The gameplay of the NBA 2K series has always been it's bread-and-butter. It is by far the most accurate representation of the pro game available today. But don't expect to pick up 2K8 and start tearing through the competition.

There's a steep learning curve, whether it be running offensive sets, using the Isomotion controls or even just making a simple layup. Yep, Isomotion returns again this year and some tweaks to how momentum is used for each move makes things a little more difficult than before.

Gone are the days of holding/pressing one of the two shoulder buttons and flicking your stick and getting your guy to perform these crazy moves at will. Now you'll really need to base your moves on which hand the ball is in and which way the ball carrier is going. Don't expect to go hard right then perform some crazy move back left with ease. That said, if you know how to execute these moves and pace yourself rather than stick mash you can blow by just about any defender.

Becoming an Isomotion expert would be easier to accomplish if there was actually a list of Isomotion moves in the manual or in the game. But alas, there isn't. If you take out the notes pages along with the Warranty, and standard issue console pages, the manual is a whopping 10 pages. And a page-and-a-half are dedicated to controls. So if you want to see how to perform various moves you'll have to check out our forums for videos and tutorials provided by the community. To be fair, the simplest of moves are easy to pull off and are quite intuitive. For example to crossover, simply flick the stick towards your empty hand and then back.

After you get the hang of and jab steps and around the back moves you're ready to take the court. Here's where the game really shines. You'll feel like you're watching an NBA game thanks to the addition of signature moves that add onto the signature shooting styles seen in 2K7. For example Jason Kidd looks just like his real-life counterpart running the break and Tim Duncan has his little turn around jumper from the post.

One gameplay difference that is noticeable right away is the less-dominant point guard play. In 2K7 the point guard would handle the ball until the shot clock got under 10 seconds then force a bad pass or shot. {mospagebreak}

This year the CPU does a great job getting the ball to it's go-to players. But don't think it's a one-man show as the AI uses the entire team. To combat these stars, you've been given the new "Lock-on-D" button. It allows the defender your controlling to stick with his counterpart by simply holding down a shoulder button.

It plays as cheap as it sounds. What skill is there by holding a button down and watching your player skate around as he sticks to the guy with the ball? If you have a lockdown defender (indicated by a padlock icon by his name) you can clamp down on anybody with ease. The alternative is getting burned as you try and defend manually, so this is the cause of some aggravation.

Another pet peeve that has yet to get addressed is the length of time it takes for your fellow defenders to switch off. If the other team pushes the action and you get stuck with a big guy on a guard, you have to rotate your guard over for the better matchup. However, many times the guy who's supposed to leave just stands there like a statue. This leads to wide open players and usually a quick score.

On the offense side, things get a lot better. The previously mentioned Isomotion moves make for exciting 1-on-1 play but the new low post moves are even better. The addition of pivot, backing down, and fade-away animations really makes it feel like you have total control over your player.

This is in stark contrast to the post play in 2K7. In last year's title it seemed at times that you were simply at the mercy of random animations that didn't fit what you were trying to do. This year you can simply hold down the post-up button, move your guy towards the basket, then flick the stick away from the basket to perform a fade-away. Press the stick to the right or left and you'll perform a hook shot or a nice up-and-under while pressing up will force your guy to attack the rim.

It's a shame performing layups aren't as easy as these other moves. I understand having to make layups more difficult so you're not going up every time you're near the basket, but sometimes it's just ridiculous.

On the fast break don't be shocked if your guy does this awkward looking layup attempt that clangs off the bottom of the rim. Put-backs can be just as frustrating when your player bricks a shot from two feet away.

So forget layups, let's run some real offensive sets. Calling plays is as easy as pressing right on the d-pad then pressing a face button. New this year are play diagrams that show up on the court indicating what needs to be done to execute the play properly. Check out this video on how a pick and roll from the wing is executed with the new play diagrams.

{flv}playdiagram{/flv}

{mospagebreak}Another new addition are the off-the-ball controls. For the off-ball controls you hold a shoulder button and then tell any player other than the ball handler to either get open, set a screen, post up or come off a screen. This can be very effective when your offense breaks down or if you're determined to get a certain player the ball.

