Monday Tip-Off: Shot Aiming Is A Hit & Miss Idea

We’re at midcourt, and the ball is about to go up…it’s Monday Tip-Off! Join me as I begin the week here at the NLSC with my opinions and commentary on basketball gaming topics, as well as tales of the fun I’ve been having on the virtual hardwood. This week, I’m tipping things off with some thoughts on shot aiming mechanics, and how they are a hit and miss idea; pun fully intended.

There’s been a lot of talk about the skill gap in NBA 2K in recent years, as you would expect with a greater emphasis on the online competitive scene. Much has been said about the need to separate the good from the great, the scrubs from the elite, and truly celebrate and reward stick skills on the virtual hardwood. Mind you, several gamers push back on the idea of proper matchmaking, so I do question how “competitive” the scene really is. Many of the mechanics that those gamers champion are likewise of questionable value when it comes to the skill gap, and overall quality of gameplay.

Shot aiming is a prominent and somewhat controversial example. On paper, it’s a good idea. It’s more skilful then simply pressing and holding a button, and one could argue that it’s trying to emulate actual basketball skills and technique. In practice, it’s seldom worked out as well as intended, and developers have ended up shelving the concept quite quickly each time it’s been attempted. I have some mixed feelings about shot aiming. I can see the logic behind the idea, but its repeated shortcomings leave me sceptical that it can truly work. Furthermore, I’m bothered by the elitism that it fosters, and the notion that any objections or criticism of it indicates a lack of skill.

I’ve already discussed the myopia of mastering mechanics in basketball video games, and gaming in general. Our ability to adjust to, master, and even enjoy problematic controls, does affect our ability to be objective, or considerate of our fellow gamers. I have two standby examples here. With basketball games, NBA Live 07’s decision to split shooting controls into separate dunk, layup, and shoot buttons – an expansion on the existing two-button approach to shooting – proved to be a contrived one, even if you could get used to it. Bart vs. The Space Mutants is a nostalgic favourite, but its clunky controls ignore the gold standard for platformers set by Super Mario Bros. 3.

Enjoyment and adaptability don’t disprove well-reasoned critique, which is why so many gamers fall back on that elitist phrase: “get good”. It conveniently shifts the discussion away from valid points, forcing the critic to defend their abilities on the virtual hardwood. This in turn assumes that ability to master mechanics is equivalent to enjoyment, which isn’t automatically so. Again, I can utilise the shooting controls in NBA Live 07 without confusion, and play through Bart vs. The Space Mutants with its clunky controls; at least until the level design goes completely off the rails. I would not, however, suggest that a new game in either genre ape their gameplay mechanics.

Of course, I’m drawing comparisons to two notoriously badly designed games there, which you could argue is a false equivalence. With that in mind, let’s consider three games that experimented with shot aiming: NBA Elite 11, NBA 2K17, and NBA 2K21. That first title is a red flag, but in all fairness, great ideas have come from bad games, and vice versa. All three games utilised the right analog stick for shot aiming, with NBA Elite 11 and NBA 2K17 combining the aim with release timing. The new method that NBA 2K21 experimented with allowed users to forego shot timing in favour of aiming, with the ability to lock in the aim early for a shooting boost.

All three were straightforward ideas, though NBA Elite 11 and NBA 2K21’s methods did require more practice, and could be off-putting in the precision that they required. NBA 2K17’s method was somewhat easier, with the added bonus of a Green Release overriding an errant aim. Of the three, NBA 2K17’s shot aiming is the one that I like best, though it also helps that the game feels mechanically superior to the other two in additional ways. While NBA Elite 11’s flaws are numerous and well-documented, I’d suggest that NBA 2K21’s shot timing was too steep of a learning curve. Beluba’s polls on Twitter and Reddit reveal its unpopularity with a majority of NBA 2K gamers.

It’s easy to write off those complaints as coming from people who need to “get good”, and unsurprisingly, I did see that sentiment expressed in response to those polls. Once again, we’re inclined to say that when we like and master a mechanic, irrespective of any flaws it may have. While shot aiming can work, the nature of basketball can make it an artificially difficult mechanic. The speed of the game, the size of the court, and proximity of players to one another, favours quick and straightforward inputs. Since the right analog stick is also being used for dribbling controls, it won’t necessarily be at a neutral position when you begin an attempt, making it easy to be off by a degree.

