NBA 2K6 Beta Impressions

Boom · Post by **Boom** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:17 pm

What camera angles fellas?

I've tried the defaul and the iso. So far, I'm liking the ISO cam.

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 5:20 pm

Overhead zoomed in a bit.

I feel like I can see the court and the spacing better from that angle. It's not really "overhead" per se, but it's an elevated camera a little bit higher than the backboard.

I'm not 100% sure that I like the new controls...they are frustrating to say the least. I'm on a few games in though so I'm sure they will come easier as we go along, but right now they are more of a pain in the ass than anything.

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 6:05 pm

Drive Camera and no plans to change.

Controls definately take getting used to and is why I think "Alternate A" works best for people who played alot the previous games. You get your steal button "b", plus the "x" button on defense is jump/block. Just natural to what previous games were like. Allows you to still mash buttons and use the R-Stick when the brain allows. These games are getting to damn complicated to not allow for individual button mapping. Especially when the devs are changing the control schemes every year. If I do not want to use the Shot Stick and Grip and Rip I should be offered a way to play the game w/o it.

blueduke · Post by **blueduke** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 6:46 pm

Is the shot stick easy to adapt to? Do you have to use it? How about the substitution patterns? I noticed Sportdan touched on it a little bit but haven't read any concerns about if from the rest of you guys

bdoughty · Post by **bdoughty** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 6:50 pm

Is the shot stick easy to adapt to?

Yes as long as you enjoy using the R-Stick in sports games.

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Do you have to use it?

No

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How about the substitution patterns? I noticed Sportdan touched on it a little bit but haven't read any concerns about if from the rest of you guys.

Turn from AUTO to MANUAL subs, problem solved. I use the Spurs and the AI is horrible handling this. I also had Tim Duncan not starting in the second half. Star players, not in foul trouble spend too much time on the bench. Poor job of testing as many people have caught this in less then a day.

blueduke · Post by **blueduke** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 6:56 pm

Thanks for the speedy response.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:27 pm

I upped the CPU 3 pt. shooting tendency to about 3/4 and it really seemed to help.

I really like this game.

tjung0831 · Post by **tjung0831** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 8:32 pm

I picked it up and just played one game on default settings. I took the Cavaliers and beat the Clippers 64-52. Lebron had 38pts. I guess I need to move up to all star level. I didn't play 2K5 but the game feels stiff to me compared to Live 05 which I played last year. I'm having a hard time finding a camera angle that I like but i'll probably stick with Iso or side. I think it's a good game and maybe I don't understand enough about basketball but i'm not 100% sold on it yet.

Tim

tjung0831 · Post by **tjung0831** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 9:46 pm

Ok...just changed up the camera angle a little, definitely needed to zoom out some more and I had a much better time. The game is very solid, I saw so much more with a broader view of the game. Impressive game without a doubt, can't wait to dig into it a little deeper.

jujuhound76 · Post by **jujuhound76** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:11 pm

Leebo33 wrote:I upped the CPU 3 pt. shooting tendency to about 3/4 and it really seemed to help.

I really like this game.

I'm glad to see this slider made it into the game and that it works. This was one of my few gripes with CH2k5.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Wed Sep 28, 2005 11:14 pm

I know it's become sort of a running joke around here, but someone might have to start a DSP league.

(scurries off into the night)

JackB1 · Post by **JackB1** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 9:50 am

some intial thoughts on this game......

-Love the shot stick. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?
-Love the new free throw shooting. Thank God they got rid of that awful double trigger system of last year.
-like using the right stick on "D", but I wish there was a way to just raise your arms (like in Live), instead of swiping at the ball.
-wish there was a "face the ballcarrier" button on "D". My guys seem to always be diagnol to the ball carrier. Not sure why this doesn't seem to bother anyone else but me?
-lead pass button is great. Alley oops seem really hard to do.
-too many steals and turnovers.....way more than in a real game (sliders?)
-gamespeed seems a bit too fast IMO

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:03 am

JackB1 wrote:some intial thoughts on this game......

