'NBA 2K18' Hands-On Impression

[Jackal]

I traveled to 2K headquarters on Thursday and had an opportunity to play the game on PS4 Pro. Half of the games I played came against human opponents.

I left impressed and optimistic about almost every aspect of the game, but there were some concerns that I expressed to the development team.

Here are my takeaways on the gameplay, graphics and animation.

Click to read.

Didn't see this posted yet, figured I'd share.

Edit:

The area of the game that needs the most tuning is the passing. The long passes are successful far too often. The development team told us that is something that will be fixed by the time the game is released next month. There are some other issues with passing that are slightly more concerning. The speed in which you're allowed to move the ball around, especially in and out of a dribble move, can be a little slow.

What he goes on to describe is what has been an issue with most games. Passing the ball around hasn't felt crisp in years.

After every shot you'll see a small box near the top of the screen that tells you your release was very late, late, good, very good or excellent, which is a green release. Right next to that reading is a field that tells you your player was smothered, heavily-contested, contested, open or wide open.

I may be leaving one out, but you get the general idea.

This system offers great rhyme or reason for every miss and make in the game.

This sounds like a nice addition, it'll be nice to sort of know why something didn't go down.

Guys fight for the ball, even after the possession has been determined in some instances.

The strength rating seems to be far more important in NBA 2K18. In the post, the heavier player almost always wins the back down segments. Contact in the paint is more apparent and impacting.

Really digging this. When you play with Shaq, it should feel like you're playing with Shaq.

The body types issue has been largely corrected. The malnourished player model has been removed and every player looks like a legit athlete. Most of the players that looked too hefty in NBA 2K17 are leaner.

Could see that has been addressed in some of the screenshots. Looking forward to this games release. Good job Leftos & 2K!

[[Q]]

Random question: what is up with the obsession for needing to know on-demand if you held the shoot button for too long, not long enough, or just right?

Remember back in the day when you'd just attempt shots and just tried to time it without watching a shot meter? I remember 2k7 was the first game that I had obsessed over shot animations because some of them were so stupid or impossible to time on a regular basis. Life was good when you just played the game and tried to release at the top of the jump. If you missed, you know you fucked up and just try it again. I see a use for feedback in a practice or shootaround mode, but not during a real game. That's not realistic

[Andrew]

Hopefully the floaty passes in the halfcourt can be addressed by the time the game goes gold, or in one of the post-release title updates. The improvements to defense sound promising; hopefully, that feeling of running in mud, which has gotten a little better this generation, has taken another step forwards being eliminated (or at least, rarely an issue). Sounds like the canned fouls are still there, though.

The expanded shot feedback meter is a good idea. They've been doing that in NBA Live, giving more detailed feedback on whether a shot was contested, considered to indeed be wide open, and so on. Of course, there are issues in NBA 2K17 with late close-outs being too effective, so it remains to be seen whether that will be properly cleaned up. I'm a bit concerned to hear that more players are missing layups, as I felt a few too many went awry in NBA 2K17 as it is, though perhaps that'll feel less frustrating with the more detailed shot feedback.

Another concerning point mentioned there was defenders taking away the passing lanes. That should happen, of course, but the AI comes up with a lot of cheap and unlikely steals in NBA 2K17 as it is. If anything, I'd say that the AI gets too many interceptions and deflections right now, and shouldn't be getting even more. Hopefully it doesn't feel as cheesy as it did in NBA 2K17.

It does sound like attention is being paid to key areas and there's still some tweaking and fine tuning taking place, so again, that's promising.

[Andrew]

Random question: what is up with the obsession for needing to know on-demand if you held the shoot button for too long, not long enough, or just right?

Remember back in the day when you'd just attempt shots and just tried to time it without watching a shot meter? I remember 2k7 was the first game that I had obsessed over shot animations because some of them were so stupid or impossible to time on a regular basis. Life was good when you just played the game and tried to release at the top of the jump. If you missed, you know you fucked up and just try it again. I see a use for feedback in a practice or shootaround mode, but not during a real game. That's not realistic

Back in the day, everyone had the same jumpshot animation, so it was less of an issue. Furthermore, jumpshots were nowhere near as effective as they should've been, when you go back and play those older basketball games today. It didn't feel like there was a much precision, and you were often left wondering why what seemed like the exact same release with the same player, just as wide open, wasn't going in. Shot feedback clears up the ambiguity, as well as helping you to practice the release. These days, you can tell that no, it wasn't the exact same release, or that it was too heavily guarded (in terms of what the game considers heavily guarded, which doesn't always line up with our own observations).

