The amount of coverage NBA 2K11 has received here at OS has reached immense levels at this point. Everyone has been so eager to hear about anything and everything related to the game, so we have tried our best to quench the community's thirst. Regardless, no matter what I write below, it won’t change the fact that the game won’t come out until tomorrow, and that is the only magic rain dance that will end the NBA 2K11 drought that is parching a large majority of users who are visiting this site today.

Nevertheless, here is one last impressions article, only this time, it’s impressions from the retail version of the game.

Every Team IS Different

A couple years back, the NBA 2K developers pitched the idea that every team would play differently. It was a great concept at the time, it worked to an extent, but it still didn’t quite ring true in the long run. This year it seems like that promise from a yesteryear is finally coming true.
Who you play with and who you play against matters. Playing one specific style with every team in the game simply will not lead to the best results. Instead, the development team has given you every tool you need to succeed this year with any team in the game.

It all starts with the playbooks. Every team has some unique sets for the individual team and players. Some teams, like the Suns, have sets that get you into your stuff as soon as you cross into the frontcourt, and many of these sets are all about getting Nash into space after a pick and roll so he can create for himself and others. Other teams, like the Hawks, have isolation sets at the top of the key for Joe Johnson or plays to get Josh Smith the ball at the top of the free-threw line so he can make a quick move on a slower power forward. You have to use these sets properly and combat them if you’re playing against them.

If you’re on the defensive side of things, you can choose to go with a Spurs style of defense against someone like a Steve Nash. In other words, in the menus you can tell the players on the other four players not to help off of their assignments if Nash gets in the paint. You can decide to let Nash beat you, but you can also refuse to let everyone else get open 3s and easy layups. On the pick and roll, you can even decide to have the defender go under each screen when Nash comes off it this year.

However, none of these mechanics would work properly if spacing and the help defense were not better in this year’s game. Thankfully, help defense has been improved significantly, and really, this helps both the offense and defense. With proper help defense in effect, now you see more hockey assists where you have to make that one extra pass to beat the rotating defense after a drive and kick. And since players now are getting their feet behind the 3-point line and are being cognizant of where they are on the court (see: proper spacing), making those passes won’t result in making a swing pass to a guy a foot from you.

Now, spacing does get a little jumbled when a play breaks down or does not work, but usually the AI players figure out the problem and clear back out to set up while the shot clock dwindles down. However, during these instances of jumbled players, it’s easy to pass to an unintended teammate. Directional passing is improved this year, but I would say it’s still not quite good enough to be used for every instance. There is a small icon under the player of who you will pass to if you choose to press the pass button, which is helpful. But sometimes in the heat of the moment you’ll still wonder why you passed to the wrong player. The fact is the little icon that is an indicator of where you are going to pass can be hard to notice when you’re driving into the lane. So you might think you’re pointing your analog stick at one guy but may end up throwing it to another.

Beyond that though, passing is really a treat this year. The inclusion of a ball-fake button is actually very helpful when trying to make entry passes into the post now, and you will actually need to think about the angles of your passes to ensure they get to their intended destination. Some people will probably think the passing is too hard at first, but in reality, it’s just that most people have been so lazy with their passing that they’ve fallen into bad habits.

The other great thing about the passing this year is what it has done to the pick and roll game. The pick and roll is now on the left bumper rather than the B button. It retains all its functionality, but now the pick and slip followed by a lead pass does not result in easy points. Through a combination of better help defense, more active defenders and the way you can defend the pick and roll, a major bugaboo from the last couple versions of 2K has been mostly wiped out. If there is one complaint I can levy at this new style of pick and roll is that I feel like sometimes the screeners simply do not roll or slip hard enough off after the pick. I have on more than one occasion felt like the player should have dove harder to the hoop. Again though, like with the other negatives I have brought up so far, the merits far outweigh the demerits.

As a final point on this topic, I can honestly say I have never been as giddy after a successful pick and roll as I was when I came off a pick and slip with Nash and he placed a perfect bounce pass between two defenders for a Hakim Warrick jam. Everything about the play was so perfect from a structure standpoint, and it was pixel perfect from the standpoint of just watching the beauty of a pick and roll master showing everybody why he is one of the best passers to ever play the game.

