You and me both. That was the biggest drawback to Madden this year for me was the amount of tweaking I had to do and still could NEVER get it right. This game is rock solid out of the box if you use the 'Simulation' set. I'm not sure about default, cause I switched it immediately. The only thing I've had to do so far is jack up fouls, but that's going to be a given.
You were right. This game is beyond amazing. Positives: Trade Finder Feature: Best way to get equal value on players and its MUCH more realistic as you actually have to offer more as opposed to 2k games of the past where you offer player A for player B and add a player to adjust contracts/ratings an you're good. Now they take into account the player's age, production past seasons etc. And each player gets a trade value rating. Gameplay: Much better than last year where it was just a seamless roster update. This year, you NEED to call plays most of the time and play smart rather than just driving the ball to the rim. Player tendencies also come into play for once. The frame rate is MUCH MUCH better than last year's. They really revamped the whole system. Game layout: Last year's seemed kinda....empty. This year's looked proper and clean-cut. A lot of great new features like Trade Finder, Tendencies, etc. Online Association: Already got into the legendary first-come first serve competitive 2k Frontier League. Very surprised I got in considering it fills up real quick. I got the Portland Trailblazers and I SOMEHOW got Dwight Howard, John Wall, Al Horford (@ PF), and T-Will, Josh Childress, Kyle Korver etc. on the same team for a 30 team league in the draft (I actually traded for Childress--for two next picks--but still). The online play is smooooth. Wow. This league has people who are extremely active and i'm gonna need to arrange dates to face everyone. Preseason started today. Headlines (Association): Definitely a plus as real-life news (or the association news) will automatically display with great new pictures, stories, etc. Iunno, the little things like these make me enjoy the game so much more. Negatives: Graphics: Still a piece of crap. Nowhere near as good as last year's graphics jump from the year before. Glitches: Screen turning all black while the game is going on and sometimes when i'm editing players. The crowd overplaying it and a defender with 50 speed catching up to a player with speed. All that crap. Meh, patches should fix that stuff right up. Controls: If I had ONE complaint about the gameplay, it would be that the dribbling and contorl of the players are still too stiff like it's been the past couple of years. I'm not gonna lose sleep over it though. I'll drop in more thoughts later on. A bunch of guys in my league are still online trying to trade each other after an hour haha.
Also, just to add, playing all star at 10 minutes will get you fairly accurate games as opposed to the past at 6-7 minutes. Much more realistic.
I disagree with these statements. I think the game looks really good. It's not the graphical leap that 2K9 to 2K10 was, but it's still really good. Personally, I don't think they can make it look much better, I'm relatively sure they're getting what they currently can out of at least the X360. If they made this as a PS3 exclusive, they might be able to get more. And the controls, I think are really, really good. This is the first year that I've actually kept it at default controls. They work significantly better than the last few years and I love how they've simplified the controls. It's also easier to branch moves together because they've all but gotten rid of most of the canned animations from years past.
That's the point. The graphics leap was basically nothing. I understand that there are limits towards graphics with this gen but take a look at COD, Heavy Rain, Uncharted, Infamous, where the graphics are top notch, but 2k11 looks like a piece of crap. I understand the whole 'it's all relative' argument, but c'mon, the graphics here aren't very good. It looks like they spent more time trying to make Jordan's face look perfect vs. having realistic faces and player movement/fluidity for the players that are actually in the NBA. But I guess you're right, if this were a PS3 exclusive, the graphics would look much better. As to the controls. Iunno, it still doesn't feel as smooth as NBA Live's from 03. 2k11 really needs to implement the right analog stick as to where the ball goes/is being dribbled as opposed to using it as another shoot button. It would really make the ball handling much more 'free'. From what i've played so far, this game gets a rating of 9.2 for me in this genre. Not as good as Madden '05 (which is pretty much a 9.7) or Fifa 11 (9.5), but definitely a great, great sports game.
Has anyone been able to get ranked games to work? I've had to go to the lobbies to play online. Otherwise, the game is about as perfect as a basketball game is going to get.
Maybe it's just me, but I don't really see the issue with the graphics. I think the player models, for the most part, look fantastic. I think there is a slight jump from last years, but that's me. I also think the player movements looks just fine, too. Maybe it's all just a matter of opinion, but I think the game is by far the best looking basketball game ever. I do think there is still room for improvement, but I don't know how much better they can make it look since they develop it on the 360. I think you'll like the controls if you get used to them. If you go in to practice mode, you can turn on a hint thing that teaches you how to do every dribble move in the game. Also, you can switch it over an older style of control where the dribbling is mapped to the analog and shooting to the X button. And I find it funny that you mention Live 03 as somewhat of a standard for dribbling. I think, the only reason it worked so well in that game was because it all happened lightning quick and was completely, unrealistically easy. I remember in that game, you could take someone like Shaq to the top of the key and break someone down with the dribbling controls. So far, I'd give this game probably about a 9.3 or so.
Quick question in regards to the graphics, what type of TV do you have? I use a Samsung '37 LED. The type of TV you have might factor in. Iunno.
I don't like all the passing deflections. Some of them are a bit absurd. I also wish they went back to the iso motion of 2k9. That was the best.
I agree, but I think it's better than last year. The game finally penalizes you for making stupid passes, which is nice. No more chucking passes downcourt every time for an easy layup like you could in previous years.
Picked 2k11 up yesterday morning and I've probably put in a good 14hrs or more so far, keep changing my mind which team I want to use for assoc mode and trying some of the Jordan challenges. Just had a sick fastbreak hop step spin around Ainge to two handed slam from Jordan, I don't get the not fluid enough complaints... the runners, the fake passes and hes/setup moves, and the euro step moves are so damn realistic I swear the drafted PF in my Kings assoc shots and moves exactly like Jermaine O'Neal so much it's scary. I like the added grainyness on some of the Jordan challenges too, like the old school broadcasts.
[video=youtube;fCHMgbGZq3I]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCHMgbGZq3I[/video] [video=youtube;SmL9T3tbS6M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmL9T3tbS6M[/video]
