A review of a Basketball game from someone that rarely plays sports games
What does it take to make someone that doesn’t play sports games into someone that spent about 8 hours checking out all the modes before writing this review? At least for me, the answer to that question was an ambitious story mode. Like many sports games, it might seem like the standard career mode where you take a high school prodigy through college and then into the NBA when he gets drafted. Yet in between matches of basketball, a story plays out between the player character's family and friends. All the possible highs and lows of being an athlete are presented here. Before the ending, I would have thought this was a ok sports movie plot but it really goes in a direction that no one could have predicted So it didn’t quite stick the ending but what it did do was show me that I could still enjoy playing a basketball game.
The MyCareer mode seemed like the perfect way to learn the controls since I only had to worry about one player instead of all of them.For something that seems quite simple Basketball takes up quite a few different buttons and I don’t even know if I quite figure out everything by the time I put the controller down. The flow of each match from one position comes down to being in the right place at the correct time to either block or make a clear shot at the basket. Stealing the ball from the opposing team seemed important but I never quite got the timing down. But controls worked well even if I prefer sports games that keep the control scheme simple instead of overly complex to cover all the minor details in a match.
This game has a ton of different modes. I’ve already covered the MyCareer mode leaving the rest of them different ways to play basketball other than my-gm. Which lets you play as the general manager as he tries to keep his boss and team happy. While simultaneously making millions of dollars. This mode seemed a tad complex and is mostly focused on looking at different text to figure out the best way to manage the team. The rest of modes slightly change up why you're playing Basketball. My team lets you collect cards that then get put into matches against other decks that then play out on the court to see who wins. Plenty of microtransactions await all who dare challenge this mode with weak cards. MyLeague lets a bunch of players team up to play through an entire year's worth of basketball online. While MyPark has you take your created character online to take on other players on the back courts to earn rep for your chosen faction. Having so many different variations on Basketball is always good and even for gamers that don’t care that much about the sport you might be pleasantly surprised to find one that you could enjoy.
Coming full circle I want to retaliate how well My Career worked for me. The journey of my player character really worked and by the conclusion, I was a competent basketballer. Yet not a great one which mirrors a lot of rookies who start off in the big leagues. At first, that might not sound that great but I liked the time I put into my character and the few normal matches I played as well. Half of the reason I kept up with it was the in-depth story mode which was shallow but gave me a goal to aim for instead of mindlessly playing basketball forever. Doubtful I’ll keep playing this but hey 2K succeeded in getting me curious enough to check this game out so maybe you’ll like this game too.