Beyond the NBA hardcourt, 2K also wrapped the street court modes and the new Dunk Contest into its new Blacktop Mode, which features a lot of street-style games. You can do a 3-Point Shootout, play 21 and other various mini-games, or take part in the impressive new Dunk Contest.

If you want you can practice your dunks to hone your skills or battle three other dunk contestants in an All-Star atmosphere. This mode is quite entertaining and rather addictive. There are such a wide variety of launches, mid-air moves, and obstacles that you can play for hours while still unlocking new dunks.

To see some of the moves check out this quick clip I put together during a practice session with KG.

{flv}dunkhighlights{/flv}

The 3-Point Shootout is pretty fun as well, but it's bland compared to the Slam Dunk Contest.

The Association Mode

While it has been tweaked and added to, for the most part The Association mode is the same as it was in 2K7. However the new additions make the mode much deeper and more involving.

The biggest addition to 2K8's Association mode is the assigning of player roles. You go through the players on the roster and "tell them" what their roles will be for the upcoming season. There are four main roles: Starter, Sixth Man, Role Player and Bench Warmer -- and within those main roles you can change each sub role.

So you can assign someone as a starter for his main role, with the sub role that he'll get benched if your team adds a better player. Or you can tell him you expect him to be a star or that he's guaranteed a starting spot.

Each main role has three sub roles and each serve to establish your player's morale. If you tell LeBron James he's going to come off the bench as a role player, he's not going to be happy. But if you tell Brian Scalabrine he's going to start, he'll be happier than a pig in slop.

You have to be careful here as you have a limited amount of role changes per season (I'm not sure on the number -- this is where a real instruction manual would help) and if you get stuck telling bench fodder they're starters or vice versa you'll have a very unhappy team going forward.

When you go to establish a rotation, you're given an allotment of 240 minutes and you have to distribute these minutes to players based on their roles. After playing a game or two you'll get a better feel of how many minutes you need to promise each player to keep him happy. Some require very little while others are quite demanding. {mospagebreak}

This is where properly assigning roles is key. If you can't get a guy into the game as much as you told him he's not going to be happy.

There's also a ton of stuff to do during the season. Everything from setting up practices to scouting college players can be done every day. Frankly, there's so much depth that it becomes a double-edged sword.

On the one hand, the depth is amazing but at the same time it can get very tedious. Worrying about what drills your third PG has run this month or whether you've focused on training your center in rebounding enough can get overwhelming. The tedious nature of some of the extras will leave you wishing you could just play and skip all the excess. If you decide to ignore these things though, you could find your team lagging behind because they're not developing or progressing. This problem is no less an issue if you sim through a week or two of games.

The off-season is fairly straight forward with a few new features. The specific periods have been well defined and things like the contract negotiation AI are much better.

The most notable addition is probably the draft workout process where you can put certain prospects through certain drills and draft workouts. After the drills you can see what your scout's final grade is on each player.

Free agency can be both fun and aggravating. It's always fun to try and pluck the top talent and put them on your team, but if your team is up against the cap or luxury tax it's nearly impossible to bring any good players on board. There are mid-level exceptions and veteran minimums that let you fill out your roster but the MLE's aren't explained and can be tough to decipher -- guys who sign for the minimum are atrocious.

Much like during the season, these deep off-season features will either be right up your alley or leave you feeling like it's a waste of time. Either way, you'll find yourself a little lost due to the complex nature of NBA contracts and the lack of any real help from the manual or game.

Presentation

2K Sports usually features some really spot-on presentation features in it's games, and while 2K8 definitely has some nice touches, it's pretty much everything we've already seen in 2K7.

Kevin Harlan, Kenny Smith and Craig Sager return as announcers and there are a few new lines but they seem to have been recorded in a prison cell as Harlan sounds near death and whispering. Also the announcers still seem to repeat a lot of their material as well.

