NBA 2K15: First-Impression Review and Observations

Tuesday was an important day on the NBA calendar. Not for any of the preseason contests on the docket, though I'm already partial to watching Minnesota's Timberpups grow into Wolves (sorry). No, Tuesday marked the release of NBA 2K15—a cause for celebration for players around the league and basketball degenerates alike.

Since you clicked on this particular article, you've come wondering what I think of said video game. But before we get to that, let's take care of some semi-important housecleaning.

I wanted to give an explanation and highlight the meaning behind "first-impression" phrasing. The idea spawned from reading a DJBooth.net review of Childish Gambino's new mixtape, STN MTN.

The site's policy for "first-impression" reviews is to address the necessity for immediacy in the Information Age, while acknowledging a more nuanced long-term take was in the offing. Their inspiration came from a J. Cole tweet bemoaning the music industry's "one-listen" reviews and their lack of nuance.

Cole was right. It's impossible to judge the impact of an album after one or even two listens; the greatest review artists receive is when fans continue going back long after the music has been released. I would have given The Marshall Mathers LP 2 a positive review when it was released. Now it's somewhere buried deep in my iTunes library. Longevity matters.

The same concept can be applied to video games. Most reviews (including this one) come after hours spent playing each individual game mode and figuring out the positives and negatives. But there are hundreds of little aspects that won't pop up until players dive deep into the game—some good, some bad.

We'll know whether NBA 2K15 was a great game if we still feel like firing it up in June. (And it's highly likely that we will.)

For now, let's take a look at what we've observed so far. 

Your PS4 Is Not Broken; Just Be Patient

2K Sports

If the bolded subheadline was not enough of a hint, I'll spell it out in words. This part of the review is not for Xbox One users, so you may go right ahead and skip this.

As for the other next-gen system, you may have encountered a problem since the purchase. Which, well, isn't really a problem but more like a slightly annoying bug that can be rectified with a little patience.

When initially installing NBA 2K15 in my PS4 system, I was pleasantly surprised by what I thought was an atypically quick download time. I went, grabbed a drink and boom—game time. 

Only it wasn't game time. Not game time at all.

When attempting to boot the game I was met with a loading screen and taken instantly into a matchup between the Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs. 

No thanks! I'll choose my own teams, thank you! I thought as I hit the "quit" panel and then attempted to enter a main menu, only to again be sent to an unwanted NBA Finals rematch.

As evidenced by the myriad Twitter complaints, I was not the only one to have this "problem."

Luckily, the 2K Sports support team was on the spot with an explanation, noting that players were getting Spurs vs. Heat time and again because the game had not finished downloading. What we were getting, essentially, was a demo as the system continued to download software.

While my system did not show a download progress bar as the support team suggested, my trust that I had not purchased a lemon was rewarded. By the time I played through the demo, the game had installed on my system and was ready to go—right in line for a typical download time for such a large game. So have a little patience, don't panic and soon enough the game will show up.

Gameplay

While I had 100 percent faith in Take Two coming through in the game mode department, finding gameplay improvements was my first priority when popping in the disc. 

NBA 2K14, like the majority of first-release sports games on new consoles, had a few issues. The game looked beautiful, but God-mode players, AI problems and a general hollowness to the basketball took away from what was an otherwise excellent first effort.

I'm pleased to say there is a significant improvement in 2K15.

The biggest change most will see is a smarter, smoother defensive AI. Gone are the days where isolation play could turn a superstar into a one-man team.

Defenders are better at keeping up with even the best players in one-on-one situations, and computer-controlled players make sensible basketball rotations when guys get into space.

If anything, spacing can be a little too constricted—especially when putting on big-boy pants and leveling up to Superstar. That's far from a bad thing given sports video games' history of ratcheting up the skills of offensive players and paying next to no attention to the other end. 

2K15 is more balanced than any other basketball sim I've ever played.

Improvements weren't only to emphasize defense, though. Flying across the lane for semi-unrealistic blocks are a thing of the past. Basketball mechanics are much more in tune with real life, and NBA 2K15 will sometimes even prevent players from leaping up to avoid unrealistic results.

Again, there are times when the game overdoes this feature by forcing players to stay ground-bound in situations where they'd have ample time to jump. But all it'll take is a slight adjustment via patch or online tuners to make the dynamic perfect.

As for how the game looks, aesthetic excellence and NBA 2K15 are essentially synonymous at this point.

The player renderings are fantastic. Close-ups on players reveal near-perfect avatars down the line that include multiple expressions and beads of sweat rolling down faces.

In-game animations are also top notch, with the exception of one wherein players attempt to throw the ball at the basket when their dunk has been thwarted. It is not a pleasing experience to have Joel Embiid just toss the ball straight into the stands for no apparent reason.

But on the whole, you'll have a tough time finding better next-gen gameplay. 

There Are Glitches. Most Are Harmlessly Funny. 

