The basketball simulation video game “NBA 2K16” developed by Visual Concepts and published by 2K Sports, came out on the PlayStation 4, the Xbox One, and the PC on September 29.
The following month, it went on to become the second best-selling video game in the US, next only to the Xbox One-exclusive “Halo 5: Guardians,” according to the report of the NPD Group, notes Gamespot.
The predecessor game of “NBA 2K16”, the “NBA 2K15,” was the top-selling video game in October 2014 so the current game experienced a one-rank slide this year.
Rounding up the top five best-selling video games for October 2015 were “Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate,” “Madden NFL 16,” and “WWE 2K16.”
The NPD Group also reported that software sales in October 2015 were down 3% for the year-ago period, which also reflects the 42% decline in portable sales.
According to an analyst, one of the reasons for the decrease in October’s new physical sales was the 4% drop in dollar sales for new launches.
A complete video game package
“NBA 2K16” is one of the most complete video game packages to come out in the market of late. In addition, it has raised the sports simulation bar several notches higher by incorporating many great features.
Apparently, the game developer has retooled the gameplay, adding brand new physics systems, and refining its traditional game modes.
“NBA 2K16” looks better than ever. The player models have been upgraded with new and more detailed body scans that have a profound effect on the overall experience. The player faces, hair styles, body types, and even wingspans are true to life, but the wide variety of new signature animations brings it all together.
Just like its predecessors, the “NBA 2K16” continues to rely heavily on its online servers since microtransactions are present in most game modes.
The 2K Sports Store, where gamers spend VC on vanity items, has been a hit or miss. The ProAm mode, a 5v5 MyPark with NBA rules, has been completely inaccessible. Still, the online experience is generally pretty consistent in every other connected mode, with no significant interruptions to online play, details IGN.
Not all changes on “NBA 2K16” were quite welcome to gamers, including the widely criticized Spike Lee-developed MyCareer mode. But those were not enough to take away the overall impression that the game is quite good.
A stepdown from previous versions
While the game did stay true to its promise of better visuals and overall gameplay, some critics feel that “NBA 2K16” has a major downside with its MyCareer mode that was developed by the critically-acclaimed director and avid New York Knicks fan Spike Lee.
In the previous editions of the MyCareer mode in “NBA 2K” games, a player or gamer basically creates his own basketball story from practically out of nothing. So the basketball character that the player chooses goes through the training, the scrimmages, play on tournaments, and finally get a chance to play in the league.
It’s actually fictional for the most part, but it is quite fun, which makes MyCareer mode one of the gamer favorites in the “NBA 2K” franchise.
Critics describe the mode as capturing the essential silliness of achieving individual virtual greatness and marries it to a potent, finely tuned power fantasy. So when the player character’s work and skill development culminates in a windmill yammed on some unsuspecting center’s head or a trip to the Hall of Fame, the rewards become quite gratifying. Accordingly, the MyCareer mode is the goofy part of an otherwise serious game.
But Spike Lee apparently took the fun out of it by coming out with a boxed-in version of MyCareer mode in “NBA 2K16.”