Writing the Pine

Like for many of you, NBA Live was my basketball game of choice in the ‘90s. It helped that it was also the only NBA game to play but that’s beside the point. PC was my platform of choice mainly because I did not own a PlayStation but it was awesome to play on the computer because I could download roster updates and various patches that would add to the realism of the game like shoe, court, advertisement, player faces, and even basketball patches. Those things weren’t really that necessary because the actual gameplay was so fun, but it added to the enjoyment for me and as a result, I got a lot of miles out the game.

Nowadays, you don’t need to download anything to make the game more realistic. Everything is already there. I made the switch over to the 2k series beginning with NBA 2k7 because as has been well-documented, the NBA Live games just became awful and were essentially unplayable. For the past few years, I’ve been happy with the switch. The realism of the NBA 2k games is unmatched by any other sports game on the market. The player tattoos, shooting styles, player mannerisms, and most impressively, player faces (although Raymond Felton’s face is absolutely awful) are so accurately reflected that it’s hard not to be impressed by the job the designers have done. Though Madden and NCAA Football provide more excitement on an every play basis, I generally spend the most time playing NBA 2k games just because of how well-made the games are.

But after playing NBA 2k10, that may change.

To say the least, I’m extremely disappointed with the latest release from the guys at Take Two Interactive. All the realism and core gameplay is still there which is great, but the game is so buggy that it’s as unplayable as NBA Live 2003. Some of these bugs were documented in previews of the game before its release but c’mon. The fact that they’re in there is still bothersome. First off, the frame rate often times drops heavily when the ball is in the paint. Not all the time but often enough to piss you off. It’s annoying that it happens to begin with but when I’m trying to pull of a post move or go for a rebound, it’s doubly annoying. Also, good luck making substitutions during free throw attempts. There were a few times when I tried to give LeBron some rest and while walking back to the bench, he just stands where the other players are lined up. Maybe it’s the computer’s way of asking me why the hell I’m taking out LeBron but I’ve seen it with other players too. Sometimes even the substituted player makes it back to the bench but the game still messes up. The faces of the guys on the bench freeze and the ref just holds onto the ball. The only way to fix this is to call a timeout which is not a huge deal but even after you call the timeout, another bug comes to be. During stoppages of play, the arena spotlights move around the court just like they would in real-life. Now I appreciate that as it gives the game some life during timeouts but after calling a timeout to fix the free throw bug, these spotlights keep moving around when play resumes. As a result, the frame rate drops, though not as significantly as when the ball goes to the paint, but still enough to adversely affect my enjoyment.

There is a new mode this year called My Player in which you create a guy and control only him, guiding him throughout his career in the NBA. The game is played from a fixed third-person perspective, similar to when you play a Team Up game online. It gets repetitive but it’s pretty fun I guess. There’s just something about creating a guy and building him up that appeals to me. But whenever I play this game and then go to play in franchise mode, the camera angle remains in the fixed position. It’s annoying to have to go back to the options menu to change it back to the default setting. The settings are pretty annoying in itself too. I always hated how the default settings for substitutions, late-game fouling, play-calling and all the crap was set on automatic. I don’t want the computer doing any of that for me. I like to be in control of all that. So you’re probably asking, why didn’t this guy just change the default settings to make all those options manual? Well I did and saved the settings and thought everything was fine but every game, I’d still find those options set on automatic and I’d wonder why. Apparently you have to save your settings and sliders AND also save your user profile after you do that in order for the settings to save. Pretty annoying if you ask me.

The gameplay itself is pretty much the same as it was last year. It’s still way too easy to score inside and intercept passes even if you adjust the sliders. I’ve found it difficult to create a good balance with the sliders as a matter of fact. Either I’ll be missing every shot within three feet of the basket or I’ll be committing 50 turnovers a game. Or the game would just not be fun because I’d have to use the entire shot clock to end up just hoisting up a terrible shot that will either miss or get blocked. I don’t know what the developers can do to remedy this so I can’t really bash them for it.

Hopefully they figure something out soon.

I saw a video of Kobe and Carmelo playing the game (sad I know) but you’d think they’d be pissed about all these bugs. Especially Kobe since he’s the cover athlete and all. I’m surprised he would allow a company to put out such a flawed product when he’s the main endorser. I was struggling to decide which basketball game I should get this year. I read and saw a lot of positive things about NBA Live and it seems like EA Sports is getting their game back on track. But I decided to go with ol’ reliable again this year. It’s only been a week but I’m already regretting my decision. If NBA Live improves next year as much as it has the past two years, it looks like I’ll be returning back to it.

UPDATED: A patch has been announced for the game: http://www.pastapadre.com/2009/10/20/nba-2k10-patch-details