Video Game Review: NBA 2k17 - The ball's in your court

Published October 19, 2016

Story

We follow the story of “Pres” – your characters first and last name is customizable but the nickname given to the character is assigned. You go through your career starting off with some college games till you are recruited for an official NBA team. Moving through the league trying to get a decent grade every game. The social media bits and cut scenes are all effected by this rating as well as the wins and losses of your team. The main differentiator and possible frustration factor of the single player is the fact that you only control the main character, so when you get taken off the court the gameplay is completely out your hands. Your AI team can make or break the game during these periods, most of the time to your detriment. The only good thing about this bench time is you can skip through it instead of watching painful gameplay from the sidelines.

Graphics

Look and feel wise they did a great job. The “real” people they created in the engine definitely look the part and the animation feels like it was a high priority during development. Not only for the basic moves but the lengthy list of expert moves ready and waiting to be bought with coins (also used for upgrading your player, more on this later) as they are unlocked by completing tasks in the single player mode.

Gameplay

The gameplay in a standard game (basic single player or multiplayer game not involving your main character) follows the same rules as previous iterations of the game. It takes a little bit of practice to get the timing down of all your players. They each have their own stats, strengths and weaknesses which adds an interesting variety in gameplay. Generally you don’t exactly choose who you pass to, you pick a direction and pass but the game moves quite fast so you can’t always keep track of all that, so you have to judge you timing and speed as soon as that ball is accepted.

Import your face

What a great idea for a feature, how often have you wanted to play that sportsball game as you, your super athletic non-nerdy self? How about all the times! As great an idea for a gimmick it is, the execution could be called poor. You firstly need the app, which is free and contains another NBA mobile game, which when linked earns coins etc. Then you need to use the scan your face feature. You end up taking a bunch of photos, or get a reliable sportsball teammate to help take a bunch of photos, at different angels, then upload those photos. The game then takes those photos and attempts to plot them on a wire mesh which is then transformed in front of your very eyes into your own personal player.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer is where this game really shines as the friend factor is incredible. You can group up and hit the street courts for some mad games trying to take down that court that is on fire. Traditional street rules, if you win the game you keep the court so you could end up facing off against some of the best players as you can always see the rank of players before challenging them. Now here is where I get to mention the worst part of the game, the ever-lasting evil: Micro-transactions. Your personal characters stats can be increased at any time in the game, this effects performance in both single player and multiplayer. To upgrade a stat you need to spend a certain amount of coins which can be earned through playing a standard game, higher performance ratings provide more coins. You could also gamble away coins in an online multiplayer game. The final way, straight up buying them. This isn’t a traditional pay to win model as technically you aren’t getting anything that a normal player wouldn’t be able to earn through time and effort but considering NBA 2k17 just came out most people arent likely to have a ton of coins.

One of my dark secret pleasures, and possibly the only sports games I like, are the NHL and NBA games that have been released over the years. NHL for the obvious ice skate, hockey stick to face joys, not quite the point of the game. When it comes to basketball though, I really enjoy the game, I watch college basketball, read books, try to play the game a little, even watch basketball anime. When given the opportunity to give NBA 2k17 a go I jumped at it. Story We follow the story of “Pres” – your characters first and last name is customizable but the nickname given to the character is assigned. You go through your career starting off with some college games till you are recruited for an official NBA team. Moving through the league trying to get a decent grade every game. The social media bits and cut scenes are all effected by this rating as well as the wins and losses of your team. The main differentiator and possible frustration factor of the single player is the fact that you only control the main character, so when you get taken off the court the gameplay is completely out your hands. Your AI team can make or break the game during these periods, most of the time to your detriment. The only good thing about this bench time is you can skip through it instead of watching painful gameplay from the sidelines. Graphics Look and feel wise they did a great job. The “real” people they created in the engine definitely look the part and the animation feels like it was a high priority during development. Not only for the basic moves but the lengthy list of expert moves ready and waiting to be bought with coins (also used for upgrading your player, more on this later) as they are unlocked by completing tasks in the single player mode. Gameplay The gameplay in a standard game (basic single player or multiplayer game not involving your main character) follows the same rules as previous iterations of the game. It takes a little bit of practice to get the timing down of all your players. They each have their own stats, strengths and weaknesses which adds an interesting variety in gameplay. Generally you don’t exactly choose who you pass to, you pick a direction and pass but the game moves quite fast so you can’t always keep track of all that, so you have to judge you timing and speed as soon as that ball is accepted. Import your face What a great idea for a feature, how often have you wanted to play that sportsball game as you, your super athletic non-nerdy self? How about all the times! As great an idea for a gimmick it is, the execution could be called poor. You firstly need the app, which is free and contains another NBA mobile game, which when linked earns coins etc. Then you need to use the…

Video Game Review: NBA 2k17 – The ball’s in your court

2016-10-19

Zakeroph

Overall - 8.8

8.8

Every year the NBA games have been taking great leaps in providing a fun, immersive experience. This year is no different

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Article Tags: action · basketball · bball · featured · nba · simulation · sports

Article Categories: Video Game Reviews