Please watch my video review here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAVGSeAuFx8
As someone who is trying desperately to make it into the video game journalism industry, I would love feedback if possible. I put many hours into scripting, recording voiceovers, accumulating gameplay, and editing into this in-depth review. I hope you find it to be a fairly comprehensive review that goes more in depth than others from major outlets.
(If this review is considered to be a quick "impression" that is not deserving of its own thread, I will delete it. I just felt that this was the most in-depth review that was worthy of its own thread)
STAY TUNED for comprehensive tutorials that cover the game's multitude of deep mechanics. My MLB guides were posted on OperationSports, and they were received extremely well.
***Written Review***
Introduction:
In free market economics, competition is said to be a critical driver/driving force of performance and innovation. However, the unabated dominance of Visual Concept’s NBA 2k series has authoritatively extinguished its competition. 2k Sports owns the virtual basketball market. It’s all that remains.
And yet, NBA 2k17 rejects the theoretical underpinnings of competition altogether and continues to push the series forward in spite of its effective monopolization. Rather than resting on its laurels, Visual Concepts delivers fans one of the deepest and most innovative entries in the series. NBA 2k17 is Kobe-esque.
Gameplay:
NBA 2k17 may look similar to NBA 2k16, but it plays quite differently. Visual Concepts has put a renewed emphasis on player skill, equipping the user with new dribbling, shooting, and defensive tools that require more precise controller manipulation and proper timing.
For example, all shots - including layups - possess a timing mechanism, but more boldly, all perimeter and post shots demand precise aiming of the right stick in a 12 o’ clock or 6 o’clock direction. The inclusion of “shot aiming” does lend more skill to perimeter shots, but the addition conflicts with the post play mechanics. While in the post, many shots require the stick to be held and released in a non 12 or 6 o clock direction; as a result, the input of post shots is often many degrees off its required/correct angle, and post shots unfairly suffer a minor “aiming” penalty that is of no fault of the user. That being said, for perimeter shots, the addition of shot aiming does as intended and furthers the divide between the skilled and not so skilled gamers.
Ball handling has been re-tooled as well to ensure that the user possesses more 1:1 control when dribbling. Signature size-ups of last year’s game have been abolished in place of shorter combo moves that can be chained together via multiple user inputs. 2k17 relies less on one-button inputs and instead forces the ball handler to string a sequence of moves together to achieve a desired outcome. This philosophy extends beyond the enhanced dribbling system and bleeds into other facets of gameplay as well. In general, the beautiful, yet more drawn out animations – like signature sizeups - of years past have been replaced by hundreds of quicker, more responsive animations that ultimately places greater control in the player’s hands. Generally, quicker, more responsive controls correlate negatively with animation fluidity and fidelity, and yet, these new, quicker animations inexplicably transition together with a fluidity never seen in sports video games. It’s a remarkable accomplishment.
However, the controls can be almost too responsive. Now just let me explain. Occasionally, when executing various dribble moves, the game allows the user to successfully input actions well before the current animation has finished. As your current animation ends, a new animation will trigger based on an input from many frames ago. This mechanic is known as buffering, and in some instances, it can allow the player to perform a move the instant another animation is finished. However, buffering can also lead to unintentional inputs that are carried through past the current animation, prompting unwanted animations to trigger at inopportune times. Be forewarned: you may occasionally find yourself performing moves or veering in directions without your consent. But make no mistake. This is not input lag, but rather a ridiculously responsive set of controls that are designed to assist user timing. But I would argue that the designers overcompensated a bit too much…
Outside of the core mechanics, NBA 2k17’s CPU AI is the best ever seen in a sports video game. Your AI teammates and opposition operate offensive and defensive schemes with extreme precision, regardless of which scheme is to be operated. Likewise, individual athletes’ play styles closely resemble their real life counterparts. Signature dribble and shooting packages help differentiate individual players, but more importantly, the CPU AI employs their versatile arsenal of moves in ways that eerily mirror their virtual equals. Lebron James plays like Lebron James. Steph Curry plays like Steph Curry. And Derrick Rose plays like Derrick Rose… when he’s healthy.
