[Editor's Note: Check out our review of the PS4 and Xbox One versions of NBA 2K14 right here.]
When I drove the lane as LeBron, drew the defense to me, and kicked a no-look pass to the wing for an open trey by Mario Chalmers using the new Assist Pass modifier on the left trigger – after which a camera close-up showed Chalmers making the “Okay” symbol with both hands (the NBA’s current three-pointer salute), NBA 2K14 proved its worth. The worry is that without competition, a series might adopt an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy and grow apathetic. But in the time I’ve spent with it, 2K14 confidently walked the line between not enough change and too much.
First and foremost, 2K14 continues to get the core basketball systems almost dead-on right, and that’s the key to its success. Unlike hoops sims from early in this console generation, it simply has no major weaknesses. Fast breaks are fun to execute but not too common or exploitable – you can thank the tightened-up defense for that, which also stops you from charging wildly to the basket for a hoop and/or a foul every time down the floor. Play-calling is a snap via the D-pad, and the Y/Triangle-button-based post-up game again feels intuitive and allows you to pull off a bevy of moves in the paint.Perhaps as a side-effect of that defensive upgrade, goaltending is far too prevalent on both ends of the floor. I also saw an excessive amount of players on both sides either stepping out of bounds or catching a pass out of bounds in ways the pros just don’t in real life.Counterbalancing that are two key areas of improvement this year, both coming in the ball-handling department. The Assist Pass lets you throw no-look and cross-court passes by holding LT/R2 and tapping the right stick in the direction you want the ball to go, resulting in highlight-reel-worthyl fast-break finishes and beautiful kick-outs to wide-open spot-up shooters when you drive down the lane. If you utilize it correctly, that is; the Assist Pass is easily punished, with ill-advised attempts practically guaranteed to result in a turnover.
Also better is the Shot Stick. A wider variety of more precise dribble moves are made possible by twiddling the right thumbstick in various directions and combinations. It’s a natural evolution of the feature, and it gives you even more control in a game that already offers a wealth of it. The popular online Association mode also returns effectively unchanged, along with the same crop of online features. Regrettably, the Dream Team mode has vanished, though as a (weak) apology, Euroleague clubs have joined the NBA 2K party.
In fact, the lone major new mode this year is LeBron: Path to Greatness, a thematic opposite of 2K12’s revered Jordan Challenge. Rather than allow you to recreate and virtually relive King James’ biggest career moments the way His Airness’ mode did, it instead lets you play out LeBron’s hypothetical future, either by staying with the Heat and building a dynasty or, far more appealingly, testing free-agent waters. The latter option takes James from the Heat to the Knicks and eventually back to the Cavs, putting him in fantastical scenarios both with and against even more fantastical superteams, such as a LeBron/CP3/Howard-led Knicks roster against a Rose/Melo/Wade-fronted Bulls squad. It’s fun, but it’s nowhere near as compelling as playing out some of the greatest moments in NBA history in Jordan Challenge. Puzzlingly, this mode doesn’t allow you to save your progress mid-game and come back later the way the rest of 2K14 does, and that’s a needless annoyance.
Yet again this year, presentation matches gameplay. In addition to uncanny signature animations – Kobe’s shot looks exactly like it does in real life, as one of countless examples – the little ones are what fool casual passers-by into thinking you’re watching an actual NBA game. Guys complaining about getting fouled after making shots with contact, “Beat L-A!” crowd chants when leading late against the Lakers at home, sarcastic “Air-baaaaall” serenades by the fans when a visiting player launches up a shot that doesn’t draw iron, and many more all add flavor, personality, and texture to an already-realistic hoops sim.The commentary is equally impressive, with the three-man Kevin Harlan-led booth not only keeping up with the on-court action, but offering specially recorded dialogue for Path to Greatness. For instance, when one scenario pitted LeBron against Kobe in the Laker legend’s final game – coincidentally when James was trying to break Bryant’s record for youngest to reach 25,000 career points – they weren’t matched up against each other on defense. But when I took control of James and chose to D up Kobe for the first time, Harlan chimed in with, “Here we go; This is the matchup we’ve all been waiting for!” He wasn’t wrong.[Editor's Note: Check out our review of the PS4 and Xbox One versions of NBA 2K14 right here.]
Verdict
It’s a credit to NBA 2K14 that despite not one but two new basketball sims looming on the next-gen horizon, it still managed to draw my attention squarely to the current-gen court and keep it there. Though LeBron’s new mode doesn’t manage to bottle the same magic of MJ’s from two years back, the new Assist Pass, and re-tooled ball handling have made what was already a finely tuned on-court experience even tighter. NBA 2K14 is simply the best hoops sim I’ve ever played.
