WWE 2K Battlegrounds

What to Know

Critics Recommend

Average Score

Total Reviews: 55

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WWE 2K Battlegrounds misses the mark, a shallow party game you play for an hour, then move on.

Skip It

Critics Recommend

Critic Reviews: 55

Critics Consensus

# Reviews: 55

WWE 2K Battlegrounds misses the mark, a shallow party game you play for an hour, then move on.

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Critic Reviews for WWE 2K Battlegrounds

Reviews

High Score - 80/100

Low Score - 30/100

Alistair McGeorge (Metro GameCentral)

6/10

“A simple but enjoyable party game that’s very easy to pick up and play with friends – and a considerably better video game than last year’s WWE 2K20.”

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Mark Delaney (GamesRadar+)

2/5 stars

“Like an early card match at a pay-per-view event, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is meant to keep the crowd entertained before the main event re-enters the arena, but it’s rarely as flashy or fun as its concept implies.”

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Chris White (God is a Geek)

7/10

“WWE 2K Battlgrounds is going to divide a lot of people with its pay to play mentality, but there are plenty of ways to earn it. With modes like the enjoyable King of the Battleground and its Campaign, you are never short of opportunities to experience the over-the-top gameplay.”

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Read the Reviews (55 total)

Outlet	Author	Score	Date	Quote	Read
BaziCenter	Farnood Samie Yousefi	5 / 10	10-06-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a bad game. It tries to be arcade and fun, but instead it’s buggy, shallow and repetitive. Even for a fan of WWE, there are far better option out there.	Read review
Bazimag	Bahram Bigharaz	3 / 10	09-22-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is one of the weakest WWE-based titles. A very shallow and weak title that is made only to empty the pockets of the fans of WWE and has no value for the experience. The game is miles away from the standards of console titles and can ultimately be compared to a mobile title.	Read review
But Why Tho?	Nikko Soto	6 / 10	09-22-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds turned out to be a major letdown. There was a lot of outcry over WWE 2K20 because of the multiple glitches and the fact that the game felt unfinished. There was hope that WWE 2K Battlegrounds would be a new addition to the series that would add something novel but it was just a step in the wrong direction.	Read review
Chalgyr’s Game Room	Nick Herber	7 / 10	09-28-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds deserves credit for being the most fun a WWE game has been in a couple of years, but for better and for worse, it is clearly a budget title that cuts corners on depth as it attempts to provide a more arcade-like experience. It generally works, as Battlegrounds is fun in bursts of quick play – especially with friends, but for those with a career mode / progression itch, there’s a good chance that this title will leave you wanting for more. If you have expectations set appropriately, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is entertaining, though it may not have a lot of staying power beyond the first few weeks you get it.	Read review
Cheat Code Central	Jenni Lada	3.5 / 5 stars	09-22-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is striking for its simplicity. It is the game equivalent of a popcorn flick. This is something goofy, simple, affordable, and likely intended to be enjoyed in brief bursts.	Read review
Checkpoint Gaming	Luke Mitchell	5 / 10	09-21-2020	When it’s all said and done, I can’t shake the feeling that WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a quick pivot after last years disastrous WWE 2K20, a way to simply distract wrestling fans with a new shiny object while they work on what will hopefully be a stronger WWE 2K22. So much of this wrestling experience is copy and paste, from the animations, to the move-sets, to the painfully slow method of unlocking the roster and even the lack of polish that sometimes brings frame-rates down to a grinding halt. There’s a fun arcade fighting experience to be had, especially when it comes to local multiplayer where the shallow nature of the gameplay is less obvious. But while this may be accessible and “fun for the whole family”, it’s ultimately about as successful as a Sasha Banks title reign. Satisfying at first, but inevitably short and disappointing. We deserve better.	Read review
Critical Hit	Darryn Bonthuys	6 / 10	09-25-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds feels like a missed opportunity at the best of times. What could have been a mad breath of fresh air until WWE 2K22 comes along, is instead a boring grind that’s all style and no real substance. Invasive microtransactions tarnish the few remaining bright spots of this game, barely allowing it be okayfabe.	Read review
Cubed3	Luke Hemming	5 / 10	10-31-2020	With WWE 2K Battlegrounds, 2K has made it impossible to recommend for price and value. All aspects of the game revolve around microtransactions and by offering so little to begin with, the motivation to continue playing isn’t present. Even the little things that make WWE games worth playing, such as seeing your favourite star enter the arena, are ruined with short audio clips and the same punch out of casket or box entrance. With baffling modes and gameplay that doesn’t ever need to extend past single button bashing, it really highlights how 2K have gone for the cash grab and decided a mobile game may reach a wider audience on consoles. This is one title that needs to Rest….In……Peace.	Read review
