NBA 2K10 Review
A Junkie Gamer Review
It’s great to be a basketball fan these days, with two great contenders 2K games and EA vying for your money. Great video game rivalries result in great video games with enhancements every year for fear of resting on their laurels and giving the opposition a lead. So it is in this battle that both NBA Live 10 and NBA 2K10 were released on the exact same day, giving gamers that tough decision on which side to choose.
I’ve been a fan of more old school, (read simpler), basketball games for quite some time, NBA Jam and NBA Street Homecourt being two standouts for me, reason being that they were so much fun to play, and easy to get the hang of. While I tentatively jumped into my first game of NBA 2K10 I soon learned that I was way outside my comfort zone, the game was far too hard, too quick and I was left flailing around shooting bricks every time I went to the hoop. Much like my experiences with The Bigs 2 and Madden 10 I feared that the game had progressed far beyond the scope of the regular gamer trying to gain access to the basketball elite, but my fears were unfounded. Sure I lost my first game, but on further inspection I found a very helpful practice mode that saved me. Here I controlled my player on the court by himself and was prompted with various different button commands to teach me how to perform layups, dunks, 3 pointers and perfect my dribbling skills. Cut to my next game, and yes I lost again, but I could feel that I had progressed greatly from my training. So, I’m losing and I’m happy…….. NBA 2K10 could be onto something here.
Now it was time to venture into the My Player Career Mode, here you get to customise your own players look and abilities before progressing into the world of the want to be baller. You are set a number of different challenges starting off in summer camp, where you are rated on each game you play. The great thing here, and again for someone like me it really helped, was the fact that your game rating was ever present in the top left of the screen. Your rating fluctuates depending on shot choice, passing, positing, etc, and as your rating changes you are alerted as to why the change took place making you more aware of your good and bad decisions. I found this enormously helpful, and not only helped my progression through the My Player career but also in the standard Season Mode. You are mentored throughout this experience and you have to perform training drills to strengthen your player and thankfully this exercise never felt laboured. Your ultimate aim for your career is to become an NBA legend.
I have to mention that there is also a game available on XBLA and the PSN called NBA 2K10: Draft Combine, which retails for 400 microsoft points or €4.99 which allows you to create you player outside the game and gives you pretty much the My Career experience at a fraction of the price of the retail disc. These created players can then be imported to you NBA 2K10 game to continue your dreams. So if you’re on the fence about this game, it’s worth dropping the 400 points of €4.99 just to put you on the right track.
Another thing that really stands out with NBA 2K10 is the presentation, it’s phenomenal. The game has the production qualities of a live game with superb commentary that never gets old, advertising logos, breaks in the game to promote upcoming games, plays of the day, it’s as though you’re watching a game on TV. One thing that got me on my most recent game was when the commentators mentioned how one of my players performed in the previous game, how slick is that? When you see something working this good in a game you wonder why every other game with commentary doesn’t work as well.
To summarise there’s not a whole lot wrong with this game, it has enough features to keep you entertained for a long time to come and is tough enough for seasoned veterans and newcomers like myself.
