When NBALIVE was popular, the quality of the game was declining due to lack of competition and other factors. At that time, the NBA2K series came out and shook the former’s position with its excellent quality, which was quite like the Dragon Quest. However, as time passed, many years later, when NBALIVE was no longer popular, the dominant NBA2K series seemed to be following the old path of its predecessors, giving people a real feeling that the brave man had fallen into the evil dragon.
As a must-have for basketball fans and sports game enthusiasts, the NBA 2K series not only represents the best basketball games in the current gaming industry in terms of technology and gameplay content, but is also the best platform for condensing NBA and basketball culture. From the classic and playable MC mode, more realistic player facial capture, to the cover stars that players love to talk about, the changes in the NBA 2K series every year are affecting the hearts of players who like this series.
So, can the recently launched “NBA2K20” also satisfy your love for basketball this year?
If you don’t play MC mode, why are you playing NBA2K?
The first time I encountered NBA2K, I was amazed. Not only was the character model more refined and lifelike than that of competing games, but the most impressive and unforgettable thing was the game’s unique MC mode (personal career mode). Since you can experience the entire draft process in the game and complete the entire NBA season from the perspective of a player, the NBA2K series has established itself as the first choice for basketball games in the minds of players.
Therefore, whenever a new NBA 2K game is released, the MC mode is always the core content of the game that players discuss the most. From the improvement of the draft content to the detailed storyline of the virtual characters themselves, the growth of the MC mode in recent years is also obvious to all players. In NBA 2K20, players will play the role of a senior student. After experiencing a series of seemingly bloody but actually bloody plots such as teammates being seriously injured, the team’s difficult reversal, and quitting the school team to train alone, the player wins the championship of the summer league through his own efforts, and thus kicks off his new career in the NBA.
It can be seen that in the MC mode of NBA 2K20, players still cannot escape the constraints brought by the plot script. In addition to growing virtual characters according to their own preferences, most of the plots are still for players to familiarize themselves with the game process and gameplay content. However, the setting in the end where the star players of each team invite you to join the team still makes people feel that the previous efforts are worthwhile, especially when James, who plays both the player himself and the plot producer in the game, appears on the screen, it still makes people feel the game’s intentions in the MC mode.
Virtual characters can get more data adjustments
Compared with the minor adjustments in the plot, “NBA2K20” has made a huge adjustment to the settings when creating players in MC mode. Compared with the past, players have more autonomy in setting the abilities of virtual characters.
In the past, players only needed to build characters according to different positions, heights, weights and other attributes. In NBA 2K20, after choosing the position of the character, players also need to make more detailed adjustments to technical attributes such as finishing, shooting, organization, and defense/rebounding. In other words, the MC mode emphasizes the player’s more personalized growth plan from the beginning, which is very similar to the various popular face-pinching gameplays now, giving players more choices to let them decide the growth direction of the virtual character themselves. Combined with another essence of the MC mode – the badge system, players can use 50 new badges to enhance certain characteristics of the character, which further enhances the richness of the MC mode.
Variations on the playing field
NBA 2K20’s adjustments to the game arena are mainly focused on two key aspects: one is the improvement of image quality, especially the details of player modeling, and the other is the adjustment of AI players’ intelligence. Secondly, the newly added WNBA league further enhances the depth of the game’s content.
Maddie finally looks like a guy
The biggest feeling of players when they got started with NBA 2K20 was that the player models were more refined. The models of some star players, especially the face-up, were also updated. For example, the character model of Tracy McGrady, which has been widely criticized by players, at least looks very close to the appearance we are familiar with. Secondly, the lighting effects during the game and the depiction of the details of the field have also been improved. Unfortunately, compared with the previous generation of works, this work did not make a greater improvement in the overall expressiveness of the picture, or make adjustments and optimizations worthy of praise. It even makes people feel that this work is just a large-scale data chapter that improves some of the bigger problems in NBA 2K19. The lack of improvement has also caused dissatisfaction among some players.
AI players are smarter and have a stronger release
Due to the use of a new game action engine, 2K20 has significantly improved both the player action performance throughout the game and the AI player’s prediction of the game situation. AI players can basically perform their duties and defend or attack according to their own positions and characteristics. At the same time, they can also better analyze the current situation of the game and make some tactical choices appropriately. For example, they will take a step back to defend against players who like to break through, or use a multi-person double-teaming tactic to target the opponent’s star players.
The addition of WNBA is a highlight of this game
On the other hand, the game unexpectedly brings the WNBA to the table, which can be regarded as a very big innovation for the entire NBA2K series. Because the WNBA is obviously different from the NBA in terms of playing style and technical and tactical level. Although the former is not a focus event that everyone pays attention to, players can play those famous female players who dominate the WNBA in the game, which can be regarded as a unique and interesting experience.
More interesting combinations emerge in classic teams
In addition to the introduction of the WNBA league, the classic teams that old players love very much have also been further expanded in “NBA 2K20”. This game has added more classic teams that are familiar to players, such as the 02-03 season Suns, the 06-07 season Wizards with General Arenas, the 13-14 season Clippers and Spurs, and the 15-16 season Cavaliers who made history, etc. You can use these classic teams with glorious records to fight against each other in the game to satisfy your various guesses as a fan.
My Team and My GM are becoming more mature
If the MC mode is the appetizer that attracts new players to learn about NBA 2K and is the first step to make players fall in love with the game, then the two major modes, My Team and My GM, that the game focuses on building, are the main courses on the table that further encourage players to gain a deeper understanding of the entire game series and are also important gameplay content that makes players spend a lot of money.
Want to be stronger? Pay the gold
If you buy different versions of NBA 2K20, you will get certain character cards at the initial stage of the game. As players’ abilities in the game continue to improve and they complete specific game conditions, they can get character card upgrade services, thereby obtaining more powerful players. Since My Team not only requires players to spend a lot of money but also takes a lot of time to cultivate character cards, this feature has become a controversial point in NBA 2K20, which has received mixed reviews.
The in-depth gameplay of the 2K series makes it difficult to be a legendary manager
In the almost redesigned My GM, players as team managers will handle all matters of the team in detail. Players will also manage a team beyond their identity as players. Coupled with the addition of the very RPG-style “Action Point” gameplay, players will need to make different choices more carefully on the road to becoming a legendary general manager. The interaction in transactions, discussions and business cooperation with players, finances and even general managers of other teams makes this generation of new challenges and redesigned My GM gameplay more interesting and playable.
As almost the “only designated” basketball game available to players today, objectively speaking, the creation and adjustment of “NBA 2K20” from the core MC mode to the more in-depth My GM mode are quite satisfactory. In addition, the technological upgrades to the improvements to the player AI and action systems have more or less made this New Year’s product have visible progress.
It can be said that the actual quality of this game is not as bad as the online reviews say, but from the perspective of the development and growth of the entire series, the progress of “NBA2K20” is indeed very slow compared to previous works, and it has even reached a point that old fans cannot tolerate. As the saying goes, the deeper the love, the deeper the hate. For old players who have always loved this series, they have high expectations for this game every year, but they don’t see much eye-catching innovation every year, which is the reason for their anger.