The aiming controls became even more contrived for shot attempts in the paint when the layup controls involve holding the right stick in one direction, and then moving it to find the perfect aiming zone. Considering that you don’t know the exact animation that will be triggered until you see it, there’s a lot you have to do in a short amount of time. That may have been the biggest mistake with shot aiming in NBA 2K21. It can work on jumpshots, but once you’re in the paint and trying to combine aiming with other advanced offensive moves, it becomes needlessly complex. Throw in all of the artificial boosts of Badges, and there’s suddenly a lot to account for in the mechanics.

That’s not even getting into input lag, which is a major factor in the online scene. The quality of NBA 2K’s servers is still not good enough, and it’s even worse for those of us outside of North America. Shot aiming requires precision that’s even more difficult to achieve with significant delay on the input and feedback. The removal of rumbling on the ideal release point has taken away an aid that was useful when dealing with any lag. The irony is that that was done to curb cheating, yet cheaters still found ways to develop scripts that allowed them to perfectly aim shots with a button press. All in all, it resulted in gamers struggling or hitting almost everything, with little middle ground.

To that point, that’s another issue with shot aiming. Even if we want to say that it’s just a matter of mastering the mechanics – in other words, “getting good” – it can be just as cheesy as Green Releases. This was demonstrated in NBA 2K21, when gamers posted videos in which they effortlessly hit shots from 90 feet, having mastered shot aiming. Likewise, people always remember the infamous “Jesus Bynum” glitch in the NBA Elite 11 demo, but the bigger problem was the three-point hook shots, wherein gamers were splashing hooks from well behind the arc using right stick aiming. NBA 2K17 wasn’t quite as cheesy, but you could still boost the abilities of poorer shooters.

In other words, if you want to argue that it’s just a matter of mastering shot aiming and then you can hit everything…well, that’s a problem, too! Sure, we are seeing more shots from the logo and whatnot as players turn games into impromptu three-point shootouts, but overall, they’re still hitting at a similar percentage as in previous eras. It shouldn’t be simple to nail halfcourt shots time and time again in video games thanks to exploitable mechanics, either. We recognise the “corner three glitch” in Double Dribble as an indication of primitive game design; fun to use when we go back and play it, but not something that we want future games to emulate in their shooting.

Again, if I had to pick a shot aiming mechanic for NBA 2K moving forward, I would suggest the one used in NBA 2K17. It was balanced by the need to time the release as well, and wasn’t too overpowering. A Green Release still required precision and was the overriding factor, but a well-aimed shot with good timing was nevertheless a high percentage attempt. It worked well online despite some input lag, and didn’t apply to layups, freeing up the stick to perform elusive moves. As for free throws, it’s probably up there with the T-Meter as one of my favourite methods for foul shooting. If ever there’s a place for shot aiming in basketball video games, it’s at the free throw line.

On the surface, deeper controls are desirable and preferable in basketball games. It’s a balancing act however, as sometimes having too much control can make a game too difficult, but can also conversely make it too easy. Putting aside questions about how challenging shooting in NBA 2K should be, shot aiming and shot timing ultimately have the same drawbacks. Both reward perfection with guaranteed baskets (outside of a blocked shot or basket-negating violation, of course), with a dice roll that can be contrived and unforgiving when missing the mark. Neither is immune to exploitation or cheating, and both are affected by input lag and other mechanics, such as Badges.

With that being said, I believe it speaks volumes that shot aiming has constantly been dropped after a game experiments with it, while shot timing and the concept of Green Releases has remained. The latter is the most accessible method of shooting, and the one that works the best in execution despite its flaws. In contrast, shot aiming seems to cause more problems and frustration, and when it does work, it’s just as exploitable as the system most basketball gamers seem to prefer. If anything, shot aiming works for free throws, but as a universal shooting mechanic, it mostly appeals to elitists. Quite frankly, NBA 2K has been leaning far too heavily in that direction as of late.

Furthermore, establishing a true skill gap goes far beyond shot aiming. NBA 2K will have to become far less reliant on animations and canned moments before it can truly claim to have a skill gap. It will need proper matchmaking, appropriate balance, and to rid itself of paid upgrades and OP boosts in its meta, before it achieves that. In the meantime, I do believe 2K needs to focus on what makes an enjoyable experience for the majority of basketball gamers, and listen when the userbase makes it clear that a mechanic isn’t working. Shot aiming is an idea that seems good on paper, but I’m not sure if it can ever be implemented in a way that’s superior to the existing controls.