Ultimately, NBA 2k17 offers an incredibly deep and incredibly realistic virtual experience, but it’s this same level of depth and realism that necessitates a fully-fledged tutorial along with more feedback systems for various in-game mechanics. 2k17 has little on offer in this regard. A 2kU mode does little to facilitate a better understanding of how to play basketball and how to master the multitude of complex control schemes, and particular gameplay mechanics are lacking proper feedback systems that give meaningful insight into your performance. But in spite of the game’s lack of a proper tutorial mode, NBA 2k17 is undoubtedly the best playing basketball game ever made.
Presentation:
NBA 2k17’s presentation is certainly ambitious; five new color commentators, including Chris Webber, Clark Kellogg, Doris Burke, Brent Barry, and Steve Smith, new cutscenes for halftime shows, pre, quarter, and post game interviews, and hundreds of new “presentational” animations that lend greater authenticity to the off-court atmosphere. However, its ambition does not necessarily reach new heights… For example, while the additional color commentators present greater variety regarding broadcast options, their inclusion is devoid of the complementary dialogue and interruptible commentary that permeated previous years’ broadcasts. Still, the rotating crew of commentators still renders each broadcast as more insightful, more engaging, and more true to real-life broadcast than any sports game on the market.
Additionally, player models have inexplicably regressed from last; player limbs are abnormally skinny, facial models and facial animations can be… off, and hair looks as though it was plastered over a player’s head.
These issues are ultimately blemishes on an otherwise fantastic presentational package that truly blurs the lines between broadcast and video game. NBA 2k17’s presentation does so much right; it animates beautifully, arena sounds are entirely authentic to each team’s home court, lighting is dramatic, realistic, and distinct for every arena, the crowd is detailed and behaves realistically, the commentary is still the best in the business, and the list goes on and on. 2k17 sets the bar for sports game presentation; it only misses the mark when trying to outdo itself.
Game Modes:
NBA 2k17 is absolutely packed with content off the court. The heavily marketed MyCareer code attempts to blend narrative elements within its gameplay as you take a created player nicknamed “Pres” through the trials and tribulations of an NBA career, but its attempts at innovation are met with mixed results. While commendable for its scope and willingness to strive to great lengths to depict the experience of a highly coveted NBA player, MyCareer mode is encumbered with tedious exercises like constant practices and sponsorship events, along with unskippable cutscenes that at times drag the pace of the story to a crawl. Regardless of its pacing issues, MyCareer’s strong direction and authentic voiceovers - which includes the highly touted Michael B. Jordan – makes for a unique single player experience that can be built upon in future years.
MyGM makes its annual return and remains the game’s strongest mode. The number of options from which to fill your general manager desires is nearly limitless. From the most important aspects like roster management to the seemingly trivial aspects like handling your substitution patterns, your entire organization is in your hands. It’s a basketball nerd’s dream come true.
Lastly, I have not been able to fully test the online waters. Stay tuned for impressions on the state of online play, including online modes like MyPark and Pro-Am.
Conclusion:
NBA 2k17 is built on a foundation of numerous independent and interdependent mechanics, all of which coalesce into a synchronized whole. It’s a system of moving parts, and each individual mechanic affects the entire system. If one system falters, be it dribbling, shooting, or defending, the entire game is prone to potentially game breaking levels of exploitation. In this light, NBA 2k17 is a near masterpiece for its ability to have all of its absurdly deep mechanics function harmoniously without breaking the game. And with just-as-absurdly deep game modes to keep the player invested off the court, 2k17 is the whole package. NBA 2k17 storms the court, lights up the scoreboard, and walks away a sure Hall of Famer while dropping the mic. Just like the Black Mamba himself.
NBA 2k17 gets a 9.5 out of 10 (Amazing)
09-22-2016, 10:55 AM
