SteveM's Blog
There’s little doubt that the leap from the last generation of consoles to this generation meant more to games like NBA 2K than the leap from this generation to the next will. I can still remember the first screenshots I saw of NBA 2K6 and how startlingly realistic they seemed at the time. The fabric of the jerseys moved, the eyes tracked the ball, the hair … well, OK, the hair still didn’t move.
And in a lot of ways, ranking this generation's best basketball video games is easier than for other sports because there hasn't been any other series than NBA 2K for the past four years now. If anyone is interested in trying to convince me that NBA Live 10 is better than any of the last four NBA 2K games, I'd love to hear your reasons.
While the graphics have come a long way since 2K6, what’s improved most noticeably over this console generation are two things: the feel of the game on the court and the depth and range of options and playmodes available. Sort of oddly, it’s this fact that makes it hard to rank the NBA 2K games of this console generation in anything other than reverse chronological order. Having gone back to play 2K10 through 2K13, I can say that whatever its faults, NBA 2K13 is manifestly the most complete realization of basketball on a virtual court yet. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have flaws, but it’s simply very difficult to go back to world without the Control Stick, without jump shot feedback, without the manual bounce pass.
All that said, what I’m going to attempt to do here is rank the top four based on my sense of what came before, not what came after. That is, I’m basing these rankings as best I can on my impressions of the game before the next one came out.
4. NBA 2K12
2K12 was definitely the most disappointing version of NBA 2K that I can remember clearly from this console generation. I’m sure comparing it right now to NBA 2K6 or 2K7 would make it seem great, but when it was the newest version available, I had to keep myself from throwing it away several times. There was a huge disconnect between the shot feedback and the results you would get, and opposing teams’ big men grew eyes in the back of their heads to jump passing lanes nearly every game. Of course, I still played it a ton. But it drove me crazy.
3. NBA 2K13
With perhaps the series’ finest balance between offense and defense, NBA 2K13 stands a good chance of actually being better in every category than graphics than the first iteration of the series to come out on the next generation of consoles. I can quibble with the implementation of My Career this season (where it’s confusingly mashed with My Player in a way that’s oddly persistent and disconnected) and I’ve heard plenty of laments about Jay-Z’s involvement giving more flash than substance to the interface, but it’s hard to quibble with the game when you hit the court.
2. NBA 2K11
It’s pretty simple to explain 2K11’s place at number two on this list: Michael Jordan. In a year where Electronic Arts’ complete absence from the basketball video game market could have led to 2K sitting on their laurels, they boldly created an entirely new concept in gameplay. In a genre where churning out roster updates every year with slight tweaks to controls is the norm, 2K stood at the vanguard of innovation, even as they took a page from history to do it.
1. NBA 2K10
In many ways, NBA 2K10 was the apex of guard-oriented basketball in the NBA 2K series. It was also the iteration of the series that introduced My Player mode, and while the mode had its share of problems in its first year (a slog of a beginning and too slow growth), its introduction’s concurrence with the perfection of pick-and-roll gameplay made it a joy to be a point guard in a way the series had never captured before. If anything, the PNR was overpowered, with opposing big men rarely jumping the passing lanes, but it was just so damn much FUN. Even popping it in today, when the animations look rather stilted and the defense is a joke, the action on the court feels rock solid and the pick-and-roll is just as deadly.
# 18
eye guy @ Feb 23
Lets not pretend here. If we're only talking about NBA titles, then NBA Live 10 is a must at the second spot.
How people enjoyed 2K10 over Live 10 is beyond me.
4. 2K8
3. 2K7
2. Live 10
1. 2K11
How people enjoyed 2K10 over Live 10 is beyond me.
4. 2K8
3. 2K7
2. Live 10
1. 2K11
# 19
BlackRome @ Feb 24
2k8. It was the last time you could move in real time. No delay.
From 2k10-2k13. The animations have slowed the response of the game down.
The vaulted dribble stick in 2k13. It was perfected in 2k8. For some reason from 2k9-2k13 they made the dribble stick setting unusable. Because they removed the ability to hold down the right trigger which would turn your dribble stick into the shot stick.
Low and behold. This year they basically just gave you the 2k8 dribble stick setting and told everyone they were revolutionizing the controls.
These are the controls that made 2k8 great. Now imagine if there was no delay. Online.
It's still the best.
From 2k10-2k13. The animations have slowed the response of the game down.
The vaulted dribble stick in 2k13. It was perfected in 2k8. For some reason from 2k9-2k13 they made the dribble stick setting unusable. Because they removed the ability to hold down the right trigger which would turn your dribble stick into the shot stick.
Low and behold. This year they basically just gave you the 2k8 dribble stick setting and told everyone they were revolutionizing the controls.
These are the controls that made 2k8 great. Now imagine if there was no delay. Online.
It's still the best.
# 21
10yard-Fight @ Feb 27
IMO you sleeping on ncaa basketball 10 and Live 10... as well as CH2k8 which you've already acknowledged
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