NBA 2K17: Reviewer First Impressions

As I dive into NBA 2K17, I'm reminded once again about how deep the modes in the game are. Right now, look for my full review of NBA 2K17 sometime around Tuesday.

For now, if you are unsure about whether you are jumping in or not, here's a look at a few quick impressions after a few games:

• The gameplay and presentation still continue to be just so smooth. Its not like that wasn't expected but it does need to be stated for the record. There's a lot more to explore on the court but I'm definitely hooked to the on-court gameplay.
• Look-wise, the game looks better with more varied body types as one addition. The other tweaks are adding nice touches as well. Overall the game looks a hair better than last year.
• There are still instances where you get stuck in animations -- I had one instance at the end of a game I drove the lane and tried to fire up a quick shot at the buzzer and instead my player went into a lengthy drive-layup animation which resulted in time expiring before the shot went up. That wasn't particularly good considering I was in a position to win the game.
• Commentary seems solid enough still. I haven't played enough to form a good judgement on it but I don't see any reason after a few more games I won't be coming away with a positive vibe.
• The only mode I've dove into enough to write anything on has been MyPLAYER. The story and background are a fun setup but the mode has some serious issues which I think will leave me thinking its a negative this year. I'll need to play a bit more but it just feels the mode goes out of its way to mire you in tedium.
• I played a game of 1-on-1 in MyPLAYER and it felt just so right. To me its impressive the game can play a good brand of basketball be it 5-on-5, 3-on-3, or 1-on-1. That means its getting a few things right with gameplay.

Final Thoughts

NBA 2K17 is looking like a winner on the court at least. The game right now seems to have done a lot more right than wrong, but we still have a lot of time until the final review is published. For now, I'm definitely optimistic about NBA 2K17's prospects.