-Love the shot stick. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?
-Love the new free throw shooting. Thank God they got rid of that awful double trigger system of last year.
-like using the right stick on "D", but I wish there was a way to just raise your arms (like in Live), instead of swiping at the ball.
-wish there was a "face the ballcarrier" button on "D". My guys seem to always be diagnol to the ball carrier. Not sure why this doesn't seem to bother anyone else but me?
-lead pass button is great. Alley oops seem really hard to do.
-too many steals and turnovers.....way more than in a real game (sliders?)
-gamespeed seems a bit too fast IMO

The "shot stick" is a great new addition that I hope continues with College Hoops. IMO, it works best when going in for a layup or dunk.

I agree with your statement regarding the defender on the ball carrier. I too feel as though I'm not properly positioned in front. Here's my remedy for this situation though. On D, I always take the Center and position myself between my man and the basket. I'm always in great position to rebound the ball, and I'm not constantly getting beat by the A.I. off the dribble. This has helped lower the A.I.'s field goal percentage.

Lead pass is indeed great, but does it appear to anyone else that the guy to whom you're passing to stops for a half a second? It just doesn't seem instantaneous like CH was last year.

Initially, I was stealing the ball with ease. There's a slider for "steal and rip" that definitely remedies this problem. In regards to turnovers, you really have to think before you just pass. In past games, you could just pass the ball around anywhere you wanted, but here you really have to look at the angles.

Gamespeed might be a tad fast. Haven't checked to see if there is a slider for this yet. I assume there is.

Leebo33 · Post by **Leebo33** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:16 am

I lowered the steal sliders and that helped as well. I'm actually quite pleased that there are a lot of turnovers as this has generally been a problem with basketball games. Even Inside Drive had turnover totals that were way too low. What's the average number of turnovers per team? I'm guessing it's about 15 a game?

I too love how you have to think while passing and sometimes the passes are just flat out errant. I also agree with Jack about the right stick on defense. They should just copy EA's right stick defensive controls from 2005 (I haven't played 06).

There's some cool stuff you can do with Isomotion 3, but I'm not yet sure if I am just too uncoordinated to pull it off or if it is poorly implemented.

I played Zeppo online last night (too bad we couldn't talk but I needed to go wireless..can't wait for the 360 in that regard to go wireless with voice too) and it was great fun. It will take some getting used to though as we both played real sloppy defense. I'm assuming the cameras are independent online? Please let me know if they are not as I probably drove Zeppo crazy as I tried 3 or 4 different ones online.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:23 am

The ISO is getting better, but it's still rather difficult to pull moves off consecutively. It doesn't necessarily bother me, but as you said EA's is much more responsive. One of the developer's admitted that there are a couple ISO moves that are near impossible to pull off and it was something that will be rectified the next go around.

Still experiencing basketball video game bliss. I'm quite happy with my purchase.

Kruza · Post by **Kruza** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:25 am

Slumberland wrote:I know it's become sort of a running joke around here, but someone might have to start a DSP league.

(scurries off into the night)

Before setting up a DSP League, a DSP Tournament should be set up. It's a good idea to do this first in order to gauge general interest in a League that takes longer to run. If enough people show interest in participating and finishing a Tourney, then a league should be considered.

sportdan30 wrote:The ISO is getting better, but it's still rather difficult to pull moves off consecutively. It doesn't necessarily bother me, but as you said EA's is much more responsive. One of the developer's admitted that there are a couple ISO moves that are near impossible to pull off and it was something that will be rectified the next go around.

Still experiencing basketball video game bliss. I'm quite happy with my purchase.

Most IsoMotion moves are not that tough to pull with a little pracitce. However, that half spin dribble move is extremely tough to do consistently. I wouldn't be surprised if that's one of the moves that gets tweaked in the future.

Kruza

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:26 am

There is a setting for game speed. Slow, Normal and Fast. It defaults to Normal obviously.

And yes, the cameras are independent online.

TheTruth · Post by **TheTruth** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:52 am

JackB1 wrote:some intial thoughts on this game......

-Love the shot stick. Why hasn't anyone thought of this before?
-Love the new free throw shooting. Thank God they got rid of that awful double trigger system of last year.
-like using the right stick on "D", but I wish there was a way to just raise your arms (like in Live), instead of swiping at the ball.
-wish there was a "face the ballcarrier" button on "D". My guys seem to always be diagnol to the ball carrier. Not sure why this doesn't seem to bother anyone else but me?
-lead pass button is great. Alley oops seem really hard to do.
-too many steals and turnovers.....way more than in a real game (sliders?)
-gamespeed seems a bit too fast IMO

Jack, if you hit up on the right stick when the player shoots your defender will raise his arms and challenge the shot and jump and try to block it.

