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[Flipmo23]

First off, I have just about every basketball game that's ever come out, from the 2K Sims on Dreamcast, to Jam on SNES, to Ballers on the current gen systems. It's an addiction that I just have to feed; when a new NBA game comes out, I have to get it.

I've been playing a lot of Live 06 [Xbox, not 360, thankfully], and while it's a whole lot of fun, it's about as realistic as Zelda's release dates. I just bought ESPN NBA2K6 for 360 after having some fun with it on the PS2 at my friend's house, and while I do agree that it's miles ahead of Live as far as being realistic, that doesn't say much.

It's not even the controls that bother me; I can deal with a game that supposedly forces me to break down defenses and move the ball. It's just that for every successful attempt at breaking down a Pistons defense, there's a time where I make a horrible pass and it somehow sneaks in for an easy layup. Or how about when there's 2 seconds on the shot clock, and Marbury has no where to go? Press the shoot button, and sometimes the player will magically begin his dunk animation and score. It's incredibly annoying, especially after reading all the reviews about how great this game is supposed to be. And these examples are just the tip of the iceberg.

My question is, how long before we get a basketball game that's as realistic as some of the football games we've gotten in the past couple years?

 

[fresquito]

I could ask the same about soccer, and I guess about every sport out there. Winning Eleven series for example has been praised to heaven, but they ave so many obscure things that it hurts.

 

[Ryck]

I could ask the same about soccer, and I guess about every sport out there. Winning Eleven series for example has been praised to heaven, but they ave so many obscure things that it hurts.

Explain.......( of course I'm completely unsure if I want you to)

 

[Guileless]

Inside Drive 2004 (or whatever the last one they made) is the closest thing to it. If that doesn't do it for you, try text sims or just be happy with Ballers and Street and forget about 'sim' games.

 

[fresquito]

From the digital controls, to the incapability to pass where you want to. To the lacking IA, to the defensives strategies, to the stupid criteria the players of your team follow when attacking, to the fact that the computer will always steal the ball easier than you and the ball when divided will always go to it... to... to... about everything in that game. Not really, the game is very good in some areas, but some others are laughable, and still people say it´s the perfect soccer experience. Damn, like when playing soccer you can only run in 8 directions :lol

 

[momolicious]

slowly it probably will with each passing year

 

[fresquito]

slowly it probably will with each passing year

I don´t think so, really. Sports games being so popular is a bad thing for their quality, since they will sell no matter what. Sports games have been dumbed down for your regular Joe to be able to enjoy them.

 

[ghibli99]

I love basketball, but I've kinda given up on expecting "realism" out of the games... when it comes to playing these games with friends, I tend to stick with the more arcade/flashy-style games like the NBA Jam series back in the day or the NBA Street games from EA this generation. Couldn't get enough of Double Dribble back in the NES days, either. Games like this seem to capture the spirit of what makes basketball exciting.

Basketball games sure have come a long way, though, from the A2600 days. :lol

 

[emomoonbase]

The Bulls can't really beat the Mavs 178-56 IRL?

 

[Ryck]

From the digital controls, to the incapability to pass where you want to. To the lacking IA, to the defensives strategies, to the stupid criteria the players of your team follow when attacking, to the fact that the computer will always steal the ball easier than you and the ball when divided will always go to it... to... to... about everything in that game. Not really, the game is very good in some areas, but some others are laughable, and still people say it´s the perfect soccer experience. Damn, like when playing soccer you can only run in 8 directions :lol

I thought the 8 direction thing was for shifting...like running one direction and quickly juking.... I see what your saying tho....

 

[Open Source]

I don´t think so, really. Sports games being so popular is a bad thing for their quality, since they will sell no matter what. Sports games have been dumbed down for your regular Joe to be able to enjoy them.

No, they've become increasingly complex. When was the last time you played a sports game that only used two buttons?

 

[Flipmo23]

Well, soccer is alot closer to real life than basketball ever will be.