Winging It

So as I said, It’s much easier to run a structured offense this year. It’s easier to call a play now (press the left bumper, select the player icon, pick one of four plays for that player), and now that plays don’t immediately break and players really run their cuts, it’s easier to actually get through a play. However, I’m sure some people out there will still choose not to run many plays. They will want to toy with the new Isomotion controls at the top of the key and try to turbo around everyone. For those people out there, I say good luck. It’s certainly still hard to contain a LeBron and Wade combo using these tactics -- I lost to a random person online who did not use the Heat well, but still was just good enough to get in the lane with LeBron at a good clip -- but it’s not quite the chore it was before.

For one thing, turbo has been severely tweaked this year. It will provide you with a nice initial burst, and it’s certainly helpful on a fast break, but it no longer leads to a guy speeding around in circles with the ball firmly in his hands. In addition, while it’s easier to do Isomotion moves this year since the controls have been tweaked and tuned for the better, it’s also easier to defend these moves. This is a change for the better, but it’s not without at least a fault or two.

There is a lot of on-ball contact in this game. It seems to be the mechanic the game uses to negate most of the penetration attempts. However, copious amount of contact is not quite a perfect solution to the old problem of on-ball defense. The NBA is not nearly as physical on the ball as it was years ago. With the implementation of hand-checking rules and everything else, it’s certainly more about moving your feet and being quicker rather than always being in contact with the player. Basically, my issue is more how it looks than how it plays out. Since it seems like almost every “canimation” in the game seems to be gone, when you get into these extended bouts of on-ball physicality, you can actually move the sticks and get out of them (in the past, this would have just led to a drawn out animation-fest instead). Visually speaking though, it does break the illusion of seeing a real game on TV a bit.

That being said, the physicality in the game is actually my favorite part of the game so far, and it is what I want to talk about last on the gameplay front. I do think it is perhaps overdone when it comes to on-ball defense, but the force behind a block is phenomenal this year, and using the new hard-fouls system (turbo plus the right stick) is by far my favorite part of the game so far. Guys like Josh Smith are just a blast to play with this year because some of the blocks you can pull off with elite defenders are just straight up exciting. In one instance, JSmoov came help side on a layup attempt and promptly sent the ball out of bounds with force. And “force” is the big word there. There never seemed to be enough impact when blocking a shot. Much like you can sometimes not really feel the force of a gun in some first-person shooters, you did not get the sense that you really blocked the crap out of a shot in the past. This year that is not a problem.

And the hard fouls, oh the hard fouls. When someone beats you off the dribble or is on a fast break, you no longer have to give up a layup or go for a big block. Now, simply try to get in the way or catch up enough to grab or hack the player. The variety within these hard-foul instances is great as well. I’ve seen Raja Bell straight up body check Brandon Roy after he got beat to the hoop. I’ve seen Steve Nash try to grab onto Russell Westbrook on the break only to have Russ go up through the contact for a dunk plus the foul. I’ve even seen lighter contact where you simply chase someone down on the break and smack their arm to prevent the layup. It’s one of those elements that seems like a small change but really changes the dynamic of a game.

THE Association

There is a lot that’s new in the Association mode this year, but I really just want to touch on a couple presentation elements and discuss a couple issues people always seem to have with any franchise mode: simulation stats and the trade engine. This year the trade engine in NBA 2K11 was overhauled, and the results are mostly positive. It seems like the GMs in this game (unsurprisingly) act like soulless emotionless entities without fear of economic turmoil or fan backlash. With no luxury tax in the game, no fear of attendance leading to lower revenues, and no emotions playing a part in trades, guys like Steve Nash (see: players later in great careers) will be moved. Do I see any scenario where Steve Nash gets traded from the Suns in real life? No. But in this game, where every GM is just trying to make the best move for the franchise, I buy it. It’s obviously not perfect, but it’s a big step in the right direction.

Beyond guys like Nash being dealt, there really have only been a handful of trades I have really scoffed at. This is actually more impressive than it might sound because you can offer any player up via the new “Trade Finder” feature, which gives you a list of trades for any guy you want to deal. I was worried this would just expose the poor trade logic in the game, but I have been pleasantly surprised so far. When cycling through these trades, I’ve found I’m really not interested in making any of them because the AI is simply trying to swindle me for the most part.

As for the AI teams themselves, at least so far in my simulations, sometimes one move might look bad at first, but then the AI will later make another move that makes the first one make more sense. Generally, you’ll see those kinds of instances when a team has decided to blow the roster up or initially stacks players at one position before dealing one or two guys away for other assets.

As for the simulation engine, it actually seems to be holding up relatively well so far. The league leaders all seem to make sense from a personnel perspective, and the only beef I have with the individual stats has to do with a few too many players averaging over 20 points per game.

