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MVP
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I finally got in some time with the game (PS4), so i thought I'd chip in my two cents on a few things that stood out thus far.
Pros:
-The game is beautiful. 60 FPS, (mostly) incredible graphics, smooth, seamless animations, fantastic presentation as always (although I miss my halftime show). I love the pregame intros, although I'd really love it if they'd get authentic PA guys for each stadium. Kills me hearing "From Memphis, Derrick Rose". The replays are incredible as always, and the general gameplay is just glorious to watch, especially on my beloved Drive Cam.
-CPU AI is amazing. I played two 48 minute games, and not once did the CPU come down and hold the ball until the shot clock got low. They swing it around, drive when it's there, post up quality bigs, take 3s when you leave them open, and they actually shoot from midrange. Defensively, they guard the PnR very well, they play the passing lanes (but not psychic defense, at least not yet that I've experienced), and they'll rip you if you get too dribble happy.
-The ball handling is still pretty much bliss for me. It's fast and responsive, and it just feels right when you beat a guy off the dribble, like you earned it.
-Player tendencies seem pretty spot on to me so far, although I probably need a lot more time with the game to assess that in full.
-Fouls are perfect in my opinion. I've never felt cheated, and the contact animations are insanely good. I'm getting a very realistic # of FTs per game so far.
-Lots of features. While many of these will probably never see the light of day at my house, it's cool that they have the Park mode, and supposedly the My Career mode is a great way to play (just isn't for me).
Cons:
-Obviously, the servers and face scans are HUGE black eyes for the game. Completely unacceptable, especially considering all the claims they made before release.
-Passing can be a little wonky at times. For one, the freestyle passing seems to be a tad latent. I had 2 different fast breaks where I tried to throw a snazzy pass, and both times it took a moment for it to happen, much slower than a normal pass. Maybe it was a fluke, or had to do with the context my player was in, but it seemed less fluid and cool than last year. Also, I've had several times where the guys will use the wrong hand when trying to feed the post. For example, I'll be on the left wing and try to throw a left handed bounce pass in to my big, and instead my guy tries to pass right handed, which basically throws it right into the defender's knees or feet.
-Speaking of kicked balls, did they remove that violation from the game? I've seen no less than 5 times in 2 games where a ball blatantly hits a guys feet and nothing gets called. That sucks.
-Player models are hit and miss. While some look astonishingly good, others are downright horrible. It seems like pretty much any white guy is subject to this problem, as I noticed in a game w my Bulls that Gasol, Dougie McBuckets, Mirotic and Hinrich all look pretty much nothing like themselves. Joakim Noah inexplicably has a sagging left eye, he looks like Sloth from the Goonies, with a stylish pony bun of course. I shudder to think how bad Nowitzki will look, and the Rubio model is embarrassing from what I've seen.
All in all, I'm much happier with the game than I expected to be. It really is crazy how much different it looks on a nice TV, as opposed to a video feed on my CPU. I knew from last year's game that gameplay would be tight, and it still exceeds my expectations. I'll still be renting Live for a couple of weeks when the time comes, but a week ago I was almost totally sold on Live, and now I'd say 2k is back in the driver's seat. Really, really great game with just a few major flaws holding it back from being an all-timer.
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10-09-2014, 02:23 PM
