Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

[DickDalewood]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

Speaking of trolls, has anyone played with or against the Thunder yet? Scott Brooks looks straight out of Lord of the Rings, lol.

I swear though, this game gets better every game I play, and little details just constantly show themselves. If it weren't for ReelMaker freezing my PS3 every time I tried to use it, I'd say this is about as close to as perfect a sports game as I've ever played.

[ehh]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

Finally turned off the 360 after about 9 hours of play today. Lots of excitement and frustration all rolled into one. Knocked off a decent chunk of the learning curve but still have many more practice hours to put in. I played I believe five full games and went 0-5. Played several other match ups for a quarter or a half. After a day with the game I think 2K11 will be great but I also believe it will need way more tweaking than I expected to cater to my tastes.

First my mini-rant:

I'm praying that the transition D crap will be fixable in a patch because it really started to stand out the more I played the game tonight. Maybe it's more noticeable to me because I play on the 2K Cam - I don't know - but it's a substantial issue to me. Not only does it give the CPU a huge advantage in getting easy buckets it kills offenses like the Warriors and Knicks who rely on pushing the ball. Playing on the 2K Cam, I get a rebound and look up court and it's always at least 4 CPU defenders that beat my teammates down court. I honestly stopped looking to push the ball the last three games I played tonight with the Knicks because there was no point in even trying. At best I can get a rushed transition three or get to the FT line if a force the ball to the rim against two defenders (not a smart move though obviously).

The other biggie is that I'm getting is the old "1 on 5" feeling on defense. My CPU teammates on the defensive end of the floor are sub-standard regardless of their ratings. I played with so many teams today with various defensive abilities and all were frustrating as the CPU had too many easy looks and possessions. It mostly involves bumping cutters and playing physical (and yes, I adjust my defensive settings) as the CPU can get much easier looks in the paint. I played Knicks/Bucks and had Turiaf & Mozgov set to sag off Bogut when he didn't have the ball. They did no such thing and left the lane wide open for Jennings/Salmons/Maggette. While yes, Turiaf and Mozgov blow in the game they still should be able to follow a basic order on some occasions. I don't want to see them following Bogut out to 20' and leaving the paint unprotected. I'm not holding out hope for this being fixed, it's been in 2K for this entire console generation.

On a related note it's also annoying when the CPU denies your teammate the ball and your teammate simply stands there. If you're going to give the D a boost in reactions/adjustments then you have to give it to my teammates too. If MJ is getting denied constantly, can he please go back door once? Maybe throw in a V-cut? I guess I need to use TCP more to get these sort of things done. Just a lot on one's plate for Day 1! I'll have to get to TCP tomorrow.

2K has GOT to program in a way for more bounce passes to be thrown in the paint. This is driving me crazy with the new ball-hawking defense. Amare has a play (14 Dive IIRC) where he basically dives down the lane from left elbow to right block and the play is virtually useless to hit him in a cutting fashion because Felton always tries to throw overhead passes and they always get picked off. If I could drop in a bounce pass there to lead STAT it would be a thing of beauty. This is just one example, in general there need to be far more bounce passes.

I'm lukewarm on the playbooks right now. Just not sure they work all that well. For getting shooters open they are kinda meh. Great for setting up isolation with proper spacing and getting your bigs touches.



As for the fun user-related stuff and the learning curve, it's certainly a blast to play with the best players in the game - I mean insanely fun. You finally feel like you can do whatever you want with the stars - until the D starts throwing multiple defenders at you. It's a whole other ball game trying to get production out of your second tier guys though. I couldn't do anything with Gallo and Chandler today. Felton had his moments but I still have a long way to go with him too.

As for the rest of the game, it's amazing as most have said and have touched upon in great detail. Classic teams lived up to the hype, that's for sure. I love it.

[SinDS]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

My true test of whether I've gotten better at 2k11 will come when I stop using 99 overall Michael Jordan :P So far I've done 5/10 Jordan Challenges, finished up the Lakers-Series one with an 83 point 10 assist game.

[pdawg17]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

Finally turned off the 360 after about 9 hours of play today. Lots of excitement and frustration all rolled into one. Knocked off a decent chunk of the learning curve but still have many more practice hours to put in. I played I believe five full games and went 0-5. Played several other match ups for a quarter or a half. After a day with the game I think 2K11 will be great but I also believe it will need way more tweaking than I expected to cater to my tastes.

First my mini-rant:

I'm praying that the transition D crap will be fixable in a patch because it really started to stand out the more I played the game tonight. Maybe it's more noticeable to me because I play on the 2K Cam - I don't know - but it's a substantial issue to me. Not only does it give the CPU a huge advantage in getting easy buckets it kills offenses like the Warriors and Knicks who rely on pushing the ball. Playing on the 2K Cam, I get a rebound and look up court and it's always at least 4 CPU defenders that beat my teammates down court. I honestly stopped looking to push the ball the last three games I played tonight with the Knicks because there was no point in even trying. At best I can get a rushed transition three or get to the FT line if a force the ball to the rim against two defenders (not a smart move though obviously).

