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 my thoughts on how MyCAREER has reached a point of no return as far as its current approach and design is concerned.
Although I’ll readily defend the past against notions that everything new is better, and point out that many old ideas can be repurposed as modern solutions, it’s absolutely possible to regress. We shouldn’t want to see that in anything, including the basketball video games that we enjoy. One of the biggest knocks on NBA Live during the eighth generation was that it felt behind the times. Even if you enjoyed the experience on the sticks, barebones modes and a lack of additional content made it feel as though the series had regressed to a point that it should’ve been well past.
It’s an issue that contributed to NBA Live’s inability to win back the crowd, and thus a further descent into dormancy and irrelevance. With that being said, while this is a pitfall that NBA 2K has avoided, Visual Concepts’ series has arguably suffered the opposite problem. There are certain ideas and approaches in NBA 2K that have now evolved so far beyond their more humble beginnings that going back to a simpler time is seemingly impossible. You might argue that this isn’t actually a problem; that a new standard or baseline has been established. Not everyone is satisfied with the current approach to MyCAREER however, and unfortunately, it’s at the point of no return.