11 Ways to Make NBA 2K12 the Perfect Basketball Game

NBA 2K12 has become, quite possibly, the best basketball game of the past decade. I don't want to call it the best of all time yet, because, quite frankly, it's going to take a lot for any game to top the novelty and enjoyability of the original NBA Jam game.

However, NBA 2K12 has a lot going for it. The best part about it being, obviously, the ability to use Michael Jordan along with an array of legends from Magic Johnson to Larry Bird to Shawn Kemp.

Now, these days I've got just a Nintendo 64 at my disposal, and I spend a good chunk of time playing NBA Live '99, which by today's standards is still a pretty awesome game. I'm proud of my offensive explosion with Arvydas Sabonis, scoring 119 points in a game (take that, Chamberlain).

However, I've still played quite a bit of 2K12, and quite frankly I think the game is almost good enough to be the best basketball game of all time with just a few subtle tweaks.

All-Star Weekend

The NBA Live series had a pretty hardcore lockdown on the All-Star Weekend, but after they debuted it and held onto it for a few years, it got old fast. NBA Live was never too good at evolving their game, mainly using gimmicky play to keep their game advancing.

However, the 2K Sports guys are great at having their games evolve over time, and I think if they took a crack at the dunk contest, three-point contest and possibly even the skills competition then it could be something more than just a gimmick.

Ball Physics

The only real bug that I've noticed in the game from time to time is that the ball does things that don't make sense unless they're happening on a different planet.

Balls will bounce with ridiculous backspin, they will take strange bounces and they'll warp off the rim toward the player rebounding the ball.

It's a nit-picky thing to complain about, but there's also not much legitimately wrong with this game.

Rotating Commentary

The newest addition to the 2K broadcast team this year was Steve Kerr, a move I have to applaud until my hands turn red.

However, with the TNT broadcasters and the guys who are on the sidelines for the game, I say why not have them all. Get all the broadcast teams from TNT to record commentary for the team and have the option to pick who you want commentating before every game.

This would keep the commentary from getting stale and it would allow us to pick exactly who we want to hear. I need more Marv Albert, "Yes!" in my life.

More Created Player Options

The "My Player" mode in the 2K franchise is by far the best created player gameplay in any basketball video game there ever has been, but there's something I've got a bit of an issue with.

The players are customizable, but they're not that customizable.

Everyone you make ends up looking like any other player in the game. I want to have a guy who has an afro the size of a basketball despite his milky-white skin to go along with a ferocious red beard, but not much can be done to get a strange-looking player.

I guess I'm just weird myself.

More Cover Variation

I love the covers that came out with NBA 2K12. With Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan and Larry Bird as the three featured players on the cover of the game, there was no better way to go.

However, I want even more variation. I want more legends, more current NBA players, and I think they need to add a fan vote for one of their covers. 

You just know Brian Scalabrine would end up winning the fan vote, and I would buy up a NBA 2K13 with Scal on the cover quicker than any other game I've bought.

Hands-Up Defense

There is only one real problem I have when playing defense in 2K12, and that's how slowly players move with their hands up on defense.

It's at least an improvement over past games, as moving with your hands up was pretty much limited to a shuffle, but here it has improved to a brisk walk. It's as if people are incapable of running with their arms extended over their head.

The inability to run with your hands up makes it incredibly hard to close out on an open shooter, usually leading to an easy shot.

Mixing and Matching Playbooks

One thing that I haven't really seen in any sports game in my day (although I wouldn't call myself a connoisseur of the Madden franchise) is being able to take plays from various teams to create your own playbook.

I'd love to throw a few run-and-gun plays from the Knicks with the old-school pick-and-roll that Stockton and Malone used to run and then throw in some fun plays from teams like the '02 Kings, '06 Suns or anything involving a two-man triangle operation from Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen.

Right now all I can do is pick one playbook and stick with it, I'd like to mix and match.

Big-Name Musicians

I'm a big fan of the music in NBA 2K12; there's a big mix of artists with a few big names sprinkled in (Busta Rhymes anyone?), but there's a lot that could still be done.

Remember back in the early 2000s when one of the biggest parts of new basketball games was finding out who recorded tracks for them? That's what I want to get back to.

We need to have guys like Snoop Dogg writing original songs for basketball games again.

Low-Post Play

I don't play basketball games the way they're meant to be played. I'm not a fast-break player and I don't shoot the three-ball all that often. It's just not my game.

When I pick up the sticks, I always go after a good defensive team with a prolific low-post scorer, and there's a problem I have with the low-post play.

It seems like only the very best big men or the very best players in the game can score with contact in the paint. If you end up with a guy like Anderson Varejao or LaMarcus Aldridge, any contact with a defender pretty much leads to a missed shot.

Beyond that, you can forget about scoring with contact with a point guard not named Derrick Rose or Russell Westbrook. I've seen guys like Rajon Rondo and Tony Parker sink circus shots on the regular, but in this game any contact leads to a miss.

Smoother Passing

The only real problem I have with the logistics of the gameplay of 2K12 is the sometimes erratic and robotic passing that goes on.

Everything else in the game seems so smooth and as realistic as a video game can get, but when you're pushing up on a fast break or trying to swing the ball around the perimeter quickly, things start to get sticky.

What you'll get from time to time is either the fast break will slow down or the AI passing assist will skip to another player, not the one you wanted to get the ball to.

Fix that and the gameplay is basically flawless.

Expanded Legendary Teams

My favorite addition to this game has to have been the legendary teams added, but they didn't add enough.

One guy I was most disappointed to see left out was David Robinson, although they did add quite a few good old guys.

I can't tell you exactly which game it was, but it was an NBA Live game in the early 2000s that had a deep legends pool (perhaps most of them had this). I'm not talking about a few extra players from the '90s and '80s beyond 2K12, I'm saying they went deep. Wes Unseld and Dave Bing were two guys I vividly remember playing with, and there were even more obscure legends beyond these guys.

I want to see these games go old school here, and I mean really old. I want to post up on Blake Griffin with Bob Pettit and throw up a jump hook on Andrew Bynum with George Mikan.

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