Articles
By Q Dog Sah
Published: Mar. 18, 2007 2:44 PM
I haven’t played an NBA game in many a year. I used to be quite an NBA Live aficionado back in the Megadrive days, but I quickly lost interest as the next generation of consoles came around and prettier, flashier games became available. (Hey, I was young and easily distracted by these new-fangled “3D” games) Now, after spending some time with NBA 2K7, I realise that I’ve been missing a lot of potential NBA goodness over the last few years.
2K7 looks, plays and even smells great. Well, not smells exactly, but its so authentic that you will believe that you can actually smell the players sweat as they run around the court. OK so perhaps I’m exaggerating a little, and perhaps it would help if I put on some deodorant before playing my 360, but you get my point. And if you don’t, let me just say that you will feel like you’re watching an actual NBA game while playing 2K7.
Controlling your NBA player can take quite a bit of getting used to. That’s not to say the controls are bad, it is just a very deep control system and for NBA n00bs like me that means a steep learning curve. After adjusting the settings and playing around in some of the practice modes for a couple of hours, I was able to go from playing like I used to when I was in Under 12’s on Saturday mornings to pulling of some spectacular moves that you’d expect to see when watching NBA.
The four face buttons control the basic gameplay, making passing, shooting and defending all relatively simple stuff. As I said earlier though, this is also all under 12’s stuff and isn’t going to win you many games on the higher difficulty levels. It’s 2K7’s revolutionary “Isomotion” controls that will get you playing like a star. Using the analogue sticks and triggers, you will be able to perform impressive spins, drop-steps, one-handed lay-ups and a whole array of dunks when you get to the post. When you initially start using Isomotion, you won’t be quite sure what you’re doing as you dribble the ball between your legs at inopportune times or spin to face your opponent instead of placing your back to them, making it relatively easy for the defense to steal the ball. However, if you’re prepared to put in the hours, you will find a deep, intuitive and ultimately satisfying control system once you get the hang of it.
2K7 isn’t a game that is all about flashy moves though, and the way the game plays is quite authentic and definitely feels NBA. You’re not going to find it easy to just drive to the basket and score; the AI’s defense is quite advanced and adaptive. They’re not scared to double-team your top players, and they react well to your plays. You will need to move the ball around and play the zone in order to open up holes in the defence to drive to the basket. Similarly, your computer-controlled players defend the post well, and respond well to the plays you set out for them. The AI isn’t perfect though, and at times it has trouble responding to the way the game is unfolding. Every so often, I found the computer all too willing to run the clock down and reluctant to push for the fast points when they’re trailing late in the game. Similarly, I found that you could occasionally get easy turnovers when trailing in the last minutes of the game due to poor ball security on the AI’s behalf.
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