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The Good
1 - Defence - Anybody who watches basketball knows that there are such thing as shutdown defenders. NBA 2K was never able to capture that until this year. With the defence this year, your man can try and cross you out but you will be able to cut them off and stay with them when it makes sense, and also to be on ankle breaker sequence. Playing with players such as Shane Battier and Lebron James who have the lockdown defender signature skill is amazing. Russell Westbrook or Kevin Durant would try and try to break me down, but with the new in between animations, I was able to effectively stop them from easily getting to the rim. There were times when Kevin Durant made a great move for a jumper or a layup just as he would in real life. Another thing cool thing was playing with a defender like Mario Chalmers, who has a great stealing ability but is not a very good on ball defender. If Russell Westbrook would dribble around like crazy without doing anything significant, he was going to get the ball stolen from him. But if he tried to cross me over, I wouldn't be fast enough to keep with him just like in real life. The defence was so good they should of made a whole developer insight on it. It's that good.
2 - Contact/New Physics Engine - 2K sports wasn't lying when they said the contact engine will make almost every contact level look new. If you were like me, I was extremely skeptical and was basically saying "they say this every year". I guess this year was the year to actually make that happen. After playing for a very long time, I was getting ready to see the repetition starting to kick in. Well it didn't happen, and after a while after it still didn't happen. The amount of different contact layups I saw were tremendous. Players would drive in with a dunk attempt which would be a animation dunk in 2K12 and were forced to change their shots because of the contact they were taking, it looked beautiful. Another thing is that Animation dunks are not in the game anymore. This was something that made me extremely happy. The people that know me know that I can't stand animation dunks. It's a play where you are sucked into the dunk animation and can even be called for a foul for doing nothing or for being forced to take a charge or block. This year the defender is not sucked into the dunk attempt. Instead with the new collision system, if i go for a block and miss on Lebron, I will be put in a ferocious poster that will make everybody pause the game in aw of what just happened. Get ready to see amazing poster dunks this year.
3 - Dribbling - We all knew this was going to be improved with dribbling being moved to the right stick. The problem is you don't really know how good it is until you actually try it yourself. With the physics system and the dribbling, you can create the most sexy sequences ever seen in video games. I was playing with my friend when i dribbled up to Lebron, gave him a quick in and out, crossed over to the left, behind the back to the right, then back left, leaving Lebron hopping over to my right, leaving me open for a three. We paused the game for a minute to take in what just happened. The dribbling is very tight but is something you have to try to understand. The defence and dribbling work with each other and it has a great outcome.
The Bad
There was nothing bad enough to make a topic about it. There are little things that are not improved upon that much. So I wouldn't say they are bad but not as improving as the above.
1 - Presentation - It was improved with the score at the bottom right and the new style of everything, but it is not eye opening. Probably will be better in the full game.
2 - Graphics - Not much improved except lighting is a little bit brighter which is good.
3 - Contact Dunks(offensive player) - It still looks really good with how the defender reacts, but it would be nice to see the offensive player move in some way with any part of his body to really make it seem like he took contact. This is only on dunks though.
There are more things I can talk about such as the passing and AI intelligence, which is a big improvement and I could probably go on for days about the new physics and collision system, but for the sake of this blog being 20 pages long I won't do it. In the end this is ONLY A DEMO, which is why it makes me so happy. If the full game is exactly the same as the demo, I will be excited. The fact that it most likely will be better, makes me even more excited. If you like basketball or know anything about basketball, this is a must buy when it comes out. Oct 2 is less than a week
away and I am really impatient for this game to come out. All I can say is Sports Game of The Year
# 2
NbaLiveNba2k @ Sep 26
haha thanks for comment. That's a good point they might of maxed out on the graphics. But they still could be better.
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# 3
caveman87 @ Sep 26
I think these are good points i hope the presentation is improve on the official launch that would put the game over the top I'm pretty positive they well improve it because in the demo it luck unfinished it look like they did all the key point of the intro then put it in the demo without the newest stuff.
# 4
NBA2KALLDAY @ Sep 26
I agree with you a 100 percent. The game looks amazing this year. It plays beautifully and it is very fluid. They need to fix up a few things and i believe they will by release, and yes this might be the sports game of the year
# 5
NbaLiveNba2k @ Sep 26
yea presentation is the only thing that's lacking, i don't know why but it will probably be better by launch.
# 6
Rickiton @ Sep 26
I do feel the players are a little too big in relation to the court, but do agree with everything you said, thanks for the review.
# 7
NbaLiveNba2k @ Sep 26
Interesting you say that, comparing last year's game to this year's there is that feeling, but I think it's right the players actually look tall this year, and with the dribbling you notice there is more space. Also it's the camera angle
# 8
Runne130 @ Sep 28
Great game from the demo and great post I can't wait til Tuesday to get this thing going
# 9
NbaLiveNba2k @ Sep 29
The dribbling feels almost exactly like the live series, but it is better. The crossover's are quicker and there are more options for the crossover's than in the live days. This is probably the most control all of us have ever seen in a video game, and the scary thing is that was just the demo, and we were using the same teams. Can't wait to finally use the teams I want to use, that's when the game is going to be over the top for me
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I can definitely say that the presentation is a bit weak here and I don't like the gold borders on some of the screens but it's fine for now. As for the graphical upgrade, I assume we gotta wait til next gen. I think they've maxed what they can allow for graphics in order for other things to be incorporated or improved.
SGOTY, I think so, too!