50 Best Games of 2016: #23 – NBA 2K17

nba-2k17-game
Image from NBA 2K17

Our 50 best games of the year countdown isn’t in any order, we’re just going through fifty of the finest the year has given us. Find out more here.

It’s easy to become cynical with annual sports games.

Small changes over momentous upgrades are what most of us expect every year; tweaks to the formula rather than a drastic overhaul. There are times when an ailing franchise is given a hard refresh, producing a new template for later editions to follow.

NBA 2K17 isn’t one of those games. It doesn’t need to be. It’s a game that improves on its predecessor in a multitude of small ways to create one bigger, better picture.

When a game has such wide acclaim and already proved itself an inspiration for its peers as 2K16 did, the temptation could be all too much for the developers to simply update the roster and the soundtrack and hope consumers ride the wave of goodwill to yet more plaudits. Here’s the thing, though: the guys behind NBA 2K17 seem to live, eat, and breathe basketball.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t89CaiUHZWc

If 2K16’s MyCareer was a trailer for what could be done when narrative meets sport, 2K17’s is the finished edit with a red carpet. It picks up on all the bad points of the previous game (slow pacing, poor characterisation) and fixes them without you even realising it. The dialogue and general “air” surrounding the mode seems at first to be artificial -that classic marriage of “real” conversation and video games failing to last past the honeymoon once again- but once you manage to move past some of initial awkwardness, a story of genuine heart and friendship is there to be enjoyed. Orange Juice might just be the most dynamic duo I’ve seen in a videogame all year round.

Apart from delivering a compelling narrative, MyCareer also succeeds in making you feel like a star. Career milestones feel important, such as being in the starting line-up for the first time, and the sometimes odd interactions you can have with other professional basketballers away from the court work well to place you in the shoes of an upcoming rookie. How you carry yourself away from the court can have wider implications, so whether you’re being cocky with Shaq or ignoring your merchandising obligations, it all comes back to you eventually.

NBA 2K17 certainly isn’t lacking for those who want to just jump into basketball, either. Any change in the ebb and flow of matches doesn’t seem too pronounced to begin with and feels quite familiar to its predecessor where gameplay is concerned in general, though it would have been unwise to fiddle with a winning formula. However, after a couple of hours on the court, it all comes to you – it’s just smoother, more like the real thing than ever. Defenses seldom let up, interceptions are a fine art, and changing things up tactically on the fly is seamless.

I already waxed lyrical enough about 2K17 in my review back in October, so I don’t want to retread old ground. What I will say is this: basketball fan or not, you owe it to yourself to play NBA 2K17 at least for a short while. You will no doubt see even more of its peers following its lead this time next year as it continues to go up the rungs on the ladder.

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