TheXboxLife

The first version of the 2kSports series I played was NBA 2k6, which I thoroughly enjoyed. After the 2k6 season, I never picked up a copy of 2k7, after I heard that there were really no big changes in the game as far as gameplay and pure-fun goes. I was a little dissapointed, but never really cared because the NBA Live series was never that impressive to me.





Now NBA 2k8 has been released, and it’s not that it’s a bad game, but that the game still hasn’t changed much. Like I said earlier, I never played 2k7, and 2k8 is exactly the same as 2k6 with small changes. First off, the game play and flow is better. By that I mean the layup motions that players make, and the actual body-movements and faces of the players are improved. This is something that did need to be addressed, at least after playing 2k6, because there were so many inside, layup shots that just didn’t make any sense. Most of the time these were caused by holding turbo down + the hit stick, and then your player would just lift off and do a cool move, but it made no sense how he actually did it. This game fixes many of those problems, which I greatly appreciate.





Of course the rosters are updated, and there were a few things that bugged me about it. First off, Shaq is still in the high 80’s, which I just don’t understand. Last year proved that he really isn’t nearly as effective as he once was. Also, players like Greg Oden and Kevin Durant have already been dubbed ‘B’ players with 80+ ratings, which even more irritates me. Sure, these ratings are based off of numbers, but seriously, what numbers? It took Kobe years to get to his dominant form, and he started out as a 70-ranged player.





As for LeBron, well he has nothing to worry about. As a player, whenever LeBron has the ball, just hold down turbo, run towards the basket, and push on the ‘hit stick’ — 9/10 times, regardless of how many defenders are guarding you, the shot will be sunk. He is just as dangerous, and ridiculously good in the game as Devin Hester is in real-life at Punt Returns (Hester on Madden 08 may be the most unstoppable player in any video game of all time).





If you’ve played the older games, the new one won’t be much of a change (if any). ESPN ran a simulated season with KG and the Celtics losing to the Suns in the championship, and a team like my Chicago Bulls don’t even make the playoffs (finish 9th in the Eastern Conference). Part of me really thought this game would be a much better tell-tale sign of the year, but it’s obvious it won’t be. The Phoenix Suns vs Celtics, and the Bulls not even making the playoffs? Yeah right. I’d put $1,000 on BOTH of those teams to not make it to the finals (knowing the Suns, they’ll get swept by the Spurs before they even know what happened — again).


Overall, not a bad game, but I really was looking for more. With an improvement in game play and graphics though, it wasn’t a bad release, and is still a great game.


8/10