Monday Tip-Off: Reviewing New Basketball Game

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Start your week here at the NLSC with a feature that’s dedicated to opinions, commentary, and other fun stuff related to NBA Live, NBA 2K, and other basketball video games. This week, I’m tipping things off with an admittedly snarky parody that demonstrates how all too many people who cover hoops gaming go about reviewing a New Basketball Game.

In the interests of transparency, I’ve toyed around with the idea of writing an article like this for some time. However, after reading this delightfully meta piece over on Kotaku, I believe that it’s only fair that I should credit it for inspiring me to actually go through with it. Besides, it’s not as though I invited parody or satire. As it stands, The Friday Five is, shall we say, “heavily inspired” by the format of Cracked’s articles (or BuzzFeed, or anyone else producing “listicle” content, I suppose). My Wayback Wednesday feature shares its name with a popular social media hashtag.

The point is that I cannot claim one hundred percent originality in my content. Of course, that’s only appropriate when I discuss the approach that so many influencers and video game journalists have towards reviewing the New Basketball Game every year. So many basketball game reviews are copy and paste fare, though again, some might argue that it’s apt given the genre. They seldom demonstrate insight into the sport – real or virtual – and neglect the nagging legacy issues that ardent basketball gamers want to know about. So many reviews are puff pieces and glorified press releases. I don’t share them anymore, because they all sound something like this.

Reviewing New Basketball Game: The Best Instalment Yet!

In order to connect with an audience made up of basketball fans and gamers, I’ll tip things off with an obvious metaphor related to the sport. New Basketball Game is a slam dunk! No, wait; it’s Steph Curry swishing a three-pointer from way downtown. Actually, it’s more like a team that’s been dominant in recent years. Yes, that’s it! Just like Dominant Team, New Basketball Game is a winner. New Basketball Game is the newest basketball game from the makers of Basketball Game Series, and in my view, they can do no wrong. I mean, there are some things wrong with the New Basketball Game that I’m reviewing today, but you can bet that I’ll skip over or downplay them.

Let’s dive in! It’s at this point that I’m likely to call New Basketball Game the best in Basketball Game Series and a huge improvement on Old Basketball Game, even though I said that last year. That doesn’t necessarily mean it isn’t true, but let’s face it, this is an ongoing pattern whenever I’m reviewing New Basketball Games. Now, this may seem like a huge coincidence, but some of the biggest improvements in New Basketball Game are the new features that have been touted throughout the preview season. Sure, there are some conceptual flaws and there are drawbacks as well as benefits, but I’m just going to say that anyone who criticises them needs to adjust.

I’ll follow up with some gameplay observations of varying degrees of accuracy. I may know my stuff, or I may be regurgitating claims from the developer blogs, meaning the accuracy of my assertions depends on the honesty in the previews coming straight from the source. Even if I’m being truthful, my style of play and preferred mode and difficulty settings may not accurately represent the experience that many others who play New Basketball Game will seek. Because New Basketball Game is popular, and has generally been pretty good throughout the years, my impressions will be positive. Again, it doesn’t definitely mean they’re inaccurate or dishonest, but it’s a possibility.

There are some legacy issues in New Basketball Game, and I’d lose all credibility if I didn’t at least pay lip service to them while reviewing it. I’ll rattle off some issues that are well-known and certainly problematic, but I’ll somehow ignore big ones that have been in the game for years, or indeed, generations. This is a particularly egregious oversight if New Basketball Game has a new engine or allegedly improved tech, or is marketed as being developed from scratch. I’ve probably mentioned that claim while reviewing New Basketball Game, and failed to call out how much it oversold the improvements. I don’t want to lose my access and be blacklisted by Publisher!

Most of my observations about modes and features are superficial. I can defend myself here by pointing out a lack of new content to cover, though I could probably be more critical of that fact. The problem is that I won’t go into detail about the things that people who are really interested in the various modes want to hear. I’ll denounce microtransactions because to do otherwise would make me look like a complete shill, but I’ll still be kind of gentle and non-specific in my criticism. In all fairness, I may not necessarily be denying that there are problems, but I’m not going into enough detail to really inform basketball gamers and answer all of their pertinent questions.

Now, the other remarks and observations that I pepper my review with will depend on whether I’m just the person at a publication who’s best suited to be reviewing New Basketball Game, or if I’m also a content creator/influencer in the basketball gaming community. If I’m the former, I’m probably going to be reasonably professional. My review might be a bit thin or toothless in parts, and it may come off as more of an opinionated commercial than an in-depth critique, but it’ll be mostly inoffensive if uninformative. If I’m the latter, I might just let my bias and myopia dictate how I’m reviewing New Basketball Game, especially once I’ve outlined the selling points.

If nothing else, I’ll probably make unflattering comparisons and take a few potshots at Other Basketball Game, even if Other Basketball Game Series is dormant and has no bearing on the fact that there are problems with New Basketball Game. I’ll neglect or downplay any issues with modes that I don’t play, essentially informing anyone that as it’s not a problem for me, I don’t really consider it a problem worth discussing. In fact, I’ll probably lay the blame at the feet of the community and call you spoiled for daring to expect value for money! I’m getting a free copy and other perks, so I’ll just pre-emptively dismiss any complaints about recurrent revenue mechanics as whining.

