Let’s start with where NBA 2K16 shines. In terms of presentation, there’s never been another mobile sports game like this. Visual Concepts China and 2K make it feel like you are watching an actual NBA broadcast during the gameplay, complete with graphics, real world sponsors and a wide variety of animations. Players look great - if you’re a hoops junkie, you’ll be able to recognize all the stars from their faces and the way they move on the court - and the gameplay is fluid and actually feels like real basketball, perhaps the trickiest of all major sports to translate to video game form. The soundtrack, curated by Pharell Williams, is a real treat.

 

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times, in the end it doesn’t matter how good it looks and sounds when it comes to sports titles, but how the game plays both in how it controls and how accurately to a real life game your box scores end up. NBA 2K16 excels in both aspects by providing a tough yet fair A.I. all while simulating the game to a T with accurate stats that mimic a real life NBA game perfectly. This is accomplished out of the box with very little tweaking to the sliders needed - though they are there and fully customizable if need be. Not only will the game play you tough, but the intelligence is smart enough to change strategies on the fly, setting up prevent defenses, and even switching up aggressive levels if needing to go on a quick scoring tear when down or at the end of the game. The way the CPU plays is not only like how a coach would typically handle the situations, but their strategy make sense, which will keep you on your toes the entire 60 minutes of the game.

 

Any slacking off on your part can and will result in a 15-0 run if you are not careful. This is not to say that blow outs on either end of the court can’t and won’t happen, but if the teams play up to their potential then expect the results to simulate as expected. I’m a huge fan of 2K16’s career mode and it translates very well in this mobile port. Being rewarded or penalized depending on what you do in-game makes each game far more meaningful than simply playing the game otherwise. You can even engage in simplified interactions with the GM, the press and others to change your player's demands and reputation. It’s a good thing Career Mode is so engrossing because 2K16 has very little else to offer, with Quick Game being the only other option at this time. Season Mode and Blacktop (basically pick-up games) are coming soon, but at this point aren’t available.

 

The area that has slightly held back previous NBA 2K iterations has been the actual modes. Although 2K16 sees some improvement, they are still good and not quite great, and there is some glaring issues in a few areas. Just to get it out of the way, it is worth noting that MyPark is once again (currently) broken due to server issues. Unfortunately this happened at launch last year and appears to have happened again this year. MyTeam is 2K’s answer to EA’s popular Ultimate Team mode and 2K16 finally sees the addition of a real time Auction House to buy and sell individual players. This makes building an elite team so much easier and more enjoyable as you no longer have to rely on luck. For the first time, MyTeam is a mode that could legitimately be classed as one of NBA 2K’s best.

 

While MyCareer mode has always focused on inserting role-playing elements into single-character NBA action, NBA 2K16’s addition of a number of unique cutscenes has elevated the entire mode. From interactions with one’s overly-excited agent to conversations with general managers who don’t care about anything other than your on-court production, these scenes break up the constant grinding that comes with playing dozens of games in a row. While some of the voice acting is comically obnoxious, most notably that of your veteran mentor (in my case, Pelicans Shooting Guard Eric Gordon), it’s nice to see a sports title attempt to expand its horizons. Sure, there are times that a given character will sound like a sophisticated version of a PC speech-to-text program, but these moments wind up being more humorous than unsatisfying. In fact, some of the MyCareer voice acting is so ridiculous that it actually elevates the entire mode through its insane level of PlayStation-era campiness.

 

It's issues like these, along with its really basic head-to-head online play and wholly inadequate online league play (no CPU-controlled teams... again), that keep NBA 2K from climbing all the way to the top of the mountain and dethroning FIFA as the best all-around sports sim, though it comes pretty close at times. It certainly has the ambition and the vision, and the core modes are extremely strong, but in other respects it's not quite there. Unfortunately, as much as I wish it would, I don't expect NBA 2K to disentangle its online and offline experiences anytime soon. That ship has sailed.