NBA 2k11: My Hands-On Wizards Impression

[Induveca]

So I got NBA 2k11 for PS3 about 9 days early. Immediately jumped in and started a season with the Wiz of course....

Here are my impressions from the past 3 days.

Blatche: Very impressive, no clue what his rating is but he has a great game in the post and is a very solid rebounder. They did him justice this year.
Arenas: Very solid mid range game, still nails open 3s extremely well. A lot slower than in past seasons.......then again that could be because of....
Wall: BLAZINGLY fast, can get by pretty much any point guard at will with a few moves. Great jumping ability and decent mid range jumper.
Yi: Horrible in the game, bench him.
McGee: Great shot blocker, that's about all. But he challenges everything and if you jump correctly you'll get the block.
Howard: Solid mid range game, can hit the three a bit. Pretty slow.
Booker: Gets a lot of steals.
Seraphin: Rated so low doesn't even get off the bench.

Very fun team to play with, the Wall/Arenas combo is deadly. Teams tend to collapse on Wall when he penetrates into the lane. I just kept kicking it back out to Arenas for an open J or dumped it to Blatche if help defense came from the paint.

At least for NBA 2k11, Wall is a definite game changer. Most fun Wiz team in a 2k series since the Jordan years.

[AceDegenerate]

Glad to hear it. Thanks for the impression, looking forward to picking the game up next week.

[Rafael122]

Will get it Tuesday. They're saying this is one of the better games 2K has put out in years, so hopefully it turns out to be true. And hopefully they fixed the online stuff for the PS 3. Indu - what's your PSN? Mine is Rafael122.

[GhostsOfGil]

i played the demo which is available now on the xbox live market place. the game feels so much more fluid. hte jumpshooting in the last one was very 1 dimensional imo. now u can hit runners, fadeaways, leaners, off the dribble with ease. the ai is much improved too; u cant just drive in and dunk it down every play. now the defense collapses and the man to man d keeps up. its also harder to make passes i was used to in 2k10. now, if a defender is in the passing lane he WILL steal it. so far its amazing. i cant wait to get my copy.

[Dat2U]

Man I've never been so excited for a video game. I'm definitely getting it Tuesday.

I saw they raised McGee's rating from a 59 to a 64 (He was a 60 last year) so at least I can use him now. He was terrible finishing around the rim last year unless it was a spoon fed dunk.

I played almost solely with the Wiz on 2K and managed 2 win twice as many games as I lost, even playing against the likes of the Lakers & Cavs so I'm excited about what I'll be able to do with John Wall.

In 2k10, Nick Young was a beast but I couldn't really rely on Blatche's mid-range game. I'm really hyped they've significantly improved Blatche.

I'm on the X360, Dat2U of course...

[Induveca]

Dat,

Nick Young is officially garbage in 2k11. I've played 8 games already and i can't hit a three with him to save my life.

Blatche on the other hand has a silky smooth, dare I say Patrick Ewing like touch from 10 feet. McGee on the other hand is still useless around the rim, I've missed more dunks than I have made with him unfortunately. But defensively he's great if you know how to use him when in the game.

I've tried to lob up some alley oops to him from Wall, they aren't exactly highlight reel but I've gotten a few.

Trick to using the Wiz is let everything go through Wall, he goes so fast on the break he gets ahead of everyone.........if you can get to the rim he has some crazy moves, if not the defense collapses on him so hard in the paint it's easy to find a wide open teammate for a jumper.

[miller31time]

Will be getting the game day 1.

Really looking forward to it and have been reading a lot about it for months now. The videos look very nice but I also know that this is a game where videos don't do it justice - which has me even more pumped.

One of the things I don't like (from the videos) is that they eliminated the "walking the ball up the court" animation. It's basically full-speed or stand-still.

I also don't think they put in enough work on signature shots. Looking at the classic Bulls teams and seeing Pippen with the jumpshot Jamison and Rudy Gay had last year is a burn.

[MJG]

It's funny, when I think of my favorite video games, the NBA 2K series usually doesn't pop to mind. But, year after year, I can count on dozens (and in some years, hundreds) of hours of entertainment over several months from each new iteration. I'm sure this year will be no different.

I usually run two different scenarios: a franchise mode with the Wizards that I'll play over several months, and a bunch of 29 game single seasons with fantasy draft turned on. I don't know that the latter is all that popular a mode, but I think its randomness helps combat the occasional feelings of tediousness with the former.

[Rafael122]

I thought McGee was fine in NBA 2K10. I usually averaged a double double with him, mostly scored points off dunks.

I hope they improved on 2 things:

1. Online gameplay - I played 1 game, 1 online. The servers SUCK and I'm sure they will get bombarded on Tuesday.

2. AI Defense. I had to adjust sliders and stuff that I could make the AI defense tougher. It's just too easy sometimes.

It's too bad about NBA Elite. It looks like that game won't come out and they'll see NBA Jam at full price.

[MF23]

The clips from this look bannanas. Looks like I can't miss this one.

[GhostsOfGil]

mcgee in 2k10 was absolute doo doo. he couldnt catch entry lob passes in the paint and couldnt pass out of the post without throwing up wayyy out of bounds.

