NBA 2K12 Demo Preview

 

Ever since the NBA lockout began on July 1, 2011, hardcore NBA fans have had 2 things to look forward to, the end of the lockout and the NBA 2K12 video game.  While fans, friends and forums traded information, rumors and opinions on whether the owners and players were close to a deal that would have the season start on time, 2K Sports knew they would have to deliver much more than they did last year because live action could not help build the hype this time around.

Among the new features are "NBA's Greatest", which allows you to use the legends of the NBA including everyone from Wilt Chamberland to John Stockton and Julius Erving to Bill Russell and Jerry West.  Some of the legends included in NBA 2K12 were available as playable characters in last years version of the game.  The difference is that you can now replay classic games in these players careers.  Last years version only offered this option for Michael Jordan's career moments.  Another great concept to playing as these legends is that depending on the era in which they played, the quality of the on screen images, be it black and white or "80's fuzzy/grainy" will be accompanied by commentators from that time as well.

The "My Player" features an opportunity to create a player from the ground up, starting from rookie showcases and pre-draft interviews all the way through advertising deals, post game news conferences (in which you can chose how to answer questions affecting your reputation) and ending with a Hall of Fame induction.  Almost all sports games have this feature, but it will be interesting to see to what extent they take it and how detailed and authentic the experience is.

There are also many other changes and tweaks made to the controls and play calling systems, but describing them does little compared to the experience of playing both NBA 2K11 and NBA 2K12 and seeing the difference for yourself.  Based on some of the details released, 2K sports listened to a lot of praise and complaints from fans of the franchise and took them all into consideration while working on this game.  The biggest downside to this years version is that no rookies drafted in the 2011 NBA draft will be playable.  This is unfortunate, but due to the lockout certain restrictions apply.  I also expect the real game promos to be gone as well, especially if there are no actual games going on in the NBA.  Other than that all systems are a go.

The demo will be released for both PS3 and Xbox360 on September 20, 2011 and the actual game will be released on October 4.

I will be sure to try out the demo and give my honest opinions about it.  There will be no shortage of people dropping the controller to run and blog, comment and post their thoughts, but I will take a little more time with it before I decide whether I like it or not.

Happy Gaming!