A surprising downgrade from NBA 2k9
Let me first talk about the menus. Their horrible. The menus were perfect in 2k9. Now I'm just getting lost in this 3x3 grid of menus that's in 2k10. I've kinda gotten used to it now, but it's horrible. The menus obviously don't really matter that much so let me continue on.
The gameplay is just a big let down. The controls are delayed...badly. Most of the time it feels like you hardly have any control over your players. The AI is terrible. For example, teamates won't help you on 3 on 1 fast breaks, they'll just stand out by the three point line. That's the other problem; There's a horrible bug of players standing with their foot on the three point line when you think their behind it. They just stand, wait for the ball, make the shot, you think it's a 3... but it's not. Another bad thing with the gameplay is the amount of charges called. Too often the defender will take a charge position and the controls are just too unresponsive that often you can't go around them, and you walk into them knocking them down. Not to mention the high amount of blocking fouls that are called charges. It's hilarious how often you'll be arguing at the animated ref over bad calls. 2K9 had silky smooth gameplay that apparently 2k10 couldn't beat.
Well with the gameplay being a let down, I got my hopes up that some of the new features would make up for it.
My Player Mode: The new mode that sells this game. You start as a player in the NBA summer league. You play six games then you will either be signed to an NBA team or sent to the D League. Let me just start off by saying that your player starts off with just a pathetic skill rating. Your player is so bad, often times it feels like I'm better than my guy. (which is saying a lot) It really makes you question how your guy got to any form of the NBA. Your performance is based off of a teamate rating which is RIDICULOUS!
You think that the teamate rating would make you a better teamate, but it doesn't. In fact, I find myself being way more selfish that I don't even care if the other team scores, as long as the guy I'm guarding doesn't make it. The teamate rating is way inconsistant. There are so many bugs with it. Out of random you will be rewarded for a good pass, but it sure seems like the team never scores after a good pass. Go figure. Fouling hurts your rating as well which is so annoying because it means that if you want to foul to stop clock down the stretch, it'll hurt your teamate rating. The worst bug of them all is allowing your man to score. Often times the guy I'm guarding will get a pick from a teamate. Wouldn't you think that you switch men after a pick. Well you do, but if the guy you were formally guarding makes a shot against anohter one of your defenders, your rating will go down. I realized I just worded that weird but the point is you have to guard your one man at all times or else it hurts you, even after a switch. The final big bug with the teamate rating is "Bad shot selection". I will attempt a layup, and it'll tell me this every time I shoot and miss. That's why I never shoot cause A. My player's shooting rating is worse than a 3rd grader and B. It's not worth the grade deduction.
The perfect example is how i had 12 assists in 12 minutes of a summer league game. My final rating was a D+ because I had a couple fouls, I held the ball too long? I took a half court shot as time expired in a quarter, and I allowed my man to get a couple offensive rebounds because he's 4 inches taller than me. Overall, My Player mode is too frustrating, but it does have its fun moments.
The best improvement in this game is that you can now create online clans, and make your own teams. Now you can play on your own custom team with your friends, and play against other crews. Also, you can finally invite friends to a game.(It was weird why it was absent from 2K9) Not to mention that Create-A team mode now lets you edit jerseys which is pretty cool. I also wanted to add that when you create-a-player, no matter what you do, he'll always end up looking kinda like Blake Griffin...hmm...
Another clutch improvement is that the soundtrack is now tolerable. 2K9's was just unbearable. In enjoy listening to Kanye West and Flo Rida over that stupid Santigold.
Commentary in the game hasn't change much. They use a lot of the same over used lines from 2k9, but they added new ones in NBA Today. NBA Today is just a dynasty mode with commentary that talks about your upcoming schedule, and where you are in the standings.
In conclusion, this game is decent. Not great, but decent. If you have 2K9 I don't recommend this game, but if it's been awhile since you got an NBA game, this might be a good one to get. I still think 2k had the edge over NBA Live, but if 2k has another off year like this one for 2k11, then I might be switching to NBA Live.