As far as realism, I actually do think WE is about as close as you'll get, though I wish they would incorporate the passing controls from say, FIFA 2002 [analog passing was the shit, and I don't know why they took away the ability to manually pass where you wanted to, what's the point of having the CPU automatically curve the ball for you?].

But back to the basketball thing, it's completely minor problems that influence the gameplay. Why can't players manage clock correctly? Why doesn't Kobe take 60% of the shots like he does in real life, regardless of whether he's guarded? Why is Stephon Marbury dunking the ball PERIOD, much less from the dotted line?! Minor shit!

If a ball is passed, and I'm in the passing lane, it SHOULD be stolen! No, that's not the way to do it in today's basketball games... now you just randomly mash left or right on the analog stick and hope to take the ball out of Nash's hands 3 out of 10 times. Cmon, and this is on the hardest level.

 

[Joe Molotov]

I rented a NBA game once and pressed the button to shoot, and I'M NOT LYING, the shoot button apparently equals "at half court, walk two steps, switch hands, and dunk"

all in one animation

I think that game was called NBA Jam.

 

[Dsal]

I guess the answer is just that it's hard. It's hard to keep it realistic but not prohibitively difficult to control. If as many passes were intercepted as the rules of reality dictate, the casual basketball game player would be crying hot tears of frustration; the years on end of being accustomed to passing wherever you wanted to on whim all thrown out the window. It's bad enough this year in 2K watching the casuals weep when their cross court passes get picked off 70% of the time. "But I passed it!!..." :lol

NBA2K6 did seem to make a good stride toward the real life experience this year. The Kobes and Iversons do take a lot of shots when the difficulty is pumped up. It's obviously not perfect, as there are games where Duncan takes maybe 6 shots or something weird like that. They're getting there, just very slowly.

 

[Fifty]

One of my biggest complaints (I have many) about this year's 2K is that scrubs can dunk/score too well. You can turn almost any average player into a near superstar if you use them often enough.

 

[DaCocoBrova]

Basketball games are leagues behind (American) football games in all areas. Visuals, physics, fun factor.

I waited until this year's 2K since VC more than likely shifted its NFL resources over. Still pretty let down. Even still, it always manages to end up being the best b-ball game on the market, flaws and all.

 

[koam]

 

[neptunes]

I dunno, I've been playing Live 360 recently an it's pretty cool. (especially in HD)

 

[hukasmokincaterpillar]

Agreed wholeheartedly. Its amazing how far ahead the various football, soccer, baseball and hockey videogames have evolved as true to life simulations with every console cycle over the last 15 years compared to b-ball. Hoop sims are below par in pretty much every important category of the sport genre. Player control, ball physics, AI (especially), strategy and tactics, animation and transitions. Basketball seems to be consistently a good generation behind their peers in the other genres. And no, Visual Concepts b-ball has not aged well at all.

I think our only hope is if the Winning Eleven team suddenly became huge NBA fans for some odd reason (say the Ghost of George Mikan haunts one of the lead programmers or something). Yuta Tabuse Pro Evolution Basketball ftw!

 

[Shinobi]

When was the last time you played a sports game that only used two buttons?

To be fair the sequel (which I feel is superior) made use of three buttons, but both are still highly playable.

 

[Flipmo23]

Just traded in my copy of NBA2K6 for Trauma Center for NDS and a Play and Charge Kit lol... I guess I'll give console hoops another year to evolve.

 

[Andokuky]

I still can't believe NBA 2K6 has no multiplayer options whatsoever except Quick Game. What a crock of ****.

 

[soundwave05]

One of the things I'd like to see in next-gen basketball titles is more active crowds.

The arena atmosphere and stuff like fans going crazy when your team goes on a run just don't quite replicate to console games yet.

 

[Miguel]

I rented a NBA game once and pressed the button to shoot, and I'M NOT LYING, the shoot button apparently equals "at half court, walk two steps, switch hands, and dunk"

all in one animation

:lol

Awesome!

