NBA 2K16 News Post

NBA 2K16: The Best Game in the Series' History?

06:24 PM - June 9, 2016 by RaychelSnr

With nearly 20 releases under its belt, NBA 2K has nestled into an elite category of game franchises. When the new Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear Solid, or Uncharted releases, fans automatically expect greatness. The same can be said of NBA 2K. For the folks over at 2K, it’s a wonderful problem to have -- a much better problem than the alternative.

But it still does present a problem, because once a franchise achieves greatness, each release can feel a bit stale. How do you improve a game many consider to be nearly flawless? Games with huge, glaring issues can at least point to the obvious of what didn’t work and what they are doing to fix the issues for the next release. But that wasn’t the case as we approached the NBA 2K16 release date.

So how did the game stack up against the usual weight of its expectations? How do I feel this season went as we now begin to look ahead to NBA 2K17? Well...

Read More - NBA 2K16: The Best Game in the Series' History?

Game: NBA 2K16Reader Score: 8/10 - Vote Now
Platform: PC / PS3 / PS4 / Xbox 360 / Xbox OneVotes for game: 45 - View All

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Member Comments

# 1 michaelhawj @ 06/09/16 07:09 PM

yes, it is best basketball game ever i playing, i doubt NBA 2k17 gonna be more better than 2k16, can't wait to read blog on gameplay, My GM, presentation for 2K17, Keep up hard work on 2K17

# 2 SportsGameGod @ 06/09/16 07:34 PM

Easily the best of the series and probably best sports game ever.

# 3 BSchwartz07 @ 06/09/16 07:50 PM

I am admittedly not a huge NBA fan. I watch the NBA but casually, I spend MUCH more time watching baseball and I work for an NFL team. Every year I try to convince myself that I can go a year or two without a basketball game, but eventually some new feature from 2K sucks me in. I can honestly say that I have never been disappointed with my purchase. There have been versions of Madden, The Show, and most recently EA's UFC offering that I have regretted purchasing, and only played a few times before shipping it down to my basement never to be heard from again.
At this point I have given up fighting it, I'm in for 2K17, I trust they will come through again.

# 4 JKSportsGamer1984 @ 06/09/16 08:21 PM

NBA 2K is the "deepest" sports game ever as far as modes & ways to play, but the gameplay is far from flawless. There are so many flaws & blatant cheats in this game it's not even funny. Just YouTube TruthChaserProtocol, he has many videos exposing 2K16's gameplay. 2K has to address their legacy flaws, AI, & translate difficulty without blantantly cheating you to give you an illusion of a challenge for 2K17.

# 5 Lord Bonium @ 06/09/16 08:27 PM

Gameplay, no. Now, every 2k has had it's flaws with AI so in that regard it's fine BUT what stands out to me is the sluggishness and unresponsiveness this year. Just an unparalleled lack of control imo and to me it just brings the whole game down.

Modes i play:
- mycareer, no. No VC during high school and college so you can't improve which makes no sense at all. Spike Lee Freq nonsense. Annoying bucket system. Lack of body types. Etc. I'll take any previous 2k over this.

- myteam, no. Too many ridiculous cards. I much preferred 13 and 14 since they only (or mostly) had "realistic" cards iirc. Even the rubies in 15 were nowhere near as bad. I sincerely hope i can play against normal teams next year whether it's through matchmaking or by having a mode with proper restrictions.

- online myplayer (pro am). Yes, or at least a tie with 2k11. Mygm might be the best so far. Don't play myleague. PNO is pretty good although there needs to be more tiers but it's the first year i play it so i can't compare it to previous 2k's.

Overall, to me, definitely not the best. I'll take 11, 13, 14 (ps3) and 15 over it. A tie with 12. Better than 10 and 14 (ps4). I've also played 2k5-2k9 but don't remember them well enough to judge.

# 6 TerryP @ 06/09/16 08:37 PM

By a long shot, but still plenty of room for improvement!

# 7 Retropyro @ 06/09/16 08:50 PM

For MyGM, absolutely. For MyCareer? Not even close. MyCareer is the worst in 2K16, hopefully it's a one-off and 2K will never go this route again.

MyGM has been a blast.

Overall though, 2K11 is still the best for me. I play 2K16 off and on. 2K11 grabbed me and I played it non-stop for a year.

# 8 Hustle Westbrook @ 06/09/16 08:52 PM

Offline? Probably yeah. Haven't had this much fun in a MyCareer mode in any 2K. I'm in my 4th season and I'm probably gonna be playing this mode until the day 2K17 comes out.

Online? It's by far the worst 2K I've played, mainly because of the awful defense which you don't really see exploited as much when you play offline against the computer as opposed to a human opponent online. Bad transition D, overpowered lead passes, terrible rotations, terrible switching logic, and just plain dumb AI on defense make this a very frustrating game online.

