Kushmir's Blog
NBA 2K doesn't have any competition in hoops this year, "all eyes are on them" so to speak...while offline gameplay was largely a gem (minus the CPU Cheats) online? was bad...really bad.
Here's the thing: Online isn't just an extra option anymore, get it? an FPS (Modern Warfare 2) sold 20 million copies on the strength of people wanting to play online competitively. You've been online since NBA 2K3 (I know--I was THERE) please address the level of your online play accordingly. First and foremost--online play has to WORK. The bulk of the issues with NBA 2K point to online play, game balance and long-time issues that should have been resolved long ago. Imagine the riot in Silicon Valley that would take place if Windows 7 had the same issues that Vista did--Microsoft knows better--and so should you.
User-Friendly - Make is easy for us, guys. We like 2K11--alot. why should we have to go online and relearn the game? what sense does it make to have to change our shooting, coaching, rotation and relearn how to shoot free throws just to play online? We should have a section in our online menu where we can save our online roster, rotation, camera settings, coach options, playbooks and anything else we want--and making one user fiddle his thumbs while the other makes adjustments? NOT GOOD. wasting time to change playbooks before every game and other settings? We kindly refuse...we have better things to do. Most people will just play something else if it's gonna be that hard. The benefit? MONEY. The tons of advertising dollars Madden gets for peddling products like Old Spice and Doritos online can be yours if lots of people play your game.
Matchmaking - Please scrap the current system you have. It is beyond horrible. that "other company" (with that football game that shall go unnamed since it will never see the interior of our PS3 again) might have poor gameplay but i can go to Play Now and get a game inside 10 seconds. FACT: it doesn't matter how good gameplay is if we can't play...make sense? longtime issue.
Difficulty - Who's idea was it to change Online Difficulty from the SIM we were promised to casual? SHOOT THAT PERSON. While i'm kidding i actually understand the reason this was probably done. The bulk of 2K gamers are casual people that like that kind of thing--I get it. here's the thing, there's nothing we like better than OPTIONS, and there's no excuse for not having a ranked SIM and a Casual lobby for the greatest sports title ever made.
Hop-step - Why make a system where dribble penetration is harder and then just let people circumvent it by hop-stepping and spinning their way to the basket? did you think people WEREN'T going to take the easy route? c'mon guys..read that paragraph about the mentality of most online players in the first paragraph again. where are the offensive fouls for plowing through defenders that would provide balance to the hop-step? in many instances triangle should just provide a power dribble that doesn't give us separation. While making dribble penetration harder is good, lets see guards and other good penetrators beat their men consistently when matched up with slower players like most PFs and Cs. another good idea? lets see some hand-checking, blocking and grabbing fouls in mismatches like these as well.
Back-Court - This has been abused since last year. when a defender pushes an offensive player back across the mid-court line, please...please...please call the same foul you would in reality. longtime issue.
Cherry-Picking - Quite possibly the lamest thing we've seen in online play in...FOREVER. make these long passes inaccurate enough to go out of bounds 9 times in 10. don't let the unscrupulous ruin the online experience. longtime issue.
Dunking - This year we're rewarded for trying to dunk every time we step foot in the paint...did someone bump their heads? wasn't this supposed to be sim? waaay too many dunks. 2K10 had a much better system where attempting dunks in the wrong situation resulted in a low FG percentage--don't take steps backwards. let's fix it once and for all. turbo + R2 should be a strong move to the basket..not a dunk attempt. while sometimes players should attempt a dunk based on their tendencies (and certainly in breakaway situations) this command shouldn't always result in a dunk attempt. longtime issue.
Passing - The mechanic that makes a player in a jostling animation ineligible to receive a pass was a really BAD IDEA. really bad...the amount of passes that turn into turnovers because the ball goes to a person who the AI selects is much too high--and idiotic in design. if the pass is stolen, bobbled or bobbled out of bounds because it goes where we intended it to? FINE. letting the AI choose where our passes go? **** FAIL. pass trajectory is horrible as well. good and elite passers should use the windows for high and lower passes when they're available. what happened to pass precision? there are too many instances where we're passing the ball to an open man in the corner and the pass goes to someone else completely unintended. basketball is too much of a reaction sport for this--this costs us countless scoring chances and needs to vanish next year. another thing that needs to disappear is the ease we can pass out of shots. Not everyone can pull this off. We need more off-target passes, bobbled passes (like we had in 2K3) and the offensive fouls we see in reality when people do this and plow into defenders. You don't leave your feet to pass--that's Basketball 101. No more Shaq passing out of shots...please.
