(Image courtesy of 2KSports.com)
I think it’s fair to say why you might have been looking at the cover of NBA 2k11 lately - Jordan is on the box. If you’re any basketball junkie, you might already have the game based only on this fact. If you’re like me, however, that just makes you think about buying a basketball game for the first time in a while.
Stepping into the game, you’ll immediately be put into Jordan’s shoes, going up against the Boston Celtics. This is the same game you may have played in the demo, but if you already have not played a 2k basketball game in a while, this is a crash course into a brick wall of difficulty. I found this initially as the first drawback to the game - It’s just too damned difficult. Is it? Certainly not. What this game does, that no other basketball game can claim to do is something that makes it simultaneously the best basketball game on the market today. A game is actually a CHALLENGE!
After fighting my way through a great failure in the exhibition game that starts you through, I quickly decided that failure was not an option I was willing to accept. How could a basketball game beat me? Three exhibition games later, I was clear about two things: First, this game actually has A.I.. From diving saves, to not being able to pass a ball 20 feet without it being swatted after, this basketball game will take you to another level in terms of teamwork. Jordan may be a great player, but I will not be faking out four out of the five men in my way to get to the dunk today. Secondly, the change of gameplay lives up to the Jordan standard, making it a great deal of fun.
Typically I would enjoy a great career experience, for the challenge, so I quickly went to work creating a player in the “My Player” option of the game. This option is designed around you coming up as a player pre-draft, working your way through summer camp, through pre-season, and getting signed on for your career with any team that will sign you. Play well and you can get set as top seed for the Draft – a notable Achievement/Trophy. You may then after being drafted perform more practice drills, shoot-around, and the like to hone both your player’s skill, and your own real gaming skills to try and become the Rookie of the Year. Is this whole process worth your time? I believe it is very much worth your time if you feel like your game needs work. These drills and games are less about if you can improve upon yourself, but moreover give you the knowledge of game mechanics and a head for teamwork.
Moving along with why you bought the game – Jordan. His name will pop up a lot in this game, for obvious reasons. You can wear 40 different pair of Jordan Air’s. You can play as Jordan from ’89 to ’98. The real question: Can you live up to the Jordan Challenge? This is why you play that season Sir/Mad ‘dam. I took my swing at the Jordan Challenge, where you are presented with a fair list of some of Jordan’s highest accomplishments in his career, and must either clone or beat them in the same situation. Imagine yourself trying to sink six 3-point shots in one half of a game, while scoring an overall 35+ points in that same half, and gaining 6 assists and rebounding a notable amount in the same championship game. Jordan did it, can you? These quests take time and skill to complete, and though it appears as though you will need to be both a master of the dribble and a master of disguise not to be triple teamed by the A.I., it is possible with a bit of strategic passing skill, and a bit of experience on the court.
Where multiplayer is concerned, the game is established to appeal to both the hardcore, and the casual alike. More serious players have the option to join a tournament, in which you may choose a team that has yet to be selected by other players in the tourney, or a similar situation in a Seasonal layout. Casual players are a bit put out in this game in that a simple one-on-one game over the internet is not the default view you find yourself in when in multiplayer, so it takes a short bit of looking for. In finding this, I found myself looking for more however; as I found the only true complaint I know to give about 2k11. The servers were down. Each day that I attempted to connect to a player in the lobby, I found people with decent ping [connection quality] to connect to, but was unable to establish a connection with any user. I simultaneously experience no errors in online play with other titles I own, so I deduced that this issue was a 2k11 problem all it’s own.
Overall I believe this game is very much a BUY title. If you mildly like basketball games, at the $60 price tag, this is very reasonable. It has great replay value, but that’s what you’d expect out of Jordan right, a highlight reel?
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