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NBA 2K2
March 20, 2002 - Earlier this year many basketball fans were treated to the release of Nintendo's own NBA Courtside 2002. It was met with mixed reception -- both good and bad -- due to its forgiving take on the NBA game. Those interested in a more accurate basketball simulation need look no further than Sega's NBA 2K2, the latest in an ongoing series from Visual Concepts. It's the game professional athletes, not just NBA players turn to when they want to fire up some NBA action from the living room sofa. Why? Because no hoop game has captured the grace and athleticism as consistently or as well as the NBA 2K series. However, for all that NBA 2K2 does well, it inherits many of the shortcomings and problems we've had with previous editions of the franchise.
Features
Gameplay
Just like they have with the passing game in their NFL 2K series, Visual
Concepts seems to have taken one crucial element of pro basketball, worked like
hell to perfect it and let everything else fall in place after that. NBA 2K2
builds upon a solid foundation, where the AI and physics of the game work so
well together, it's difficult to figure out which came first.
The AI in NBA 2K2 is tougher than ever. By tough we mean, your margin of error is extremely small and you'll have to play well consistently to defeat the CPU in a solo game. Note that in the GameCube version, games default to rookie (you can alter this, of course) which lends a little more flexibility to starters. The difficulty variety is good news for hoop junkies who want to get plenty of value out of their NBA sims, but rookies may be easily intimidated by harder modes. On offense you'll have to be creative because the defense in 2K2 adjusts quickly when it looks like you've found an easy scoring option. Pounding the ball inside with Shaquille O'Neal for the entire game won't even work because the opponent will start swarming him with defenders. Even if you're bull-headed enough to keep feeding the rock to Shaq, he'll start to get tired dragging those defenders around and his shot percentage will plummet. And it's the same case with any other marquee player. The defense will put constant double teams on Kobe Bryant, Tracy McGrady or Vince Carter to keep them from driving. Hot shooters like Ray Allen or Reggie Miller will have to work harder and come off more screens to get open shots. You get the idea.
New controls like the "pass to player closest to hoop" button are marvelous new additions to old favorites like the special dribble or call for pick buttons. To work the offense effectively you have to read and react to what the defense is giving you and be good enough on the controls to pass and make moves quickly. You'll have to know that it takes half a second for Iverson to set up his crossover or other special move off the dribble when you hit the button. In that time, everybody on the floor can be in a different position. But if you're comfortable with the momentum-based physics of the game, you'll know that The Answer only needs six inches of daylight to get by his man. If he's within range he'll continue on to the hoop, but this illustrates the marvelous integration of physics and artificial intelligence in 2K2. This is the stuff the best sports games are made of.
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On defense you have to play tight and then hope for a little luck because the CPU is extremely aggressive and confident shooting the ball. This is also the end of the floor where you'll get the most out of 2K2's coaching system. You'll need to assign matchups, set the amount of pressure and call appropriate situational defenses so that you can keep the computer opponent just as frustrated as you are. You can call defensive sets (full court pressure, man to man, etc.) on the fly using the C-stick just like you do for offensive play calling. Plus you'll get plenty of use out of the new "switch to the last man back" button. That one's great for stopping drives to the hoop.
If you don't spend the same amount of effort on defensive strategy that you do on offense, the CPU will have no problem scoring huge point sets. You'll be shooting a high percentage as well but with all of those points being dropped, it will be easy to fall behind in a hurry. In fact, stopping scoring streaks is why sound defense is important, because once the CPU gets their offense going, they can quickly blow a game wide open.
How you choose to control your players on defense is really a matter of taste. Controlling a quick guard who can scurry around stealing the ball from taller players has its risks and rewards as does patrolling the lane with a shot-blocking big man. Again though, this is where the physics of 2K2 come into play. The new steal animation that lets your guy jump into a passing lane has its own precise timing that's difficult to master, but well worth it if you do. Blocking shots is one of the more difficult skills in the game since it more or less comes down to the computer's decision on whether or not you timed it correctly. There were several instances when we were perfectly positioned for a block and even saw the ball pass through our defender's hand on the way to the basket for two points. It wasn't registered as block because the shot blocker clearly went up late, never mind the fact that our guy was 6'11" and the shooter was 6'.In fact collision detection problems is our major gripe about 2K2's basketball engine. You'll commit far too many goaltending violations in efforts to grab timely rebounds because players can reach right through the rim and net to touch the ball. Ever heard of a player at any level of basketball goaltending a free throw?
