NBA 2K10: Draft Combine Review

It has been a few years since I have played a basketball video game.   I have always felt that the sport did not translate well into video game form.  The last games I played seriously were 2KSports’ college basketball games (rest in peace College Hoops series) and that was purely because of peer pressure from my campus friends.  I had an uncanny urge to give basketball games a try once again.  Enter NBA 2K10: Draft Combine.  This download only game (on Xbox Live and Playstation Network) was a perfect way for me to test the waters.  Users create a player and try to raise his stock in the draft by playing combine games during the course of a summer.  You improve your player with drills and combine game performances.  Did the game spark my interest again or did it end it?  Read on to find out.

Let me get the negative aspects out of the way first.  First off, do not expect to have a good or even average player at the start.  Your created player will suck.  That’s just the reality of it.  While I don’t expect to have a NBA all-star here, it didn’t make sense for my player to be this horrible off the bat.  You are a potential NBA draft pick already and are trying to raise your stock.  Why then does my player miss layups simply because someone is present?  My player is a three (small foward/3 guard) so why when I drive to the rim against a point guard that I have about seven inches on does the ball roll out on my layup?  Why do I miss wide open jump shots, let alone jump shots that the defender gives me?  Why does my character always happen to attempt the one pass type the defender can get to when I am trying to get the ball to a wide open teammate?    As you do drills and combine games, you do get to improve your character.  With that said, don’t expect to see a drastic overhaul.  I started out a 39 and got my player to over a 43.  I have seen people get to about 45.  This does make some sense since this is only the combine and is only during the summer.  You only have 6 combine games and 6 drills to boost your character so use them wisely and efficiently.  Also, I noticed that my player played much better during scrimmages than combine games.  I don’t know if it was 2KSports way of saying that the combine games have more pressure so my player had to deal with that on top of the game at hand.  I just thought it was a little weird.

Speaking of weird, the AI in this game goes from great to completely useless in the blink of an eye.  I get that not everyone in the combine will make it to the league.  My problem is it seemed that all the cats that weren’t going to make it were on my team.  It is annoying to not see any motion when you have the ball.  I hated teammates missing shots when they were wide open or missing dunks.  Every combine game I had, my five (center) was always horrible and needed help on defense.  My two (shooting guard) couldn’t shoot for his life.  This is especially major when you factor in the grading system.  Every combine game you get graded on your performance on top of an offensive and defensive goal. Imagine having to get at least 4 assists when your teammates miss layups.  How about having a playing grade of a “B” or higher?  Sounds easy enough until you realize that you are penalized for everything.  Did you make that switch on a screen and play perfect defense on the guy you are now guarding, but your teammate allowed the guy that was your original man to score?  Guess who’s grade is going to take a hit?  Yours that’s whose.  How about a teammate calling for a pass and you throw it to him only to have him not catch it and go out of bounds?  Your grade will be taking another hit.  This one is my favorite.  Imagine your team gets a rebound and you break free and call for an outlet pass for an easy fast break basket.  Well you better be careful calling for the ball.  If you call for the ball and they don’t pass it, your grade will be taking a hit for every time you press the button requesting the pass.

With all that said, the good more than outweigh the bad in this game.  I just wanted to say the bad first because I enjoyed this game so much.  The first thing you will notice is the presentation and menu system, something that is present in other 2KSports games this year (NHL 2K10 for example, review coming shortly from yours truly).  A man known simply as the NBA insider walks you through everything in the game and gives you random doses of wisdom along with quotes from greats in the game.  After combine games he even gives you his interpretation of your performance and feedback on what you need to improve.  He even warns you when you go to build up your character if you are wasting points on a skill that is not beneficial for you position or playing style.  He is also there when you are creating your player.  Speaking of player creation, the customization in this game is epic.  Even if this were a full retail game (keep in mind it’s a PSN and Xbox Live download only game) the level of control for your player’s look and motions is amazing.  I was able to make a player whose face and hair looked like my own in real life.  You even get to control the form of your shot and in many different situations.  In other words, you control your standard jump shot form as well as leaners and other shot types.  You also control your dribbling animations.  I spent a good chunk of time on my shot forms and dribbling animations alone.  I was really shocked by the attention to detail on the shoes.  You can pretty much create your own shoes (mine would be called the Hated Hyper Dunks….oh yeeeeeeeaaaahh!!!).  The coolest thing to me was the play style feature.  Along with your position, you have to pick a play style.  Each play style heavily affects your starting stats and what stats you will be focusing on.  Thus, it affects how you play the game.  You can pick 3-point specialist four (power forward) or a slashing 1 (point guard).  I personally made my character an athletic three (small forward/3 guard) so that I would have the skill set that matched how I wanted to play.  It’s really deep and forces players to put thought into it.  This is especially true since you only get to have one character uploaded to the 2KSports servers.

This game is extremely time consuming.  That is a good thing, however.  There is a lot to keep you playing and bring you back.  By the time you finish, you will be as anxious for NBA 2K10 as I am.  There is the standard shoot around to learn the quirks of your character (which I highly recommend especially for people who picked shooters).  To go along with that there is a scrimmage mode.  In it you replicate combine games except none of the pressure is there.  I played this mode a lot more than I thought I would going into things.  I used scrimmage games to see which of my skills needed immediate attention and would then try to improve them with appropriate drills.  The drills are on the level.  Some are more difficult than others, but your position and skill set also factor into this.  The sense of pressure is captured well, too.  You only get six drills and six combine games each so you have to make the most out of them.  While playing the combine games you can feel the pressure.  Some of the frustrating things about this game come into play in a positive manner.  All the mishaps that happen on the court weigh heavy on you while you play.  It forces you to give your all every trip up and down the floor.  Also, since winning does more for improving you character’s ability his draft stock, your drive to be a team player increases as you can’t win alone.  I eventually learned to play with my sub-par teammates and use them for what they could do moderately well.  Big plays and victories in combine games feel more satisfying because of the good it does your player over all and the required skill and patience needed to pull them off.

All in all this is a must get for 400 Microsoft Points/$5.00 US.  For the achievement/trophy enthusiasts out there, this game is an easy way to boost your score.  Even after finishing, I play combine games and can’t wait for NBA 2K10.  These games will interact with each other.  Players that make their way to league through the combine wear a special badge on their jerseys.  Also, there is a mode in NBA 2K10 where you form teams with other people online and engage in games against other human opponents.  I am really psyched for this.  A demo for NBA 2K10 went up on Xbox Live yesterday but I find this better than a demo.

AnalogHype Rating: 9.1/10

Buy, Rent, or Demo: Buy