At a team level, the field-goal percentages are a little low, which leads to team scoring being a little on the low side as well, but otherwise the team stats look good. But a problem that sticks out immediately has to do with the win-loss records of the teams. There are not quite enough “elite” teams, and there are not quite enough terrible teams. Beyond that, the home-away records clearly show home teams have a major advantage in the simulations. As an example, the Lakers lost only one time at home in one of these simulations, but they were more than 15 games below .500 on the road. Essentially you will see the same outcomes for all the teams. The top teams will have amazing records at home and then they will be well below .500 away from home. Yes, more teams obviously win at home than on the road, but clearly the simulation engine weights home-court advantage too heavily.

This mostly ends up affecting the simulated games in the playoffs. You will see a lot of major blowouts by the home team in these games. And by “major” I mean at least 25 points. This type of issue might be seen as minor or major depending on the user, but it is present. Thankfully, it seems like most of the issues from last year’s Association mode (see: stacking five points guards on a team and so forth) have been quelled.

From a presentation standpoint, the Association mode has also been upgraded. The initial screen you see when you launch your Association now loads all the top stories very quickly, and the menus are all much cleaner. However, I can already tell I will get tired of some of the presentation elements in the game. The commentators will use the same stories for each specific team, and the cuts to upcoming matchups between teams in the league will grow tiresome as well.

However, people sometimes get too wrapped up in repetitive commentary or some of the same presentation elements being overused. Generally speaking, certain franchise modes work because they bring you back game after game because the game is still surprising you. I can say without any doubt that this game has surprised me every time I have sat down to play it so far. To use the Suns as an example once more, I have run a particular lob play to Jason Richardson about 20 times at this point, and I have yet to see the same catch and finish animation. The animations seem to keep changing based on the angle I make the pass from as well as where JRich is during his cut when I throw the lob. It’s stuff like that, or the fact that after every game I go searching for a replay to save or just flick through the “pressbook” pictures, which keeps franchise modes interesting. Things like botched simulation stats are impediments, but if the game itself can keep giving you new “wow” moments after a ton of games, that is a reason to keep coming back and using the same team.

Oh Yeah, Jordan

I actually enlisted Mr. Bossman Steve Noah to write a section about the Jordan Challenge since he has been engrossed in it. What follows are his words on the subject:

By now, everyone has heard of the Jordan Challenge. If you're not aware of what is involved in the 10 challenges you need to complete, here are the goals.
Playing against the "Bad Boy" Detroit Pistons was a treat. Not only is the defense amped up, but you see a few hard fouls here and there (without the techs, of course) throughout the game. Laimbeer hammered MJ as he took it to the hole on more than a couple occasions. It's not overdone either since it happens in a few different spots during the flow of action.

Some of the animations Jordan has in this mode are also breathtakingly realistic. I have immediately headed into the instant replay menu on more than a few occasions after some of Jordan’s dunks. The developers really did capture quite a few of his moves with great accuracy. I do wish they would have worked more on the patented fadeaway, but what they have in the game will do just fine.

Also, while I do enjoy the Jordan Challenge, to me it feels a little on the cheesy side since you only have 8 minute quarters to complete your goals. Maybe cheese isn't the right word here, so let's call it being a "ball hog." While some might think this is fine, I don't find it realistic. Jordan played over 40 minutes per game to get to these goals. Having just 32 minutes, less if you're in foul trouble, to accomplish these goals just doesn't feel right to a person that likes to keep the realism intact. Hmm, 32 minutes to score 69 points? Not impossible, but it just doesn't sit right with me.

This mode isn't easy, so don't go in expecting to finish in a couple quick sessions. I've already been through quite a few rounds, just falling short in one category or another, only to lose the game.

Basically, I'm looking forward to finishing this mode because I really need to bring MJ to my Pistons.

(Thanks again Steve, and now back to me.)

Final Thoughts

If in 10 years I’m writing a thesis paper about how NBA 2K11 served as proof that you did not need a two- or three-year development cycle to make a game that was almost wholly different from the previous version, I would not be shocked. I’m that insane about video games, and I really do believe this version of the game feels like an entirely different franchise. Online play does remain the big question mark here. It has held up to this point when I’ve played with only a couple hundred people online. In addition, I’ve also been assured by the developers that the new servers and server code are all fully operational and ready. In other words, it’s just a matter of waiting for the deluge of users on Tuesday. But I think it’s important to mention online play last here because it’s something 2K has simply failed to get right at launch in the past. And with a game that is this good, it would be unfortunate if the online play was that one nagging issue that held it back once again.