Every time a new sports game releases, there are changes to the core gameplay which changes how you play the game. In this roundtable our staff writers explain what they are doing differently to find success thus far this year in [i]NBA 2K15[/i]. Be sure to leave your own suggestions in the comments!

 

 

James Kerti: As I mentioned in my initial impressions as well as my review, team strengths and weaknesses seem to matter a lot more in NBA 2K15. Switching between different teams has become more difficult due to individual shot releases with the new shooting meter and personnel differences between teams. I get hammered on higher difficulty levels if I don't make a conscious effort to play like the real team does.

Points of emphasis help, as do the defensive settings. I'm trying to familiarize myself with the shot releases so I can cash in on the open jumpers I aim to generate. It finally comes down to putting your players in positions to succeed — just like real basketball.

Kevin Groves: I'll be honest, I haven't found much success this year in NBA 2K15 and I couldn't be happier. After spending the day getting beat-down by the much improved CPU AI, I went back to the drawing board and began the process of ridding my internal hard-drive of everything NBA 2K related up until this point. I began to look at the game through a first-person point guard view; "OK, you have a step on your defender. Where's the help coming from? Where's the open man? Who has the mismatch? Gotta close-out hard on the open shooters without over-committing. Three-on-one fast break, have to get a bucket or at least get to the line.

Once I began thinking through situations in the game I started to put some runs together and achieve success. Like James said, more time will breed familiarity with shot release points and team styles/playbooks. While I would like to get my hometown Wizards down to a science, I want to run with all of the teams taking advantage of the best display of player individuality across the sports video game genre.

While some would like to just enjoy the game, I want my decisions to mimic those of a real game. I look forward to spending more time with NBA 2K15 and evolving my thought process to "don't play video games, play basketball"

 

 

Ben Vollmer: I'm with James, just getting adjusted to the way teams (and individual players) play has been a huge learning curve.

For instance, I'm using my Magic in a test-run Association Mode. It's taken me about twelve games to learn that Victor Oladipo, who I had no problem scoring with in 2K14 isn't that takeover-the-game kind of player yet. He's not going to nail well-guarded shots, and he can have some issues driving on defensive guys who can match his quickness.

For now, it's all about getting acquainted with my team as opposed to the game itself, and I think that's just about the biggest compliment you can give 2K15.

Matthew Coe: This year it's all about defensive adjustments for me. I'm attempting to do a better job staying shaded to a dribblers strong hand, or if he has a tendency to drive in one direction over another, I'll shade to that side. I'm also attempting to do a better job of boxing out and letting my CPU teammates help me on the boards. In the past I've sometimes felt like I had to go grab every rebound. Now I'm focusing on fundamental box outs if I don't have the superior position to get the rebound.

I'm also playing more attention to the match-ups on the floor. For example, I know if the CPU has a faster, quicker player at a position I will stay aware and help off of my man when I feel like the CPU is attempting to make a scoring move. That has helped tremendously in keeping the CPU shooting percentages down by giving them less uncontested shots. NBA 2K15 really forces the user to think and react quickly moreso than any previous entry, and I appreciate that as a gamer.

Chris Sanner: Without a doubt, as the rest of the guys have mentioned, learning your roster and their tendencies is the absolute best thing you can do to find success this year. You also need to learn the fundamentals of basketball and the NBA game to really ensure success. It's really quite simple, while 2K15 doesn't play a perfect game of basketball -- it does play a version that requires you to use some real basketball know-how to have success on the upper levels. You can't do gamey things and expect to have amazing amounts of success on the court, which is a huge compliment to the on-court gameplay for sure.