Allow me to reintroduce myself.
My name is Hova, but you know me as Jay-Z. You’re going to see a lot of me because I’m listed as the Executive Producer for NBA 2k13. My fingerprints are all over this game, from the menu design to the soundtrack, from the boot-up intro to the pre-game hype promos. You’re going to see some of my music videos, hear my freestyle tracks and watch a few clips of my live performances. You’ll see me wearing “all black everything” courtside at Brooklyn Nets home games, too.
If you’re not a fan of me, I feel bad for you, son. Jeeyuh.
Now, allow me (the real me this time) to reintroduce this review. My name is Marco, the man behind thecoversystem. I’m a basketball enthusiast, longtime NBA 2k supporter and hating the fact that a major hip-hop icon plastered himself (and his friends) all over my most anticipated sports game of 2012, but I can cast that aside. Other things? Not so much.
Jay-Z’s sometimes plausible, but mostly gratuitous indentation on NBA 2k13 doesn’t impede on the core experience, which is incontestably the greatest basketball game of all-time.
Yet, even for the most diehard of NBA 2k fans, that’s hardly a win when you realize that NBA 2k13’s swooping list of improvements concern gameplay only, while the modes and features around it still fail to reflect the same sense of growth that comes with age.
Many, many things have been left the same.
You’ll know exactly where NBA 2k13 stands as soon as you pop in the game for the first time, as you’re thwarted directly into the MyPLAYER creation screen immediately after pressing start, noticing the same limitations that you thought would have been improved by now. The same terrible hair options, the same blurry tattoos, the same unflattering nicknames and the inability to choose your player’s voice for the press-conferences, interviews and pow-wows with GMs — still forcing you, if you chose to make a white player, to sound emphatically urban… ya feel me?
Apart from some renamed/restructured elements, the same unflattering familiarity applies to the rest of the returning modes in NBA 2k13, giving you that “oh, I get it” point of realization that the biggest changes within these modes are either superficial, pointless, redundant or all of the above.
MyCAREER is virtually the same as the last few years, but now with the addition of Virtual Currency, or VC, which serves as credits to upgrade stats, buy accessories and take part in training camps with legends, among other things. There’s also a new social media element where you’ll get shout-outs from current/former players, NBA analysts and a handful of celebrities, but it does absolutely nothing to enhance the mode.
VC also rears its head in the new MyTEAM mode, which requires you to spend credits on decks of players (or single players, with a hefty upcharge) to build a rag-tag team and compete online. The problem with VC is that accumulating them is exceedingly difficult, making it more discouraging to get what you want instead of pleasantly challenging.
Blacktop mode is still a forgettable streetball feature that doesn’t do much to to prove its worth. Classic teams no longer have their own mode, since contracts with certain legends have expired, gimping several of the NBA’s all-time best squads. All-Star Weekend, which was exclusive pre-order content, includes an unresponsive, Guitar Hero-like dunk contest and a clunky 3 Point Shootout. Association is completely untouched and online multiplayer still has latency issues at the time of this review.
Those downsides make you wonder what 2k Sports spent all this time doing, but once you jump into your first game of basketball, regardless of the mode, you’ll immediately know which basket all the eggs went into.
Tender loving care was invested in the gameplay this year, rectifying most, if not all of NBA 2k12’s distracting gameplay issues. Defense, passing, collisions, alley-oops, hop-steps, fast breaks and dribbling are among many of the improvements in NBA 2k13 that add to the realism and intuitiveness the series is known for.
Dribbling, in particular, is far more responsive this year thanks to the new control stick, which combines the shot stick with the much needed return of the dribble stick. Crossover moves are as easy as a flick of the stick, and switching to the shot stick is now done by holding the left trigger as a modifier. It’ll take some time getting used to the new configuration, but players should agree that getting Isomotion moves off of the left stick is for the best.
The only knock against the control stick is that dribble moves can make it a little too easy to shake your man and drive to the paint, which could lead to a new brand of cheese in online multiplayer.
But, that kind of concern comes few and far between when you take into account how masterfully balanced NBA 2k13 is. The entirety of offense and defense has the best balance of risk/reward I’ve seen in the series, which really pulls together the authenticity of what real-life basketball players encounter in a game. Scrubs play like scrubs, role players carry out their roles and superstar players play like themselves, now that signature skills give them the intangibles that the basic rating system doesn’t account for.
That authenticity carries over to the in-game presentation, which emulates the flow of a real NBA broadcast better than ever. Persistent commentary talks up players, in-game moments and general basketball banter perfectly, and the inclusion of Steve Kerr helps keep things fresh with his interesting perspectives. Even Doris Burke finally sounds happy to be alive this year. Her sideline reports don’t sound as dull as morning announcements over the PA in middle school.
Highlight replays, brought to us by Sprite and Nike+, capture all of your game’s best moments beautifully — really adding to the magnitude of a big slam or a perfectly executed play. Nike+ replays only trigger if the player in question happens to wear a Nike shoe.
Should that player go up for a massive dunk, a replay will grey out everything but the player, showing a meter that measures the height of his jump. It’s a nice touch that drives home the athleticism of the player, even if it is just a cheap plug for a brand.
It’s the little things, too. Things like two players jaw-jacking at each other after a hard foul was committed, a player slapping his arm after a drive to the basket because he thought he was clipped on his way up and the referee didn’t see it. It’s point guards trotting down the court, throwing up hand signals for a play, and the defense that’s warning each other that Ray Allen is open on the wing, calling him by name and pointing in his direction while watching their man.
Such staggering levels of authenticity, but so contradictory when swords, shields, microphones and pulsating equalizers whoosh all throughout the in-game overlays and menus, reminding players that Jay-Z is… as they say, “in the building.”
It’s not that Jigga’s hip-hop influenced art looks bad, but it doesn’t fit the theme of replicating an NBA broadcast like the rest of the game does. Although prior NBA 2k games had somewhat bland efforts at creating TV-like integration, at least it was loosely based off of that realism.
Jay-Z’s handcrafted artwork would have been a perfect match for NBA 2k13’s Blacktop mode, but not in a video game depiction of an NBA broadcast. It doesn’t quite negate the rest of the accuracy NBA 2k13 succeeds at, but it’s jarring enough to remind onlookers that this is a video game and not the real thing.
Not much changed in the visual department, but there does seem to be a slight dip in facial detail compared to NBA 2k12. Most player faces look the same as last year, with a select few being completely redone, but some of remodeled faces look substantially worse. If there’s one thing NBA Live 13 had over NBA 2k13, that would be it. Otherwise, everything looks just as sturdy as last year.
Audio is a mixed bag, since crowd noise still hasn’t been improved to better reflect the peaks and valleys of a home game. They never quite erupt as much as they should for big moments, which detracts from the immersion of an epic, closely fought game. On the flip side, player chatter and color commentary are off the charts as I mentioned before, and the majority of the Jay-Z’s hand-picked music fits well with the basketball/hip-hop culture.
Slapping a score on NBA 2k13 is tough, because I find myself asking the same question as I’ve done in years past — can the ongoing shortcomings of NBA 2k13 be forgiven if the gameplay is good enough? Deciding how big of a bone to throw 2k Sports is difficult… and exhausting. At this point, players have to take into account that the same problems have lingered for too long. It’s pretty ridiculous when you think about it.
However, when I look at the strides the series has made in perfecting the depiction of basketball, I have no choice but to lessen the blow. I’ve never played a sports game (including past NBA 2k games) that looked, felt and sounded this real. No mode, no matter how redundant or lackadaisical it is, can take away from that excellence.
NBA 2k13 might not be the best all-around sports game on the market, but what it does best is what counts the most.