But gone are Kenny's halftime awards/stamps/lame gimmick so that's a definite plus. Some shots of Craig Sager's ridiculous suits would've been nice, but you can't have everything.

Also the TV-style replays from a variety of angles are very impressive and the cut-scenes are also quite realistic. The crowds are slightly improved as they seem more active. There's also a lot more action on the floor, with mop boys, cheerleaders, cameramen and other people buzzing around.

The on-court sounds are again similar to last year but they're still very good. However, the biggest complaint about the presentation is the horrible menus in the game. Flicking the right stick to access the main menu is annoying and even when you get there it's still a pain. There's also a lack of a help screen in many of the menus.{mospagebreak}

Graphically the game is on par if not slightly better than its predecessor. One big thing is the "lionfaces" from 2K7 appear to be gone. The players all are very accurate representatives of their real-life equivalents. Everything from their faces, to body types, tats, and specific gear are for the most part on point.

The issue of uniform tearing is still there and can lead to some embarrassing moments (I had Andre Iguodala lose his shorts during a dunk contest) but it seems to happen less. I was a bit impressed by the coaches, which seem to have been redone and given more detail. Overall it seems the game has undergone a facelift of sorts as just about every graphical feature is better looking.

2K8 also features Reelmaker again, which enables users to make their own highlight films. But Reelmaker still seems quite clunky and is rather limited in what highlights/replays you can use (but at least it's free this year). As someone who has made plenty of video game movies using a PC and TV Tuner card, it seems like a total waste of time to make a reel using Reelmaker if you can capture video on your PC.

Online

It's a shame that DSM has so many issues keeping leagues going because the Online League feature of 2K8 looks very sweet. It has all of the typical online league features seen in other 2K Sports games and thanks to a fairly smooth online experience even someone like myself who doesn't play online as much as offline could get addicted to the setup.

If you venture into the lobbies be prepared to run into shady opponents, but that's to be expected. The lag seems to be hit or miss as some games are smooth as silk while others have such drastic button delay, causing the game to be nearly unplayable. 

If the "ping" graphics actually worked, it'd be easier to find matches. Some guys supposedly have a horrible ping in the lobby but play very smoothly when in game. The challenge system seems to work only some of the time as well.

So what that means is you'll challenge a player only to have it fail and refer you to the empty online FAQ (SHOCKING!) or 2K's website. But then if you challenge someone else it'll start up right away. After each game it's nice to view the highlights from various players on your team. Essentially it's handled the same as the offline post game.

Scores

Presentation - 8.0: Great TV-style presentation is pulled down a bit by bland and repetitive announcing. The menus are still terrible and the lack of in-game help is a big problem thanks to a non-existent manual.

Graphics - 8.5: Yay, no more lionfaces! Everything from the crowds to the coaches to the players looks better. Tearing uniforms still show up every now and then, which is a letdown.

Gameplay - 9.0: A lot to like here, as you'd be hard pressed to find a better NBA sim. But the imbalance between the offensive and defensive gameplay is frustrating and holds it back a bit.

Lasting Appeal - 8.5: The Association is very deep (maybe too deep) and the Slam Dunk Contest is very fun. The 3-Point Shootout looks like an afterthought compared to the Dunk Contest but the rest of NBA Blacktop modes add depth. Reelmaker is pretty much a waste of time.

Online - 8.0: Despite the shady players found lurking in the lobbies, the game is just as fun online as it is offline. The lag is minimal when you get someone with a good connection -- too bad the ping meter is seemingly broken. Online leagues provide a big boost to the experience.

Intangibles - 7.0: Seems to do a lot of things right on the court including the play diagrams and the quick access menus for fast subs and play calling. But it's impossible to look past all of the missed layups. By making it too realistic they've killed the easiest shot in the game. Have I mentioned the horrendous manual yet?

Overall

8.7: In some cases a better game than 2K7, but it has the slight feel of a rehash. Obviously a copy of a great game is a good thing, but you can't help but think it could've been a lot better. Still though, it's easily the best basketball game of the year and a must buy for any fan of the sport.