Gamepad support is nice, but it shouldn’t be mandatory, and that’s the way it feels. Ironically, the game’s resemblance to real life basketball actually makes this problem work, because you need to hustle on D, and the controls simply won’t allow it. The stick simply isn’t responsive enough, especially on defense, where you constantly feel like you’re scrambling around. The former is a big reason why console sports games often have a hard time moving to phones or tablets, and this one chooses to tackle controls with the dreaded virtual stick and button combo. It’s also not quite as much fun to play as it should be due to control issues and game crashes. A sports game without a Season mode, even on mobile, is borderline inexcusable in 2014. The Season and Blacktop modes are both listed as “Upcoming,” which would be acceptable if people weren’t paying a premium price for this. As career modes go, this is a good one.Īnd you’d better enjoy it, because that’s almost all NBA 2K15 has to offer right now, aside from Quick Games between real NBA teams. You can also check out fan reaction on social media, answer challenges from other players, deal with endorsements and more. Unless you absolutely ace the showcase, you have to work your way up the rotation based on your performance and how good you are as a teammate. The M圜AREER mode is also a highlight, allowing you to create a player (like yourself, for instance) and take him from a rookie showcase against real life 2014-15 rookies, through the NBA Draft process and into the association. The soundtrack, curated by Pharell Williams, is a real treat. Players look great - if you’re a hoops junkie, you’ll be able to recognize all the stars from their faces and the way they move on the court - and the gameplay is fluid and actually feels like real basketball, perhaps the trickiest of all major sports to translate to video game form. Visual Concepts China and 2K make it feel like you are watching an actual NBA broadcast during the gameplay, complete with graphics, real world sponsors and a wide variety of animations. In terms of presentation, there’s never been another mobile sports game like this.
For now, though, it’s more like a rookie who gives you flashes of brilliance between turnovers, as its shortcomings are still way too apparent. NBA 2K15 has plenty of that, as it’s one of the most ambitious attempts to date to bring a console-quality sports game experience to mobile. If you’re not a sports fan, you might not be familiar with the term “upside,” but it means the potential for an athlete to develop into a star.