2K shoots air ball but can redeem

2K shoots air ball but can redeem

By Aaron Graff

It is sad when one of the most entertaining aspects of a video game is a new feature which is clearly broken.

2K Sports launched “NBA 2K15” on Oct. 7, but gamers were let down when it didn’t live up to the hype.

The game is taking a lot of criticism for its new face scanner feature, which allows gamers to put their face on a created character, using their console cameras. But instead it usually inserts a face directly from a nightmare, which kind of makes the game funny. PlayStation 2’s “Eye Toy” would give better results. The gamer can always create their character’s face though, which is why the face scanner is not the biggest problem.

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It starts with the little things.

Loading game modes should not take as long as it does. Do not worry; your console has not necessarily frozen. You just might want to step away from the game and make some dinner, eat it, take a nap and then check to see if the game is ready. Perhaps, the reason for long loading times is because of 2KTV, a series of self-promoting videos. Gamers already purchased the game. There is no reason for 2KTV.

Online gameplay is very unreliable. Even with great Internet, an online game will likely lose connection at some point before or during a game. It is 2014. Nobody wants to play the computer bots all the time. There is no challenge in that.

There is a lot of lag online and offline, and gameplay is not the best. This is something that can be fixed when updates become available for the game.

2K has never gotten some aspects right.

You can never rely on your team’s players without the ball.

On defense, nobody will thoroughly guard anyone they are supposed to, which makes scoring easy for both sides.

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On offense, if you have a two-on-one break, you would expect the other player to cut to the basket to get an easy assisted layup. Instead, just before you pass to them, they will stop or move out to the three-point line, allowing the defense to transition.

It also has a newer shot bar, which is confusing at first. It is hard to tell what the difference between a good shot and a bad shot are until you get used to it.

Even the menus are more confusing. It is harder to find what you want than in previous years. It is easy to find the most popular game modes, but if you want a quick match or want to browse through the rosters, you have to navigate a little.

The most popular game modes are “My GM,” “My Player,” “My Park,” “My Team” and “My League.”

“My Player” is the only really impressive one compared to other basketball games. This year, instead of being a top draft pick, your player goes as an undrafted free agent that starts with a ten-day contract with a team you pick from a list.

Even though it would realistically be a lot harder to become a star as an undrafted free agent, it is better to work your way up. 2K also got a player from every team to record voiceovers to be a mentor to your character. Every real voice in a video game is a boost.

“My GM” and “My League” are fairly similar, and almost pointless to have both. It is just another thing that could slow down the loading times.

“My Team” is a similar game style as “Madden Ultimate Team,” a game mode from the “Madden” series. The gamer has to earn his or her players and manage them through challenges and seasons. However, “My Team” is still developing. It does not have player ratings, so it is hard for the gamer to tell which players to pick.

The best aspect of the game is the realistic graphics. This is the first year where you can look at every player and coach and know exactly who it is. Not only that, but the video game characters have the same mannerisms as the players in real life.

2K15 has unlimited potential with this, but so many new features slowing down the server make the game frustrating to play. There have to be more updates to speed this up.

Gamers should wait until those updates are applied, or the price drops. That is, unless they want decent offline play at best for $65.

Aaron Graff can be contacted at [email protected]on Twitter @Aarongraff_DE or 536-3311 ext. 269

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