NBA 2K16: Hands-On Gameplay Impressions, New MyCAREER Trailer and More

Brother J of the legendary hip hop group X-Clan uttered an iconic opening question-and-answer in the group's song "Grand Verbalizer." He said: "How deep? Deep, deeper than Atlantis. Deeper than the seafloor traveled by the mantis."

I was reminded of this line when I visited the 2K Sports headquarters on Thursday for a hands-on impression of the soon-to-be-released NBA 2K16 video game. On September 25, the game will be available on PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC to fans who pre-ordered. Others will have to wait until September 29, when it officially hits stores for the masses.

A small group of fellow virtual hoopers/YouTube personalities/journalists and I were on hand for one of the first previews of the game. In addition to spending hours actually playing the game, we also saw the trailer for the Spike Lee-directed Livin' Da Dream interactive in-game storyline that is featured in this year's MyCAREER story mode.

If that weren't enough, we also learned details on MyGM, MyLEAGUE and MyTEAM game modes.

The depth of the product that 2K Sports delivers to its fans on a yearly basis with NBA 2K is truly astonishing. There are times where the genius innovation gets a bit ahead of the functionality, but the effort put in by the development team and the attention paid to the fan feedback are exemplary.

When it comes to breaking new ground, the NBA 2K philosophy seems to be: Ask for forgiveness, not permission. That approach has worked out well, as the game is consistently among the highest-regarded sports games released on an annual basis.

Let's take a look at the wealth of information I gathered.

MyLEAGUE and MyGM are What We Thought...Awesome

When executive producer Erick Boenisch's blog was released on MyGM and MyLEAGUE on August 19, via Operation Sports, each mode came off as an even more mind-blowing feature than it was last year, when the concepts were repackaged for NBA 2K15.

I remember interviewing Boenisch back in 2013, when he talked about his vision for the franchise mode concept in NBA 2K15. We saw many of his ideas come to fruition in NBA 2K15, but what's in store for franchise mode gamers in NBA 2K16 is on another level.

The blog told us about team relocation, logo, arena and uniform customization. However, the depth (there's that word again) in the design is incredible. If you take a look at the image 2K Sports provided that shows the custom jersey below, you'll notice a pattern on the sides of the shorts and jersey:

image provided by 2K Sports

I never paid much attention to it before, but Boenisch informed us that the image in the pattern was uploaded and scaled out to accent the shorts and jersey. There were other small, but great details revealed like delayed injury info reveals and more.

More or less, there wasn't much new information released, but that doesn't dull the hype for what looks to be the greatest set of franchise mode features ever seen on one sports video game.

Livin' Da Dream Has an Edge

Every year, 2K tries to outdo itself with the storyline associated with the MyCAREER mode. This year, the expertise of Academy Award-nominated director Spike Lee was utilized, as the iconic filmmaker directed and wrote the storyline for the MyCAREER campaign mode. It's called Livin' Da Dream, and it appears to be classic Lee.

Here's a look at the trailer:

There's some clues as to what's going on in the story in the trailer, but here's what we learned about the specifics of the early portion of the single-player campaign.

Your character—who doesn't have to be called Frequency Vibrations; you can name him whatever you want—begins the story as a high school basketball superstar. That's right, you'll get a chance to play high school games in NBA 2K16.

The story around the character will develop, and he'll ultimately have to choose a college he wants to attend to pursue his dream of reaching the NBA. The decision looks to be surrounded by drama and edgy events that made the game feel like a Rockstar title.

Once a school is chosen, your player will then enter college. The rumors have been confirmed that your MyPlayer will have the choice of attending one of 10 licensed colleges with full branding, etc. The college arenas, uniforms and atmosphere reminded me how much I miss College Hoops 2K.

All of these events will take place around Lee's story, which will culminate once your player reaches the NBA—and perhaps his rookie season. That's when the mode will go into its second phase called MyCAREER Season 2.

Previous versions of MyCAREER have lacked pizzazz after the story-driven elements from the initial season. This new structure aims to combat that issue.

MyCAREER Year 2

It was unclear, but the cinematic aspects of the MyCAREER sequence appear to end once you become an NBA player. You will still be charged with doing more than simply playing games. NBA 2K16 is taking the MyCAREER player management process to another level.

The new MyCAREER interface can be seen and broken down in the following video:

Time management is the major off-court task for your player, as he attempts to juggle several responsibilities and commitments. Some of the items will help develop his skills, while others will be directly related to building his off-court brand.

Both are necessary for ultimate success in the mode, but there needs to be balance. One aspect of the mode that you didn't see in the video but was among my favorite features is called MyCOURT.

It's the landing area for the mode. Once you fire up MyCAREER, you'll always begin at the MyCOURT arena to shoot around, spend VC, look at stats, watch 2KTV and even invite friends over for private games. You can get friends together at the MyCOURT arena to head into online games in the 2K Pro-Am mode.