I also changed the game speed to slow, but still experimenting with it. Anyone have any post moves tips? ISO motion is definitely gonna take time, the spin and half spin thing are very hard to perform. Is everyone still seeing too high of FG%?

spooky157 · Post by **spooky157** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:58 am

I picked this up yesterday and initially wasn't too impressed, especially with the feel of the new isomotion controls. I did really like the shot stick right from the get go though. After a few games I was completely hooked. Much like WE 8 I can play competetively even with limited use of the special moves. The spacing and flow of this game are the best I've seen in a basketball game. Catching and shooting after coming off a pick is better in this game than any I've played. A lot of that has to do with the responsiveness of the controls, which is much improved this year.

One thing I'm not sure about with the new ISO moves. When the manual says to push left stick from right to left, etc., is that relative to the player on the screen? So if I'm using the broadcast cam that would be an up/down motion if I'm square to the basket. I think this is what's throwing me off with the new isomotion.

Anyways, great game so far.

Slumberland · Post by **Slumberland** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 11:18 am

TheTruth wrote:I also changed the game speed to slow, but still experimenting with it. Anyone have any post moves tips? ISO motion is definitely gonna take time, the spin and half spin thing are very hard to perform. Is everyone still seeing too high of FG%?

I think setting the gamespeed to slow feels pretty good. The shooting percentages have come back to earth for me once I realized how important timing is when jumping on defense. If you're too early or too late, forget it.

seanmac31 · Post by **seanmac31** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 5:46 pm

I hadn't planned on buying a basketball game this year, but after all the ID comparisons and the suggestions that the player control was much more fluid than in 2K5, I went ahead and grabbed a copy. My initial impressions are pretty positive. Last year I had both 2K5 and Live and greatly preferred Live for the simple reason that Live had much more fluid and responsive player control. The player control in 2K6 is much, much better than last year, although the player models still seem to move a little stiffly. It's not so much a control issue as an animation issue at this point. The off the ball movement is very solid, and it's a breeze to call offensive and defensive plays. I'm still struggling with the new controls a bit, as I am trained to think of the right trigger as being the freestyle stick, but this is a promising game.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:33 am

$29.99 at Fry's this weekend.

Can someone explain the shot stick?

I was all ready to pass over the basketball games this year and focus on the 360 launch but you guys are making it very hard to do with this thread. Plus, the Bulls will actually be good in an NBA game for a change.

It's definitely intriguing and that Fry's sale is making it awfully tempting.

sportdan30 · Post by **sportdan30** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 10:16 am

Scoop, here's how I think it works. Actually, I haven't read the manual but was toying around last night in "practice" mode. When I first got the game, I immediately jumped in to a game and thought the way to use it was pull back on the right stick and gradually push up. Kinda like the TW golf swing. I wasn't having any success, so I experimented. I found that all you have to do is push up, and let go slowly for your release. I don't think I could go back to the button push. When you miss a basket in this game, you know why. You either released too early or too late.

Further, it works brialliantly with layups and dunks. With layups, you can lay the ball in with either hand by either pushing left or right on the stick.

matthewk · Post by **matthewk** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 2:12 pm

They're going to have to start offering courses at the local schools for learning the controls on all these new games.

I skimmed over the manual, and in order to pull off a drop step it's something like: Hold L trigger to back down. Then Hold the R trigger whille tapping the L trigger twice.

I guess I can forget chewing gum while playing. I'd likely choke on it from lack of concentration on that task because my mind will be too busy trying to pull off a shot.

Anyone else finding that defenders sometimes "stick" to a player they are guarding? After just a couple quick games (life gets in the way) so far, I'm still on the fence between this and ID 2004. Right now I still like ID just a *tiny* bit more, but that may be because I'm more used to it. I still keep sending off shots in 2k6 with the right stick when I think I'm pulling off a dribble move (ala ID).

dbdynsty25 · Post by **dbdynsty25** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 2:22 pm

matthewk wrote:I still keep sending off shots in 2k6 with the right stick when I think I'm pulling off a dribble move (ala ID).

I imagine it's going to be quite the pain in the ass going back and forth between the games when I get my rental copy of Live tonight...I'm not looking forward to that.