Official NBA 2K8 Thread

[galvatron3000]

GALVATRON3000 2K8 REVIEW

Gameplay:

I've often found myself frustrated to a degree withmost b-ball video games over years simply because I felt they weren't on a level to capture what I thought was an accurate representation of what NBA basketball is supposed to be about. Knowing full well the limitations of the hardware and that technology hadn't caught up to my personal level of thinking I've learned to appreciate the attempts of vidoe game simulations in spite of. The gameplay representated in 2k's 2008 offering is, how shall I say this, Very ACCURATE. This game is pretty spot on. There are a few issues but easily overlooked as there will probably never be a flawless video game of any kind or genre. Players move like REAL players should. The authenticity of the NBA is represented nicely as players shot the ball as their real life counter parts would, players move to get open and the fast break is IN THE GAME. The foot planting technology implemented in the 2k8 game is just the selling point for me. It makes getting open a challenge yet worth a thinking man's time. Run plays, play defense and enjoy basketball. The Lockdown system maybe a bit overly amped, especially for non defensive players but I can't actually comfirm it as I have't used it as much. I do think it is a great implementation to this series. Players block shots with realism, go for loose balls and make the virtual world of NBA style basketball come to life. This is a Simulation, flawed at times but so good you can't spend much time focusing on minor issues. This is my first time getting acquainted with the 2k series since the days of Dreamcast, the robotic feel that isolated me from the series then is all gone in today's game. Isomotion was another issue I had with the game and though it still exists in some form the form presented here is far from what I despised and if learned (in manual instructions would have been nice) and used correctly are great for this series. This is a basketball sim through and through and highly recommended for a true b-ball fan.

Graphics:

I'm no expert of game graphics, nor am I familiar with last years offering to do a coomparison. I can say this, I like the player models, I enjoy the players' movement animations and how they perform on the court. The likenesses are very spot on, in my opinion and some of the best I've personally ever seen. The coaches are another story, I can't recognize them because they look like generic misfits impersonating sideline generals. The ball physics are great. Haven't noticed any balls magically being rebounded into the players hands or any shaky shots that go through rims. Players don't go through backboards or any craziness of the like. I suspect the graphic system is something worth building on in the future and I persoanlly look forward to seeing the progression.

Online:
I've played 3 unranked matches with 3 different players. The matches were very well played, fair and freindly. I lost all three, one was a blowout, and one was an overtime game. Very enjoyable games. Very little lag yet it does exist, though I have a computer router connection. The Xbox Live experience is always a good one for me and was the same on 2k's sim.

Features:

Haven't tried any of the other feature, The Association, Blacktop etc. I'm a newbie to the series and have spent the major part of my time trying to familiarize myself with the gameplay mechanics(I still play the game like it has LIVE controls).

If you wanted a full package review then I'm sorry to dissappoint but I haven't fully experienced the total package. I do like the custom music that I can have playing in the background but that's an Xbox360 feature more or less but atleast it's supported and I don't have to compete with the in game music, it shut off to allow my personal selections to play. Nice.



Overview:

not much to say really, I enjoy this game. The review speaks for itself. If you want a great sim game then you should try 2K this year. My biggest gripe is the lack of any kind of REAL manual. Where are the Iso Moves list, why should we have to experiement to learn the move in orfer to play the game? I'm a former Live b baller and I need 2K help and the lack of some real instruction was a bomber. There are sme community help on the 2K forums but why should I have to go to a forum when I paid $60 for a game that should have all I need in the package? Regardless the game itself is very enjoyablbe so go out and check it out.

[Patr1ck]

Didn't someone already post some info a while back on why the 2k developers didn't bring the 2k series to the PC? Something about a survey and whether people would be interested and if they were willing to upgrade and the response was something like 10%.

[volsey]

Wow i just played the most retarded game against the CPU. Lakers (me) vs Nuggets.

