[Hustle Westbrook]

And that's a problem imo. Long read ahead.

I mentioned it before in the drop step thread but I picked up Mortal Kombat 11 about a month and a half ago and while it's not my first fighting game, it's the first one I really want to get good at, not tournament level, but competent enough to hold my ground online.

Naturally, since I'm new to the game, I'm a complete scrub, so the first place I'm heading towards is practice mode. I was absolutely blown away by how in-depth their tutorial mode and practice mode. Obviously the beginner stuff was good to learn but I was really blown away at the fact that they went into the more advanced fighting game mechanics such as frame data, spacing, meter management, pressure, punishing, safe and unsafe attacks.

What really got me was just how awesome their practice mode was. Quick list of things you can do in it:

-Set up a dummy player to fight back on any difficulty levels
-Have the dummy record 4 different actions (such as combos) and have them replay it back randomly so you can practice defending against it
-Set the dummy to block randoms strings to practice hit confirming
-Have the dummy do wakeup attacks

Now most of you don't even know what half of that nonsense means and I could go on and on but that's not the point. The point is as a guy whose main game is NBA 2K I think to myself where are all of those features for this game?

Surely the game of basketball is at least half as deep as a Mortal Kombat fighting game but our tutorial modes aren't anywhere close to what that game is?

Why is this acceptable? I'm going to say it now 2KU is a complete JOKE, in all caps. It's NOT a tutorial, it's an interactive manual. It throws out random tips with no real context as to how or when you should use it in a REAL GAME.

There was a thread on here a few days ago about the pick and roll controls. Why is there no tutorial IN-GAME showing how to properly run a pick and roll? How to use it effectively? How, when and why you should use the slip feature? How, when and why you should press down on LS to make the screener switch sides? How, when and why you should go opposite the screen? What to do when someone blitz you on a pick and roll? When the defender goes under the screen? When the hedge man drops back? The pick and roll is the most basic play in yet also one of the most unstoppable yet no where in the game do they show you how to run it. That's why all these players online do is just wait for you to get sucked into the screen and just pull up for a jumper.

What about dribbling? Nope. No real tutorial on how to properly dribble and chain moves together. No tutorial on when to use a hesitation, behind the back or in and out move. None. So now that the devs don't teach you, people go online and watch some scrub "dribble god" teach them how to momentum dribble all game.

Post game? Haha. Everyone just post-spins and drop-steps with the occasional fade. It's one of the more complicated parts of the game and no one really shows you how to effectively use it so why bother?

I actually picked up Madden 19 this year and as much as people like to clown on that game their Skills Trainer mode also blows 2K. One of the first things I noticed was that they actually broke down each coverage and play type and showed you how to beat them! WHAT????

I give 2K props for their Practice Plays mode but they can still do so much more. Not everyone is a pro-basketball player or has been playing this game for months. Go in-depth and break down what each play type does. What is a Horns play and why do I use it? What is a Fist play? What is a Punch play and why do I use it? What about High? What about Floppy? When do I use these plays and when do I not? What situation should I use a play versus running a pick and roll?

How many Freelances are in this game again? Give real explanation as to what each freelance does and why should I use it? Show me the weaknesses of these freelances. What type of personnel should I have to run it? Is a 4 out 1 in an effective freelance if my power forward can't shoot at all?

Defense lol. What in the world do any of these defensive packages do? I'm literally asking this right now lol. I've been playing this game for about 9 months and I still don't know what "Four Out Corners Tight" does. There is no explanation in game as to what this does and that is UNACCEPTABLE. A player should NOT have to go on Operation Sports or YouTube to find out the basics of what these defensive schemes do.What is a 3-2 zone and how do you beat it? What are it's advantages and disadvantages? When should I run a full-court press versus a half-court press? Again, stop assuming everyone knows what these schemes do. If you're going to put it in the game then explain how and why you should use it and how to beat it.

Another quick thing I want to touch on are badges. Can we get a real description as to what these badges actually do?

"Limitless Range - Knocks down very deep threes better than most"

Um what? How about some actual numbers? 2K13 had this right.

"Spot-Up Shooter - This skill allows a player to make shots more easily while they are standing still. It decreases the shot penalty by 30%. Keep in mind you have to be standing still to activate this skill while taking a shot at the hoop."

That's a very good description?

What about personality badges? Are they just there for show? What do they really do?

Give us a REAL practice mode where we can choose our teams and adjust settings for both teams. It's crazy that when I go online and face some cheese I can't head to the lab, set the AI team to simulate that action and figure out ways to beat it. A record function in practice mode would REALLY help this game. Bring back situation mode and put it in practice mode. Allow me to adjust defensive settings, timeouts left, what quarter where in, whose bring the ball up, score etc.

Anyway, I've been sitting on this for a while, glad to have finally gotten written this up. Hopefully a dev sees this or one of you guys sends it to them.