 

[jj984jj]

 

[shpankey]

By far the best and most realistic basketball game out there, is, and has always been Inside Drive 2004 on Xbox.

You can get it for $6.99 with free shipping at GameFLY

It shits all over ever game out there [in gameplay]. The player tendencies are fucking amazing in this game... and the tweaking capabilities are insane. You can even tweak individual player sliders.

And yes I have played 2k6 and Live 06 and currently even am trying College Hoops 2k6 and they are all just fucking horrible by comparison. Just trust me and get ID 04 and you will not believe how far ahead they were back then, even now, than the competition. Lightyears.

 

[Killa Sasa]

^ I'd get that, but no new rosters = no sale :*(. If it were up to me, I'd get NBA 2k2 with a roster update but I'm stuck with 2k6 which is alot better than what's been given in recent years, but still has stupid problems, like David Wesley putting up more shots than Yao and TMac together, or Eric Snow crowning Marcus Camby. The stupid minor stuff like that makes me turn the game off and come back. I mean, AI finished with 20 boards against me when I was using the Heat.

 

[shpankey]

^ I'd get that, but no new rosters = no sale :*(. If it were up to me, I'd get NBA 2k2 with a roster update but I'm stuck with 2k6 which is alot better than what's been given in recent years, but still has stupid problems, like David Wesley putting up more shots than Yao and TMac together, or Eric Snow crowning Marcus Camby. The stupid minor stuff like that makes me turn the game off and come back. I mean, AI finished with 20 boards against me when I was using the Heat.

All you need is an ActionReplay and memory card. I use this to get the latest rosters for all my sports games. Money extremely well spent. Get that and download the latest Inside Drive 04 rosters; you will not believe how amazing this game plays... it's the only game of basketball I've ever played that I've really thought it was just how the NBA plays.

You mentioned 2k2, and I just want to say, I also loved NBA 2k2 (on Dreamcast). It was a great game (and still is) especially for the time... which, at that time, was the best going, bar none. I even play it [with my brother] to this day (he has a DC permanently hooked up to a monitor with a VGA adapter just for this game for when I and others come over -- which btw is unfuckinbelievably clear graphics on that monitor, wow wow wow... amazing looking game using a VGA adapter, lemmie tell ya).

Anyhow, I do love 2k2, but have a few huge issues with it. First, it has the worst ever directional passing I have ever seen. I can press to the right with the analog stick to try and pass to a wide open guy and I shit you not, my player will for some reason pass it to the left into a crowd of people. Which means I am forced to ALWAYS use direct switch passing... and I've gotten good at it, so it's not so bad as to ruin the game, but there are times where I could have made a play if the directional passing worked better because direct passing takes much more time.

Which brings me to another point... there is no direct switching on defense. ARGH! This is frustrating when I want to hurry and switch to a specific defender (which is all the time).

Next problem with it is how if you get down by a few points in the game, you cannot make a basket, no matter how open you are; at least until you get a dunk or two to get some momentum back. A timeout can also help. Literally though, they just put a lid on the basket no matter what... no matter how good a shooter, no matter how open he is... if the momentum is against you, there are no jumpers going in, period; not until you get a dunk or two or get a TO. It's really fucking dumb.

Lastly, and worst of all, is how in 2k2 you cannot que up your shot. What I mean is, say you are dribbling the ball up the court and see a wide open guy on the wing... so you pass it to him.... now, in Inside Drive, or even Live, before that passed ball actually gets to the open guy, you can go ahead and hold down the shoot button, so when the ball does arrive, the player will instantly go into his shot. But in 2k2, this doesn't work... you have to actually WAIT until the ball gets in his hands and gathers it, THEN you hit the shoot button [after it arrives]. The problem with this is, that takes a lot of time, and by the time you got through all that rigmarole, your guy is no longer open. This is the one thing I cannot stand in 2k2... it fucking grates! I hate it with a passion; and the problem still actually exists in the current 2k games. I'm playing college hoops 2k6 right now and it still has the exact same problem.

