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A maximum of six wrestlers can be in the ring at any one time, but by that point you’re basically playing a flipbook version of Monday Night Raw. Having any more than two wrestlers on-screen at one time causes the game to plummet to single frame figures. Well, prepare to have your enthusiasm laid out by an RKO outta nowhere because the frame-rate problems persist. Okay, so the menus and the entrances are off, but we can skip those, right? It’s the meat and potatoes of the in-ring action that matters. You’ve not experienced the true meaning of cringe until you’ve watched Finn Balor’s entrance as he flings his arms into the air, missing his audio cue every single time. Entrances suffer from horrendous slowdown, causing wrestlers with time-sensitive intros to move in a bizarre slow-mo while their music plays at normal speed. When you finally kick off a match, the problems start to snowball. Even the static character models in the background shudder as they move to reflect your transition though match and mode options. Right from the main menu, you know something’s amiss. It’s an element you could forgive for a first swing of the Switch-shaped bat if it weren’t for the woeful performance issues that dog WWE 2K18 at every turn. For the most part, the visual downgrade isn’t that much of an issue – especially in handheld mode – but it’s consistently inconsistent, with some models looking not too far removed from their PS4/Xbox One counterparts while others look like they’ve just walked out of a PS2-era locker room. Graphically, we all knew a triple-A game as big as this was going to take a hit in order to fit on Switch, so the reduction in character model details, the absence of many lighting effects and the noticeable lack of activity from the crowd are to be expected. But in practice, WWE 2K18 is a port that simply wasn’t ready for release, one dogged by performance issues that render some modes painful to endure and others simply unplayable. In theory, such an iteration should be revitalised on Switch, by the simple virtue of once again being under the Nintendo banner and offering wrestling action on the go.
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While it offers the biggest launch roster yet and plenty of online and offline modes, it lacks any real innovation to justify the full-fat price tag. On other platforms, the latest addition to Yukes and Visual Concepts’ long-running sports entertainment sim is a comprehensive if ultimately uninspiring instalment.
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WWE 2K18 Nintendo Switch NSP Free Download Romslab
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