Customer Reviews

NBA 2K8

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

NBA 2K7 was arguably the greatest basketball game ever created. The gameplay was simply no match for NBA Live's gameplay, which was downright horrible. Well, just when I though 2K Sports couldn't make a better basketball game than last years, this game came out. One of the big problems with NBA 2K7 was the graphics. A lot of the players didn't really resemble their real life counterpart. Well, that is no longer the case. 2K8's graphics are the best I've seen yet, and all the players look so realistic that you actually believe that you're out there with them sweating on the court.

Of course, graphics aren't everything, right? Well, 2K8 has even better gameplay than last years. The shot stick still rocks the house, but there are also a lot of new additions to each game you play. After each game, you can watch the top three plays of the game. But that's not the coolest part. After each game, you can watch a highlight real of any player during the game. If you're playing as Kobe Bryant and you score 50 points against your opponent, then after the game you can watch each amazing play made by Kobe during the game. Sweet, right?

Well, this game also has a very fun and very realistic Sprite Slam Dunk Contest. This should keep you busy for hours, and it isn't even a part of the main game. If you're not good a dunking, there is a dunk school that can teach you how to emulate LeBron on his jams. There is also a really cool 3-Point Shootout.

So, if you're debating whether or not you should go with the hoops king 2K8, or try NBA Live 08, then I would HIGHLY suggest you get 2K8. Even though Live 08 is greatly improved upon, it still has a ways to go to catch up with 2K Sports and their basketball genius.

First off let me explain that i downloaded both NBA live and 2K8 demos onto my 360 before i decided. After last years 2K7 being the best game ever, i thought maybe EA would go out and actually do some work. Well, it just didnt happen, and 2K did. So what happened was the gap got comparatively larger.

First, the graphics are awesome, but i'm not even talking about the players. I mean the crowd, the lights, the basket, everything is so much bettter. The crowd actually stands up during crucial moments, and they look like 3-d people, no more cardboard fans (NBA Jam). The players dont look too great but not too bad either. I play on an HD LCD screen and Tim Duncan looks like a gorilla, but when are u really in the player's faces?

As far as gameplay, they made the smoothest game even better. With the new lock on defense button, there is no more "holding the turbo dribbling 15 crossovers and dunking on whoever is guarding you" anymore. Even if u get by your defender, you are going to meet some resistance in the paint. This makes it so much more realistic and rewarding as well. The shooting motions of all the players is right on.

The Franchise mode or otherwise known as "the assossociation" is totally awesome. You can assign players minutes and player roles that affect their morale and how much they play in the game. The trade engine also makes it alot easier to see if a trade is valid, by turning on a little green light telling you that the money will work out.

All in all, one of the coolest b-ball games ever made. NBA 2K8 deserves what it will reap by working to improve every year on an already awesome franchise. GO BUY THIS GAME RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!

This years version of NBA 2K is definitely a step above any basketball game that has been released to date.

The juke system while not as innovative as Live is still easy to use for beginners and has the level of complexity to keep gamers digging for extra moves. There are a bevy of moves at your disposal, some can be triggered by holding R Trigger down and doing motions with the left stick. Some require holding both triggers down and doing certain motions on the left stick to achieve certain moves. Once you find out how to do the moves, you'll be breaking down defenses in no time.

The post system also has nice level of depth. Spin moves, pump fakes, baby hooks, fadeaways and more are all at your disposal. Also this years version of 2K seems to have more emphasis on big men and the post game. It seems like in previous years, if you had a KG or Duncan they could be easily locked down and essentially become a non factor. In this years 2K feeding these guys on the blocks reaps high rewards since now they play like they would in real life. KG will hit the fadeaway 15 footer and Duncan will pop hooks and banks all day on whoever is guarding him. The AI in 2K is also phenomenal.

This is by far the best AI yet in any basketball game ever made. The defenses play smarter, not allowing you to continually take the ball to the hoop. You will see the defense collapse on a player who has gotten to the hoop with the ball. Also they will rotate better if a man is left open. On offense, the computer will continually find the open man and will run actual plays rather than wait for an open shot. This makes the game far more challenging, but also more realistic.