I think the main issue here is whether perfect/excellent releases should be really high percentage, or guaranteed buckets. There's arguments for both sides of that debate, and I for one sometimes find myself in two minds about the matter.

It should also be noted that a shot meter indicating the ideal release point is a fairly old idea, and can be found in some rather old games. NBA Inside Drive 2000 to name one.

[buzzy]

Random question: what is up with the obsession for needing to know on-demand if you held the shoot button for too long, not long enough, or just right?

Remember back in the day when you'd just attempt shots and just tried to time it without watching a shot meter? I remember 2k7 was the first game that I had obsessed over shot animations because some of them were so stupid or impossible to time on a regular basis. Life was good when you just played the game and tried to release at the top of the jump. If you missed, you know you fucked up and just try it again. I see a use for feedback in a practice or shootaround mode, but not during a real game. That's not realistic

I agree and I always try to play with as little shot feedback and metering as possible. Worst thing for me is reading that the shot is good or off before it even happens. That's not basketball. The moment the ball goes through the net should bring us joy, not the moment you see a green bar under your player.

[[Q]]

I dunno, I find myself analyzing the shot meter and focusing on that or the feedback after every shot instead of worrying about the rebound or just playing the game. I do like that they are presenting the fact that there is some logic behind whether there's a make or miss including timing and the defender, but for me at least, I like knowing it's there but don't really need to see feedback or a meter. That's just the way I prefer to play.

I agree and I always try to play with as little shot feedback and metering as possible. Worst thing for me is reading that the shot is good or off before it even happens. That's not basketball. The moment the ball goes through the net should bring us joy, not the moment you see a green bar under your player.

The worst is seeing green/perfect and it not going in, which I actually kinda agree with. Ratings should play a part too. Re: Ben Wallace free throws in 2K7

[Andrew]

It can be switched off though, which is always the best compromise. Include a feature, but allow it to be disabled if it's not to someone's liking. I have to say I've never been distracted by the Shot Meter to the point of not getting back on D or otherwise interrupting the flow of the game.

I'm also a fan of having some kind of on-screen indicator for free throw shooting, which goes back to my love of the old T-Meter method. That being said, free throw shooting in NBA 2K17 might be my favourite approach to the mechanic now, with its incorporation of the right stick aiming.

[Nick]

Shame about passes being slow again. Slow ball movement was one of the things that turned me off 2k17

[Andrew]

Some other hands-on previews:

• Game Informer
• DManUnt2014 (latest videos)
• Operation Sports

[Jackal]

Shame about passes being slow again. Slow ball movement was one of the things that turned me off 2k17

Same, although I'm still playing it. It's annoying you can't really emulate a Spurs/Warriors/ball movement is key type of offense without it being bogged down by shoddy passing, random steals and weird passes to a player heading out of bounds or some shit.

[KyotoCarl]

"In NBA 2K17, these two areas of the game were the most problematic. There were too many instances where ballhandlers got stuck in an unwanted animation, and it often felt as though defenders had no chance to stay in front of their opponent.

In NBA 2K18, there are noticeable improvements on both fronts. I found the dribble moves far more intuitive. There's a bigger gap in skill between the elite ballhandlers and the guys who are good, average and below average."

I think I've heard this 5 years straight now. What exactly is it that changes each year where this gets messed up?

[sticky-fingers]

Some other hands-on previews:

• Game Informer
• DManUnt2014 (latest videos)
• Operation Sports

After the first video, and theses articles, i began to be hyped like every years

But then, i read theses old files :
http://www.gameinformer.com/games/nba_2 ... -2k17.aspx
http://www.gameinformer.com/games/nba_2 ... tness.aspx

Lot of promises as usual

[Hadley88]

Its always the same with NBA2K. Its always 2 Steps foward and 1 Step backwards. I expect the same this Year again.

[Barkley_Sixers]

Its always the same with NBA2K. Its always 2 Steps foward and 1 Step backwards. I expect the same this Year again.

Then next year the step backward become step forward. Look at bodytypes for example. Sure, they will probably be much better than 2k17 on that aspect, but how much is it better than 2k16 bodytypes?

[Andrew]

Its always the same with NBA2K. Its always 2 Steps foward and 1 Step backwards. I expect the same this Year again.

Then next year the step backward become step forward. Look at bodytypes for example. Sure, they will probably be much better than 2k17 on that aspect, but how much is it better than 2k16 bodytypes?

Since we already have screenshots and some gameplay footage via the Art of NBA 2K18 developer diary video, it would be possible to make those comparisons right now.