The other biggie is that I'm getting is the old "1 on 5" feeling on defense. My CPU teammates on the defensive end of the floor are sub-standard regardless of their ratings. I played with so many teams today with various defensive abilities and all were frustrating as the CPU had too many easy looks and possessions. It mostly involves bumping cutters and playing physical (and yes, I adjust my defensive settings) as the CPU can get much easier looks in the paint. I played Knicks/Bucks and had Turiaf & Mozgov set to sag off Bogut when he didn't have the ball. They did no such thing and left the lane wide open for Jennings/Salmons/Maggette. While yes, Turiaf and Mozgov blow in the game they still should be able to follow a basic order on some occasions. I don't want to see them following Bogut out to 20' and leaving the paint unprotected. I'm not holding out hope for this being fixed, it's been in 2K for this entire console generation.

On a related note it's also annoying when the CPU denies your teammate the ball and your teammate simply stands there. If you're going to give the D a boost in reactions/adjustments then you have to give it to my teammates too. If MJ is getting denied constantly, can he please go back door once? Maybe throw in a V-cut? I guess I need to use TCP more to get these sort of things done. Just a lot on one's plate for Day 1! I'll have to get to TCP tomorrow.

2K has GOT to program in a way for more bounce passes to be thrown in the paint. This is driving me crazy with the new ball-hawking defense. Amare has a play (14 Dive IIRC) where he basically dives down the lane from left elbow to right block and the play is virtually useless to hit him in a cutting fashion because Felton always tries to throw overhead passes and they always get picked off. If I could drop in a bounce pass there to lead STAT it would be a thing of beauty. This is just one example, in general there need to be far more bounce passes.

I'm lukewarm on the playbooks right now. Just not sure they work all that well. For getting shooters open they are kinda meh. Great for setting up isolation with proper spacing and getting your bigs touches.



As for the fun user-related stuff and the learning curve, it's certainly a blast to play with the best players in the game - I mean insanely fun. You finally feel like you can do whatever you want with the stars - until the D starts throwing multiple defenders at you. It's a whole other ball game trying to get production out of your second tier guys though. I couldn't do anything with Gallo and Chandler today. Felton had his moments but I still have a long way to go with him too.

As for the rest of the game, it's amazing as most have said and have touched upon in great detail. Classic teams lived up to the hype, that's for sure. I love it.

I'm a Dubs fan and have played 3 games today with them...VERY FRUSTRATING...they win by pushing the ball in real life - not in half court offense yet in 2k11 I'm stuck running the half court most of the game...otherwise if I push I end up with a crazy flip shot animation...either that or as Curry pushes Ellis does not fill the lane - instead he stops at the 3-point line...that's not "sim" to me...

Hey - at least they already took Nellie out of the game...

[Arod2k9]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

Played a home and home using 1995 Bulls vs 1995 Knicks, and the animations that I saw were just incredible. I lost by 20 points at MSG and by 5 at United Center. I played both games in All Star with minor slider tweaks to make the game move at a little faster pace with 9 min quarters. Things that stood out are the following:

1) Pippen, Kukoc, Armstrong, Kerr, R. Harper, Ewing, Starks and of course Jordan have sig shooting/arc/layups/dunks, passing/FT animation to perfection.

2) Every possession was different and team play is the way to go in 2K11. This game plays nothing like the previous version and you have to move the ball around and play to team strengths.

3) Game momentum is just incredible and every point you score is earned through smart play and understanding team playbooks. That also goes for the defense.

I can go on and on with my impression but I just want to thank everyone on the 2K staff for making the best sports game ever. I want to thank everyone of you on this site for your impressions, videos and any contributions about 2K11.

[NumberOneRB]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

Game is impressing me so far, love how most of the games I've played have been defense oriented. One complaint I do have is what some have touched on: the transition defense of your teammates in nowhere near up to par with that of the CPU opponent. I can understand if I make a poor turnover that leads to an easy transition basket for the CPU, but when I simply miss a shot during a well executed play that results in an easy transition basket for the CPU, that really annoys me.

The shooting percentages for both teams in the three full games I've played so far (10 min quarters) have been in the 30% range, so I will be interested to see if this becomes a continued trend for future games. I suppose I rather have low shooting percentages than the inflated ones we would get in previous years.

I also think plays still don't execute quickly enough. Once I hover over that play-initiation circle, the play should be happening immediately. There are still occasions where I hover over the circle and have to wait an additional few seconds before the play initiates; causing me to force a shot to prevent a shot clock violation. I still don't consistently see the sense of urgency when a play is initiated like I did in Live '10.

[ChubbyBanana]

Captain and DickDalewood let's keep it to impressions instead of bickering over features please.

Thanks

[ILLSmak]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

So I got 2k11... lol.

I agree with you guys about transition defense. I forgot about sooo many things I hated about 2k! Those damn superman steals that the computer does on outlet passes. I'm sorry but that NEVER happens in real life.

I hate that the plays take so long to work, too. I've always hated 2ks play calling, I just like to turn it onto 'auto' because (true or not) it seems to make the players move with more purpose.