Don't get me wrong though... I do love 2k2 on Dreamcast, it's a damn fun game when playing against a friend... although it's not even close to the realism that Inside Drive 04 brings to the table, which is awesome both against a friend and against the CPU.

P.S. 2k3 through 2k5 are complete and utter SHIT... and while 2k6 improves over them by a large margin, imo, it's still a looooooooong ways off to being a great game, and comes nowehere near Inside Drive 04.

 

[Blackace]

well think about the angle that the game is to be played at? this is where most of your problems with passing comes into play. The dunking thing is silly but players like Starbury have been know to dunk every now and then and the fact that they can dunk is put into the game so it gets abused... Also I have to say that NBA 2k6/college hoops 2k6 is the closest to real life basket I have ever played. And just like the O.P. I have just about every basketball game out there... just the franchise mode sucks in NBA2k6...

 

[shpankey]

If a ball is passed, and I'm in the passing lane, it SHOULD be stolen! No, that's not the way to do it in today's basketball games... now you just randomly mash left or right on the analog stick and hope to take the ball out of Nash's hands 3 out of 10 times. Cmon, and this is on the hardest level.

I want to mention, in Inside Drive, if you jump in the passing lane during a pass and hit the steal button, you will steal it every time. You can also jump up in the air and steal it [jump button] if you're fronting a guy and someone tries to lob it over you.

The stealing in the game is absolute perfection. I love anticipating a pass and jumping in the passing lane and hitting the steal button and taking it all the way for a dunk/layup on the other end.

There is a consequence though, if you jump through that lane and miss or get faked (the game has fake passing) your momentum will carry you through and will leave them wide fucking open. So it's a risk / reward type of thing. I love that.

Again, just like real life. Inside Drive 04 fucking owns. As a HUGE sports gamer (all my life, and I've been gaming since Atari and I'm 34 now)... ID 04 is hands down the most realistic representation of NBA basketball there is. Bar none; and I take sports gaming very seriously and have no allegiances or biases, I assure you. I will play anything... I just love sports. I don't care what name is on it or who makes it.

 

[pilonv1]

NBA 2k6 with low shot tendency sliders creates an awesome game, check the slider forum at Operation Sports. It's still not perfect but it's pretty close.

 

[Yoshi]

Mario Basketball (DS) :}.

 

[Afro Thunder]

I could ask the same about soccer, and I guess about every sport out there. Winning Eleven series for example has been praised to heaven, but they ave so many obscure things that it hurts.

Pro Evolution Soccer has some traps

 

[:Motorbass]

Mario Basketball (DS) :}.

QFT
In case you didn't know, you will use your finger to actually dribble (!) on the touchscreen and slide it to pass or shoot. Sounds incredible and is produced by Square Enix.

 

[Blackace]

QFT
In case you didn't know, you use your finger to actually dribble (!) on the touchscreen and slide it to pass or shoot. Sounds incredible and is produced by Square Enix.

which you have not played yet

 

[qcf x2]

there's a time where I make a horrible pass and it somehow sneaks in for an easy layup. Or how about when there's 2 seconds on the shot clock, and Marbury has no where to go? Press the shoot button, and sometimes the player will magically begin his dunk animation and score. It's incredibly annoying, especially after reading all the reviews about how great this game is supposed to be. And these examples are just the tip of the iceberg.

My question is, how long before we get a basketball game that's as realistic as some of the football games we've gotten in the past couple years?

What difficulty are you playing on? One of my complaints in this game is the opposite of yours. It is nearly impossible to pass on the higher difficulty settings. As someone who plays basketball in real life, nothing is more frustrating than seeing an open lane, icon-passing to him, only to have a sorry defender suddenly leap like a wide reciever and steal it. I can't pass more than four feet in front of me, apparently, yet the CPU can complete half-court passes with my defender on the guy. It's getting to be as bad as the NBA Live blocking problem.

