It's that time of the year again when the preseason approaches and gamers around the world look forward for the newest iteration of the NBA 2K series.
With the upcoming release of NBA 2K17, the 18-year-old franchise has looked to do things a little differently.
Besides the updated ratings, new player photos and smoother in-game textures, the developers wanted an emphasis on how it feels the play the game in addition to just improving the visual artistry of it.
“One of the things that we started talking about was giving control back and really putting the measure of your success under your control,” Senior Developer Rob Jones told Dime Magazine. “Like, literally under your stick skill decisions that you’re actually making.”
With the introduction of ‘signature jump shots' 10 years ago, the user was able to replicate a player's jump shot. Then the next year they were able to add signature packages to mimic their signature skills, depending on the skill attribute.
This year, the addition of ‘mini-animations' are the biggest change in the game:
“Let’s say you start this little cool move and you want to break out at that moment in time,” Jones said. “The animation had launched and there were specific branch points where you could get out, but as a user, you wanna get out when you want to get out.
This year, we took all of that — what we felt like — canned stuff and was (sic) like look: ‘as a user, you can still recreate it.’ The animations that make up that guy’s dribble package, are signature. But if you wanna create that situation that he specifically does, it’s on your stick skills.”
This set realism to a whole new level.
Picture this: if Rajon Rondo – who is notorious for wanting to press players using the sideline as a defender – is defending you, you can possibly bait him into that situation. If you go between your legs and you feel he's about to poke at the dribble (as Rondo often does), you can now maneuver the ball to go behind your back immediately after the dribble finishes in one smooth motion, leaving him dusted and giving you a five-on-four opportunity.
“Going to the basket, we never had full control over ‘hey, I wanna finish going around you to the left, or I wanna finish going around you to the right. Or I want to go right through you. Or I want to finish with my left hand even though I’m on the right side.’” Jones said. “A lot of this control is what we’re giving you this year.”
Jones assures that as complicated as having all this control sounds, it will feel instinctual in NBA 2K17.
With the addition of an even more sensitive jumpshot control, NBA 2K17 seems primed for a new, groundbreaking experience that is bound to leave fans delighted with the result.
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