The NBA 2K series is one of the most popular sports franchises in gaming -- a hugely successful revenue generator spanning dozens of entries of varying quality, success and popularity. The NBA continues to be an incredibly marketable and profitable property, but like so many long-running franchises, 2K Sports' yearly offerings haven't always warranted fan satisfaction. As Metacritic can attest, there is often a substantial gulf between the appraisals of professional critics and the opinions of fans who perceive a series that prioritizes style over substance. This year's release has been no different -- a critical success that has grappled with complaints from a polarized fanbase.
There was a time, however, when the NBA 2K franchise was viewed with far more universal favor. The revenue 2K generates has continued unabated on an upward trend, but issues regarding performance, lack of proper development and the continued prevalence of microtransactions have disillusioned many loyal fans. Like EA's Madden NFL and FIFA series, 2K receives criticism for its lack of significant gameplay developments, performance issues, disregard for player concerns and a general lack of innovation. Much like its football and soccer cousins, there was a time when the iconic basketball sim didn't provoke such vociferous ire.
2001's NBA 2K2 remains the standard for practically every basketball game that has succeeded it. Instead of being a release by 2K Sports, the game was developed by Visual Concepts and published by Sega for a variety of platforms including the Dreamcast, the PlayStation 2, the Xbox and the GameCube. While it may have been an early title, NBA 2K2 did a stunning job in hiding any inexperience.
2K2 was universally acclaimed upon release, an affection and acclamation that has, if anything, only grown with the passage of time. IGN proclaimed it to be "the stuff the best sports games are made of," while GamePro has since called it "one of the best basketball games ever on any console…period." NBA 2K2 still holds the highest overall critical score on Metacritic with a whopping 93, making it one of the most acclaimed and revered sports games ever made. This all adds up to an early title far ahead of its time.
The original NBA 2K was released as a Dreamcast exclusive, meaning that the franchise was relegated to a somewhat diminished audience. That changed with NBA 2K2, a game with availability on practically every single sixth-generation console. Thankfully, NBA 2K2 also had the chops to back up its ambitious scope, introducing so many of the elements now taken for granted in sports simulation games today. The importance of taking shots in the right area and with the right player, for example, placed a greater emphasis on specific timing, skills and court management. This forced players to think about how to build points rather than just slinging for the rim and hoping for the best. A nascent form of player personality also added innovation by categorizing team members based on strengths, weaknesses and abilities.
NBA 2K2 also added sophisticated mechanics to keep things balanced. The defensive stance position was made integral for players looking to successfully defend by increasing the chances of making a steal or performing a block. The advanced AI, still highly sophisticated and revered 20 years later, was adept at adapting to your game if it could see that you were making excessive use of certain playstyles or patterns. For example, it would shift to a zone defense to stop a player from making fast breaks or repeating the same tactics.
If more recent NBA 2K titles have been criticized for a lack of genuine innovation, one still gets the sense from NBA 2K2 of a franchise desperately striding out into uncharted territory, eager to improve on every aspect of its predecessor's groundwork. The original game didn't allow canceling of moves mid-flow, something NBA 2K2 amended with the aid of interruption animations. A new intercept pass feature was added, player models were revamped, more in-depth controls came into play and new player animations kept things realistic and vibrant. The developers at Visual Concepts were clearly striving for excellence on just their third full 2K outing.
Modern sports games don't always receive universal acclaim from all corners of the gaming community. Microtransactions, glitchy bugs and innovation stagnation are all causes of ire and disapprobation for fans who feel that the very heart has been slowly removed from the sports genre they once so adamantly admired. NBA 2K2 is a reminder of how sports games used to be -- a pure experience that prioritized player enjoyment as its paramount objective and a relentlessly innovative title that has stood the test of time for more than two whole decades. NBA 2K2 started off life as a rookie, but time has confirmed it to be a true MVP.