Cultured Vultures	Stephen Wilds	7 / 10	09-21-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is an interesting distraction that wants to appeal to everyone, but will have trouble keeping a headlock on anyone for too long.	Read review
DASHGAMER.com	Dan Rizzo	6 / 10	09-25-2020	While WWE 2K Battlegrounds attempts to campaign itself for everyone, it unfortunately relies on a wealthy wallet within an unprecedented climate.	Read review
Destructoid	Dan Roemer	3 / 10	09-24-2020	It lacks so much of what made over-the-top arcade wrestling games great in the first place, while also being filled to the brim with microtransactions. The spectacle of its over-the-top moves and abilities are quickly lost in the tedium of its progression, lack of depth, budget presentation, and technical issues. It almost feels like 2K has come crashing down with the WWE license…and it hurts inside.	Read review
DualShockers	Michael Ruiz	5.5 / 10	09-28-2020	I am so mixed on WWE 2K Battlegrounds. In some ways, I really dig that 2K decided to create an arcade-style wrestling game. I do believe the basics of this game make a solid foundation for another entry. The “pick-up and play” direction is great if you want to play with a few friends. Still, a lot of its flaws make it hard to recommend to those who usually play these games alone. After a couple of hours, all of WWE 2K Battlegrounds’ silly over-the-top gimmicks lose their luster.	Read review
Expansive	Jay Jones	Not Recommended	09-25-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is probably not something I’ll be revisiting years down the line, but for now, it does what it’s set out to do and that’s keep the franchise fresh in people’s minds long enough for its big re-emergence next year.	Read review
Flickering Myth	Shaun Munro	5.5 / 10	09-21-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds delivers shallow yet fitfully enjoyable, bite-sized mayhem, even as it feels unmistakably slung together in a hurry.	Read review
Forbes	Brian Mazique	8 / 10	09-20-2020	WWE 2K BG isn’t going to provide you the depth that the traditional, more sim-related version aims to deliver. However, for what it is, which is an arcade, over-the-top, dump-your-rules, beat-em up, it hits on all the major points. The game is fun, deeper than you might expect and offers a very good bang for your 40 bucks.	Read review
GameCrate	David Sanchez	7.5 / 10	09-23-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is the best WWE game in a long time. Its over-the-top combat leans heavily on cartoon violence, so if you’re looking for a wrestling sim, you won’t find that here. What you will get, though, is a fun, fast-paced, and lighthearted wrestling game.	Read review
GameMAG	Azamat Tegaev	6 / 10	10-27-2020	Despite some serious drawbacks, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is the first exciting game licensed by WWE in over a decade.	Read review
GameSpew	Richard Seagrave	5 / 10	09-21-2020	There’s a bit of a budget feel to WWE 2K Battlegrounds, thanks to its shared movesets and story presentation. Despite that though, it’s actually quite endearing to play, and it’s easy to have fun with it. Get a friend or two to play it in local multiplayer with you, and it really is a blast.	Read review
GamesRadar+	Mark Delaney	2 / 5 stars	09-21-2020	Like an early card match at a pay-per-view event, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is meant to keep the crowd entertained before the main event re-enters the arena, but it’s rarely as flashy or fun as its concept implies.	Read review
GamingBolt	Matt Bianucci	7 / 10	09-23-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a welcome spin-off for the franchise, giving it the extravagant, over-the-top, enjoyable gameplay that captures and magnifies the WWE’s best aspects.	Read review
Generación Xbox	Juan Lorente	7 / 10	09-26-2020	WWE 2k Battlegrounds brings us the craziest and funniest wrestling, but it ends up being repetitive.	Read review
God is a Geek	Chris White	7 / 10	09-25-2020	WWE 2K Battlgrounds is going to divide a lot of people with its pay to play mentality, but there are plenty of ways to earn it. With modes like the enjoyable King of the Battleground and its Campaign, you are never short of opportunities to experience the over-the-top gameplay.	Read review
Hardcore Gamer	Cory Wells	2.5 / 5 stars	09-22-2020	There’s an opportunity to have fun with WWE 2K Battlegrounds. Playing with friends or family who aren’t fully up to speed on how wrestling games works should make for an enjoyable experience.	Read review
Hobby Consolas	Alberto Lloret	75 / 100	09-21-2020	WWE 2K Battleground it’s an interesting change of course, an arcade that’s far from being perfect, but is by far the most entertaining title that WWE has left in the recent years. It’s fantastic for short sessions, with tons of unlockables (even with microtransactions), but it can be repetitive soon and some ideas are far from the right spot.	Read review
IGN	Mitchell Saltzman	5 / 10	09-21-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds works as a shallow party game you play for an hour, then move on to something else, and that’s it	Read review
