It proves most useful for substitutions just say, “Bring in Bryant” and you’ll see Kobe get up off the bench and head to the scorer’s table to check in at the next dead ball. On the Xbox 360 side, there’s even Kinect voice support. Your choice of words can be hilarious, and depending on what you say, your standing amongst your teammates, the media, and the fans will be positively or negatively affected. compliment the organization) or evil (request that your coach be fired).
But now you can even request sit-downs with your general manager, in which you’re free to be good (i.e. It’s as engaging as last year, with your custom baller able to participate in a rookie game, get drafted (complete with a David Stern handshake at the podium), and develop your skills with experience. Meanwhile, MyPlayer has taken on a slightly more personal, RPG-like role. They’ve got a ridiculous 97 team rating, and so you can take the 1992 Dream Team – a glorious addition – head-on and give them a run for their money, as odd and completely impossible as that sounds. The teen pop star leads a 2K13 Celebrity team that includes JB Smoove, Bow Wow, and others. It’s the NBA on NBC!Yes, I did in fact invoke Justin Bieber’s name in the context of a basketball video game review. Better to enjoy 2K13’s commendable gameplay and suffer through a poorly designed interface than vice versa, but still, how many years has it been like this now? Barkley. Some menus can’t be backed out of, while save screens stupidly leave you at the save menu even after you’re done saving – rather than taking you back to a menu where you can actually do something. Speaking of which, the series’ interface continues to be an archaic, convoluted mess.
Because they’re passive and mostly invisible, you probably won’t notice them unless you play M圜areer, where you’ll spend your VC points – credits earned for anything you do in the game – to add them to your budding pro baller. Signature Skills assign star players up to several of a couple dozen “plus” traits, be it Corner Specialist (added accuracy when shooting threes from the corners), Finisher (better chance of making shots with defender contact), etc. Wiggle it and see what happens!” So too are Signature Skills practically kept shrouded in secrecy unless you study the list of them in the main menu. Rather, the first time you start up the game, you’re treated to a screen that essentially says, “You can control your dribble with the right stick now. You’re never given a proper tutorial on the critical new dribble moves. But you’ll eventually get used to it and grow to like the added dribble controls, as they’re not nearly as arcade-y as they were in NBA Live’s heyday, but still add an extra layer of player control to the gameplay.ĢK13’s biggest problem – particularly with the Dribble Stick – is that none of its new features are explained well, if they’re explained at all. It certainly takes getting used to given the years of shooting without an additional trigger pull, and odds are you will, like me, occasionally forget and fail to take a wide open shot you meant to attempt. Shooting is now accomplished by pulling in LT/L2 in combination with a right stick directional press. The big change is the right thumbstick-based Dribble Stick, which marries the Freestyle controls of last generation’s NBA Live titles with the existing NBA 2K Isomotion control scheme. The post-up game is not only playable but enjoyable.
The pacing, flow, and feel all remain impeccable. A Court Fit for a King2K13 has the cajones to mess with its tried-and-true simulation gameplay a bit.
Some of the new additions are great, while others you can live without, but, in the end, 2K13 is the pinnacle of basketball gaming on this generation of consoles.
NBA 2K13 unquestionably takes the latter path, lacing the latest version of its annual basketball simulation with wild features that, rest assured, take nothing away from the already stellar pro-hoops gameplay. But what if your chief – and really, only – rival kept finding new and astounding ways to spin out, leaving you as the only car on the road? Would you kick back, ease off the gas a bit, and set the cruise control? Would you keep the pedal to the metal anyway? Or would you drop the top, start turning down new streets, and see where the open road takes you? And thus, we consumers are the ultimate winners. Competition, according to free market economic principles, makes the dueling products better as each pushes to outdo the other.