Continuing with the theme, the collision detection will frustrate you on defense in other ways as well. We've already told you that lining up for a block shot and timing it are extremely difficult, but the insult added to the injury is that players, not just the basketball will pass through your defender as well -- not just his hand. Even if we're late getting a guy in position and hitting the jump button to block the shot, we should get something positive for getting him there before the shot gets off. The defender should change the shot one way or another either by fouling him with his body or simply being a tall guy with long arms in the way. Far too often the offensive player is at an advantage once he's into his scoring animation because he'll simply "ghost" through a defender and shoot a percentage as if the defender isn't even there. That is, once Latrell Sprewell starts to wind up his dunk animation, nobody, not Dikembe Mutombo nor Shawn Bradley standing right in front of him, is going to stop it. If you wanted to stop the dunk, you shouldn't have given him the lane and the ball. We would be fine if offensive players could be bumped in mid-air and they still make circus shots all the time, but ghost play down around the hoop just isn't any fun.
The gameplay modes in 2K2 include Street, Practice, Tourney, Exhibition, Franchise, Season, Fantasy and Playoffs. That's more than enough to keep basketball fans knee deep in this game. The Franchise, Season and Fantasy Modes are especially well done and deep enough with plenty of details and things to do off the court. The Street Mode features nine courts made famous by movies and word-of-mouth like Rucker Park in NYC and Run 'N Shoot in Atlanta. They're accurate right down to the posters at the late Hank Gathers' Rec Center, but where are all of the scantily clad gold-diggers and entourages?
Graphics
The players in 2K2 are as crisp and clean as their original Dreamcast brethren
could have ever hoped to be. We've already raved about the animation but it
can't hurt to rave some more, because the players move with an illusion of
weight and mass that makes the whole thing work.
When it comes to the players VC included all of the accurate facial hair, tattoos, headbands, wrist bands, high tops, socks of every player represented. This includes Kevin Garnett's excessively baggy shorts as well as Bob Cousy's old school tighty shorts. The facial animations are the same was we've seen in previous editions of NBA 2K, but if you're looking for a new and improved graphics feature look no further than the populated baselines. Dance teams, ball boys and photographers are all crowded together and fully animated in the out of bounds area.
Those doubting that it looks as good as Nintendo's own Courtside 2002 should think again. Some of the animations my not be quite as smooth, but as a whole there are many more of them, usually more interesting to boot. Additionally, NBA 2K2 simply looks very clean, sporting sharp stadium representations and modest player models. The faces, however, are certainly not up to par with Courtside 2002, but that takes very little away from the game. It's true their eyes may creep you out a little, but overall it looks good. By GameCube standards it definitely lacks texture effects and high polygon counts, but that doesn't stop it from being one of the best looking hoops titles to date.
The replays are also worth mentioning. Multiple camera angles or even super extended replays of spectacular moves are a very welcome addition. They're at least as well done and well timed as the replays in NFL 2K2.
Sound
You will take the commentary in NBA 2K2 one of two ways. It will either be
hands-down the most impressive you've ever heard or rehashed. This is because
Bob (Bob Steel) Fitzgerald and Rod (Rod West) Brooks are back yet again with
much of the same tired commentary heard two or three times before in the NBA 2K
series. Rod West still "wants guys like THIS on his team" if he was
still coaching and so and so forth. The few new lines of commentary don't do
nearly enough to make the play-by-play in this game fresh and exciting. The two
real life Bay Area sports radio guys were adequate when NBA 2K debuted two and a
half years ago, but times have changed. That said, if you have never played an
NBA 2K title previously, you shouldn't have any issues with it.
Thankfully there's all-new music in NBA 2K2 courtesy of Jermaine Dupri and the Beatminerz, who have hooked up the main themes of NBA 2K2. And, while none of the cuts would ever win a Grammy, they serve their purpose well in the game.
The best part about the sound effects in the NBA 2K series is the chatter from the players and coaches. Even though most of their comments are as recycled as the announcers' commentary, it's still a great feature to have in a hoop game. Other than the squeaking sneakers, arena organ and crowd noises are very adequate and get the job done.
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created by da biszy
Having said that, I'm eagerly anticipating NBA 2K3, which is certainly on its way to GameCube at the end of this year. Visual Concepts has an ambitious team that's continually advancing on its past efforts, which should help iron out some of the problems we have with this version. For now, however, NBA 2K2 definitely suffices and should be your basketball game of choice if you're a hardcore NBA enthusiast.