IGN Spain	Álex Pareja	7 / 10	09-22-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is fun and attractive for wrestling and WWE fans, crazy and entertaining. However, the combat still feels imprecise and the number of game modes is insufficient, with a character unlock system that is too similar of a free to play.	Read review
Impulsegamer	Paul Stuart	3.3 / 5 stars	09-26-2020	Easy on the eyes and ears and fun to play, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a simplified title that mainly works. Its horrific paywall system, however, immediately kills much of its good will.	Read review
INDIANTVCZ	Jaroslav Sedláček	5 / 10	10-11-2020	Average, in some parts even very below-average wrestling game. In addition, it contains microtransactions, which is incomprehensible due to its high cost. Bugs and crashes of FPS in multiplayer are a matter of course.	Read review
Merlin’in Kazanı	Alparslan Gürlek	65 / 100	09-20-2020	Smashing somebody! That’s what i am here for. WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a cute and wild game, but has some problems could be solved.	Read review
Metro GameCentral	Alistair McGeorge	6 / 10	09-30-2020	A simple but enjoyable party game that’s very easy to pick up and play with friends – and a considerably better video game than last year’s WWE 2K20.	Read review
New Game Network	Eric Hall	50 / 100	10-03-2020	Although WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a way more pleasant experience then last year’s wrestling debacle, the franchise still has a ways to go. The title sets out what it wanted to do, which was a provide a light, arcade-like take on the WWE. However, between the lack of depth and intrusive microtransactions, I’m not sure how much staying power it has.	Read review
Nintendo Life	Chris Scullion	4 / 10	09-21-2020	The concept behind WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a solid one, but it’s let down time and time again by limited and repetitive combat, dopey AI, an excessively locked roster and a series of bewildering design choices that really should have been questioned at some point during production. We hope it eventually gets an improved sequel, but until then, the Switch is still lacking a proper main event-tier wrestling game.	Read review
NintendoWorldReport	Bryan Rose	5 / 10	09-28-2020	I don’t hate WWE Battlegrounds. It’s a much more arcadey style of game that I think is a better representation of what a pro wrestling game should be. But it does have its own set of problems in its lack of depth and aggressive microtransactions. I wouldn’t mind seeing more from this series, but it needs some big changes to truly be a fun experience.	Read review
Operation Sports	Philip Varckette	Not Recommended	09-22-2020	So would I recommend this game? Well, it depends what you want out of a WWE game. This would probably be a really fun game for a parent to play with their young son or daughter. I also think it could be a fun budget title if you just want a party game to trot out with some wrestling buddies. Overall, it’s not a bad game, but it doesn’t feel as special as something like WWE All-Stars either.	Read review
Oyungezer Online	Engin Vural	6 / 10	10-13-2020	If it was a fair priced arcade game, it would have a chance. With it’s full price and micro-transactions, it doesn’t seem possible.	Read review
PC Invasion	Jason Rodriguez	6 / 10	09-22-2020	Over-the-top action, ridiculous animations and attacks, and a cartoony reimagining of your favorite superstars aside, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is hampered by its lackluster class-based movesets, as well as a system that requires you to grind for a vast majority of superstars that still need to be unlocked. With limited customization options and game modes, it’s best played in short bursts, and you’ll hardly feel engaged from a single-player standpoint.	Read review
Player2.net.au	Shaun Nicholls	Not Recommended	10-01-2020	Unlike its predecessors, WWE 2K Battlegrounds does what it claims, providing an arcade-style take on wrestling that can have anyone pulling off gravity-defying moves in minutes. Sadly it lacks the depth to be more than a fleeting piece of brawling fun.	Read review
PlayStation Universe	John-Paul Jones	5.5 / 10	09-21-2020	Far less stuffy than the mainline WWE 2K series and designed for quick bursts of entertaining casual play with friends, WWE 2K Battlegrounds lack of depth and technical issues sadly undercut its energetic audiovisual presentation. Hardly the sequel to WWE All-Stars that so many wanted, WWE 2K Battlegrounds could simply be so much more	Read review
Press Start	Josh Lack	5.5 / 10	09-30-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a budget brawler with a high price tag. Despite the core gameplay being quite solid, a lot of the content is locked behind microtransactions and grinding away at matches. These things stop it from rising to Superstar status.	Read review
PSX Brasil	Thiago de Alencar Moura	65 / 100	10-03-2020	Simple and fun, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is an enjoyable experience for wrestling fans and rehabilitates a bit of the awful image that the series has because of the previous game, being a good distraction to play with friends either locally or online.	Read review
Push Square	John Cal McCormick	3 / 10	09-21-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a game that seems like it exists purely to house its storefront, offering predatory microtransactions which would be overly pricy in a free-to-play game. In a paid title	Read review
