GiveMeSport took a trip to New York last weekend to get our excited paws on the forthcoming WWE 2K18 game, set to be released on October 17.

While the franchise has made tremendous strides during its past few incarnations, fans have been eager to see how 2K further develop the series and GiveMeSport are no different!

2K hosted a SummerSlam kickoff event on Friday night in the Big Apple and, it must be said, they truly went all out to build the excitement for not only one of the WWE's biggest pay-per-views of the year, but the game itself.

The place was like a fan's dream. Hordes of memorabilia, plenty of superstars on hand and even Snoop Dogg playing music! But, once we got our hands on the game, that was truly the main event.

While we were unable to experience the career mode or sniff out any other potential modes in this year's game (ahem, GM mode), we did get a chance to actually have a match.

The match we opted to partake it was a six-man Elimination just so we could experience six amazing entrances. There is no denying that to be a star in today's world of professional wrestling, you need an entrance to set the tone.

2K have done a masterful job of getting these down in extreme detail. One can immerse themselves into the match before the bell even rings, and the action only gets smoother from there on in.

Players of the last few games will be well aware of the transition from striking to grappling on occasions could prove inconsistent - but not anymore.

This is by far the smoothest wrestling game I have ever played and even the way that Rollins scaled the Chamber made the tempo feel exhilarating.

None of this wandering around and pressing button combinations to make something special happen - it was all so easy and, most importantly, fun.

With over 75 superstars set to feature on the game to dig your claws into, this looks like it will be the biggest and boldest 2K outing yet.

The graphics are worth buying this alone and if you're new to the series, the ease of the gameplay makes life super simple.

Judging by 2K's progression over the past few years with this game and their huge success with the NBA 2K career modes, you can bet things will be bigger and better in that department this year, too.

Scheduled for worldwide release on October 17, 2017 for the PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One, as well as in Autumn 2017 for Nintendo Switch™, pre-order your copy today from Amazon.co.uk.