by Dee4Three on Thu Apr 05, 2018 5:28 am
Can't believe I hadn't made one of these yet:
Gameplay:
Eliminate players skating: Players look like they are running around on ice wearing tennis shoes. It makes the game feel out of control, and you don't feel like you have as much control of your player because he is sliding into animations. We had skating players in 2K9, why bring it back for 2K18? It obviously has to do with the new motion system, but foot planting is a part of real life human movement. You should be able to get what you want out of the motion system while still having the foot planting from 2k15/2k16 and 2k17. You should also be able to implement this without the players feeling heavier, look what you were able to accomplish with NBA 2K14? (This gen)
Improve Defense.... Complete Overhaul: The one on one defense is the worst of any game on this gen, and probably worse than any game on last gen. You can literally just drive by your man, with anyone, on anyone and get to the hoop while hitting at a high percentage. Kawhi Leonard on you? no problem, Steven Adams on a point guard? No problem. No dribbling moves are needed on any drives in this game, the dribbling moves are literally in the game just for show. In fact, you tend to complicate things more by using them, instead of just dribbling by your guy to the hoop for a score. The help defense is abysmal, even with defensive sliders turned up to 100 (Including help defense strength). You can run by your guy in my example above, and almost never get contested at the hoop. Its a free for all, and it completely ruins the competitive nature of the game, it's truly gamebreaking. A happy medium needs to be found between brick wall defense, and hip riding defense. NBA 2K15 had a pretty good combination of both, and the players were not skating. The first year with this motion system seems like a major step backwards, so hopefully it can be corrected for 2K19.
Ball physics: Players shooting and missing so many layups looks horrible, and part of it is because the shots going up do not look natural. The ball floats through the air and ricochets hard off the glass, causing the ball to hit the front of the rim. If a player in real life missed this many shots around the rim, they wouldn't even be in the NBA. The ball physics needs to be tweaked that way they look more natural.
AI Offense: The AI will literally stand wide open and just wait for the designated play to run, they will seldom adjust to the defense being played. It feels very scripted. Or in the case of the game I was playing the other night, they will just pass it around to the top of the key for the whole 24 seconds, and fire up a contested shot with whoever has to shoot it before the shot clock goes off (In this case, it was Kevin Garnett on the 08 Celtics). Its 2018, and this is how the CPU plays? The CPU continuously runs into the middle of the paint, and even if three defenders are surrounding him, he will still go up for the shot. If he decides to kick it out, the capable shooter who catches it will most often not shoot it right away, or not shoot it at all. The way the AI plays doesn't make any sense.... Playing the Bulls, Robin Lopez shot about 8 mid range contested shots in the first quarter. Tendencies and ratings are wrong all over the place, which comes to my next topic....
Roster tendencies/ratings: It shouldn't be up to the user to fix so many players/teams throughout the league, sometimes even having to fix full teams (all players), adjusting tendencies and ratings. The person who does the rosters must be lazy, or rushing, or feel rushed, because copy/paste jobs exist in the roster. The original game was even released all time teams players missing badges. Isaiah Rider have LeBrons signatures copy and pasted onto him, Nick Van Exel having Shawn Marions FT, guards who can't really dunk having extensive dunk packages, shot tendencies of players being way off, players being given such a low block or steal tendency rating that they get between 0-10 steals or blocks for an entire season, etc etc. Something isn't right, and the fact that year after year these issues are in the game are concerning. Matt Bullard literally had Charles Smiths portrait for two years..... how does the person/people doing these rosters allow this to happen? How does it get passed production? Get someone in there that will take the time to work on each player individually and accurately, someone who understands the game and how the ratings and tendencies work. Get someone in there that isn't going to throw some random jump shot shooting animation on Amir Johnson and call it good, when he clearly just shoots a set shot (He Barely jumps, and I mean barely).
