Animations Galore

For those that know, NBA 2K has done a great job with the virtual encyclopedia of animations they have available. There are quite simply countless great animations for what seems like is every instance in basketball. We regularly see new and intriguing ones months after the game has been released. The thing that confuses us is that while it seems like 2K has a system where a players attributes/rating give them greater access to certain animations, we simply don't see many animations nearly enough. Why does this hurt? Because these same animations could be just the thing to deal with many of the game's issues.

We've decided to show just a few of the animations from our MediaZone Page that we need to see play more often.While we love the ability to save replays and post them on the internet, this year we're lacking the ability to provide a direct link to replays so you'll have to bear with us. We've keyed on game aspects that need improving (which we'll highlight in red) and then we'll provide you the page, row and item number (going left to right of course) of the replay so that you can really appreciate what we're talking about (winks at Chris Manning)



Sadly, in NBA 2K there are too many instances where we get forced into animations and put at a disadvantage just because another player attempts a steal, for instance. Ever noticed how your player is automatically forced into a reactionary animation when the defender attempts a steal? Here's a novel concept, how about a system where failure puts THEM at a disadvantage? Where are the reaching fouls that the NBA punishes on-ball steal attempts with? What happened to the great animations where an unsuccessful steal attempt left a defender lunging at air and badly out of position? Block attempts are just as poorly done. Why would an unsuccessful block attempt by a non-shot blocker like Kobe Bryant force our players into a contact shot animation? Should we really be rewarding users for button mashing and worst of all, going completely against a players skillset?

As we've said numerous times before. Not in a million years. Let's see players limited by their real-life skillsets. Can guards block shots? Sure..but not often enough to be relevant. We should be shocked and surprised when anyone not named Dwayne Wade or Paul George blocks shots (and even these guys shouldn't be high percentage blockers) let's see more fouls when users attempt this and not the strips/poke-aways specific to their skillset.

In an earlier article we mentioned how more unforced turnovers (pg 1, row 1 #2) by poor and average teams (pg 1, row 2 #4) would do a good job showing the gap between teams. This aspect (pg 1, row 3 #1) needs to implemented ASAP (pg 2, row 3 #1, 2 and 4) as it would also allow us to see more realistic turnover numbers. (pg 3, row 2 #1)

We stand by our assertion that we need to see more fouls in 2K, the lack of whistles (pg 1, row 2 #1) hurts the game because it doesn't punish (pg 3, row 1 #2) foul-worthy behavior (pg 1, row 2 #2) and also makes players who go to the line frequently much less effective.

How cool would it be if we could finally point the shot-stick into defenders who've left their feet and draw fouls? (pg 2, row 1 #3) and why aren't players who lack the shot-blocking skillset (pg 1, row 2 #2) punished for trying to block shots (pg 3, row 1 #4) rather than challenging them? (pg 3, row 1 #3)

While we love the ability to get to the basket, we definitely need to see it balanced more with offensive fouls (page 2, row 1 #1)and defensive plays (pg 1, row 3 #3) like strips (pg 2, row 1 #4) and collisions where ball-handlers risk turnovers a bit more (pg 2, row 2 #2).

Sometimes we ponder why the game has the excessive amount of steals that turn gameplay sloppy? What ever happened to the out-of-bounds deflection? (pg 2, row 3 #3)

These are just a few of the animations gameplay could incorporate more to remedy many of the game's flaws. A game with so many great animations, simply can't not use its great resources to take already awesome gameplay to the next level. We certainly want to see more balance between offense and defense with necessary features like the Defensive Square Up, Defensive Stick and an Auto Defense option, but NBA 2K has the many of the cure for its ills already in-game.