NBA 2K10 Review (post patch)

The NBA 2K series has been around for a decade now.  I still remember playing the initial entry for this and its football counterpart on the Sega Dreamcast (which I still own and play, Jet Grind Radio FTW).  I was hooked right away.  The realism and skill required was seen in no other basketball game before it.  Since then, I have played numerous iterations in this franchise and even got hooked on the college basketball series (R.I.P.).  Oddly, NBA 2K10: Draft Combine was the first basketball game I played in a while and I was a huge fan as can be seen in my review (which can be read HERE).  I am not a fan of the current state of NBA basketball so my interest in the games had diminished.  For a basketball game to find a way to get my attention speaks volumes of said game.  NBA 2K10 has accomplished this.  Not all is good here though.  The question one should then ask is simple; does the good out weigh the bad?  Read on and determine that yourselves.

Expectations for NBA 2K10 were extremely high. It has been and still is touted as the best simulation basketball on the market bar none.  This year the competition (NBA Live) has made a gargantuan strides in the right direction.  Meanwhile NBA 2K10 didn’t really change much, adopting an”if it is not broken, do not fix it” approach.  Instead, the people over at 2K Sports focused more on refinement and building up the game modes and presentation.  The addition of “My Player” and “NBA Today” modes are excellent examples of this. In My Player, users get to create and control a player throughout his entire career.  If you played NBA 2K10: Draft Combine you import your character from the game save for that game and use him.  You create your player from scratch and work your ass off to improve him.  Seriously, expect to put in a lot of work if you want to see your character improve.  You should also expect a lot of annoyances at the poor performance of said character.  With that said, the feeling of accomplishment when you start making progress or make big plays will be one that is rarely rivaled in any of other game, regardless of genre.  The new NBA Today is basically what its nomenclature would suggest.  It streams real-time schedules, events, and news of NBA happenings into the game’s commentary and presentation.  You will hear interesting and relevant information on specific players currently in game while you play.  You can also play the games scheduled for today and see the results of any of said games that have finished.  So with both of these great additions, can there possibly be any faults?

For some reason, players still miss easy layups.  Even more annoying is the dunking system.  It is really irritating to watch a player like Dwight Howard be in position where he would at least attempt a dunk only to have him take an ugly shot which of course he misses simply because someone is standing close to him.  I still do not know why 2K refuses to incorporate a separate button for dunking and floaters when father from the rim.  The current system is flawed and inconsistent.  Also, though I never experienced this, people complained of frame rate issues causing  annoying slowdowns.  Think offline lag.  Enough people complained about it and thus it was addressed in the last patch.  Speaking of a patch, there is an issue I have to address.  NBA 2K10 shipped in with an online component that was pretty much broken.  In other words, online in “Crew Mode” or a pick-up game with your “My Player” character was impossible.  To give a fair review, I had to wait for the patch that fixed this to come out.  Sure, they addressed this and other issues.  My thing is,why release the game in that state?  That is huge.  If not for the online issue, the list of flaws would be much smaller and influential.  Lastly, there are some buggy animations that make players’ movements look unnatural sometimes.  In fact, the game is too animation based.  I say this because there are times where what happens is out of the user’s hands and an animation takes over.  I know this is a problem in all sports games, especially basketball, but it still pisses me off when I fall victim to it.

On the positive side, 2K delivers a realistic and exciting basketball simulation. Much of the gameplay has been tightened up. Using the turbo button finally causes players to fatigue, making it much more realistic.  Gone are the days where you could just turbo non-stop only having to wait for it to fill back up.  It now affects how long that player can stay on the court without a break.  Meanwhile, on the fly player coaching and management like calling plays, setting/calling for screens/picks, or post-ups have been improved in effectiveness and easy of use.  The controls have expanded and yet simplified.  While I miss the strafe button of old NBA 2K games, the lock-on defense controls works well and add a risk-reward element to defense.  It also drains causes fatigue so users can not spam it.  Double teaming players also a huge risk.  Gone are the days where defenders moved so fast they could go from doubling in the post to playing defense on their original man on the perimeter.  Offensive dribbling moves such as cross-overs, spin moves, step backs, and many more are painless to pull off with practice.  The previously mentioned “My Player” mode  is the true gem of this game.  Never have I played a game mode that frustrated me so much, yet continued to draw me back.  As of this review, I have gotten my player to a “64″ overall rating and I’m averaging 16+ points a game.  I am now a starter for the Miami heat.  I had put in work to get there though.  The most interesting aspect is that the road to the NBA is not the same for everyone.  A certain chap on this site had to go to the NBDL (D-League) and work his way up from there (a certain disc jockey if you will).  I did find it was too difficult to raise certain aspects of a players games.  I am a 6′7″+  three-guard/small forward.  For some reason, it costs me a lot of points to improve my ability to dunk.  I’m not trying to be Vince Carter or anything.  I just want to be able to junk on smaller defenders or dunk when I have a lane to the rim.  All in all, “My Player” is a huge breakthrough and will keep me playing for months on end.

Signature player and team characteristics being incorporated into the game only add to the presentation (which is unparalleled) and realism.  Richard Hamilton does his side dribble on free-throws.  Dwight Howard does his normal cadence in front of the announcer’s table.   2K even put in Shawn Marion’s awkward two-handed technique.  In fact, learning player’s “flow” (technique for shooting) is pivotal.  Without this knowledge, one can not fully utilize shooting scholars like Dirk Nowitzki, Peja Stojakovic, or Ray Allen.  2K did a great job of bringing the ambiance of the watching the game on television into the game.  Kevin Harlan and Clark Kellogg handle the commentating and do a splendid job.  I would dare anyone to find better commentating in a sports game.  The “NBA Today” feature makes an impact here as well.  They use actual information on performances, both team and individual, to make commentary sound less repetitive.  It works very well.

My final verdict is simple.  NBA 2K10 does way more things well than poorly.  In all honestly, the only major flaw I could find was the online issues that were prevalent before the patch.  There is. no excuse for releasing a game like that.  At least have the patch ready for launch.  Though things are drastically improved now, there are still issues with games dropping as soon as they start and such.  Though it is one flaw, I have to factor it in and subtract points if I am to be objective.  Now that I think about it, there is one nagging issue I have with NBA 2K10, but it is more so relevant to approach and philosophy.  I respect them for striving for realism since it is a simulation game.  My issue is this. Why make players miss shots they should make just to get realistic shot percentages and scores?  If one’s opponent is playing poor enough defense to give up easy shots, then so be it.  Don’t make player miss layups and such just to get realistic results.  Realism should be more about how the game is played than the outcome of said game.  Bah, had to give my mini soapbox moment.  NBA 2K10 is still the best basketball game on the market, but the competition is catching up.  “My Player” alone makes this game a must experience for any sports fan, let alone a basketball fan.  Now if you will excuse me, I have to some drills to run.

AnalogHype Rating: 8.4/10

Buy, Rent, or Demo: Buy