Body Blocks/Body Steals: This has been a problem since 2k15, but it has gotten worse every year. Players blocking shots with elbows, or stomachs, or there head. The ball gets dislodged so easily.. players are taught at a very young age to hold onto the ball tight, clearly 2K doesn't understand that because players just drop the ball all the time. Most of the time you can't execute a spin move without a body steal occurring, or you will be dribbling up the floor and the ball will touch the back of a players foot and it will create a turnover, or you will pass the ball into the post and the defender will press his body up against you and the ball will just fall to the floor. As a defender, you can literally just push your body up against the ball handler while he is dribbling (Or not dribbling) and the ball with dislodge.... 2K... you have to do better than that. Again, this issue has been in the game for multiple years now. Make the players hang onto the ball like they would in real life. Seeing so many dunks being blocked is laughable, it looks ridiculous. Point Guards are blocking Centers with ease.
Shots hitting the bottom of the rim: Going up around the basket is a nightmare in 2K18, not only do we have the strange ball physics and missed layups, but we have our offensive players literally just hitting the bottom of the backboard on field goal attempts. The CPU does the same thing, they will shoot shots right off the bottom of the backboard or rim. The player physics/movements need to be adjusted around the rim, because this truly ruins the realism of the game.
Players all blending in together: I literally don't feel a difference using Jerry West and Allen Iverson. The ability to get blocks/steals with most anyone, the ability to do fast dribbling moves/combos with players that shouldn't be able to do them, the ability to drop step and score with most anybody, the way one on one defense doesn't matter because you can get by anyone with anyone, etc..... I feel no authenticity playing this game. I don't feel like I'm using a superstar when I'm using one, I don't feel like I need to execute a gameplan based on who I have out on the floor, etc. The authenticity needs a lot of work.
Outlet Passes: The fact that outlet passes sail over players heads so often is still a big problem, and again it's a problem that has been in the game for years. You could throw an outlet with Anthony Davis, with your offensive players 20 feet away and wide open, and it will go sailing over the players head. Why hasn't this been fixed yet? I understand if the receiver is all the way down court and you are throwing the pass with an average or below average passer, but this happens all the time even with good passers.
Clipping: I don't need to go in depth here, this has been going on for a few years now. Players arms/legs/faces going through eachother, hands going through the ball, players literally running through eachothers bodies. It needs to be cleaned up.
Graphics:
Large heads: Players having oversized heads throughout the roster is unacceptable, especially in 2018. How did this get into production? I don't get it... It is blatantly obvious how unrealistic these players look on the floor. They literally look like NBA Jam characters... The fact that I have read reviews that said this game was the best graphically in the series really bugs me, no mention of the oversized heads in these reviews. Clearly the reviews are bought and paid for, and that's sad.
Dark arenas: No arenas are that dark in real life, not even the Lakers. It's the icing on the cake really, because the crowd is also bland and not moving most of the time. I'm not expecting NBA 2K13 crowd, but something in the middle. Give the game some life... it's the freaking NBA, NBA Action. Take a lesson from Live here, they win in presentation and atmosphere.
Muscle: Give the players some definition, they look like clay. On the court, they look like a bunch of gumby type characters running around. Not only do the players not have traps, it looks like mostly one body type was used for every player in the game.
Presentation:
Balloons: The balloons falling into the crowd are NOT realistic, in any way shape or form. With all the other gameplay issues/graphical issues, you decided to spend time implementing this? Not only is it silly, it obstructs the view of the users who play on broadcast.
Screen shaking when feet stamped: Another extremely unrealistic addition that makes absolutely no sense and is unrealistic. Even if you are sitting in an ARENA (not high school bleachers) there would be no shaking when feet are stamped. Think about how silly this addition is... it blows my mind. Again, someone spent the time to implement this addition instead of using that manpower to work on the gameplay/roster/graphical issues.
Misc:
VC: I know this won't stop, but preying on your consumers is just not right. Preying on children is also preying on parents. How greedy can a company be?
If I think of anything else, I'll add it to this post.