top of page
NBA 2K14 Review
Alongside EA's evergreen FIFA, the NBA 2K series has been sat at the apex of sporting game excellence for the best part of an entire console generation. It's disappointing then, to discover that NBA 2K14 is the first series entry in a very long time (ever?) to not instantly qualify as a cast-iron must buy. Whether you're a layman, an inactive fan or an outright basketball fanatic, NBA 2K14 is pretty tough to recommend simply because last year's game did almost everything better, or in a comfortably identikit fashion, at the very least. Will the next-gen versions of this year's game bring something more substantial to the table? Time will tell.
For now though, we have a solid and faultlessly entertaining basketball game that only suffers in comparison to its immediate predecessors. NBA 2K11 - still one of the best in the series, with its brilliant sense of showmanship and event - hitched itself to the unstoppable Michael Jordan bandwagon… while conversely NBA 2K13 is essentially the Lebron James edition.
The centrepiece is a mode called Lebron's Path to Greatness, which is a much more novel addition that it first appears. While the Michael Jordan bits of 2K11 were all about re-experiencing some of that player's most famous moments, Path to Greatness instead looks to the future.
You can choose to stay with James' current team in order to prolong your "Dynasty" or alternatively you can take a "Fantastic Journey" to see what happens when you experiment with playing for a few other teams. It's very much a fantasy - with other star players also moving between teams, and with deteriorated stats in some cases - so it seems almost to have been custom-built for rowdy couch co-op play. The mode is as polished and bracing as you'd expect, but it possesses none of the cockiness and brio of its Michael Jordan doppelgänger.
What's perhaps most bizarre here is that NBA 2K13's brilliant "Control Stick" moveset has been altered quite significantly. The Control Stick system (drab title notwithstanding) was galvanising but brilliant: complex and often unforgiving (and involving a lengthy spell in the game's Training Camp mode) it was a boon for hardcore players who tended to play for long stretches of time. This year the right stick is used exclusively for skill moves and shooting, and the left trigger (used for shooting last year) is now used for passing. It's fine once you're used to it, but oh boy: does it ever take some getting used to.
A few minor on-the-court modifications have been made to the core gameplay, but most of them are somewhat hard to fully discern even after 6-plus hours of non-stop play. That said, unquestionably the best new addition is one that's immediately visible: the new emphasis on defence gives you back the ability to block dunks. There are some new collision animations (and sound effects) but MyTeam, The Association and MyCareer remain essentially identical to their counterparts in last year's game.
So while NBA 2K14 is as solid as a rock, it simply doesn't go the distance one would expect of an annual series update - let alone one that's coming from the kings of shrewd reinvention. Path to Greatness is good but not great, mainly because you're hamstrung by its meagre selection of options. Hopefully subsequent (comparable) modes are a little more open-ended and invite more experimentation. Nevertheless, if you've never played an NBA 2K game, now is definitely not a bad time to start. But if you're not flush with cash at present, its predecessor might be worth a look.
​
7/10
Review By Chet Roivas
bottom of page