B-Ball or A-Ball?
The NBA 2K games have long been at the top tier of sports games, but with numerous niggles particularly in server issues have been making that position less solid as the years have gone on. Does this year see the competition continue to close or is the lead extended?
Story:
This year, Spike Lee has slunk off into the distance, but there’s still a very involved (and just as dumb) story mode, which sees your character (the hilariously named ‘President of Basketball, or Prez for short) making it through school, college, and into the NBA itself before a career with team USA awaits in the international sphere.
It manages to be both more and less stupid that last year’s iteration in terms of the infrequent cut-scenes and text messages/ social media feed, but where it really falls down is in not integrating more of the 2KU content as a way of training you up and educating you in the game, something that FIFA 17’s ‘the journey’ does very well.
Gameplay:
The 2KU content is still very much worthwhile though. I’ve been playing these games for a few years now, but clearly hadn’t been making full use of the control scheme (and it’s also nice to have a refresher course every year being a more casual player).
When it comes to the main modes, there’s now a bewildering amount of content. Whilst I still don’t think anyone can beat the way that FUT works in FIFA, the card-trading MyTeam element of the game works just fine, and the addition of a number of short-form challenges is certainly welcome, as it provides a great new way to mix up the gameplay and incentives to play & train in certain ways.
Meanwhile, the GM mode now allows you to play the off-season in comprehensive detail, even changing the way the NBA works, before going onto the draft, signing out-of-contract players and negotiating with your staff.
On court, the AI has been absolutely nailed – the game is fluid, feels realistic, and the physics are spot-on. Games are tough, but feel ‘right’ regardless of the difficulty setting – the AI does a good job of keeping the scores close enough at most times.
The controls have been improved too, with the right stick (or ‘pro stick’) allowing for a greater range of moves, whilst passing has been improved through the ability to select a bounce or lobbed overhead pass. There’s more than enough content to please any basketball fan, and the only difficulty is working out where to start!
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