The graphics are slightly better than last years 2K, with some player faces still being off and some being dead on. The animations in this 2K are fantastic. I have used the instant replay a few times just to admire what I had just seen. In one case Monta Ellis split two defenders in mid air for a double pump lay up. When I saw that I just said "Wow." There are also some dunking/facial animations that will have you leaving your seat.

The Association Mode is back and much improved. This year you will have to handle player morale much differently. Now you will have to allocate not just playing time but players roles. Sixth man, role player, starter, bench warmer, prospect; all these are options for you to label players on your team. Some players accept and relish their role as role players, while some do not like playing second fiddle to other players and wish for starter minutes. This adds a nice balance of how to handle players and your team. You wouldn't want one player bringing down team morale. This is a very nice addition.

Blacktop mode- This is essentially a mini game mode including a dunk competition, three point shootout, and a game to 21. This is fun to kill time with since the dunk mode does have some depth with an interesting dunk system and some flashy dunks. The three point shootout is ok. It took me a few tries before I understand the timing you needed for the shooting. Once I figured it out the shootout quickly got stale. The 21 mode I haven't tried yet. I would assume it's not much different than previous iterations of a game to 21 in the previous 2K's.

While this game is great there are still a few issues that do warrant notice.

First, there is a defensive match up glitch that screws up player match ups on defense, sometimes leaving a person unguarded when you are on defense. This glitch doesn't occur all time, but it is still annoying. This should be fixed in an update but we will have to wait and see.

Second, the left trigger this year has been designated as the lock-on d feature, which, to me, completely takes playing defense out of the players hands. Now centers can match up with point guards on the perimeter. I hope in next years version of 2K they go back to left trigger being defensive stance. I would much rather rely on my skill over some cpu assisted defense.

Third, there are still lots of minor issues in the game with players being sucked into spin moves, though it doesn't happen nearly as much as last year, iffy foul calls (sometimes fouls are called for absolutely nothing) and I've heard that double teams can easily be abused to create turnovers (this is mainly seen in Multiplayer). With these issues though, NBA 2K8 is still the best basketball sim on the market. A must buy for basketball fans.

EDIT: Since my review a patch has been released and has fixed the defensive match up glitch, the double team glitch online and has made improvements to certain aspects of gameplay online and off. The patch has helped.

This is just a fun game. I play it with roommate and friends all the time. One of the best parts is you can play with up to 4 controllers, with the humans playing on the same or different teams. Also, the game is very realistic in how a player looks, acts, or performs things like dribbles, shots, and free throws. In all, a great buy, especially if you don't mind playing last year's players.

Gameplay is fantastic, Video replays at end of game, Power Rankings, In depth scouting, interative croud (They Chant three when shooting from downtown in clutch moments and stand up in close games), Excellent game i love sports games of all kinds, this has to be one of the best i have ever played. It really makes you feel like its an NBA game. Graphics look amazing, players look very real love it. i cant wait for 2k10.

I bought this game for my 12 year old grandson he plays a few times a week he said it is a very good game graphics look real good also a fun game to own.

I got an Xbox 360 for Christmas, and the only game I wanted with it was NBA 2K8. I have always enjoyed the 2K series, even back when they were partners with ESPN and had Allen Iverson on the covers. I've come to rely on 2K sports to bring me an awesome basketball game that focused more on realistic gameplay and good AI intelligence than a create-a-shoe feature. For this 2K8 game, they did it again.

I've always preferred 2K's graphics over Live's, and I still do. This year's game has some of the best graphics I've ever seen. Of course, it is the 360, and the only other game I have to compare it to is Madden 08, but still. The clarity of the game is amazing. You can see the sweat on the players when a post-play cut scene happens or when a player is at the free-throw line. You see the coaches on the sidelines and they look so real you almost believe you're watching it on TV. When a player shoots a free-throw, you can see the lines and the "Spalding" on the ball, clear as day. It looks so REAL, I can't get over it.

I've always praised 2K for it's top quality gameplay, but there are some issues to address with this year's. As mentioned in plenty of reviews, lay-ups are missed about 75% percent of the time. Even the most easies of lay-ups are bricked. How many times is Kevin Garnett gonna miss a lay-up over Nate Robinson in real basketball? And fouls are almost, ALMOST, a joke. You'll go up for a dunk against them and it's almost always a clean block. When THEY go up, forget about it. They'll get the call everytime. There are plenty of things to offset these issues though. Inside moves are as realistic as ever. Shot styles and dribble moves all belong to the actual shooter, as in Marion shooting the way he does and Eddie House shooting the way he does. Players will dive and battle for the ball just like real life.

