NBA 2K12 Review (360, PS3)

[DustinT]

Quote: Originally Posted by coolcras7

Has operation sports given any game this year a score higher than 8.5 ?

No games have deserved anything higher. You should go read our grading scale

[JohnDoe8865]

Has any game really deserved better than an 8.5 this year??

[RaychelSnr]

Quote: Originally Posted by Thinger

What happened to the 10 point scale? 1 terrible, 5 average, 10 classic Everything is rated between 5-10 on OS ... there's no way in god's green earth is a game like Madden anywhere on the same stratosphere as NBA 2K and there's only a .5 or .1 difference between the titles on OS. Frankly, that's just wrong.

You can easily make the argument for why they are one category away. If NBA 2K shipped with a functional online mode and a more bug free experience in My Player the score would have easily been a 9 if not a 9.5. We review games As-Is and review games as a whole not JUST the gameplay or gameplay/presentation. A game's score here at OS depends on it's ability to stand the test of time -- which means every part of it has to be clicking to enter into the 9.0 realm. I honestly thought NBA 2K was going to be our first 9 under the new scale, but literally you cannot be a 9.0 on the 10 point scale without having everything at a level that's great. When Online, which is 10-20% of a game is not functional half the time, is broken -- you can't give a game a 9 period.

Like I said in my blog today, it's really a testament to NBA 2K12's gameplay and presentation's greatness the game received an 8.5 with the flaws in the game at launch.

As to your point about the 10 point scale -- most AAA sports titles fall within the 6 - 8.5 range because they're all usually quite good at the end of the day. We have had games all over the spectrum since the launch of the new scale. We'll likely see the scale in it's full glory as we head into minor release season, when games can really be closer to average to quite bad at times.

[coolcras7]

Quote: Originally Posted by DustinT

No games have deserved anything higher. You should go read our grading scale

Seems that the new grading scale is like a female who thinks she is going marry Brad Pitt except she is over weight has bad teeth bad skin and lives in the outback. Reviews of NHL 12, FIFA 12, NBA 2k12 and even Madden 12 state that they are the best of their series, so the question I have has operation sports set its bar to high ? I agree with all the complaints for the game and maybe reviews like this is what 2k needs to step up their game.

[youvalss]

Fair review, and not too much affected by the hype - and that is a plus. But for some reason when I saw 8.5, I felt like the score was 7. After 2K11, everything less than 9 seems like 7. But it's good to see someone pointing out some cons and not letting the buzz around the game control the review.

[thevaliantx]

I think the game should have gotten a score in the 7-7.0 range. 2K simply did not add enough to the game in the way of improvements, took away things that worked fine in the past, the association modes are broken, player movements (passing, running the court) are broken. I applaud 2K's effort in trying to be innovative, it's the breaking of things that didn't need fixing and the removal of things that weren't broken that are the problem.

[JCEVO]

online has so many variables that I wouldn't even downgrade a game score based on online play. this 8.5 sound more like 9

everybody can play 2k12 but not everybody can play 2k12 online and just off that online play is irrelevant in reviews.

[FGOmik]

Quote: Originally Posted by llatson2

so if nba 2k12 didnt have online play all together then the rating would be higher, right.

Someone made a similar comment on my review of the game and I just don't get it--especially coming from a sports gamer.

Online is a massive part of what gives a sports game its longevity. Even in the best sports games, you can only play the CPU for so long before it becomes completely rote. There is no substitute for human competition.

Further, whether the score would be different if there were no online at all is irrelevant. It IS there and so it needs to be put through its paces and evaluated. And so far, it is dire, at best.