Review | NBA 2K12

The day EA decided to postpone its NBA Live series was the day they relinquished their hold on sports gaming. NBA 2K12 is quite simply the reason why you should put down Madden, put down FIFA and pick up a copy of this and get amongst it.

I love my basketball and am a snob, should now say was a snob when it came to NBA games. This latest edition has upgraded from the excellent 2K11 of last year and made it more accessible by being smarter. The gameplay is still as simple as you want it but also as smart as you need it to be. You can use either hand to finish a move, you can use different body control moves in the air to finish moves and you can still get schooled by the AI defense if you make a mistake.

The My Player mode has also improved. It lets you develop as a rookie player a lot easier than last year by not suffering in the Development league – instead you’re in the NBA virtually straight away contributing to the team and increasing your ratings and stats.

With 2K11 it took some adjusting from the EA Live controls I was so used to but once I got the hang of it I was away laughing and now I’m all over it. The look of the game is like watching a game on TV and the stars look like they should while the role players don’t quite look human but who really wants to see Sam Cassell up close anyway?

Anytime you put Michael Jordan on the cover that’s going to get my attention again but this time the Legends component of the game has included all the greats of the past: Magic, Bird, Olajuwon to name a few. Each player has his own unique matchup against another legendary team and the entire presentation is era-specific.

Visually, 2K Games have once again raised the bar. The player models look realistic as we and now feature authentic tattoos, meaning Nuggets fans can identify every one of Chris “Birdman” Anderson’s tats in-game.

In terms of the game’s audio, NBA 2K12 is again very solid and the commentary is some of the best I have heard. The commentators (Kevin Harlan and Steve Kerr) talk about stats and events from last season with a huge amount of detail and while repetition is inevitable, it is not to the point where it becomes annoying.

2K12’s Online options are good and that’s where I spend the bulk of my time, but as soon as I get my mates to buy a copy it’s off to compete against each other in a season to truly bring basketball nerd-dom to a crescendo.
2K12 is easily the bench mark for all basketball games and should be considered an instant sports game classic because it accessible, it’s addictive and it’s just challenging enough for experienced NBA gamers and first timers.  [9.5]