The controls, while excellent, are never really properly taught, even in career mode. There is no tutorial mode or really even a reliable way to learn what you’re doing right or wrong besides getting into the NBA and seeing your grades go up or down as you call for the ball too often, fail to spread out, suck at defense or just generally fail at making any basket. One of the biggest concerns about the NBA 2K series is its usage of VC, the in-game currency that powers many aspects of the game. It’s tightly intermingled in MyPlayer, MyCareer, MyTeam, and even playing one-off online games in order to boost attributes, get new apparel, and build out your personal gym. 

 

Most importantly, VC can be acquired by spending real-world cash. NBA 2K17 delights in presenting you with opportunities to keep spending your hard-earned money to get new stuff; be aware what VC is and how easily you can get pulled into a buying loop. Of course, it wouldn’t be NBA 2K if they didn’t change some of the core controls. Again. The biggest barrier to newcomers remains its intensely complex and confusing control scheme, and NBA 2K17 has only exacerbated that issue. No idea how unstoppable it is in NBA 2k17, though, since MyTeam is now robbing people of fun by making it impossible to get good players in Domination mode. Thanks a lot, 2k! Of course, like any challenging game, when you do figure it out, it’s that much more satisfying to sink that tricky 3-pointer or steal from the all-star hoping to score over your head.

 

While shooting and passing remain tied to the same buttons, play-calling, screens, and low-post play have all been moved around. You can now execute bounce passes and lob passes with quick and instinctive button-presses, addressing issues that have plagued the game in years prior. The new bounce pass (the O-button on the PlayStation 4) makes post entry passes more reliable, when used in the right situations. For years, it was near-impossible to hit a cutter, simply because a defender was in the way. The easy bounce and lob passes provide instant options.

 

There’s no fancy reference here. Rather, it’s kind of like a cheat code. In NBA 2k17, Dallas Mavericks power forward Dirk Nowitzki was immortalized with a special card one day. If you were lucky enough to get him in the pack, which I believe was about the top scorers in NBA history, then you would have received one of the greatest advantages ever – the Nowitzki post fadeaway. But then you get to MyCareer. NBA 2K17’s be-a-player mode, in the hands of Spike Lee. And the supposed centerpiece of the game, the mode where you’re supposed to get to craft your story and make your decisions, falls flat, especially if you don’t craft a black avatar.

 

The NBA 2K franchise has long delivered one of the best be-a-player modes in sports, grading your performance every game, letting you control your destiny towards the Hall of Fame, and even last year’s story-driven approach, while sometimes hokey, remained fun thanks to all that control. Beyond the career mode, there is actually a lot to experience in NBA 2K17. You can earn street cred by playing against others in the My Park, take on the role of a general manager as you create a team and lead them to glory, or even take part in the weird trading card game that still utterly baffles me.

 

Unfortunately, I’m baffled by it mostly because I had very limited opportunities to play it thanks to the 2K sports servers. But MyCareer in NBA 2K17 doesn’t wind up being your career: It’s Spike Lee’s career and story this time around. It starts out promisingly, letting you play through a few high school games and choose a college, then play through to the NCAA Tournament. It was simply unstoppable and just pure money. If you played MyTeam, you were living the dream with him. It was inconceivable how many times in a row you could isolate to Nowitzki in the post, fake one way, and then fadeaway the other way.