I don't feel like it's 1 on 5 on defense, but I just got spanked in superstar sim in my first game in my Kings association... by the freaking Wolves. A few things I noticed that annoyed me was the fact that the computer couldn't really create anything against my defense. No doubt, they owned me (but mostly because I had like 20 turnovers), but every time it was the same thing. Sometimes they would dump it into the post, other times they would get a jumper because I made a mistake (which is fair, I can live with that... even though some of the floating fade aways they do at about the free throw line are ridiculous), but the majority of their offense was from screens for three point shooters to the corner.

I'm not saying I couldn't stop this and I got out there to contest a lot of them and they didn't make a good percentage, but that's what they were doing ALL GAME. And some of the moves where a guy was doing a hard cut to the three point line from the baseline and would catch it, square up (turning around), and fire a three all in one fluid motion... made me want to vomit. I don't care if they missed most of them.

I also want to say one more thing. The game and the AI (IMO!) has the same stupid tendencies that it had in 2k8. I always know where they are going with the ball it's just now you can't close the gap or make the steal as easily because your players move like they have lead shoes on.

Also, while 2k used to have too many lasers... now their passes are way too lazy.

That's just my initial impression after playing only one game... using only 2k8 (because that's all that's fresh in my mind... even though I did play the demo a bit) as a reference for how to play.

-Smak

[drewbs]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

Just played for a few hours... some thoughts.

- Jordan challenge is cool. I thought that scoring 69 would be hard with 8 minute quarters but seeing that Jordan literally makes EVERY semi-open mid range jumper he takes and its actually pretty easy. Oh one thing though, Larry Bird dunks like he's freaking Dr. J. I was playing the Celtics in the first Jordan challenge and Larry Legend drove into the paint spun and did a Dwight Howard-esque high flying power dunk.

- The classic teams definitely live up to the hype. Just playing a normal game with 12 minute quarters and a few slider tweaks is really fun. I just put the hammer down on the Heat. Poor Mike Miller, I think at one point I hit 5 straight fadeaways on him posting up at the left elbow.

- Rebounding in this game is terrible. It is literally about 90% arbitrary and the other 10% is just due to lucky positioning. Oh and then everyone from Bill Cartwright to Yao Ming skys for rebounds like Dwight Howard.

- Too many freaking turnovers. And I'm not talking about me making bad passes, I'm talking about the CPU just throwing **** at my guys making it impossible for me NOT to force at least 7-8 turnovers per game by doing absolutely nothing.

- But for the first time players really do feel like the players. Playing the '86 Celtics is just fun. Just trying (and failing) to contain Larry Bird is awesome even if he ends up dropping 40 on 60% shooting off of pull up jumpers and post ups. It finally feels like you're playing against an unstoppable superstar.

How does on take a classic team into association? Only thing I could do was trade classic players onto current teams. Speaking of which, I currently have the '86 Mike on the Bobcats. Too bad we still suck.

[Nines]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

Will post full impressions a bit later, but I think it goes without saying that Jordan Challenge could do with adjustable minutes. 8 min quarters just won't cut it unless you smother the defense with supreme cheese.

[focused313]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

what i'm not happy about is my unability to get any rebounds with Jordan. I'm sure it's just me, but I don't know what it is. Assist and scoring is easy, but when it comes to getting rebounds

is there a box out button or something. geesh. i cant waste another 35-40 minutes playing a game and not complete the goal.

[rickmitchell22]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

I just had two players COLLIDE during a fast break and it resulted in an injury! AWESOME.

[RubenDouglas]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

Ehh, I can't remember the last nba 2k game with proper fastbreak speed. It started off to where PRO, the FBs were good and as the difficulty increased, your own team artifically got slowly or the CPU got a speed boost. Now its even more apparent as the years have gone on.. Thats not smarter CPU AI

I'm getting just a few fastbreak chances but like you said, a few of them feel forced as they are 2 on 3.

For years, many would play at the lower levels, and raise some of the awareness sliders to keep the fastbreaks in the game

[NDAlum]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

This game sucks! Seriously. I'm up at 4am because I can't stop playing it...oh man

[Levin]

Re: Official NBA 2K11 Impressions Thread (360, PS3)

I just popped in the game earlier. I'm digging the intro and how the game immediately puts you into the Finals as Jordan against the Lakers. I have not played a NBA game in a year or two. I usually rotate my sport titles between baseball, football and basketball.

I was a little rusty but still had a great experience. The Finals ambiance was immersive. The crowd was deafening during timeouts! Horace Grant had his trademark googles and was nailing elbow jumpers. Sam Perkins had his smooth hook. Magic had some nifty passes.

I was leading for most of the first half but eventually lost the lead by the third quarter. Entering the 4th, I was down by 5. I managed to scrap and tie up the game. With the game tied, Magic and the Lakers tried to ice the game and take the last shot. They missed with 2 seconds left. I called a timeout and threw the ball into Jordan's hands. There he was at the free throw line with 2 defenders around him. With one dribble, I shot the ball and nothing but net. The confetti fell from above and Jordan was celebrating.

What an awesome experience. If that was just the start, I can't wait to see what else is there in this game. Good job 2k!