Open Shots - These need to fall at a higher rate. An open player (no one within 2-5 feet of him or a late close-out) within his range should knock down an open look 55-60% of the time. Nothing urges cheese players to try defensive tactics you'd never seen in reality or sit in zones all day (this isn't college basketball) than the inability for NBA players to knock down open shots within their range. It's silly to create good looks using the great playbooks in 2K11 and watch these shots convert too infrequently, and on the other hand watch some clown shoot a ridiculously high percentage just because he lays on turbo every time his foot touch the paint.
Defensive Assignments - The blue circle below an open player is nice, but let's also see a red one under our assigned player so we aren't confused.
Shots Behind the Backboard - We've railed on about this one for years. STILL HAPPENS. Never happens in reality. We're tired of wasting our breath. If it's in the game next year? I'm putting sports games down for awhile--there simply isn't any excuse for the same issues year after year.
Free Throws - The lag online makes these too much of an adventure. go with an easier release point or a universal release point for all players.
Fast Breaks - Did NBA players forget how to fill the outside lanes in transition all of a sudden? In the same vein, since when do players have to stop to receive a pass? Don't we believe in momentum? why in the world are slashers stopping at the 3pt line in transition? is there a point-shaving controversy we don't know about? come on...
Separate Blocks/Challenging Shots - DO IT ONCE AND FOR ALL. We need a better blocks-to-fouls-ratio (button mashing for blocks is still too effective) better displaying of who actually IS a shot-blocker and a way for non-shot blockers to play better defense. make the right stick the "defense stick" when we don't have the ball. give us the countless animations where we nudge, body up, challenge shots, play semi-physical defense without fouling and other defensive tidbits. if i want to block shots i'll use the block button, if i want to-cut-off, close out and other gems i'll use the defense stick. When i attempt shot blocks with kobe or steve nash? make sure i get whistled for it. longtime issue.
More Fouls - While we love good blocks, steals and other great defensive plays, we see them waaay too much from "beat" defenders and other people in poor defensive position. There are simply too many amazing defensive plays that should be whistled as fouls. an issue especially with the almost complete lack of foul calls in gameplay. I just completed two 9 minute quarter games on all-star and not ONE free throw was shot in any of them, what gives? FACT: we need more blocking, hand-check, bumping, and contact fouls on the perimeter. long-time issue.
Auto Defense - I thought long and hard about this one, but until our players auto-react for steals, blocks and other defensive plays when we're in the right position/we get a decent amount of defensive options/can see the entire court on defense, clicking R3 should give control of the defender to the AI. the pedestrian amount of tools we have at our disposal on defense is embarrassing. the CPU and other defenders can abuse user-controlled defenders at will with all of the sliding and added foot-plant animations. defense has always been either a block or a steal--not good. lets us use the right stick for defense where we can contest shots without attempting blocks and as a way to make life harder for the offense. but first, make auto-defense a reality. give the user control back when we regain possession.
Steals - There are too many from pass deflections. 1) we need more steal attempts that MISS for balance 2) more should be deflected out of bounds 3) Good and Elite passers should should use the right passes for the situation so they're harder (but not impossible) to deflect. we don't have any problem with Josh Powell not being able to thread the needle.
Pump fake - Sigh...I swear its sooo sim when cheese players swing the ball around the perimeter and pump fake with every player until they get a defender to fall for it. Historically one of the most abused gameplay mechanics, it needs to be rectified once and for all. rarely do defenders jump on pump fake attempts more often they "close" or are frozen and left flat-footed for easy dribble-drives. we need to see this in gameplay. save the "jumping" animation for severe mismatches. pump-faking also BADLY needs the risk/reward it had on higher-levels in 2K10. let's see the ball poked away/tied up and the offensive player crowded and bottled up for easy blocks when they pump fake and the defender does not fall victim to it. Extra: shouldn't we be able to push the shot-stick in the direction of an airborne defender and draw a foul? just a thought...long-time issue.
Jab-Step - While this is a mechanic to drive at times, this and sizeup dribbles are also tactics to free players for jump shots by getting the defender to back up. there's no current maneuver that backs up defenders for open jumpers in NBA 2K, why? this needs to change. we understand that it could be abused in the post, so make it more risk/reward. sometimes the defender should back up, and sometimes they should crowd the offensive player and get an easy steal/block or tie up the ball-handler. using it in the post should be extremely low percentage.
Double Team - Hmmm...why don't we get the aggressive double-team the CPU gets when we hold L1? you know the one i'm talking about...the one that forces an offensive player into an animation if he isn't already shooting or passing the ball. aren't we special too? the one we get pales in comparison...and you wonder why people complain about CPU Cheating.
