The LV. Cap: NBA 2K10 Review

For the past 10 years, the guys now known as 2K Sports have been putting out a basketball game that, for the past 5 years, has been the #1 best selling basketball game.This year they celebrate their 10th anniversary by releasing NBA2K10 for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PC and Wii. Unfortunately for PC and Wii, they have to wait. How will you take over? By punching Kobe in the face, here are the pros and cons of NBA 2K10.


NBA 2K10
Playstation 3, Playstation 2, Xbox 360, PC, Nintendo Wii.
1-4 Players/Online Multiplayer
Developer: Visual Concepts
Publisher: 2K Sports
ESRB Rating: E For Everyone
Price: $59.99


Pros:
Graphics: DO I NOT GO INTO A REVIEW WITHOUT TALKING ABOUT GRAPHICS!? Haha, anyways, graphics in this game are pretty darn realistic to their real life counterparts. When you see Kobe, and want to punch him in the face (can’t do that in the game but would be sweet if you could) it’ll look like Kobe. From the authentic Jerseys to the Arenas, everything just looks great.

Gameplay: This year, gameplay has been slowed down a smudge to bring a realistic feel to it. While it seems they’ve made some minor tweaks to how the players move and how A.I. react, all of it is for the good of the series.


My Player Mode: This is a new mode for the 2K Basketball franchise. Its pretty much like Superstar mode in Madden minus going through the draft. If you didn’t download the draft combine game off the PSN and Marketplace, you’ll start in the summer leagues and work your way up from there. In every game you’ll get a letter grade depending on how well you perform throughout. No, this all will NOT be assessed at the end of the game, your grade can fall with one bad pass for a turnover or excessively calling for the ball. If you do the right thing like being in position and having good shot selection, your grade increases over time. Overall, this mode is a great addition to the franchise and fans will have a great time with this.



Online: Though 2K ALWAYS had problems with launch day online play, once that clears up its lag free and always enjoyable. This year they’re introducing “Crews” their version of a clan. You can either join a Crew or Create one yourself and face off against other crews in pickup games. This is another good addition to the game for those who want to get serious with their clan stuff. If you don’t want to do that you could always go into a ranked match from the quick match screen.


NBA Today/Living Rosters: The NBA Today feature is apart of the Living Rosters, which is pretty much your roster update on the fly. Every night of every week of every month the basketball season is in session you’ll have the latest update for the whole league. Meaning if as player performed bad one night, his stats will reflect that. On top of that, you get the play the games that are happening that night, kinda a good tool for those who like to do sims of the next game and see how that’ll turn out.


Cons:
Online: 2K doesn’t have the best online service for its game. While the games I’ve connected to so far have been lag free, it was frustrating on launch day to connect to the service without being disconnected before I even got a chance to search for a game. 2K just need to step their game up and beef up their servers for 2K11.



Menus: They can get a little frustrating the way they’re laid out. Constantly having to use the left stick to select a game type or an option was getting a bit stupid.


Mind[bleep]s: When you load up a basketball game, you don’t expect to hear MGMT – Electric Feel. Just thought I’d throw that in there.


Overall/Verdict: This game keeps its spot over NBA Live 10 by bringing the realism and simpleness of basketball to the home consoles. With great graphics and stellar gameplay, NBA 2K10 will stay as the #1 selling basketball game of this era. However, 2K Sports servers need to have a major overhaul so that while I’m not playing online, I don’t get disconnected from the server after I play an offline game of My Player Mode. Basketball fans, go out and get this game. You won’t be sorry. Non Sports gamers, rent it to see if you like it.

One Response to “The LV. Cap: NBA 2K10 Review”

1. Tax Relief says:

   October 27, 2009 at 1:45 pm

   The franchise mode is great. Although I think the nuggets should be rated a little higher- they did when over 50 last year.