Who in their right mind would not want to be a famous athlete at the age of seven? Sure some of us dream of being a doctor, or a fireman, but do those jobs have 40,000 people adoring you're every move while you accomplish them? Then as you grow older you start to realize that maybe you haven't been gifted with giant persons disease, or maybe you don't seem to have the ability to jump like your pet cat. Luckily, we have games to let us live out those dreams that were reserved for gigantic cricket type people.
NBA 2K14 has moved the series to as close a simulation to the real thing as we've ever had. From the unbelievable detail that was given to the facial features of your favorite stars, to the well designed and timed animations that occur between players, you will feel more a part of the giant cricket world than you've ever dreamed of. Players dive on loose balls, get frustrated with themselves after making mistakes, even go right around your player and slam dunk the ball as they realize what a horrible on-ball defender you are. The realism is really on display.
The standout mode for this years edition is the MyCareer mode, in which you start as an NBA rookie being drafted, and live out your basketball career. Yes this has been attempted before in many different games, but never has the mode been so immersive as it is here. You are given cut-scenes, decision trees with consequences, even your own twitter account! As you break into the league you spend your time riding the bench watching your team with the longing for your chance. Once your chance comes, if you prove you are worth it, you'll be given more playing time to show your stuff. You can work your way all the way up to a starter on the team, and eventually the team star. That is to say, assuming you don't demand a trade and take your talents to South Beach. The same goes for if you blow it, you'll ride the bench for an even longer period of time, wasting away as your team moves on without you. Luckily, the game doesn't judge you strictly on points. There is a very interesting system built in that judges you based on "being a good teammate." This includes making the right pass, not turning the ball over, playing good defense, and all sorts of other small factors. In fact, you can score 25 points in a game and still have a bad game according to your teammate rating. This allows you to be a Dennis Rodman rebounding machine, or a Steve Nash assist king, and gives a real freedom to the way you would like your NBA career to go.
Also making a significant leap this year is the MyGM mode. The owners of every NBA team are on the lookout for a new General Manager and you've got your pick of where you'd like to go. Will the owner be more pressed to have a profitable business, or do they want a championship at all costs? MyGM again fills the void usually present in these modes with meetings with your Owners, answering of questions from your staff, among other forms of bringing realism to being a general manager of an actual NBA franchise. Perhaps you would like to raise the ticket pricing, improve your stadium to gain fan interest without actually making the team any better, it's up to you to decide.
However, from the moment you're at the actual title menu, it's very apparent the game wants to funnel you into these two modes. While living out your NBA dream from start to finish is a grand experience, gone are the ways of creating a player, jacking the stats up to 99, putting him on your favorite team, and destroying the competition. While you can still play a whole season as one team, you cannot play a franchise for more than one year without using MyGM mode. If you wanted more of a simulation of strictly being a general manager, this also doesn't exist as you have to play all the games with your team if you want to level up your GM skills. Both modes have this feeling as it takes points to level up your player in his career mode, as well as his run as a GM. Get 20 assists in a single game? That assist rating still isn't going up unless you dump some hard earned points into it. Want to fire your assistant coaches and bring in some real talent? You have to earn the right, silly. The way in which these modes work, leads to the availability of micro transactions. Those points that are so valuable to your success, can just be bought. Want to be a highlight real slam dunker and not have to work the whole season to get enough points? There's a transaction for that. Want to be able to tweak your starting line up as a fresh GM? There's a transaction for that. That being said, all of these things can still be accomplished with good, old fashioned, hard work.
The staples of being able to play a one time game with your favorite teams still exists. As well as the real time roster updates as your favorite stars continue to get injured. You can still have 2-5 of your favorite players team up on a random trip to the park and play a "street ball" version of the game. The voice-overs are more robust than ever, and the hours upon hours of announcer comments mean the repetitiveness is at an all time low. The multiplayer idea of having all MyCharacters meet in the park for a pickup game has some real potential, but so far has been plagued by lag and buggy crashes.
All together, if you are a basketball fan and are looking to purchase a game to get your fix, this is as realistic an experience as there has been to date. There's nothing like pulling a sweet crossover move and getting past your man, the defense collapsing and you kicking the ball out to an open three point shooter who nails the shot. MyCareer and MyGM are deep well crafted experiences that really make for a fun experience. The only thing missing is the freedom to manipulate the basketball world as you see fit.
-ECOG