WWE 2K25 review: "A colossal package even if you never go anywhere near Virtual Currency"

We're approaching the point where annual sports games such as WWE 2K25 are going to need two separate scores. The first for gameplay: after all, in the olden days, this was all that mattered. Alas, times have changed, and so that second score would cover modes implemented solely to draw fans into shedding money on microtransactions. Ultimate Team. Diamond Dynasty. MyFaction. Because as time goes by, the gulf between gameplay quality and cash-grabbing temptations is becoming increasingly difficult to bridge.

WWE 2K25 demonstrates this more pertinently than any of its rivals. Honestly, its wrestling engine is spectacular. Modes that don't encourage you to fork out real cash, such as Showcase and MyRise, have rediscovered their mojo after some fallow years. But the majority of the hype surrounding the game centres on a new experience called The Island. And, well, it's hard to view it as anything other than a means of siphoning fans for extra dough.

Get your wallet ready

The ethos at play here is that you create a character, then upgrade his or her abilities and moves by winning one-on-one matches, either against the AI (as decreed by Roman Reigns), or in PVP. In between those bouts, you free-roam an online neighbourhood exploring locations named after WWE stars: Damage CTRL Computer Repair, Hurricane Outfitters, The Arcade Of Tomorrow (Asuka). Many of these locations are stores where you can buy items to kit out your creation – but these aren't just themed on wrestlers. There's also a Nike store, and a Jordan store, enabling you to jump into matches sporting official brands.

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Here's where the big dollar drop comes in. To buy, for instance, a pair of orange Nike sneakers, you're looking at 18,000 VC. Yes, you can grind for that – but many will want them instantly. 15,000 VC costs £4.49. So you're looking at upwards of £5 just for some trainers to put on a CAW. Now consider that most in-game stores have at least a dozen items and it just feels demoralizing. Matches and challenges in these custom arenas are fun – they're exclusive to the mode, marginally increasing its appeal – but overall something feels off about the knowledge that fans will spend hundreds of pounds or dollars on a character they'd have tweaked in previous games for free.

It's especially galling because the community was already down on another VC-focussed mode, MyFaction, which inevitably returns. This mode is WWE's take on Ultimate Team, as you build a four-person squad to take into matches and challenges. As with previous years it's perfectly playable, but always with the sense that it's here primarily for profit. Want Persona cards, which unlock gimmicks such as 2010 CM Punk or 1997 Rob Van Dam for use across the game? Get ready to grind, grind, grind – or spend real money on VC to expedite your progress. It isn't subtle. Indeed, it's shameless.

It also does the entire series a disservice because, good lord, the wrestling here is top-tier. Just exceptional. The best we've seen in the series going back to its Smackdown vs Raw heyday. Animations look like the real thing, wrestlers feel like their authentic selves, punches and kicks land with satisfying heft, matches sway back and forth enthrallingly, always with the threat of being ended by a sudden signature or finisher. The return of chain wrestling is a success, and intergender bouts are fun too. Interference-packed Bloodline Rules matches are carnage. The new WWE Archives backstage area is a hoot to brawl in due to its endless easter eggs, and the roster is insanely stacked. From the current day, only Motor City Machine Guns and Penta are missing – and they're coming soon as DLC.

There are so many neat touches to enjoy. Changing camera angles during entrances sounds like a geeky, needless addition, but it's brilliant – you get to play director, settling the scene for any bout just as you see fit. The new Giant class makes the likes of Omos feel truly unique to handle, and bruises, blood, and sweat have all taken a noticeable step forward where visual details are concerned. New Netflix arenas for Raw and Smackdown are here, despite only being introduced in January. Five-person entrances for The Final Testament, Judgment Day, and Wyatt Sicks are spot on. Poison Mist and Powder paybacks leave your foes' faces coated in those substances. There's much cool stuff – completely at odds with the design decisions underpinning The Island and MyFaction.

Bloodline injection

The game's best mode is Showcase, and mercifully it remains completely free. As in previous editions it has you replaying bouts from WWE past, but with intriguing new elements. In some matches, you have to change the result, while others are completely fictional: such as the Dudley Boys taking on 1970s brawlers The Wild Samoans. The entire mode is themed around past and present grapplers who make up The Bloodline dynasty: the Anoa'i, Maivia, and Fatu families. It's a great way to integrate characters we've never seen in the series before such as the Headshrinkers, Islanders, and The Rock's own grandfather, Peter Maivia.

In a touch of genius, Paul Heyman – Roman Reigns' onscreen counsel – is tasked with presenting each match, and as a result every single pre-bout video is unskippable. No exaggeration. They're better than most content on official WWE Blu-rays. The one setting the scene for Reigns' Royal Rumble slugfest against Seth Rollins is as incredible a promo as you'll see on TV all year. It all amounts to a traditional mode that feels utterly revitalised – although the decision to add timed objectives is a wild error, and the only misstep from an otherwise sublime return to form.

Throw in an all-new MyRise with the ability to unlock jobber favourites such as Cole Queen and Odyssey Rift, expanded GM Mode, and the returning Universe – oh, for that mode to have been given the resources ploughed into The Island – and this remains a colossal package even if you never go anywhere near VC.

But it's there, and until we figure out that new two-tier scoring system, it means The Island and MyFaction have to factor into the final rating. Where in-ring action is concerned, this is right on the cusp of being a five-star wrestling sim. But it has to lose a star for its cash-grab modes, which land as snugly as a Logan Paul brass knuckle shot to the jaw. In which you're the recipient, rather than the mega-rich Youtuber.