The control is a POS.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joust Williams
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The control is a POS.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joust Williams
Reviews are starting to trickle in, and it sounds like the series still has a lot of nagging gameplay issues (missed layups, bad animations around the basket, poor defensive AI, etc.), plus a few new ones introduced by the "lock-on" defensive system and the removal of lead passing.
I think I'll wait to see if I can get it for cheap sometime down the road.
Why in the name of god can that not fix the fucking missed layup bullshit?
It's been 4 fucking years.
Yep, those are the issues that result in me buying this when it's $35, every year. Looks like this year won't be any different.
It's been more than four years, sadly.Quote:
Originally Posted by Biff-chan
Most of the gameplay glitches that ruin this game have been around since NBA 2K on the Dreamcast way back in 2000.
Ok, quick rundown of this thing after spending some time with it:
And the sad thing is, this is still the best basketball sim to date.Quote:
The manual and in-game menus are complete pieces of shit that don't explain how to do any of the advanced controls like Isomotion dribbling, the shot stick, etc. With a game this complex, you'd think they'd want to write more than a 10 page manual that spends more time talking about all the "cool new features" than the actual controls.
Passing STILL sucks ass, and now that the lead pass button is gone, it is even more difficult to fast break properly. Normal passing is still fucked too, because, for some reason, 2K STILL has no idea how to make the passing game feel crisp, unless you're the AI, in which case you will move the ball around the court with machine-like precision.
Seriously, how hard is it to program the game so that people can catch a pass and keep moving fluidly instead of coming to a complete stop or pausing to make a jumping catch on every flipping routine pass?
On offense, the AI still stands around like a fucking mannequin and refuses to cut the basket, even when a wide open lanes presents itself. Apparently, standing around is what the good teams do, right 2K? And you wonder why people get pissed off about the game devolving into an isolation-fest?
To fix the "fast break exploit" where people would just send their guy long all day, the AI will now make HORRIBLE (as in half way across the court from where your player is), random passes to anyone that you send out past the half court line. In short: random passes to no one in particular for no reason in particular (aside from lazy development) = massive frustration.
To fix "double team exploit," 2K gave the double-teaming defenders the reaction time of a turtle, so now double teaming is no longer a viable option at all, even when the situation would call for one. Thanks for shitting on those of us who like to play pressure D.
Lateral player movement is STILL absurdly fast in comparison to forward player movement. The introduction of "lock-down" defense makes this even more absurd, and turns the on-ball defense into some sort of shuffling circus. Again, they tried to fix a nagging issue (on-ball defense has been impossible in just about every basketball game to date), and failed.
Free throws are still freaking impossible online, thanks to lag. This leads to a lot of late game shenanigans and ridiculous foul-fests in the fourth quarter.
The shooting system remains fucked. Somehow, a natural motion like "stepping into your shot" leads to you not being able to hit shit. On the other hand, standing completely flat-footed yields the best accuracy. Oh, and if anyone gets a hand in your face, you are going to miss like 90% of the time, unless you're a superstar/sharpshooter, in which case you will make ridiculous, bullshit shots even with a guy right on top of you and jumping right along with your shot.
Speaking of shooting, how hard is it to program the inside game so that people don't miss so many freaking layups and gimmes? Like a lot of this game's problems, missed bunnies have been a source of frustration since the original 2K on the DC.
I do not understand why developers have so much trouble translating the real game into a video game, but for whatever reason, basketball has always gotten the shaft when it comes to true sports sims.
The sport itself does not translate well into a video game. Something is always fucked up. EA's game has a better post game but everything else sucks. 2K always teases you with improvements but they're either not material or misdirected. Football, hockey, futbol all carry over nicely to the video game format. Basketball, not so much. All the praise 2K7 received confused me, but I just attributed it to surpassing the half-assed 2K6 port. I have no interest whatsoever in 2K8 or any basketball game until I am proven wrong.
Regarding the outlet pass thing: can't you just pass to the player closest to the basket (RT) like in previous games? Stupid that they took out lead passing though, what did they replace it with?
The standing around thing is probably the biggest flaw in previous games, so I guess I can pass this year. Free throws should always be set to real ft% anyway though, imo.
Also, I don't think it's too hard to see why basketball is that much harder to put into videogame form than football or other sports.
Yeah, the "player closest to the basket" button is still there, but it doesn't change the fact that passes tend to float around in the air like balloons, kill your momentum as if you're catching a medicine ball, and tend to be placed in the least logical location in relation to your target.
Seriously, just trying to catch a pass and then run in a straight line to the basket is next to impossible since you are almost guaranteed to trigger one of their stupid "momentum" animations along the way, as they really went overboard this year trying to add "momentum" into the player movement; the same shit almost ruined All Pro Football, and it's even more frustrating in this game, as you can't just let the computer handle the movement for you like you could when playing defense in All Pro.
They really should just steal Live's mechanic where you hold down one of the shoulder buttons to do the Isomotion jukes.
On the positive side though, I haven't run into anything online yet that I would consider game-breaking. Maybe it's just my luck, or maybe the game is actually playable this year at a competitive level; only time will tell.
If it hasn't been done already, I think it's time to annoint wEEman33 the resident expert on sports video games. I probably weigh his opinion more than any reviews I read. Hell, he even sorta sold me on APF2K8.