First off I had read that it was hard to get any fouls called, so I instantly raised the shooting foul to 70 and all the other fouls to 60 (as I like to get a realistic number of fouls and FT's in a 48 min game) in the NBA Rules section. And still I didn't get to the line till the 3rd quarter. While the Nuggets were getting to the line on a pretty realistic basis. So i bumped up the CPU foul tendency and still nothing changed, not one off-ball foul the entire game, infact the only foul that wasn't a shooting foul was when i accidently tried to steal the ball with Kobe and got hit for a reach in.

Also the commentary is just sad. It's the exact same as last year with afew more personal lines thrown in that sound like somebody totally different is speaking, they didn't try to match the same tone of voice or anything. Anyways I didn't think it was a big deal but w/e.
But THIS PISSED ME OFF, everytime the Nuggets got to the line for a FT the commentary would say the EXACT same thing. Something like "towards the end of last season Iverson and Carmelo really started to click, blah blah, it's safe to say next year they'll be the best offensive duo in the league, blah", EVERYTIME. So that means I heard the exact same commentary line rougly 15 times in one game, NICE.

Okay so besides the commentary and the lack of fouls called the gameplays alright, right? Well for the most part yea. But the defensive matchups is really effed up. For some reason if two of your players switch who they're going to defend (lets say because of a screen or something), your players won't switch back to who they usually defend after the next possession.

EX) Kobe guarding J Smith, Bynum guarding Camby. Camby screens for Smith on Kobe, Smith drives by, Bynum moves over and starts covering Smith to prevent drive , Kobe moves and covers Camby , now next time on defense, instead of switching back to their original matchups (Kobe guarding J Smith, Bynum guarding Camby) Kobe still covers Camby, and Bynum still covers Smith .

And so everytime any of your players cover someone other than their original assigned man (even if just for a second), you have to press up on the dpad, and switch up the matchups to what they once were, which is stupid. Is anybody on 360 having the same stupid problem?

I'm still having afew troubles with some of the newer controls implemented into the game.

1) I know there's a button that you can press on defense so that the CPU will play defense for you, so that you can make some coaching changes or w/e in game. Can anybody tell me what button to press (PS3)?

2) I still don't fully understand the off ball controls. I can't target the player i want on a regular basis, and I don't know what the button sign above their head means. I remember reading about it but sometimes when i press the button above the player it passes the ball to them instead of giving me control of that player.

[-Young Buck-]

I turned up one of the foul meters to 70 so i could get more fouls when i drove to the lane. Usually i would miss and get banged, and no foul. But its better now.

As for the people guarding the wrong guys, you can always take the person who is supposed to be covering someone, bring them over and hit LT to get that lock on D on the correct player and the other guy should move off that guy and go to the guy you left. Yeah it sucks but this is a better way then trying to adjust all the matchups in the D-pad menu.

[shobe81]

Volsey, regarding the Off-ball controls, if you want to command a specific player, while you're holding LB a green color under the closest player to you appears, but since you want to highlight someone else, you need to either use the d-pad or the Right Stick to change which player you want to command while still holding LB.

So for ex. You are Larry Hughes with the ball at the top arc, Lebron is closest to you and Gooden is Under the basket, you want to command Gooden to "Get Open" but when you hold down LB, only Lebron gets highlighted green, to change to Gooden, while still holding down LB, move the Right Stick or use d-pad to change until you get to Gooden.

And you can also control Gooden yourself while Larry dribbles the ball (although I don't remember how to do this part)

Sorry for the long detailed instructions, I just wanted to make sure you got it.

[volsey]

As for the people guarding the wrong guys, you can always take the person who is supposed to be covering someone, bring them over and hit LT to get that lock on D on the correct player and the other guy should move off that guy and go to the guy you left. Yeah it sucks but this is a better way then trying to adjust all the matchups in the D-pad menu.

Thanks for the help. I thought of this too and it seemed to work for awhile but is still a nuisance, anyways every now and then this would happen:
SG and PF or C end up switching assigned defenders, so next possession I take the SG covering the big man and try to make him get back to his original defender, but since the other SG doesn't have the ball the SG can't lock on to him, and so it takes longer for the PF or C covering that SG to realize that he should go back to covering the open PF or C, and then the ball usually gets passed to the open big man for 2 easy points. And if I don't try switching the SG covering the big man the CPU usually recognizes the mismatch and passes the ball to the big guy in which he scores anyways because of the height difference. Either way they score pretty much every time the SG and PF/C switch defenders. Unless the double team comes quick enough (which still doesn't help much since they can just kick it out), or the big guy misses an easy 2, they score everytime.