By now, you've seen things like this:

And this:

And this:

To say NBA 2K15's face-scanning feature is off to a rocky start is a bit of an understatement. It has also been the single funniest video game glitch I've seen in my 24 years on this planet. One of the first images I saw Tuesday morning was this tweet from Patrick Fenlon, and I actually did a real-life spit-take while drinking coffee. 

Not everyone is having this problem—Ronnie Singh of 2K Sports has retweeted numerous successful face scans, all of which look great—but I for one want to embrace this 2K15/Walking Dead mashup. 

Similarly amusing was my attempt to create my own avatar, which encountered an issue before I could even commence with face-scanning.

My first and last names (Tyler Conway) are rather common. Both are programmed into the game, which typically allows me the pleasure of hearing Marv Albert's legendary voice call my name as if I'm a real player and not some dumb schlub who is simultaneously playing video games and crafting a pizza Lunchable. 

Not this year. Because "Conway" is now a curse word:

Again, amusing, not game-ruining. I named my character after country music star Trace Adkins instead and am the better for it.

Also giggle-inducing: Doris Burke interviewing invisible players. The nod to The Leftovers was not lost on me, Take Two. (Serious note: Each of those "glitches" is very minor, and I have faith developers are already working on post-release fixes. There is just no way to do a proper "review" without pointing them out.)

One concern/oversight that might actually hurt gameplay. When editing players, there are no previews of each individual shot type. The preview screen continues to display the default even when shuffling through the animations.

Game Modes

Brilliant. Excellent. Awesome. Pretty much everything is as advertised. There have been some early issues with the servers for MyPark and other modes—as there is wont to be during high-traffic periods—but 2K15 really delivers in this department.

MyLeague is depthy, customizable and everything you'd want from a multi-player franchise mode. There are so many customizable facets that's frankly a little overwhelming at first. Figuring out the proper frequency of blockbuster trades and the strength of draft classes are aspects that will find balance over the longer term. I've quickly simmed through a handful of seasons with different slider strengths to find the most realistic possible outcomes, but it's a process.

That we're able to edit so many things is what's so impressive. Anyone who bemoaned the loss of Association mode in NBA 2K14 might take back their criticisms after seeing the work the developers put into MyLeague. It's Association mode on steroids.

If you're playing solo, though, MyCareer and MyGM are where you should spend most of your time.

MyCareer, which combines first-person elements to the standard on-court stuff, is back with a new and vastly improved storyline. Instead of being a standard first-round pick with all the spoils of guaranteed money, you enter the NBA as a rookie free agent.

In January. On a 10-day contract. With the skills of a rookie free agent. Your job is to become the next Jeremy Lin, Ben Wallace, etc. and make teams regret passing on you, but the window is short. Screw up in the limited sample and it's back to the cold, harsh reality of free agency. 

Like 2K14, there is also a personal element to the story, which is more realized this time around. Numerous players lent their real voices to give the locker-room conversations and on-court rivalries a more authentic feeling. I'm curious to see how everything progresses as the storyline unfolds. 

The concept of putting yourself inside the game is a key component to MyGM, which attempts to separate itself from MyLeague by having you handle the more personal elements of a day-to-day general manager gig.

Player meetings are no longer meaningless stock conversations; your answers and tone with the people around you matter. Deride a player, his morale could sink to the floor. Allow him to nurse a lingering injury for a day or two and treat him with respect, he might re-sign at a discounted price.

There really isn't much bad to say here. Once the servers start smoothing themselves out to make for a better MyPark, MyTeam and online head-to-head experience, NBA 2K15 will be the most immersive sports video game sim on the planet. 

Overall Impressions

Take Two Interactive could release a round piece of shale with NBA 2K15 written in crayon and I'd probably still buy it on a yearly basis. That's how much goodwill was engendered in the previous console generation.

With NBA 2K15, though, they've sent a loud, clear message that the king is here to stay. Rough gameplay edges have been smoothed, game modes are as immersive as they are addictive and most of the issues are small enough they should be fixed within the first patch.

Even the additions that aren't necessarily catered to me work well. I've long been an advocate of muting your television and listening to music while playing sports games rather than listening to drab and repetitive dialogue, but the Ernie Johnson-Shaquille O'Neal pregame segments proved a nice surprise. Johnson and O'Neal made a concerted effort to put tongue-in-cheek dialogue into each segment, and their chemistry comes through. 

The announcing crew of Albert, Clark Kellogg and Steve Kerr remains solid. If anything it's amusing to hear Kellogg or Kerr provide critical commentary about Kerr himself on the Golden State Warriors sideline. There is an intentional comedy there that I appreciate.

On the whole, NBA 2K15 carries all the positives of the previous generation while continuing its bold transition to the next. If this is what Take Two has in store for its sophomore release, I imagine its junior and senior will only get meaner. Take care, people (and buy this game). 

Overall First-Impression Score: 9/10

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