Ball Denial - BRING IT BACK. It was easily one of the best gameplay additions in some time. To balance it? Add grabbing fouls and NOTICEABLE FATIGUE DRAIN. Add animations where offensive players break out of it. FYI: defenders should go right back to playing off-ball defense when they finally catch back up to the offensive player who has separated from them.
Inbounding - Another long-time issue here. Why in the world are all our our good ball-handlers STILL running away from the ball on inbounds plays? Do they WANT the ball to be stolen? Want to know WHY cheesers STILL full-court press for the entire game? look no further than the fact that players cluelessly LET defenders get between them and the ball. where's the hoops IQ, c'mon 2K! this is beneath you. let's penalize all-day full-court pressing once and for all with fatigue drain and the same reaching and contact fouls you would see in reality. longtime issue.
CPU Cheating - Its the Elephant in the Room--but we'll address it eagerly. It needs to stop guys. we KNOW its the easiest way to make the game harder but 2K deserves better...while we don't have an issue with losing or the CPU getting the best of us, some imbalances need to stop. the CPU still runs down even our fastest players on breakaways, gets every loose ball, rarely gets its passes deflected (and has the audacity to recover them when it actually DOES happen) gets too many offensive rebounds, isn't subject to the same amount of contact shots animations that we are, consistently recovers its blocked shots and makes life miserable for us in general. Not because its better, but because its the CPU. MAKE THE COMPUTER PLAY FAIR. especially when online play is still....a cluster-you-know-what. the CPU shouldn't be able to use its godlike ability recover the ball in every 50-50 situation and expect us just to be OK with it.
These are the small list of things that can bring the best sports game of all-time playable online and a better game overall. While all the accolades are deserved, please don't start believing the hype and forget your long-time fans now that you've gotten the recognition we've always known you deserved.
# 2
Saviour @ Nov 12
Excellent and well thought out post. The beauty of 2k sports games is that they have the majority of the tools to make it sim, but they always leave room for improvement.
The CPU cheating is out of control this time. I really wouldnt call it cheating but I would call it 2K game management. 2K has used this tactic in their basketball games for years now. Its pretty weak as you can clearly tell when a team will go on "a run" against you. Its gotten worse this year as you can actually feel the cpu moving your player while you are playing at times. CPU generated momentum should have no place in online games and human vs human games.
And we definately need more tools on defense. Bumping people to stop drives is not defense. The bumping is out of control this year. But you cant bump players with high ratings for some reason. I swear Pao Gasol has a forcefeld around him.
The game is really good but it could be great if 2K would just let us play against each other without dictating the game to us. I think people are good enough to play the game without all the cpu help. I cant stand having the cpu help me or my opponent. I know what I am doing!! And every game does not have to be close. If I stink, dont help me get back into the game with a BS momentum based run. Thats so lame.
The CPU cheating is out of control this time. I really wouldnt call it cheating but I would call it 2K game management. 2K has used this tactic in their basketball games for years now. Its pretty weak as you can clearly tell when a team will go on "a run" against you. Its gotten worse this year as you can actually feel the cpu moving your player while you are playing at times. CPU generated momentum should have no place in online games and human vs human games.
And we definately need more tools on defense. Bumping people to stop drives is not defense. The bumping is out of control this year. But you cant bump players with high ratings for some reason. I swear Pao Gasol has a forcefeld around him.
The game is really good but it could be great if 2K would just let us play against each other without dictating the game to us. I think people are good enough to play the game without all the cpu help. I cant stand having the cpu help me or my opponent. I know what I am doing!! And every game does not have to be close. If I stink, dont help me get back into the game with a BS momentum based run. Thats so lame.
# 3
DaReapa @ Nov 12
Excellent points. But this one...
"Passing - The mechanic that makes a player in a jostling animation ineligible to receive a pass was a really BAD IDEA. really bad...the amount of passes that turn into turnovers because the ball goes to a person who the AI selects is much too high--and idiotic in design. if the pass is stolen, bobbled or bobbled out of bounds because it goes where we intended it to? FINE. letting the AI choose where our passes go? **** FAIL. pass trajectory is horrible as well. good and elite passers should use the windows for high and lower passes when they're available. what happened to pass precision? there are too many instances where we're passing the ball to an open man in the corner and the pass goes to someone else completely unintended. basketball is too much of a reaction sport for this--this costs us countless scoring chances and needs to vanish next year. another thing that needs to disappear is the ease we can pass out of shots. Not everyone can pull this off. We need more off-target passes, bobbled passes (like we had in 2K3) and the offensive fouls we see in reality when people do this and plow into defenders. You don't leave your feet to pass--that's Basketball 101. No more Shaq passing out of shots...please."
