It's that time again where we start to look forward to the next
installment of NBA 2K, and we all have ideas on what would make
the game better for our own personal experience. Here's a couple
of mine...
Uniform Styles
An addition that anyone who utilizes the games pool of Legends
has been waiting for. Era specific uniform styles for the 90's
and 80's-70's. Selecting the style would be done through the
Team Options screen before a game.
Continuing to Expand the library of throwback uniforms would
go hand-in-hand with this new feature. Like those great Phoenix
Suns uniforms from 1993, or the Mutombo era Hawks, and finding
a way to get the Seattle SuperSonics back in the game.
Crowd Reaction
I love how 2K10 has the crowd stand for the final 2 minutes
of a game, but let's take a look at the crowd's reaction to
it's home team hitting the game winning shot at the buzzer...
Granted, it's a small gif, but you can tell as it loops around
that there is absolutely no change in the crowd. They cheer,
wave their arms, pump their fists, and even do the cabbage patch,
the entire time. It takes away from what should be a great experience
in these games. If the score is tight and clock is ticking down,
the crowd should be watching nervously. If a home team hits
a game winning shot, the arena should explode! The crowd should
go from watching to jumping up and down going crazy. The perfect
model for this is Lebron James' game winner against the Magic
during the 2009 Eastern Conference Finals.
The other side of the coin is of course the home team losing
at the buzzer. In 2K10 the crowd simply stop cheering and sit
down. What are they sitting back down for? Ha, they should remain
standing and show their disappointment.
Timeout Playbook
Speaking of buzzer beaters and end of game situations, it's
all too rushed as it is now. You're not allowed to bring up
the play-call screen until your players are on the floor, then
by the time everyone gets set to run the screens involved, you're
down to a second left. During a timeout you should be presented
with a number of plays in diagram form. Once you've chosen the
play, everyone would get into starting positions before the
ref hands over the ball to begin his count.
Gameplay
Clicking the Left Stick to go into a post-up/protective dribble.
If done while on the move, there should be a smooth transition.
This would of course take the place of the awful auto-post.
Create A Player
• A slider based system for Body Types, instead of presets.
• More in between options for Skin Color and Hair Color.
• A big reason CAPs have looked relatively the same is
that there is only 1 texture, and all we do is move around the
features. Take a page out of Top Spin's book by creating several
different skin/facial textures to choose from.
• More hair, eyebrow, and facial hair options. Noticeably
absent for those of us who create legend rosters, are fades;
of the high and low top variety.
• Transparency sliders for short hair, facial hair, and
tattoos.
• The ability to customize attire for Home and Away.
• More accessories. A couple different goggle styles,
from the sleek look of today to the bulky versions of Horace
Grant and James Worthy. Jordan-style Calf sleeves.
• A Celebration panel, much like how the Dunk package
was expanded. Possible sections would included Field Goal, Dunk/Layup,
Three pointer, And 1, Game Winner. With maybe 5 open slots for
each, possibly a couple more for Field Goal. Each section would
have "random" as the default selected, for those that
don't want to bother with it.
Replay
• Remove the strict invisible wall around the court, let
the camera back up into the crowd and anywhere in the arena.
• Let the camera go all the way to the ground, instead
of just chest-high.
• Stop making saved replays default to the low resolution
player models, which ruins created player's faces.
Blacktop Mode
• Make Created Players eligible to participate in the
Dunk Contest.
• Let the players actually wear their number & team
jerseys.
• The ability to choose any arena in the game as the location
for each event.
