Developer: Visual Concepts
Publisher: 2K Sports
Rating Guide: How I Review Games

Review: 

NBA 2K11 was one of the greatest games I’ve ever played.  It was near perfect.  The decision to put Jordan on make the Jordan challenges the centerpiece was incredible.  It went hard in the paint!  Does NBA 2K12?  Let’s find out.

Gameplay, Graphics and Sound

The main new feature of 2K12 is the NBA Greatest mode.  It is as the name implies … a way for you to go up against the NBA’s greatest.  The best part about it is that you go against them in their own era.  You can take Jordan, Magic, Dr. J, Pippen, Big “O”, Larry Bird and other greats back to the future and unlock some classic NBA teams … assuming you win the game.  It’s great seeing these guys not only play but play pretty close to how you remember them from the actual games …  assuming you were born then.  Bird still has that behind the head arch on his jumpshot.  Magic still cuts through defenses like a fine blade.  2K Sports must have a seriously ridiculous motion capture bill.

Not only is the mode one of the bright spots, its presentation is as well.  I enjoyed playing through the different eras of basketball.  NBA 2K12 did a wonderful job at recreating the presentation from the different decades of basketball.  Playing as Jerry West and Wilt through the non-three point era was crazy.  I thought that was a really nice touch to the game.  The thing that let me down though was not including any Jordan challenges or any other legend challenges.  It was good playing the games but I would’ve loved to try and duplicate some performances like Wilt’s 100 point game.

There’s also My Player mode again only it has been re-skinned.  You take your player and you set out to make him the greatest NBA player you can.  Those of you who have played countless numbers of similar rookie modes should feel right at home because it’s the same thing.  Both your off court journey and on court journey is chronicled.  It’s a pretty deep mode but it’s nothing new to the sports world.

A disturbing issue with this mode is that there is no longer a My Crew option within the My Player mode.  So I suppose that now when you beef up your player, your only option is to go against the CPU and not carry your crew with you.  That was disappointing as there were many fans of that option albeit it never quite worked to perfection.

But let’s be real shall we?  What you want to know is if the game plays as good as 2K11 did?  Yes … yes it does.  In fact, the post game now is so fluid that most of the times that’s all I call.  When playing with the Chicago Bulls I had Jordan and Pippen constantly on the block backing down undersized point guards for their patented fadeaways.  There were the usual odd moments like basketballs ending up on a players head (seriously) but overall there was an improvement in control.

And I don’t think there is any other game past or present that can match what the 2K series has done to capture the real flow of a basketball game.  You feel like you’re playing  game.  There is no doubt about that.  Each year this game gets you as close to the real action as possible.

NBA 2K12 for all its awesome marketing and production value though, doesn’t quite pack the bang as its predecessor.  Perhaps that is because NBA 2K11 was such a huge improvement over every other entry into the franchise that it was hard to top?  Whatever the case may be I wasn’t as overwhelmed with awesomeness as I was with last year’s entry. I didn’t have that magical moment when I first booted up that put me behind Jordan running through the tunnels of the United Center.  Considering that there are more legends in the game like Bird and Magic, it could’ve given me that moment.

The game seems to have taken a step back visually in my opinion by being too similar to 2K11 if that makes any sense.  It may be time for 2K to introduce something new visually so that it doesn’t seem like you’re playing a roster update especially when there’s no discount.  The game looks good but for some reason it doesn’t look to be any improvement.  It isn’t a bad thing until you remember you’re paying yearly for these titles.  And can any developer get hair right on the white guys in these games?  Every white player’s hair is just wrong especially Dirk’s.  Well Dirk’s hair hasn’t been good since debuting in an NBA game.  If there is ever a game that gets white hair right on these players, I’ll buy 3 copies.

One of the things though that remains superb is the commentary in the game.  It is near perfect.  I’m not sure how they do it but I recall one particular moment when the broadcasters were commenting about Walt Bellamy and having played 88 regular season games.  I asked myself how the hell did he do that and like clockwork, Steve Kerr broke it down a play later.  The broadcast work in the game rivals its real world counterpart.  One could even argue that it’s better.

Can we please get a new menu system?  It’s the one thing I keep complaining about that needs to change.  If it’s supposed to engage me more, then it’s not working.  It just feels out of place in a game that’s taken so many leaps forward over the years.  And I haven’t spoken about the player ratings in the game but I’d love to know how they figure these things out.  How is the NBA Champion Dirk Nowitzki rated an 85?

Xbox LIVE Extras

I’m sure most of you will look to create your own online Association which allows you and 29 other friends or associates to have your own league.  It’s deep … real deep.  I don’t know if there’s any other reason to play online than controlling your own league.  Let’s go!

Taking the game online has always been a toss up and with this year’s version there’s not much difference.  It’s still a toss up on whether or not you get a good game that doesn’t lag or come with spontaneous glitches.  I didn’t see as many of the issues with NBA 2K11 though so that’s a good thing.  2K Sports has been off and on with patching the various issues with its titles online so those of you who buy this game strictly to game online should note that.

Conclusion

There comes a time in every man’s life when they essentially reaches the top of the mountain with little else to do but stare at the view.  From last year’s highly impressive 2K11 to 2K12 this year, it seems as though 2K Sports stood back to enjoy the view.  That doesn’t mean much beyond the fact that it was simply impossible to journey any farther above what many (including me) feel was the best basketball game ever in 2K11.

NBA 2K12 doesn’t do much to improve upon what you played last year beyond adding the Greatest games.  It gives you a really good basketball experience but you already have one that’s arguably better in some ways with 2K11.  If you have NBA 2K11 and aren’t really jonesin’ to spend $60 on a marginal improvement, then wait it out.

8.0
“Standout”