...is a killer and needs to be fixed if nothing else.
"Passing - The mechanic that makes a player in a jostling animation ineligible to receive a pass was a really BAD IDEA. really bad...the amount of passes that turn into turnovers because the ball goes to a person who the AI selects is much too high--and idiotic in design. if the pass is stolen, bobbled or bobbled out of bounds because it goes where we intended it to? FINE. letting the AI choose where our passes go? **** FAIL. pass trajectory is horrible as well. good and elite passers should use the windows for high and lower passes when they're available. what happened to pass precision? there are too many instances where we're passing the ball to an open man in the corner and the pass goes to someone else completely unintended. basketball is too much of a reaction sport for this--this costs us countless scoring chances and needs to vanish next year. another thing that needs to disappear is the ease we can pass out of shots. Not everyone can pull this off. We need more off-target passes, bobbled passes (like we had in 2K3) and the offensive fouls we see in reality when people do this and plow into defenders. You don't leave your feet to pass--that's Basketball 101. No more Shaq passing out of shots...please."
...is a killer and needs to be fixed if nothing else.
# 5
rudyjuly2 @ Nov 13
I have to applaud the write-up even though I don't even own a basketball game at the moment.
# 6
80tiesBaBy @ Nov 13
i really think that if 2k took all the best parts of each of their games since 2k for dreamcast till now they would have a perfect bball game. it seems like every year something that they did well gets took out for something worse,whn certain things only needs to be tweaked instead changed all together. by the way great read,great points u made.
# 7
BlackRome @ Nov 13
User-Friendly - Make is easy for us, guys. We should have a section in our online menu where we can save our online roster, rotation, camera settings, coach options, playbooks and anything else we want--
All of these things worked in 2k8. I could have my rosters and play books saved before the game started. I met some of the best players in the lobby.
These are the things that made 2k8 great. These are also the same things that have held back every release since 2k8 was released.
All of these things worked in 2k8. I could have my rosters and play books saved before the game started. I met some of the best players in the lobby.
These are the things that made 2k8 great. These are also the same things that have held back every release since 2k8 was released.
# 8
l3ulvl @ Nov 13
My only problem really is the player movement. It's just frustratingly difficult to control players and make them go where I want them to go. I start a crossover and get knocked 2 steps back, then my guy begins running in the wrong direction, opposite of where I'm pointing, until he goes past half court for a whistle. Or on defense while guarding a player going to my left (for example) and I instantly move in that direction but the ballhandler is already by me because it takes like 2 steps to get my engine revved up so I can switch into a high enough gear to keep up. I go back to CHoops 2k8 and the player movement is outstanding. Why did 2K change it?
# 9
stillfeelme @ Nov 13
Thank you sir for saying everything I felt that is wrong with this game. Good write up. Some of the stuff against the CPU stands out and looks so bad because the game looks so real. So when you see how low your player passes the ball it looks out of wack. It could be a long distance pass or cross court pass and they will pass it with a low trajectory and it gets tipped the cpu gets it. It is like they said we are going to get you one way we will dumb down your passing by passing at a lower height and the speed of the passes sometimes are so slow lol what the hell
# 10
naot2010 @ Nov 14
Play great defense the whole game build up big lead against CPU and watch them make a run towards the end of the game to make things interesting. Annoying.
# 11
Kushmir @ Nov 14
yeah the CPU Cheating is annoying...but people cherry picking and button mashing for blocks online is probably worse (steals aren't so bad it seems) separating blocks and challenging shots is long overdue (as is a defense stick and auto defense) the blocks to fouls ratio is really bad. there's really no consequences for trying to block every shot that is released.
# 12
tril @ Nov 14
is this strictly on line, cause I disagree from the part where you start talking about passing and mostly everything else that follows.
# 13
Kushmir @ Nov 15
oh make no mistake, i gave 2K11 its props as a truly great sports title, but things like the pass precision and the AI choosing who the ball goes to when my target is in an animation(usually resulting in a turnover) need fixing.
# 15
Kushmir @ Nov 16
disagreeing is fine. and News Flash: even great games have flaws. and i've listed them, see how that works? the user-based comment holds little water, online is where games are going. If lag is horrible, people can cherry-pick, dunk at will and no one can hit free throws or hit open jump shots. people are just going to play something else--which is sad for a game this GREAT.
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