NBA 2K10 A 2K Sports Game

garymason72 Thu Oct 22, 2009 4:27 pm

NBA 2K10

A 2K Sports game

It’s that time of year again, when all the sports game developers roll out next year’s version of their franchise games and this year is no different. With EA's NBA Live 2010 being released a few weeks ago and receiving good reviews NBA 2K10 has a lot of expectation on its very broad shoulders. In recent years 2K's effort has come out on top of the basketball game war and is hoping this year’s improvements will keep it top of the league of basketball Sims.

The biggest addition to this year’s version is the My Player mode. A mode in which you take control of your own created player. This mode is rapidly becoming the norm and the most popular game mode in the modern franchise sports game with Fifa soccer, Madden Football and NHL the most recent to take it on-board. Each of those games does it really well with a good progression from the lower leagues to the top of the game. NBA 2K10's is slightly different and far more difficult, I found it very hard to get my player to even start a game let alone be noticed or taken on by one of the many pro basketball teams featured in the game.

As well as the My Player mode all the game modes you would expect to see have made a comeback. With a full season career mode and single game mode. There is also Association mode which allows you to take over an entire team, where you have control over everything including player contracts, offensive and defensive game plays and allows you to use the games coach mode when your team is playing. The amount of different options and stats here is amazing. You can control every aspect of the team during the game to get them playing exactly how you want. It also features a Drills section, basically a training program teaching you about the complexities of the sport from defence through too offense.

Another great feature is NBA Today. This feature will update the game with real life stats and fixtures, so even in June at the end of the NBA season when the game will be 8 months old it will still be fresh and up to date. This feature is also tied into the commentary meaning while you play you get real life information about the NBA season, upcoming match-ups, league leaders and standings. It is probably the best I have heard in any sports game. Usually you are greeted with random comments that make you question if the commentators are even watching the game you’re playing but here I have yet to hear anything that isn’t relevant to the game being played. This is brilliant, having played soccer games for years where they just seem to repeat themselves after you have played a few games. This is definitely a feature that should be rolled out to all franchise games, EA take notice.

Now let’s get on to the good stuff..... The graphics on NBA2K10 are quite frankly brilliant with very realistic looking players and arenas. The character models are highly detailed and an excellent likeness to their real life counterparts. They have obviously paid a lot of attention to the crowd as well with them reacting in a very believable way to the action on the court. Scoring a great basket, performing a steal or block will send them into frenzy. There is also a massive range of camera angles to use while you play, offering something for everybody. The menu system is very smooth and very accessible, easily viewed at anytime by using the start button in game and the B button at all other times.

Now for the bad.... The game is a played at a very fast pace and suffers from some frame rate problems at times, usually when the play is crowded under the basket. Also during the game the ball sometimes travels through the arm of a player, this is very noticeable during replays. 2K has already promised a patch to remedy these problems, so when that comes out we should be all good. I also found the whole layout of the game quite confusing at first. Upon starting the game you are led straight into the NBA Today options leading you straight into playing one of that days real life fixtures rather than the traditional start menu. It took me a while to get used to this, but overall it does work for the game.

NBA 2K10 is very much a game for the Basketball enthusiast. It contains a massive range of stats and different plays. You really have to know the game inside and out to unlock its full potential but it is no doubt a brilliant game and although I struggled with pretty much every aspect of the game (I put that down to my lack of knowledge of the sport) I did enjoy it as a whole. The game does feature a very comprehensive training mode which teaches you all the basic controls as well as the chance to just experiment with the controls and master your dunks, long shots and dribbling skills.

The inclusion of the sliders system really helped me win some games, in fact I made it so easy I won every game. The sliders allow you to change every parameter of how you opponents play. Everything from Shot and dunk success in the offensive category to steal success in the defence. You can also modify your opponents attributes, taking away their speed, strength, stamina and even their basic ball handling skills. Again there are loads of options here, I choose to put them all down to zero at first enabling me to simply run through the opposing team scoring masses of baskets in each game. This quickly got boring. This feature also allows you to improve your own ability.

Overall NBA 2K10 is a brilliant game with excellent graphics, great sound and very deep game play. It’s hard to imagine there is anywhere for 2K to go after this. And despite its flaws does stand out as not only a great basketball game but a step forward in the franchise sports game.

I give NBA 2K10 a dunktastic 8/10, but be prepared it’s a very steep learning curve to the top.