Despite this I still put in over a 1,000 matches online since I love basketball games. If 2K17 can clear up these flaws then yeah, that might be the greatest game in the series.

# 9 dtlm6 @ 06/09/16 09:52 PM

It will be hard to top NBA 2K16. 2K, give us a college basketball game!

# 10 milin @ 06/09/16 10:35 PM

The controls are too sluggish and unresponsive to be the best ever. I hope the 2K team really tackle this, because it's been a problem since a long time. And I hope that they fix my career. I'd love to have an offline my player that's separate from the online portion of the game. I would also like my player to have the same sliders as the other modes, because the sliders and AI is wack in my career.

# 11 tril @ 06/09/16 11:19 PM

every year, we say that it will be hard to top the current version of NBA2k. but somehow they do.
some years we see great improvements other years not so much. but they always improve. so Im not worried about it.
I wish they would add a feature so we can import existing gm/legacy modes, into newer versions, just like The SHOW..

I

# 12 Rockie_Fresh88 @ 06/09/16 11:59 PM

It's definitely at the top gameplay wise . it wasn't the most fun though .

# 13 Man2116 @ 06/10/16 12:13 AM

In NBA 2k17 or 18 I would like to see true upgrades in defense. Currently there is a lot of unnecessary bumping everywhere on the court to stop a player from getting to a spot. The real NBA does not bump the offensive player to get there, they simply cut off the area. I would love to see a difference in playing soft D, hard D, and physical D such as what we see in the playoffs. This does not mean make the defense play a certain way because of the time of the season, but we should see intensity increase from beginning of a game as well as the deeper into a season you go. Each form of defense should be available throughout the season.

# 14 raidertiger @ 06/10/16 01:27 AM

Maybe objectively, but subjectively I don't have anywhere as much fun with 2k16 as past 2ks.

# 15 myathebee @ 06/10/16 01:35 AM

2K11 is still my favorite...Still waiting for a game to dominate it.

# 16 lowsingles @ 06/10/16 02:15 AM

Myteam = worst it has ever been
MyCareer = worst it has ever been
Park = Best it has ever been
PNO = Best it has ever been
Pro-Am = Best mode ever in 2k history imo

As far as gameplay I don't feel like it is the best because of how much they have toned down offense so much due to constant complaining about how hard defense is, but this 2k has no dominant exploitable glitch which is nice.

My favorite is 2k13, but all in all 2k16 is up there

# 17 23 @ 06/10/16 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rockie_Fresh88


	It's definitely at the top gameplay wise . it wasn't the most fun though .

I can agree with this

# 18 Ruben2424 @ 06/10/16 07:13 AM

My favorite version of 2K will always be 2K11...but since it's outdated, I have to say that 2K16 is the best version yet in terms of gameplay, graphics, sound, etc.

In my opinion, there's only 2 things I didn't like about 2K16...

1. MyCareer mode turning into "MyStory" mode. I want the career mode to go back to what it used to be in 2K11. Post game press conferences, shoe deals, endorsements, etc. I wanna define MY OWN career not play out someone else's life! I'm from Miami, FL not some kid from Harlem that goes by "Freq". Let's NEVER EVER do the whole Spike Lee thing again please!!!...We don't even get to play out our entire rookie season for crying out loud! Story elements should not be added to a career mode. Period. Career modes should be open-ended and WE should get to decide how OUR careers play out! I would like to see some situational cut-scenes where we actually get to make important decisions as in endorsement deals, hiring/firing agents, free agency, etc.

2. Although I love the idea of MyGM, I don't like that you don't start as a level 1 GM if you decide to start over. I don't like that autosave can't be turned off like you could in MyLeague. And I can't stand the training intensity issue that was also in 2K15...I honestly think this and the autosave pretty much ruin the entire mode. I only play MyLeague because of this. If these things can be resolved, it'd be the best franchise mode ever developed in a sports game!

I honestly don't feel that 2K has to continue to raise the bar in terms of gameplay. At least not for a while. I think they should do what MLB The Show is doing...take an already excellent product and just polish it a bit further. If it ain't broken, don't fix it! They can add Charles Barkley to the rest of the pregame crew, they can continue adding small details like arena sounds and lighting, uniform and player details, live shots of city skylines and arenas to the presentation, even more TV style presentation, etc.

I just don't feel that anything drastic should be done to the gameplay. It's already almost perfect. Add more realism to the career/franchise modes and cut out all the Spike Lee drama!

# 19 BezO @ 06/10/16 09:20 AM

Easily the best in the series IMO. For every one thing from past NBA 2Ks that might be better, there are probably 5 additions/improvements that negate it.

# 20 rhein77 @ 06/10/16 09:41 AM

Control... Control... Control...
Please make the game more responsive... The game took a step back this year in regards of control and responsiveness. I hope they focus on the core fundamentals of gameplay and control this year and it will easily top 2016.

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