Best of all, MyCOURT is customizable. We saw a court with multicolored walls, a pink ball and some sort of weird camouflage accents on the floor. It looked great.

Some people might not like the fact that the cinema experience with Lee doesn't extend further, but it depends on how well the rest of the MyCAREER experience holds fans' attention.

Lee's inclusion is intriguing, but this aspect of the game is one that I'm taking a wait-and-see approach about. It could be really cool or a disaster. There probably won't be an in-between.

MyTEAM

image provided by 2K Sports

I didn't get as much time learning the nuances of MyTEAM as I would've liked during the visit, but it's a good thing that a lengthy blog for the mode was released on Operation Sports on Thursday morning.

The powerful customization tool that will be available in MyLEAGUE, MyGM and 2K Pro-Am will also be available in MyTEAM. Quite honestly, the ability to create an identity for my squad in the mode was all I was waiting for before giving it a significant look.

Before, I had a hard time looking at the squad I accumulated through cards as my team. The players were all wearing real NBA uniforms, but there was no connection. The ability to customize the look of the team's uniforms, logo and arena is an excellent addition.

image provided by 2K Sports

A new mode called The Gauntlet is being introduced as well. From the OS blog, here's a brief description of the game within the mode:

"

The Gauntlet is a short three-on-three rooftop street game to 21 played in a 10-game series. It is online head-to-head, but you won’t be taking your best against their best. (You didn’t think it would be that easy did you?) You will choose 10 of your favorite players but the catch is that each player can only be used in a single game. The AI will then select two players at random from all available cards that have been released. These “Trial” cards will be your squad for the game.

"

The concept is innovative and fresh, and it could be almost as addictive as Draft Champions has been for Madden 16.

Presentation

There are several upgraded face scans for players such as the Los Angeles Clippers' Jamal Crawford and Chicago Bulls' Nikola Mirotic, and yes, Dwight Howard's hairstyle looks to have been improved.

Also, there's a new edition to the pregame show. Kenny Smith joins Shaquille O'Neal and Ernie Johnson, and the trio work very well together. There's even playoff-style presentation, with the guys doing the show inside the arena.

The halftime show has more substance as well, as there is more of a concentration on specific players. Also, former NBA player and hoops analyst Greg Anthony replaces Steve Kerr as the third man on the announce team. His commentary sounds just as organic and conversational as Kerr's did—in fact, it's even better.

The Gameplay

image provided by 2K Sports

Last but not least, there's the gameplay to discuss. In a word, it was stellar.

Nino "Da Czar" Samuels, Scott "SOG" O'Gallagher and Mike "Beluba" Wang were chief among the folks in charge of the most realistic basketball simulation I've ever had the privilege of playing.

Contact is a big deal in any sports game. How does the gaming engine handle players colliding at varying levels of force? Do the players react realistically, and how do these sequences affect the bottom line? In NBA 2K16, I loved the way body clashes forced ball-handlers to attack angles, change direction and/or pick up their dribble.

It's also great how cutters aren't allowed to simply cut at will without drawing a nudge or bump from defenders. Defenses don't wait until a star has 30 points before they begin to trap and double-team.

Scoring in NBA 2K16 isn't overly difficult, but it is appropriately challenging if you're playing against a team with good defenders and a user who knows how to utilize them.

Thankfully, three-point shooters are no longer automatic on open shots. In real-life, even Stephen Curry misses open threes sometimes. In NBA 2K15, you'd have to horribly mistime the release point with any decent shooter to miss an open three. That has clearly been changed, and it could be the most significant change in the game from last year to the upcoming release.

Player speed has also been revamped. There was a great deal of work put in to make the really blazing-fast players like John Wall stand out from the moderately quick guys in the league. This is something you'll feel almost immediately if you've played the game in the past,

On offense, the movement off the ball looks better than ever. Take a look at the first part of the video below as an example:

The Chicago Bulls' Joakim Noah is setting screens far away from the ball to free up a shooter—in this case Mike Dunleavy Jr.—who is curling and looking for the ball. The post feeder can wait for the play to develop and hit Dunleavy if he gets the required separation from his defender, or he can drop it into the post.

In the video, he drops it into Pau Gasol, who could also find Dunleavy or take his man one-on-one in the post. Gasol chooses the latter and makes a turnaround jump shot just inside 15 feet.

That level of movement on offense would have never been possible in freelance offense in previous versions of NBA 2K, or any other hoops simulation.

On the Bulls' next trip, the user calls a play which has Noah screen a defender to free up Jimmy Butler for a jump shot. The shot misses, but the possession looked entirely different from the sequence that ran the freelance offense. You'll have full control of that action. It might sound complicated, but it's actually the opposite.

Essentially, the freelance offense allows your team to run its sets and system without you calling a play.

There's so many changes to the gameplay that it's hard to capture them all. Surely there are things I didn't see. Like every other aspect of the game, the gameplay is fleshed out in a major way. I left the event wanting to play the game a little more, but also asking myself: How deep?

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