boys early on, and I found myself trying to get DQ'd to hold onto the NXT title. That didn't work for long!

• The social media and out-of-ring stuff is pretty limited for a lot of the mode, but it is there in some respects. Again, this seems like something that will be much bigger in future years, but what's there is kind of cool.

• The creation features for entrances and such are pretty speedy, and you see an animated gif of pyros and editable moments, which saves egregious loading times in these areas. Loading times overall are pretty good.

• Universe mode looks mostly the same, with the ability to discover "clues" by playing and simming storylines. These clues will provide the seeds for more interesting feuds and stories in the future. You can set short, medium and long rivalries, as before. There are 861 clues to collect.

• The 2K Showcase mode looks to have the same quality bar from the Attitude and WrestleMania versions, but now with one-on-one feuds. I played some of CM Punk vs. John Cena, and there were lots of video montages and cinematic moments, including historical objectives. I'm not sure if these rivalries really match up to the previous ideas in this mode, but they are more of that type of experience, if that's what you're after.

• The John Cena–curated soundtrack is only 12 tracks, and well…. Yeah, some of those songs are just awful. To be fair, some are decent.

Outlook

I'm interested to get further into MyCareer and play some more of the 2K Showcase mode. I haven't had much of a chance to get online yet, so that's also a point of interest. A day-one patch adds six-player support for online, by the way. What's here seems like a reasonably featured wrestling product with solid gameplay and a new shine, and it's been fun to improve my created character.

The full review of WWE 2K15 (Xbox One and PS4) will be up on OS this week.