Review for NBA 2K18. Game for PC, iOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 15/09/2017 The version for PC came out on 19/09/2017 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 19/09/2017 The version for Xbox One came out on 19/09/2017
There are not many certainties in the life of a gamer, but among them basketball fans know that for more than ten years they have been able to rely on Visual Concepts and 2K Sports without much thought to enjoy a quality virtual transposition of their favorite sport: the NBA 2K series. This group also includes the writer, an undeterred fan of the Californian team at least since the time of Shaq at the Miami Heat on the cover. 2017 year of grace: NBA 2K18 goes to press with a cover athlete who believes the Earth is flat and just back from a surprising team change. So surprising and unexpected that the first copies of the game, the ones you find in stores now, will have the good Kyrie Irving with his old Cavaliers jacket on; if you are a huge Celtics fan we recommend the digital version or wait a few weeks to see the updated version arrive in stores.
Leaving aside the cover, this chapter of the series brings a series of important innovations, reaches near perfection from a gameplay point of view, but is ruined by a series of greedy business choices which year after year we cannot afford to ignore.
Your friendly neighborhood basketball player
Let's start with the good things, from the news that are added to a full-bodied, very full-bodied set of modes and options. NBA 2K18 is one of the most complete games ever to appear on the shelves, with production value and an average quality and care to dwarf any other software out there.
If much of what we find is now a custom, it certainly is not The Neighborhood, the new hub of the renewed My Career. Abandoned the not too exuberant narrative experiments with Spike Lee and company singer, Visual Concepts keeps the cutscenes, the story and the features of a year ago, but with a different look: the Neighborhood. After picking your team and joining the NBA - unlikely enough - after a street basketball tournament, your custom player can freely explore a portion of the city stars and stripes, obviously equipped with a gym and a playground, but also with clothing stores, barbers, arcades and a tattoo artist. Without forgetting the pitches to compete with other online players, always present on the map as in a MMO. While the story is still a bit cliché and sometimes embarrassing, the development team has found the right formula: The Neighborhood is just too fun to explore between games, alternating trendy moments with more competitive ones.
Also MyGM has undergone a "cinematic" reconstruction treatment partial: a sort of plot has been added to the super detailed management mode, complete with cutscenes (not at the level of those of the Career and not dubbed) and a troubled past for our digital alter ego. Nothing too exciting, but a nice touch.
Finally, for the most nostalgic, NBA 2K abandons the Euroleague team experiment (run too badly and out of context) to introduce many more Classic teams in league history and, listen, listen, 30 phenomenal All-Time teams, basically the selections of the best players ever from each franchise. Are you ready to see the Derrick Rose MVP team up with Michael Jordan? Or Tim Hardaway teaming up in the backcourt with Dwyane Wade? Sure, we may be a bit disappointed by the now historic absence of champions like Reggie Miller and Charles Barkley for rights reasons or by some top 12 picks (Ben Wallace where are you ?, Ed), but stay an unmissable addition for fans, a real basketball encyclopedia at a joypad's reach.
It's not the ways that make the monk
Coming to the gameplay analysis, the most obvious change is the introduction of a new indicator for shot timing, apparently not difficult to read but with fluctuating operation. It is really complex to be able to shoot a series of shots with an "Excellent" rating - also considering the different mechanics of the different players - since the "window" of tolerance is tiny. Absurdly though - don't take our word for it, it's a feeling - it seems easier to make conclusions with the wrong timing ("Slightly late" or "Slightly early") than with the more complex "Good". Strange, isn't it? We are sure that we will need some more time to familiarize ourselves with our team to "get carried away". Problems manifest themselves above all online, where a still imperfect net-code tends to cause anger for wrong shots due to a small stutter at the decisive moment. Or, even worse, when at least once per game the connection blocks everything, invariably sending us off the pitch, which - when you lose two games in a row by two points, like us - is not fun.
This topic aside, however, you can't ask for anything more from NBA 2K18 as a basketball simulator, it's just magnificent. The animations have been renewed, an element that is remarked by the developers almost every year, but which finally seems to have found an effective translation in the games: basketball dance has never been so beautiful, to see and play. Find the free man, run that pattern, see the retina moving: NBA 2K18 is the culmination of years of work and study of this magnificent sport. You would never want to stop, especially in 5v5 modes, where evolution is more noticeable than in My Career.
The microtransaction in the egg
So far, only (or almost) high praise, well deserved: we can't wait to spend the season following the evolution of the next NBA championship, simulating the most important games with NBA Today, alternating this magnificent NBA 2K18 with the shooter, RPG or adventure on duty. However, we hadn't come to terms with the game's currency, the Virtual Currency.
O VC, for friends.
Assuming it has.
In NBA 2K18, VC is needed everywhere, often even in huge quantities. You will get it by completing matches, in any mode. Its use? Essential for buying upgrades for your player's stats or items from neighborhood shops in My Career or in many other situations where you should unlock something. The idea of wanting to simulate portfolio management in career as in real life is commendable, but an NBA player even at the minimum salary would certainly not pay the salary of two games for a pair of headphones or a shirt or maybe a new hairstyle from the barber FRIEND. I try to put myself in the shoes of the barber friend of an NBA player who asks him something like € 10.000 to cut his hair. And think that if you want to put a look back on your head, you will have to pay again.
Mom, will you buy me the Gatorade?
And we are not just talking about clothes, statistics and Gatorade (yes, that too) of the career, even MyGM is sprinkled with “special” actions and moves related to Virtual Currency. Do you want to convince an attractive Free Agent like Chris Bosh (oddly healthy in the game) to sign up for your team without asking questions or on terms you want? Well, with “only” 1200 VC (equal to more than two games played in your career), it will also join your derelict Charlotte Bobcats of yesteryear. Convenient isn't it? Just open the wallet. Either in the game, or in real life. Because the real reason for the existence of VCs is not to regulate the economy of the game and push us to play more; is to encourage longtime fans to buy - for real money - endless credits to advance in the game.
In short, the now widespread microtransactions. Which are not a problem in themselves, perhaps if linked to aesthetic and cosmetic elements as in any Overwatch, but that in NBA 2K18 they are excessively preponderant, invasive, omnipresent and frankly exaggerated, tending to pay to win in most situations, hiding (like the example of MyGM before) behind normal options in a video game, now entrenched behind a paywall to make us feel the need to invest more and more. It is not possible to enter a My Career lobby on day one and find players with stats that would otherwise be reached in weeks of effort with the natural progression of the game, ready to destroy any street basketball ambitions of our new # 10 Spurs, an atypical guard with a particular love for spectacular passing.
Why, then, the big problem with this system is that of alienating those who do not dedicate their lives to a single game, who perhaps would like to "play a game every now and then" and grow his player at an acceptable speed, being able to defend himself in Pro-AM or on the pitches. Which, in the opinion of the writer, is really unfair and it certainly takes away at least 10 points from what we otherwise would not have been afraid to call a virtual sport masterpiece. If you will be able to "turn a blind eye" and devote yourself to it with heart and soul, or if you want to exploit the loopholes, whether they are related to bugs or shortcuts or directly invest in Virtual Currency, we can only recommend NBA 2K18; we, at least this year, have not quite succeeded.
NBA 2K18 is the best basketball game ever created: fun, comprehensive and tactical. At the same time, however, it is one of the most "greedy" games ever seen and the preponderant system of Virtual Currency excessively punishes the casual player.
► NBA 2K18 is a Sports type game developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Games for PC, iOS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 15/09/2017 The version for PC came out on 19/09/2017 The version for PlayStation 4 came out on 19/09/2017 The version for Xbox One came out on 19/09/2017
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