When I got home from work my wife surprised me with NBA 2K5 (PS2). Awesome! Man, it was REALLY tough to get used to the Analog Stick (being a pad user). But after a few games I am slowly getting the hang of it. LOVE the new game. The player movements are incredible! That to me is one of the biggest upgrades from 2K4. Just all the movements, the swipe of the ball, drives, moving in the air, everything! I even tied up a guy for a jumpball! Cool! The post moves are nice as well. I am still learning Isomotion. That will take some time. Another thing that is nice is that dunks are harder to achieve, just like in real life. And it is not as easy to drive down the lane as in 2K4. Another thing I like is the player movement without the ball. Guys dont just stand around, they move all over the place. Anyway, I am rambling. Those are my initial thoughts after playing a few games.
Im growing into this game, Isomotion is a little better, the camera isnt bugging me as much, and its just starting to get funner...
Has anyone had to scout or draft? Have they made any improvements? (w/ player comparisons, info given, overall scouting system, the actual draft)
Also, is the player progression predetermined? (like i could bench lebron and play him 1 min a game and he'd become a 99 after 5 yrs while average a triple double w/ penny and hed decline every year)
No i believe it all depends on the game play of te person. Thats how it has always been. you can't just bench him and expect his rating to go up. You actually have to play with him to bump up his rating.
I have them both on X-Box. I will say after tweaking both games, Live is the better game. In Live, the players behave like they normally would in a real game. ESPN has some strange AI like with big men venturing out to the 3 pt line when a guard drives to the hoop, so when you threo it out, you basically have to start the play over. ESPN has all those extras like 24/7 mode and league play online. Live only has 1 on 1 mode and the Dunk contest. IMO, you can't go wrong with either, but Live seems a notch better in the gameplay department. Both games need slider tweaking though.
I've been checking out the reviews for both games for a little while. It is kind of hard to compare reviews since I think only 3 places reviewed both, and one of them was IGN. (you know my stance of them. ) IGN gave Live a 8.9 while giving ESPN a 8.1. Gamespot gave Live a 8 while it gave ESPN a 8.4. TeamXbox gave Live a 8.8 and ESPN a 9.2. The %'s at Gamerankings is 86% for ESPN and 88% for Live. I do expect ESPN's to change more dramatically though in a little while once it get's reviewed more. (3 reviews to Live's 7) I've also been checking out reader reviews at most of these sites. At IGN, ESPN is getting a 9.0 while Live is getting a 8.2. At Gamespot, ESPN is getting a 9.0 while Live is getting a 7.4 (ouch!). At Gamerankings, ESPN is getting a 8.5 while Live is getting a 7.9. It seems as though the trend is that ESPN is the better game given these reviews, except for those stupid IGN reviews. BTW, all of those ratings were for the Xbox ratings. I think the PS2 ratings pretty much followed the same trend, yet I really didn't feel like putting up more scores. BTW, I've read about problems with the computer calling timeouts, or I should say not calling them. It seems like this really would hurt any late-game moments since the computer won't call a TO. For anyone with the game, is it that bad? I've read about a way to fix it in exibitions, but it sounds like games played in the franchise mode will be played without timeouts from the computer. That same method does help with the playcalling of computer though, and I think that can be done in the franchise.
You know, it wasn't until I read about that online that I noticed it. I feel it is a problem and takes away from some of the realism, but I can't see it being a game-breaker. IMO. I was playing Detroit, up by two with 3 seconds left. I missed my free throw and they didn't call a quick timeout, but they threw it down for a 8-ft. jumper my Prince that sent it to OT. I would think that it would be an easy fix with a patch.
Although that is an extreme, for the most part I thought the progression was predetermined. It seemed in the previous games, Yao would always progress to a certain number, as well as Lebron, etc. Other players would cap out, no matter how good their stats were, around 90ish, so I think they were predetermined in earlier versions.
RC, I was playing against the Lakers in ESPN and they were down by 2 with 7 seconds left, I inbounded to T-Mac and they were content with letting him dribble out the clock. So AI **** management is NOT there.
Okay, I have played a few more games (on PS2) and I'm getting a little better. I started off playing the Bobcats on the hardest level, and I would struggle to beat them. I have no problem beating them now, and I have moved on to the likes of the Lakers and Heat. I'm still winning, but the games are close. As long as I call smart plays and take good shots, I don't seem to have a problem scoring. However, defense seems a little harder, especially stopping good post players. Random thoughts about previous questions: 1) No, Hakeem is not on the game (similar to last year). Neither is Jordan. 2) I have asked everywhere, and it does not appear that you can use the pad to control your player anymore. 3) If you don't want to get used to the new controls, use Alternate C on the controller options to switch to the controls from last year. 4) It seems much easier to make an open jumper if your player can actually shoot. 5) I haven't tried it with everyone, but T-Mac can hit jumpers in a defenders face. 6) I'm still having trouble with Isomotion. I just figured out holding turbo allows you to spin. 7) The Rockets team is rated well. Lue needs a boost in 3 pointers, and Mo T. needs his mid-range jumpers raised to around a 71 (Duncan only has like a 74 or 75). 8) Just like in real life, the Rockets PG's suck and may cause you to lose a game. 9) In last years game, there was a way to start a season with a great team (like 80's west), export that team, save the team, then trade the players from a great team to a regular team. It doesn't seem like you can do that this year, or maybe I just forgot how I did it last year. 10) I wonder if there is a limit to how many players you can create (similar to last year). 11) Shaq on Yao still causes fits on the game. 12) The default camera angle is great. If you don't like it, they have plenty of options. 13) I think AI clock management is there. I was up on LA by 3 with 44 seconds left, and they intentionally fouled and sent Sura to the line 4 times. 14) Be careful in grabbig rebounds, because they will call goaltending if you touch the ball on the rim. Does anyone know how to box out for rebounds? Overall, I give the game an 8. If you consider the price, it goes up to a 9.5.
Is Charles Barkley on any of the basketball games this year? I know he has'nt been on Live in several years.I was very disapointed he was'nt on NBA Street 2 !!
I've played 2 games in franchise mode with Houston on the highest level of difficulty and have blown at both opponents (Detroit/Toronto). It doesn't seem too difficult
1. - licensing problems; also for barkley. 2. - No boxout button but just move towards a player to box him out. BUGS: Timeouts were stupidly set to manual as default, so the CPU won't call TOs. Rumor is that VC may release a patch to fix it.