[DaRealHibachi]

Wizards are the shizzle on fast break... Just change both "Crash Boards" & "Fast Break" sliders, and watch'em go.... damn... Like the OP said, Gil & Wall are killing teams with their speed and quickness...

Blatche is a beast on the D-boards, post & mid-range, McGee on the O-Boards... Almost every miss with McGee floatin around is an automatic putback slam...

Lovin this game...

Oh, and Gil has a B+ on perimeter D... lol...

[dangermouse]

The only thing thats going to annoy me is that my fairly-realistic (i do all the CPU controlled teams drafting and trading so that they dont make stupid deals, i also downloaded the draft class for 2010, 11 and 12) Wiz Association that ive been playing since the draft will be forgotten and ill have to start a new one. I just started season 2013/14 after a trip to the conference finals!

As for signature shots, 2k9 seemed to be regularly updated with player stats changing throughout the season, this also occasionally came with a pack of signature shots/dunks for a particular player. I really am not sure how often this was done with 2k10, to me it didnt feel like any new ones were ever added, or maybe it was done in a different way? Hopefully they go back to the old method, it was easier to track who was getting an update.

Im buying this game, not just because it looks and sounds like its going to be one of the best sim bball games of all time and an absolute joy to play, but because of the 10 Jordan challenges. I was never a big fan of Jordan, even when he played for us. But to get the opportunity to controll classic Bulls teams going up against classic Celtics, Lakers, Pistons, Jazz, Sonics and Blazers teams. Hell yes! It looks like its going to be a lot of fun re-living some of the best moments of the NBA's best era. I really hope they keep doing stuff like this.

[Wizards2Lottery]

I hated 2k10. I'm skeptical about getting this. I'll wait a month because people usually love a new game and a month into it reality sets in.

[Dat2U]

I hated 2k10. I'm skeptical about getting this. I'll wait a month because people usually love a new game and a month into it reality sets in.

2k10 was almost unplayable before the patch. Didn't touch the game for months. I picked it up again & started playing seriously around February/March and it was a much more enjoyable experience.

Raf, the servers got much better. I never had any drops & it rarely lagged once I picked it up again.

McGee was absolutely terrible in 2k10. The only thing he could do was hit the offensive glass or block shots. Unless he was going to dunk, you didn't want to pass him the ball, and half the time he wouldn't catch the pass. Glad they bumped his rating up, even if its just a marginal improvement.

I might run some 3 guard lineups too. Put Hinrich at SF to stretch the floor. In 2k10 I often ran Thornton at PF in a 3-big rotation with Blatche & McGee. Worked pretty well for me, Thornton can finish pretty well around the rim. Anxious to see if Yi can do anything, if his mid-range is okay I can make him work.

With Blatche's mid-range being up to up to par I'm excited to use him as a focal point of the offense. He was just okay in 2k10. Had good touch around the basket & could occasionally rebound well but never seemed real consistent.

[dopeismarcus]

I also have the game and Wall is a BEAST!

John Wall
Overall 81
Inside N/A
Close 70
Medium 75
3PT 66
PostShot N/A
FreeThrow 75
Layup 96
Dunk 66
StandDunk 30
OffDribble 71
InTraffic 58
Handle 93
OffHand 91
Security N/A
Pass 84
Block 39
Steal 77
Hands 88
BallDef 84
OffReb 36
DefReb 39
OffPost 27
DefPost 28
OffAwr 82
DefAwr 77
OffClutch N/A
DefClutch N/A
Consistency N/A
Stamina 99
Speed 96
Quickness 98
Strength 46
Vertical 98
Hustle 82
Durability 85
Potential N/A
Emotion N/A

[Rafael122]

I hated 2k10. I'm skeptical about getting this. I'll wait a month because people usually love a new game and a month into it reality sets in.

2k10 was almost unplayable before the patch. Didn't touch the game for months. I picked it up again & started playing seriously around February/March and it was a much more enjoyable experience.

Raf, the servers got much better. I never had any drops & it rarely lagged once I picked it up again.

McGee was absolutely terrible in 2k10. The only thing he could do was hit the offensive glass or block shots. Unless he was going to dunk, you didn't want to pass him the ball, and half the time he wouldn't catch the pass. Glad they bumped his rating up, even if its just a marginal improvement.

I might run some 3 guard lineups too. Put Hinrich at SF to stretch the floor. In 2k10 I often ran Thornton at PF in a 3-big rotation with Blatche & McGee. Worked pretty well for me, Thornton can finish pretty well around the rim. Anxious to see if Yi can do anything, if his mid-range is okay I can make him work.

With Blatche's mid-range being up to up to par I'm excited to use him as a focal point of the offense. He was just okay in 2k10. Had good touch around the basket & could occasionally rebound well but never seemed real consistent.

For me, every time I got online, or tried to, it said the servers were down. I could connect to NBA Today and stuff and get real time scores, but to play a game online was very frustrating.

[CaPtaiN eYeSaNo]

I hope the lobbies make a return to the online experience. It was ridiculous to get rid of them in the 1st place.

*edit to add my xbox live gamertag is:
eYeKey416

[GhostsOfGil]

my player mode looks a lot better which always glitched in 2k10. I CANT WAIT!

[DallasShalDune]

I'm so pumped to play this game. I have a giftcard, so its free for me . I wish it was tomorrow!