In the case of the new M圜areer mode, that's actually a very good thing. The story mode from the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games, which saw players living out an imagined version of LeBron James' future career, is entirely absent here (which really isn't much of a loss, honestly), and features like The Association (its franchise mode) and MyPlayer have seen massive overhauls that leave them only somewhat resembling the previous versions. With the gameplay and visuals leading NBA 2K14's featureset, that leaves the game's selection of modes to bring up the rear. Thankfully, these only happened a few times over the hours I spent playing, and never got in the way of my enjoyment. You'll also periodically see passes or blocked shots bounce off players and go flying off in some bizarre, unnatural direction. Specifically, every now and again, a shot will hit the rim and continue spinning around it for several seconds while every player just kind of stands around. The only issue I noticed in this version that I didn't see in the others were a few ball-oriented physics glitches. If anything, it's maybe a bit tighter, but not in a way that feels cheap or broken. All the right-stick-based ball-handling mechanics that were available on those platforms work just as well here, and the A.I.
On the court, the game plays just as well as it did on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The commentary from trio of Kevin Harlan, Steve Kerr, and Clark Kellogg is as good as it's ever been-if perhaps a bit more repetitive than usual-adding to an already stellar broadcast presentation. The level of detail in each arena certainly helps, with wonderfully reactive crowds, terrific court and crowd graphics, and tons of minutae you won't even see until you pause and dig into the instant replays.
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The animation has always been this series' best feature, and this is one of those games you could very easily mistake for a real TV broadcast if you just happen to catch it out of the corner of your eye. But the vast majority of players look really excellent. Less popular players look a bit more robotic when they emote, and the faces do look a bit more uncanny the further down the NBA rabbit hole you go. Granted, that means there is a qualitative difference between, say, a LeBron James and a Cody Zeller. 2K reportedly scanned the faces of 80% of the league's current players, and the level of detail in each face is fantastic. Body models are as realistic as any sports game I've ever seen, and the faces are especially amazing. NBA 2K has always provided the best-looking representations of the game of basketball available on video game consoles, and for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, 2K has gone all-out. Let's just get those visuals out of the way right now. I could probably embellish that statement more, but do I even need to? I mean, just look at it! Still, even with what it's missing, the wide swath of visual improvements to NBA 2K14 alone make it worth consideration for anyone looking for a great looking sports game to go along with their new console purchase. In some cases, this has resulted in considerable improvement, but not in all. But in terms of features, 2K has gone back to the drawing board on several of its biggest modes. The tight, complex gameplay fans have come to know and love is still front and center, mostly no worse for the wear. NBA 2K14 on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 is a very different beast than the releases for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
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Considering that 2K Sports' NBA 2K series has been a standout among all sports franchises over the last several years, you might expect that for the jump to a new console generation, its developers would be more than satisfied simply giving its existing game a visual bump, while keeping its various modes and features largely untouched, for a first time out.