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The Friday Five: 5 Gripes with Current Gen Basketball Games

The Friday Five

Welcome to this week’s edition of The Friday Five! The Friday Five is a feature that I post every Friday in which I give my thoughts on a topic that’s related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games, as well as the real NBA, and other areas of interest to our community. The feature is presented as either a list of five items, or in the form of a Top 5 countdown.

In many ways, basketball video games are better than they’ve ever been. While there are still quirks with the AI, it’s much smarter than it used to be, with players thinking for themselves and getting into position instead of just standing around. Scanning in faces, jerseys, shoes, and other details ensures that the games look a lot better than their predecessors from a couple of generations ago. We have some really fun and deep modes to play, both offline and online. In short, basketball video games have done some really cool things in recent years.

On the other hand, there is definitely still room for improvement. More to the point, while recent basketball games have delivered some really impressive modes and very enjoyable moments on the virtual hardwood, they do have some aspects that I’m not so thrilled about. I know I’ve discussed some of these issues before, but with new titles on the horizon, they’re once again on my mind. With that being said, here are five gripes that I have with the current generation of basketball video games.

1. Lack of Modding & Customisation

Roster Creator in NBA 2K16

It’s not that modding and customisation don’t exist in any capacity in recent basketball video games, but it’s still something that’s lacking compared to the previous generation. Let’s start with NBA Live, which thankfully brought back gameplay sliders in NBA Live 16, but still does not feature roster customisation. It was understandable that a few things fell by the wayside when the series made its return in NBA Live 14, but moving forward, roster editing is something that NBA Live absolutely must have, as soon as NBA Live 17. It’s a vital feature in sports games, and its absence is really hurting the overall product.

Modding is a trickier matter, as it’s difficult for developers to openly support it. The biggest obstacles to modding NBA 2K – NBA Live is obviously out of the equation, being a console-only release – are the new file formats introduced with the PlayStation 4/Xbox One port, and save files being tied to Steam profiles, because of the online content. Understandable changes, but they do make modding tougher, even though we have made some in-roads. My hope is that the files do become a little easier to work with in NBA 2K17, and that the in-game roster editing tools can be made even deeper, so that we can make great roster mods without the need for external editing.

2. Pre-Order Exclusives

Charles Barkley on the Dream Team in NBA 2K13

We discussed this in Episode #169 of the NLSC Podcast, in the wake of the 1992 Dream Team being announced as a pre-order bonus for NBA 2K17. While I understand wanting to reward gamers who put their money down early in support of an upcoming release, I still feel that the practice of pre-order exclusives is a bit shady; especially when it’s content like the Dream Team. It’s one thing to offer a stack of Virtual Currency, or some cool accessories for your MyPLAYER, but when it’s something that really should be a part of the core content, it’s a bit on the nose.

This practice isn’t a recent development, nor is it new to basketball games. The 2002 Sacramento Kings and 1991 Golden State Warriors were pre-order exclusives for NBA 2K12, a game that otherwise did a fantastic job of expanding the selection of classic teams for all gamers. Again, I understand the business side of things, and wanting to give pre-order customers some kind of bonus, but it’s kind of dirty at the same time. It’s a shame that this is still an issue with yet another generation of games. As I said on the Podcast, I’d like to take a stand against it, but when the content is very appealing, it’s hard not to pre-order and thus become part of the problem.

3. Always Online & Microtransactions

Purchasing Virtual Currency in NBA 2K15

Basketball video games have come a long way since head-to-head match-ups were about the only online feature. Even when it comes to single player modes these days, their online components ensure fresh content such as challenges in MyTEAM and Ultimate Team, a variety of upgrades and customisation options in MyCAREER, and so on. The downside to this of course is that servers won’t be online indefinitely, which means a mode that you’ve spent a lot of time with – and potentially, real money on – is going to be rendered unplayable, or at least severely limited, at some point.

As I said when I discussed this issue in a previous column, it’s only fair that developers are looking to sell the latest game, and the terms of service clearly state that the servers will be shut down after a set period of time. However, there are times when you want to dust off an old favourite, or indeed, stick with a title for more than a year. Forget server shutdowns for a moment; server outages can render key modes unplayable! And then of course there are microtransactions, which are optional but often feel strongly encouraged. Basketball games aren’t the only genre affected by this, but it’s a shame that it’s become something we have to deal with.

4. Unskippable Cutscenes

Shaquille O'Neal, Ernie Johnson, and Kenny Smith in NBA 2K16

I covered this one in a Monday Tip-Off article a couple of months back. Unfortunately, a lot of the wonderful details that I dreamed of seeing in basketball games when I was a teenager aren’t always so great now that I’m a grumpy old man of thirty-one. I’m not saying that the great presentation we now have shouldn’t be a part of the games, but there are occasions when I’m short on time, or just feeling impatient, and want to have a more streamlined experience. All too often, I find myself tapping buttons in vain, trying to skip cutscenes and dead balls as quickly as possible.

Even though it’s not a cutscene per se, I’ll include the behaviour of the virtual referees here as well. It’s something that affects all game modes, but it seems to really be an issue in 2K Pro-Am. For the sake of preserving realism and atmosphere, the most recent NBA 2K releases avoid camera cuts in favour of having referees collect loose balls. A nice idea in theory, but very frustrating when they s-l-o-w-l-y run the length of the court to scoop up the ball, then run all the way back to the baseline where the other official is standing, and then pass them the ball from a few feet away. The “realism” just isn’t worth the waste of time. At least give us the option to skip ahead!

5. Loading Times

Michael Jordan Loading Transition Screen in NBA 2K16

To be fair, this isn’t something that’s exclusive to basketball video games, and is something that bugs me about the current generation as a whole. I was really hoping that this generation would see an improvement in loading times, and with many games, that doesn’t seem to be the case. In all fairness, there are higher resolution textures and other aspects of games that are more demanding of the hardware, but I was still hoping that we’d see a reduction in loading times. Whether it’s NBA Live 16, NBA 2K16, or Fallout 4, as Tom Petty would put it: the waiting is the hardest part.

And just to nip the inevitable console vs. PC debate in the bud, this applies to PC gaming as well. I picked up a great new gaming rig last year that is more than sufficient for the games I play, but I still find myself annoyed at the loading times for NBA 2K16 and Fallout 4. NBA 2K16 is certainly better in that regard though, and given that you can have over an hour of gameplay before you see another loading screen, basketball video games aren’t quite as frustrating as other genres in this area. Of course, that isn’t a comforting thought when you endure a long wait, then a long loading time, and then get disconnected from a game in 2K Pro-Am. Ugh.

While I do still really enjoy playing basketball video games, and look forward to future releases, I do hope that some of these issues can be addressed sooner rather than later. What are some of your gripes with the current generation of basketball video games? Have your say in the comments section below, and as always, feel free to take the discussion to the NLSC Forum! That’s all for this week, so thanks for checking in, have a great weekend, and please join me again next Friday for another Five.

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Andrew Sutton
Andrew Sutton
July 30, 2016 11:30 am

Always Online is so annoying in regards to server support. I’m not about that online life but if I was that shit would be lame. Gives games expiration dates if that’s how you play.

valor
valor
July 31, 2016 9:18 am

I’d say another one is regional limitations while playing online. As I recall when we first started playing Pro-Am it was just insanely difficult to get a game since we are in the Aus/NZ region. If they could strengthen their servers to allow for global connection in the future (very difficult, I admit) it’ll make things a lot better.

Clark
Clark
August 3, 2016 3:34 am

Agree with every single point