The Association mode is the best yet. Now you have player roles and minutes you must assign, and player morale will go up or down depending on how you intend on using your players. When a player's morale reaches a certain level, their trade value is impacted and if many players morale levels are down, the whole chemistry between the team is messed up. What else is pretty cool is that when you try to propose a trade, there will be either a red or green light that will let you know if the trade is valid. It will save you alot of time and wondering and figuring about whether the cap space will work out. There are things called "Reward Points" that you can give out during the off-season that can permanently boost your players specific attributes. Again, there are practices just like the last few games, but be careful how you set those up because your players are affected by fatigue. You get development points again, but man are those hard! If you think you're gonna jump right into those and be a success, you'll have to think again.

There's a new addition the game called "NBA Blacktop." Here you have a brand new dunk-contest, a three point shootout, and different pick-up games you can play, like 21. The dunk contest, in my opinion, is a success. You can choose from top dunkers like James and Iguadala and have a 4-player contest. Dunking seems hard at first, but after practicing you'll be a pro. You can do cartwheels and jump over props like barricades, benches, and cars, to name a few. The 3-point shootout is fun at first but as others have stated, it gets repetitive and the fun dies out.

Menus and loading screens have never been a concern of mine when it comes to video games (some people seem to hate the menus and screens, but if the game is alright, why care about the screens?), but I really like the different loading screens they have on here. There is a trivia, which is fun and it'll keep your count for you on how many you've gotten correct. It does get a bit repetitive though, as I've been asked the same question three times in a row before. Other times you may get a player bio, which is actually pretty interesting. It's a change from tedious and boring screens on new features that you see over and over again.

So if you're debating on whether to buy this game or not, I have to say it's really worth the $60 I spent for it. The game is more difficult, more entertaining, and even more realistic than it already was. If you've been a fan of 2K throughout all these years, then by all means go and pick this up because it won't dissapoint you.

this looks like they took nba2k5's engine and made it worse. the players are waaayyy too slim, almost anorexic looking, and they dont even look like their actual counterparts. in 2k5, EVERYONE looked EXACTLY like who they were supposed to be. the post up moves are done the same way with 2k5 as they are here, and i dont know what they did with the isomotion dribbling...but it doesnt work. i didnt know rather i was doing a crossover or a spin move when i hitt that thing. and the role player feature with the rosters is terrible...half the time, i couldnt start the guys i wanted to start because "there were too many players with this role already". if im the COACH, i need to start whoever the h3ll i want to start at any given time (i can do that in 2k5). the one thing that i DID LOVE about this game is that they had the Chrome Dreams beat by Quasimoto in the music :l but you can download that and burn it to your xbox and play it in 2k5..

overall, this is basically a bad version of nba2k5. if you have 2k5 or 2k6 for the original xbox, dont waste your time on this game...its not worth it...just rent it...or get it used at Gamestop and take it back within 7 days for a refund if your still curious.

iLL .

I read the terrible reviews of 2k9 so I decided to try its predeccesor instead. The graphics are great, varition of the crowd, player likeness, court. The game play sucks. In its defense however there isnt a better game out. I still think 2K2 for dream cast had better game play.

So these are the pitfalls: The moves suck, when playing against the computer you do wierd stuff that is not even real like do spins and crossovers in the lane to get free. When you are using a fast guy rarely can you get ahead of the defender like in real basketball. Its super difficult to dunk and guys do layups even when they are open. The street mode is goofy, they do these ridiculous moves like throw the ball of of you and its totally not realistic. The moves do not flow when you control you player in any mode. Fast breaks are next to impossible because the computer always catches up no matter how far you were ahead. Basically the game play sucks. I could score when I wanted but I had to do goofy moves and spins to get open and it just isnt realistic. Tell you the truth the game bored me. Dont buy this game for over ten dollars.

I am taking the game back. It seems basketball simulations just dont match up to football. The only time this game is fun is when playing against another person. Then the defense is more realistic and you can shake defenders.

I really enjoy this game. Very dynamic. Not easy to beat on the highest level, but not too hard either. Highly recommended for any basketball game lover.