NBA 2K10 Demo Available, Post Impressions Here (360)

[Tiko7523]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tubaker

Ive had an odd basketball weak to say the least. It started out with me testing out the live demo and really digging it. I love the improvements they made and I thought this may finally be the year I actually have a real decision to make. Then I popped in 2k9, and having not played that game for a few months I wasnt really feeling it .. I started to seriously consider going to Live this year .. Then I played the 2k10 demo. Some things frusterated me. Some of them were because I wasnt used to the game and some of it was because there are things that are just not right. There's still alot of sliding going on .. if you dribble into a player neither of you will move but the dribblers legs will still move. Very annoying and it just looks ugly. Thats was my biggest gripe .. well, that and I have always thought IsoMotion was trash. After playing the game I wasnt sold on 2k10 at all. I liked it, but there was just something about live... So I went to play the live demo again. Started a game, looked at the graphics, looked at the gameplay, and said to myself "wow ... I cant play this anymore" Its not that 2k10 was some groundbreaking game that was perfect, but when I matched it up directly with live I just flat out liked it better .. I didnt realize how much better the game looks until after I played them back to back.

dammmm i didnt know anyone else tried this and felt the same way i did

[canman]

Played through the demo for a good while earlier, mostly as the Magic, and I really liked what I played. Every game/quarter felt different and there were a variety of outcomes each time, from downright domination by either me or the Lakers to a close low-scoring affair or a tight, high-scoring mess of a quarter. And each time it would be different players on either team doing the damage. Sometimes Kobe and Dwight would dominate, while other times Fisher and Nelson would go tit for tat on both ends.

However, it did feel very reminiscent of the basic 2K game we've been getting for years now. By that I mean, you'll occasionally see some classic gems such as those perfectly executed passes by the CPU, which warp through a multitude of players bodies, to cutting players in the paint. Which is the exact same crap we've seen in 2K6, 7, 8, 9. Luckily, sliders should cure those problems (and others such as the high FG%) in the main game like it did in previous games, but it's still frustrating to see after all these years.

Otherwise, the offensive play by the CPU didn't feel as scripted as 2K9 and they'll generally make intelligent passes to open players instead of forcing it to the next "stage/player" in the play. So there's a lot more variation this time around.

And everything's fine and mostly the same on the offensive end. Maybe a little too easy to score in the paint, but I guess that's due to the set level of the demo (which is probably on pro?). I didn't try to cheese or anything, like constant iso-motion or non-stop PnR's, so I'm not sure how it holds up on that front. But I'm also interested in how fatigue will play out in a full game as I'm convinced it could be a great additional element to the game, if it were finely tweaked.

Anyway, the controls didn't take any time getting used to, having played Draft Combine, but I hate the broadcast cam (prefer 2K cam) so it wasn't as comfortable as it could have been. I do wish that they'd stop messing with the damn iso-motion every year and just settle on something or at least bring over/add as an option, the X/Y button system from Choops 2K8, as that's still my fav.

Presentation wise, the graphics certainly seemed nicer, the crowd was lively/more authentic, and I didn't miss the commentary at all. I do wish the demo had the user replay implemented because there were a few nice plays I wanted to re-watch.

So basically, the demo didn't blow away Live. But I'm still definitely picking this up asap. Hopefully I find a place this week.

[DirtyJerz32]

Quote: Originally Posted by stewaat

You gotta be in the right spot, about 15 out. I've only done and tried them with Kobe. It looks f'n awesome when he does that one leg jumper from the baseline. I just use the shot stick in the direction they are going...no turbo.

I've tried that. It's kinda hit or miss. I think the other game does the animation better. I've seen it happen a couple of times although, I'm pushing the right stick in the opposite direction the going.

[jsquigg]

Honestly, I think this demo was pretty bare bones even for a demo. What it did do was confirm my purchase for a basketball game. The question is: Which one? To give a clue I can say that I only got through one play through of this demo.

[tcain80]

Quote: Originally Posted by FatalHussien

This demo isn't as animation heavy as 2K9 was, but it's extremely heavy on the unwanted results from two animations blending. NBA 2K7 was damn near perfect in terms of the balance. But NBA 2K8 overcorrected the shot % (lots of missed shots) and perimeter D and NBA 2K9 was too heavy on the % (everything went in) and the post D was a joke. Most people find a way to make up for these issues but it's a letdown when you have a game that's begging to be great but is being slowed down by several minor issues that add up...

Yeah, I thought 2k9 was faily smooth outside of perimeter shooting, but the animations in 2k10 are brutal. Sometimes it feels like I'm fighting against an invisible wall, and one time I was holding the turbo button trying to get my player out of the animation and when they finally did they ran the wrong way. WTF lol!

The defensive AI also makes a lot of stupid choices this year. I really feel like to play the defense I want to, I have to control every player on the court at the same time, which is pretty frustrating. And of course the thing that drove me nuts about 2k9 is still here, which is that the defense will let you drive past them over and over and over but will never back off you on the perimeter.

Lots of extra little annoying things like many of the sped up shooting animations looking goofy and the field goal percentages just add to the underwhelming experience. This is the worst 2k game since the absolutely horrendous 2k5, but the upside there is 2k6 was great so hopefully they can turn it around again.

[Bornindamecca]

This demo is so incomplete it's barely worth commenting on. Aside from the back door cuts and bad help D situations, it's pretty easy to force the CPU into a bad shot in this demo, so this was mostly about seeing the graphics and controls. Controls felt good. Isomotion worked well. Broke Vince's ankles at will with Kobe. Pretty easy to get layups and dunks. I think I played four games and saw 8 or ten dunks. Maybe more. Level is just too low/incomplete to judge anything resembling AI.

If it weren't for My Player, I don't know where I would stand on this one.

[sambowie]

I was expecting 2K to drop the ball this year but they delivered a solid product that one can only appreciate after playing the game for a while. But I think both of these games are so solid that we'll be arguing about which one is better for years to come.

[Po Pimp]

Played the demo. I already had made up my mind I was getting the game, so with that being said...

-Demo didn't really BLOW me away. It looked cleaner than 2k9 (which already looked good to me)

-Love the new animations and controls

-Didn't like a couple of clunky animations (I got spun around by Fisher when I was using Jameer and when I rolled the ball, my guy didn't really bend down to pick it up).

All in all, the demo is just a tease, and I'm sure I'll be in bball heaven once the full version is released with all the presentation elements/commentary in tow.