Not sure which football games you're referring to as being so realistic, as they've been pretty flawed as well.

 

[momolicious]

maybe next years next gen NBA Live and 2k will bring realistic basketball to the next level since they will be using full next gen capabilities

 

[Musashi Wins!]

I'm playing 2k6 slidered up and it's pretty damn good. I really like what they've done with the pacing of the game and the messed with tendencies are pretty impressive. I'm also finally loving the stick control.

Where can I get updated Inside Drive rosters?

 

[FightyF]

QFT

Mario Basketball (DS) :}.

QFT
In case you didn't know, you will use your finger to actually dribble (!) on the touchscreen and slide it to pass or shoot. Sounds incredible and is produced by Square Enix.

What the hell is WRONG with you people?

We're talking basketball "sims". Not a 3 on 3 game where you collect coins, powerups and other fairy items.

*shakes head*

I'm not super huge into Basketball, though I loved NBA Jam (and NBA Jam TE) and 2K2. I gather that even the basic elements of passing, stealing and shooting aren't done properly in basketball games...and when a game does those respectively it turns out to be a decent game.

IMO the most realistic sports game out there is NHL 2K6, and I say this for many reasons, but I'll focus on one. You have almost complete control of the player. The game literally uses 17-20 buttons, compare that with any other sports video game. The game affords you many different ways of movement and player interactions. A comparable example is how you can go into a defensive stance in 2K2, to give you an idea if you haven't played NHL 2K6 (which can be done at any time and it behaves differently depending on where you are on the ice).

I'm surprised that in basketball games, there aren't 3 or 4 different types of shots you can take. It seems that you press the shoot button and it chooses for you. This includes dunking. Passing should have at least 3 different varieties, with 3 different buttons, and player movement should feature the same number of different options and should look like everyone is running forward at all times, turning on a dime and keep running forward.

Anyways, I think that this is the foundation of NHL 2K6's success in being the most realistic sports game. With detailed and advance control schemes the game plays a lot more realistically than any other videogame. The secondary and very important advantage is that this allows for realistic AI. The AI is afforded the same advanced control and thus is as sophisticated as you are. Their plays can be crafty, meticulous (sp?) and realistic.

 

[Truelize]

First off, I have just about every basketball game that's ever come out, from the 2K Sims on Dreamcast, to Jam on SNES, to Ballers on the current gen systems. It's an addiction that I just have to feed; when a new NBA game comes out, I have to get it.

I've been playing a lot of Live 06 [Xbox, not 360, thankfully], and while it's a whole lot of fun, it's about as realistic as Zelda's release dates. I just bought ESPN NBA2K6 for 360 after having some fun with it on the PS2 at my friend's house, and while I do agree that it's miles ahead of Live as far as being realistic, that doesn't say much.

It's not even the controls that bother me; I can deal with a game that supposedly forces me to break down defenses and move the ball. It's just that for every successful attempt at breaking down a Pistons defense, there's a time where I make a horrible pass and it somehow sneaks in for an easy layup. Or how about when there's 2 seconds on the shot clock, and Marbury has no where to go? Press the shoot button, and sometimes the player will magically begin his dunk animation and score. It's incredibly annoying, especially after reading all the reviews about how great this game is supposed to be. And these examples are just the tip of the iceberg.

My question is, how long before we get a basketball game that's as realistic as some of the football games we've gotten in the past couple years?

If you are playing offline I suggest you head over to www.operationsports.com forums and get the sliders suggested for Hall of Fame. Makes the game much much better.

 

[choplifter]

Dr J. vs Bird is as close to real life as I need :lol

 

[DJ_Tet]

Why don't we have classic NBA teams in games like the NFL games do? That really pisses me off, not only should we have real classic teams, we should have real classic players too.