Rocket Chainsaw	David Latham	3 / 5 stars	09-20-2020	With plenty of different ways to play the game and a huge focus placed on both offline and online multiplayer, Saber Interactive has created a fun over-the-top wrestling game with all your favourite stars from the current roster and the hall of fame.	Read review
Saudi Gamer	عبدالرحمن بعيون	6 / 10	09-24-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds tries to reach a new audience with a refreshing new direction for the series after the last year’s disaster. However, locking a lot of its contents behind micro-transactions along with some other issues damaged the overall experience	Read review
Saving Content	Scott Ellison II	3 / 5 stars	09-28-2020	While WWE 2K21 was canceled for this year, I found WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS to be a solid replacement. While they are not facsimiles to one another, it fills the gap nicely. I think there’s valid concerns with the microtransactions, but for the most part isn’t egregious or tacky. The game’s biggest modes are chock full of content for hours of entertainment, and even the remainder of the modes are fun to play with its stylized visuals. The longevity will lie in its multiplayer modes, and crossplay deepens the player pool. WWE 2K BATTLEGROUNDS is an ultracompetent brawler that doesn’t try to be more than it is, which is a really entertaining take on wrestling.	Read review
SECTOR.sk	Ondrej Džurdženík	5 / 10	10-19-2020	It is derated wrestling with missing adrenalin. Just several similar game modes without piquancy.	Read review
Sirus Gaming	Kurt John Palomaria	6 / 10	10-02-2020	Hitting finishing moves, climbing up the top of a cage, and hitting your opponent with a motorcycle is fun and WWE 2K Battlegrounds lets you do that, but the overabundance of microtransactions from cosmetics to unlocking wrestlers is made worst by its lack of depth in combat. If I was the great wrestling analyst Dave Meltzer, I’d give this match only 2.5 stars out of 5.	Read review
SpazioGames	Nicolò Bicego	7.8 / 10	09-23-2020	WWE 2K Battleground is a fun take on wrestling after the messy WWE 2K20, but microtransactions felt absolutely unnecessary.	Read review
Sports Gamers Online	Kevin Finley	7.6 / 10	09-19-2020	Strictly speaking, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a solid game. The arcade focus produces replayability as players return to unlock ongoing content. If you enjoyed WWE All-Stars, I do not see you would not enjoy WWE 2K Battlegrounds.	Read review
The Digital Fix	Andrew Shaw	7 / 10	09-21-2020	While it is reliant on grinding and lacks the sort of customisation that the simulation fans crave, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is the most entertaining WWE games in years.	Read review
The Games Machine	Claudio Magistrelli	6.6 / 10	09-23-2020	A great idea and a lot, a lot, a lot of repetitiveness. The change in style and setting could bring a beneficial breath of fresh air to the WWE wrestling produced by 2K, instead the game made by Saber was lost due to an excessive trivialization of the fighting styles accompanied by a system of microtransactions quite invasive.	Read review
TrueGaming	عمر العمودي	6 / 10	09-24-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is for those looking for an enjoyable multiplayer experience but are also very patient with the characters unlocking system and don’t mind the lack of value in its content.	Read review
WayTooManyGames	Baylen Marston	7 / 10	09-19-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds knows exactly what it wants to be, and gets the job done. At first glance, people might be turned off by how the game looks and plays, but wrestling games are much better when not taken seriously.	Read review
Wccftech	Nathan Birch	5 / 10	09-22-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is clearly a rush job, but the game’s simple, fundamentally sound action can be a real breath of fresh air at times. Unfortunately, that air is tainted by overbearing microtransactions that feel particularly crass given the game’s cartoony, kid-friendly aesthetic. Battlegrounds could have been a contender if 2K had truly believed in the game, but once again, the publisher only seems to be interested in wrestling open fans’ wallets.	Read review
WellPlayed	Adam Ryan	6.5 / 10	09-24-2020	The agressive monetisation in Battlegrounds goes a long way to undermine an otherwise fun and thoroughly entertaining brawler	Read review
ZTGD	Ken McKown	7 / 10	10-01-2020	WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a fun romp that I enjoyed a lot more than I anticipated I would. Again, take it with a grain of salt as I am not a wrestling fan anymore. This reminded me of the more friendly spectacle of past games like WWE Arcade and Superstars. I wish there were more legends to be found and the models weren’t so creepy at times, but as a whole this is the best use of the license in years.	Read review

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Game Info

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The world of WWE is your battleground with all-new, over the top, in-your-face arcade action as your favorite WWE Superstars and Legends battle it out in outlandish interactive environments around the world.

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