Outlook

While it would be ideal to have an online franchise/booker option with multiple friends, one of the coolest additions tocould be the use of friends’ created characters in the MyCareer mode. The “invasion” concept only supports five characters per career, but this is something that I think will really add some personality and randomness to the story-based offering. Reality is already bent by having your own created character in the world, so why not add some additional wackiness with your friends in the mix?This concept isn’t entirely new, as games have previously used ghosts, “Drivatars,” downloadable characters and leaderboard challenges to inject some life into the proceedings. Still, the fact that this feature allows for characters to become a part of the story is quite unique, as you’ll actually be able to interact with their personas more directly (either as friend or foe). I almost liken it to the recent non-sports game, where the “Nemesis” system in that game does something similar with its AI enemies. By having CPU-controlled characters that you build a rivalry with, you’re able to create water-cooler moments and story arcs that are dynamic, and they are your personal story.I suspect thatwon’t have that level of AI leveraged with the CPU characters of your friends, but that’s probably an attainable goal in the future — some sort of dynamic AI that creates behaviours and storylines based on your interactions. I’m sure the feature forwill have some level of dynamism, but it’s hard to say how much. It is confirmed that you won’t know when your “friends” might strike in your story mode, and they may be there to help you or hurt you.There are all sorts of great possibilities, including a chair shot to potentially cost you a title (thus starting a feud) or a key run-in spot to save you from a huge beatdown, which might set up a tag team storyline. The possibilities seem quite varied, but I’m sure 2K is just slotting in a friend’s created character into a potential storyline, so it’s likely not a completely “procedural” situation. I do wonder how the career mode’s social media metrics will tie into these potential friend overlaps, as the goal of the story seems to be that you have to gain fans and rep in order to get ahead. I like that the entertainment value of your storyline is more important than wins and losses, and the lack of fail state lends itself well to working in your friends’ characters.It will be interesting to see how the characters are imported, as your friends will likely be improving and altering their characters as they go. If you were to start the career mode on the same day as them, are you just getting a low-ranked version of the character with only one costume? Or is there a level of fluidity to the character? It would be cool if your friend’s wrestler updated over time in the career mode, and you would think it wouldn’t be too difficult for 2K to pull the character down from the server each time the game was loaded up.Of course, VC will be a feature of the MyCareer mode, but it would be really interesting if you could earn VC for yourself and your friends by having them in your career. It might take the shape of something like’s unlocking and gifting system, but it would be a benefit to all involved. This also reminds of, too, where losing to a friend’s “ghost” netted them points and winning gained you points.Man, I’m just imagining having a stable of my friends’ character dynamically joining forces in the middle of the career mode. That would be tremendous. If you could actually ally with your friends to take on another faction in the game, and then all of you were in one-off matches and could help each other out…. Yeah, the possibilities really are endless.We’ll soon know about the full extent of the “invasion” element for. There are lots of other aspects that the developers seem to be doing right in the career mode (starting in NXT, earning rep, dynamic storylines, etc.), but this feature could potentially add a lot of sizzle and replay value if it’s been implemented in a smart way.