NBA 2K16 Review

A historic hoops sim. 
Defense wins championships, and the improvements to AI defenses in NBA 2K16 bring this year’s iteration of the long-running basketball sim another title. Due to some big AI upgrades, the offensive tactics that I had been accustomed to using simply no longer work, so I was forced to think like a coach and constantly adapt. Running pick and rolls and calling plays finally felt like it was necessary, as opposed to a tougher option I had to enforce on myself. NBA 2K16 is a great representation of the sport of basketball, and it plays like a dream – both online and off.Not that it was suffering visually before, but NBA 2K16 looks better than ever. The player models are upgraded with new, more detailed body scans, and that has a profound effect on the overall experience. Faces, hair styles, body types, and even wingspans are true to life, but the wide variety of new signature animations bring it all together. In fact, the presentation in general has received a lot of love this year, and brand new game-opening sequences, from team introductions to the national anthem, did a good job of distracting me from the lengthy load times.
In the studio, Kenny Smith joins Ernie Johnson and Shaq in entertaining, chemistry-led, semi-contextual pregame, halftime, and postgame shows, and Greg Anthony replaces Steve Kerr as the color commentator. The interactions between the commentators is fun, and there are far fewer misplaced reactions than in previous years – although it does still happen from time to time. Player interviews have returned as well, but disappointingly some have been reused from previous years. The addition of stunning new in-studio interviews more than makes up for it, in the grand scheme of things.

Upping Its Game

The big reason to show up this year, though, is that NBA 2K’s gameplay has been completely upgraded in nearly every way, resulting in a more true-to-life simulation experience. In previous years, I always found it easy to score by cheezing my way past AI defenders, running in circles and forcing them to make unrealistic mistakes. All of that is gone this year. Zig-zagging will result in steals and frustration, and attempts to drive the baseline will end up in terrible or blocked shots. The only reliable way to score is to use real basketball concepts, so if you’re a student of the sport you'll find yourself being rewarded for your knowledge.

“

Player models are upgraded with new, more detailed body scans, and that has a profound effect on the overall experience.
You have to improvise, because opposing AI coaches will start to learn your tendencies and try new ways to stop you. For example, defenders had been going underneath screens, allowing me to step back and take open jumpers; after a few successful attempts they started going around screens, forcing me to drive the lane instead. This constant game of cat and mouse kept me on my toes, searching for new ways to make plays.
Additionally, the controls have been adjusted and streamlined, adding dedicated buttons for lobs and bounce passes. The most meaningful change, however, is to the post game, which is now initiated with L2 (or LT). Backing a defender down feels much more responsive, since you no longer have to wait for animations to settle before making your next move. But I learned quickly that even perfectly timed shots won’t always go in, which is much more realistic than before.

Whose Career Is It, Anyway?

“

You can relocate and completely rebrand your team with a mind-boggling amount of options.

There are a staggering amount of ways you can play NBA 2K16. All the game modes I expect of the series make their triumphant return, some with interesting new wrinkles. The new Play Now Online mode makes head-to-head matches matter a bit more, since it features a promotion and relegation system. MyGM and MyLeague modes are now both fully featured management sims, allowing you to go so far as to relocate and completely rebrand your team with a mind-boggling amount of options. That same team editor can also be used in MyTeam, the card-collecting game, which has new challenges and ways to earn virtual currency.
But the most notable and popular game mode is MyCareer, which has been taken in a completely different and unfortunately static direction. Spike Lee wrote and directed this mode as a documentary-style movie entitled Livin’ Da Dream. Once you create your character (whose unchangeable nickname is Frequency Vibrations, by the way) you’re dropped into the life of a high school phenom from Harlem with dreams of the NBA. Those early high school games are a bit dull, without commentary or any real challenge, since my player was a 6’7” point guard and the tallest guy on the court. But being recruited by officially licensed colleges and universities is extremely well done.The story itself is mediocre and the dialogue is a little corny, despite being well acted. Some interesting moments were emotionally charged and kept my attention, but its movie-style plot made it a poor fit for a game that’s supposed to be about our players. The catch phrase for the mode is “Be the Story,” but even if a heated conversation was all about a choice I needed to make, I was never allowed to make it myself. The most jarring example happened when my friends and family were all giving me advice about whether I should stay in college: Each character ultimately told me that “only you can make the choice.” But then a second later, the NBA draft started. Apparently my mind was made up for me.
Even looking past the lack of choices, the story became disjointed during my rookie season. The cutscenes led me to believe that I was a special player, but my overall rating was 55, since I was unable to earn any virtual currency up until that point. The AI improvements carry over to MyCareer, which made it extremely difficult to make any positive plays with a weak player. As a result, on the court I felt like I kept letting my team down... but off the court, I was signing shoe deals. Another flaw that can’t be overlooked is that your family, including your twin sister, is black, even if your created character is not.

Racking Up Ws

Livin’ Da Dream reaches its conclusion after your rookie season, which only has eight playable games. After that, it opens up and plays more like the mode I was expecting, with 82-game seasons and new and exciting ways to improve your player on off days. That’It’s important to note that NBA 2K16 continues to heavily rely on its online servers, since microtransactions are present in most of the game modes. But for the first time in several years, I’ve only experienced a few hiccups since they’ve been turned on. The 2K Sports Store, where you spend VC on vanity items, has been hit or miss, and the ProAm mode, a 5v5 MyPark with NBA rules, has been completely inaccessible. But the online experience is generally pretty consistent in every other connected mode, with no significant interruptions to my online play. What a relief.

The Verdict

NBA 2K16 is one of the most complete packages I’ve ever seen. Developer Visual Concepts continues to raise the sports simulation bar by completely retooling its silky-smooth gameplay, adding brand-new physics systems, and refining its traditional game modes. Not all of the changes work as well as others, most notably the Spike Lee-themed MyCareer mode, but it doesn’t take away from the impressive overall package.

s why I can enthusiastically recommend NBA 2K16 even with MyCareer’s failure to properly contextualize my player’s rise to stardom: at the end of the day, it’s all window dressing for the gameplay underneath – and in this case, that gameplay is spectacular.

“

Even if a heated conversation was all about a choice I needed to make, I was never allowed to make it myself.