Sorry for the rough explanation there, just irritated and in a hurry.

As for shobe81, thanks for clarifying how to switch your target players, but does anyone know what the button above their head means, and how to take control of the off-ball player?

[-Young Buck-]

One thing that makes me sick is when they put the full court press on you. Its hard enough to get it passed the half court line without them leading you out of bounds, or hitting you like a brick wall. But if you get it passed the half court line, sometimes they shove you back over the line for a violation on YOU! That should be a defensive foul on them.

[szalko]

Can some of u post a Rockets game against let's say Miami...just a quarter or a short clip to see how the rockets play and see T-Mac in action! that would be sweet! Oh and if possible, CPU against CPU

Thanks in advance

[MLG33]

Hey Guys !
Quick question here :

Is this 2k8 game better than 2k7 ?

Between those two, what is better, what is worth ?

Thx

[Ryan]

2k8 is definitely better than 2k7. Better player models and faces, better ai, better playcalling, 200 CAPS......

But if you want, or anybody wants, 2k7 for 360 I'll sell it to ya for $10 US.

[BigKaboom2]

But if you want, or anybody wants, 2k7 for 360 I'll sell it to ya for $10 US.

Amazon Marketplace!

I'm going to pick up 2k8 from the post office right now; will update with rant possibly.

[andykeikei]

Does anyone know the other forum that we can talk about NBA 2k8? I don't like the official one (2ksports) since the people there act like they are twelve and some being really really stupid.

[BodyBump]

Does anyone know the other forum that we can talk about NBA 2k8? I don't like the official one (2ksports) since the people there act like they are twelve and some being really really stupid.

Operation Sports


Sometimes 2k designers visited that forum to answer some questions and stuffs

[-Young Buck-]

Does anyone want to start a 2k8 league online for 360? With online draft and everything? Not sure how many people have this game for 360 around here.

[BigKaboom2]

I'm loving the dunk contest so far - just did a windmill over five oil drums

I'd be up for a league - I hope it's formatted so that you can play the games whenever both people are on, as I can't exactly revolve my schedule around 2k8.

[Patr1ck]

I got it yesterday, and I am loving the dunk contest. I hate the canned animations when you try to take off in the wrong spot. They take up way too much clock. I love it when you try to dunk through the backboard and end up falling flat on your back.

[andykeikei]

Does anyone know the other forum that we can talk about NBA 2k8? I don't like the official one (2ksports) since the people there act like they are twelve and some being really really stupid.

Operation Sports


Sometimes 2k designers visited that forum to answer some questions and stuffs

That's a great site man! Thanks!

[king2k]

This game is so amazing. My Bullies are 0 and 2

[Scotty]

I'd definitely join a league, but i doubt you guys would want to wait till the 26th, that's when most of us here will have it

[hova-]

Could someone tell a bit about Association Mode.
Is it better than Lives Dynasty Mode ?

What about Player Development ?

Is their a chemistry system you really notice oncourt ?

How about Trades and Injuries ?

I really have to find out if its worth to buy an xbox and 2k8 since its so expensive !

[Dean]

Sorry to not offer an opinion or anything guys, but i cant get the game till the end of the month.. Anyways, i cant wait that long to find out, so can someone tell me if DJ Strawberry is in the game?

[Jugs]

Serious question. Should I buy an xbob360 JUST for this game.

I saw the core console for 349$ AUD and I got all giddy.

[-Young Buck-]

Serious question. Should I buy an xbob360 JUST for this game.

I saw the core console for 349$ AUD and I got all giddy.

just for 2k8? no. But there are alot more games that make it worthy of buying a 360.

[JaoSming]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Rb1KtVIt60

You watch now

[Jugs]

just for 2k8? no. But there are alot more games that make it worthy of buying a 360.

Just for 2k8 and GTA IV (not a fan of gaylo)