Sports games easily get flack for their innately iterative nature. While that could be the case for other franchises, 2K Sports and Visual Concepts’ NBA 2K series has been deftly shaking off that generalization with varying degrees of success. This year’s outing, NBA 2K16, may very well be their best one yet, but for some pretty interesting reasons.
The title looks absolutely slick right out of the box, make no mistake about it. The presentation, menus (yes, even the menu transitions), and music tie everything together neatly. And while we’re here swooning about everything that’s presented to us upfront, it’s what’s under the hood and at the core of this package that makes this title truly worth your while.
This year’s main selling point is a career mode framed around a story helmed by acclaimed film and commercial director Spike Lee. Livin’ Da Dream, as it’s called, charts the rise of your custom-built player from high school sensation to NBA professional. It’s definitely a step in the right direction and adds a much-needed dose of personality to the single-player experience. It stumbles around in a couple of aspects, though. For instance, you’ll have to suspend your disbelief at your created character/player looking nothing like his supposed family. Even funnier is the fact that the story portrays you as having a twin sister. Of course, it can be played for a quick laugh or two, but if you’re the type looking for some sort of immersion, prepare to be a bit jarred by the inconsistencies, no matter how intentional or unintentional they are.
Once you get over the initial hurdles of having a red-haired half-Irish dude as part of a middle-class African-American family, you’ll also have to deal with some rather hammy acting during the mode’s cutscenes. Don’t get us wrong, they can be on point when they actually deliver, but we’ve had a good chunk of them laden with over-the-top, caricature-like exchanges. However, as much as this sounds like we’re piling on this year’s MyCareer, we highly appreciate the extra amount of gravitas that having Spike Lee on the creative team can bring to a basketball simulation, of all things.
Of things we wish MyCareer could have had this year, a greater degree of flexibility in making crucial career decisions makes the top of the list. We often find ourselves having the game make that decision for us. For instance, what if we wanted to stay in college instead of getting drafted right out of it? We’d love to have the ability to have that choice available. Then again, we think this omission was made to make space for the story Spike Lee crafted for the game. We hope the devs take notes for the next one.
If you’re wondering about how NBA 2K16’s core basketball gameplay holds up, don’t fret. The series’ emphasis on the simulation side of things is still very much intact. With a game of this nature, a steep learning curve is present, but the payoff is massively satisfying once you get the hang of things. Upon inspection of the move list in the pause menu, you’ll be greeted with a staggering number of ways to maneuver your players, rivaling the length of a Tekken move list in terms of the wealth of tools at your disposal.
Speaking of tools, you’ll find yourself using each and every one you have to gain the upper hand in any game you’re currently embroiled in, be it against the AI or another human player. You just have to hand it to the AI and its adaptability, though. It adapts quickly enough for you to constantly have you rethinking your plays. Be complacent and witness any kind of lead that you’ve built up get snatched away from you. This is most apparent in heated five-on-five games, and the act of maintaining, widening, or stealing back a lead can be quite a rush. Luckily, your teammates have your back in the thick of the proceedings. It makes moment-to-moment gameplay feel more alive thanks to the ways you can actually feel CPU-controlled players acting with or against you.
The controls may not be the biggest help, given that you’re probably going to be executing some wicked finger yoga to pull off some of the game’s more elaborate moves. The barrier isn’t impenetrable, though. Enough time spent with 2K16 will pay off and the satisfaction of seeing your plays masterfully executed feels fantastic.
The amount of work and polish that 2K Sports and Visual Concepts puts into the NBA 2K series has helped it become the go-to basketball sim franchise. You’d think that by earning that status, they’d rest on their laurels. Fortunately for us, they keep on building on the experience. It’s a punishingly difficult one, especially for newcomers and lapsed fans of the genre, but ultimately rewarding for those willing to put in the time.