Oh, and even more so than the person reviewing New Basketball Game for a major video game publication, I’ll insist that anyone that doesn’t like Controversial New Mechanic is a whiner who sucks at the game, and needs to adjust and “get good”. Never mind that many new ideas in basketball games haven’t panned out over the years and were rightfully abandoned. I won’t acknowledge that while Brand New Feature may be a good idea in a vacuum, it doesn’t gel with existing mechanics. Also, there have been a lot of problems with Other Basketball Game, so I’ll assert that it’s completely justified that New Basketball Game has decade-old legacy issues.

The more of my review you read, the more you’ll hope I’m getting paid by Publisher to write it! After all, there’s no way anyone who knows the genre and is familiar with Recent Basketball Games would be reviewing New Basketball Game so positively, and being so cavalier about issues that basketball gamers are absolutely sick of. Good luck trying to convince my audience that there’s anything inaccurate or problematic about my coverage, though! Behold my blue tick! There’s no way I’m going to spend enough time analysing issues with gameplay, microtransactions, and server stability. I’m not even going to do a great job talking about the positives, if I’m being honest.

Over the course of reviewing New Basketball Game, I’ll talk about how realistic it is, even though the Basketball Game Series has long been drifting away from focusing on a realistic portrayal of the Licensed League. Instead it’s been focusing on cosmetic items and an exaggerated style of play that many people do like, but definitely isn’t “sim”. Newer is undisputedly better as regression and bad decisions are impossible, so anyone preferring Old Basketball Game or Older Basketball Game is just stubbornly nostalgic. Never mind that some of my remarks will leave you wondering if I ever played those games, New Basketball Game, or Any Other Basketball Game before.

It’s time for my conclusion as well as a final score, because even though video game scores are almost entirely arbitrary, the industry runs on Metacritic numbers. It’s a big problem in general, but it’s worse still for the annual sports releases as even if New Basketball Game is better than Old Basketball Game, I gave the latter a score of 9.5 last year, giving me very little room to score the former higher without giving it a perfect ten. Also, if we’ve changed our ratings system to account for other fractions, it’s going to look strange if I say New Basketball Game is better, but score it 9.3. Anyway, New Basketball Game is amazing for reasons, and you should buy it.

There’s a chance – if I’m more honest – that I will express some pessimism and valid critique as well as well-deserved praise in my conclusion, and score New Basketball Game fairly. The score will still be meaningless due to the aforementioned reasons, but I might just give gamers a fair recommendation about buying it or not. I’ll be one of the rare reviewers though, and certainly not someone with a working relationship with Publisher of New Basketball Game. All in all, I certainly talked about New Basketball Game, but if you’re an avid basketball gamer, you probably still have questions. I’ll answer them with another ham-fisted basketball metaphor. Swish!

You may be wondering how I’d approach things if I were reviewing a new version of Other Basketball Game. Probably much the same, though because Other Basketball Game has more issues, my review will understandably skew more negatively. Mind you, rather than assess those problems with thoughtful critique, I’ll be looking to score points with gamers in the audience that delight at its shortcomings, and enjoy bashing it. I might have even met with the developers and played an early build, shaken their hands and complimented their work, only to turn around and dump on it now. It’s not that I’m wrong about its quality, but I’m kind of a tool in how I go about my business.

Man, is self-righteous snark cathartic! Look, I know it’s tough to be comprehensive to everyone’s satisfaction, and I can relate to not wanting to step on toes. There’s a game to be played when it comes to covering video games, at least if you want to keep your perks and access. Nevertheless, a lot of basketball game reviews are lacklustre and unhelpful, which is why I’ve stopped sharing them every year. At the very least, don’t be shills. Oh, and if anyone does want to use this template when they’re reviewing New Basketball Game? By all means, feel free! I don’t need co-credit on the article or anything, but hey, at least sling me a few bucks for doing some of the work for you!

Or maybe, we could all strive to be better in our coverage of basketball video games. Look, I know there are more important things in the world than the virtual hardwood, and someone doing a poor job of reviewing the new basketball game every year. Let’s not get caught up in the fallacy of relative privation (aka “appeal to worse problems“). If video game publications can’t be counted on for informative reviews of basketball video games, it’s up to us to look out for each other and be truthful about them. If all we’re going to get are glorified press releases every year, then it’s on us – in whatever format we choose – to point out the positive, negative, and what people need to know.

I’ll raise my hand and admit to neglecting my duties here. Although I talk about the games at length on the NLSC Podcast, I know that podcasts aren’t for everyone. It’s been years since I’ve produced written reviews outside of my 25th Anniversary of NBA Live features and Wayback Wednesday content, and it might be helpful to get my impressions down in writing. If I’m to point the finger at other people producing content for basketball games, I must also be introspective and consider how I might improve. It’s too late for Current Basketball Game, but starting with New Basketball Game, I want to get back to reviews, while avoiding the aforementioned pitfalls.