NBA 2K21: The Current Generation's Essay Writing In The Cracks

Not surprisingly, "NBA 2K21" has received overwhelming negative reviews once it was launched.

For fans of basketball games, this scene is not surprising. The author, like many players, scolded and bought tickets at the same time. Everyone ridiculed that the biggest change in this game is that all players have gone up by one year.

Of course, ridicule is just ridicule. Obviously, "NBA 2K21" does not only change the age and list. Players who have experienced a little in-depth experience can see the game's adjustments in shooting mechanism and player confrontation. However, this has not played a substantial role in restoring the reputation of the game. In the eyes of most players, this is still a complete skin-changing work.

The reasons for this phenomenon mainly come from two aspects: one is that the volume of the new content presented in "NBA 2K21" does not meet the expectations of players; the other is that the more obvious changes are biased towards the core, if you only go online occasionally If you touch two and do not pursue high-end operation, then the impact of these changes on the experience is not obvious. Therefore, the appearance of "NBA 2K21" is indeed not much different from the previous one.

However, if we have a deeper understanding of the situation of the 2K development team Visual Concepts (hereinafter referred to as VC), it is not difficult to understand why recent generations of "NBA 2K" have always failed to satisfy fans.

First of all, we all know that the "main battlefield" of "NBA 2K" is on the console platform. However, as the game gradually touches the bottleneck of the console function, it is difficult for us to see any new breakthroughs in the screen.

If we focus on gameplay, it is not difficult to find that more controversy originates from this. Undoubtedly, the "NBA 2K" series has created the most realistic and richest virtual basketball game for us. But even if it is the best in the current world, there are still many problems that have been criticized by players, such as unsatisfactory AI, unresolved old bugs, lack of changes in the game experience, and so on.

Many players attribute these problems to the old "engine". This is not unreasonable, just as some players discovered not long ago that the previous modifier can still be used in this game, which is enough to verify that the bottom layer of the game has indeed not changed much. But at the same time, we must also consider that as a "New Year" game, "NBA 2K21" has a limited development cycle so that it cannot reserve enough time to update the engine like other games, and completely change the game.

Some people may ask, can it not be launched in the form of "new year goods"? This requires consideration of commercial factors. Aside from R&D, publicity and other costs, 2K used a high price of $1.1 billion to purchase the NBA’s 7-year license, which means that 2K will spend more than $150 million on licensing alone. , And this does not include the authorization of Air Jordan, Nike, Under Armour and other various sneaker and accessory manufacturers. If this sales model is not maintained, the huge licensing fees will bring an unbearable burden to 2K.

Similarly, we can see that "FIFA", "F1" and other games that need to be licensed at a high price are also selling tickets in the form of "new year goods". Football fans next door often criticize the "skin change" of "FIFA", which seems to have become an unavoidable topic for such sports games.

The countermeasures made by the manufacturers is to retain the original mature framework, carry out micro-innovation on its basis, and gradually improve the player's experience. For example, the "NBA2K" series of growth cards in the MT mode, the neighborhood in the MC mode, the alliance expansion of the ultimate alliance, etc., are all aimed at providing players with more fun.

This year's "NBA 2K21" this generation version is no exception, but this time, compared to the mode's micro-innovation, the VC team put more energy on the adjustment of the control-the complete redo of the right stick shooting mechanism , Brings a new way of ending for players.

After nearly a month of precipitation, we have seen that this new mechanism has mixed reputations. On the one hand, it broadens the player's operating space, frees up more actions for the right joystick, and can well avoid the impact of delays on shots during network matches. But at the same time, we have also seen that in order to encourage players to try the new shooting mechanism, the game has increased the difficulty of the traditional timing shooting mechanism, causing a large number of players who have not adapted to the new mechanism to complain.

Fortunately, the VC team quickly listened to players’ feedback, and quickly changed some of the difficulty of the traditional timing shooting, and added a thoughtful shooting mechanism selection in the main menu, so that players who do not like the new mechanism can easily restore to the best. The original shooting experience. This is of course commendable. The VC team has been doing quite well in listening to the feedback from the player community. In the past few years, they have spared no effort to make repeated adjustments to balance, which is crucial to the gradually competitive "NBA 2K". .

Regardless of the shooting mechanism, the adjustments to the defensive end of "NBA 2K21" are also very obvious. In difficult games, AI is active in assisting defense, changing defenses very quickly, and double-team defense has become very flexible, and will no longer be crazy to give opponents assists like the previous game. At the same time, dozens of new confrontation moves also make the player's physical contact appear more real, and the wear model is also reduced a lot.

But as I mentioned earlier, these changes are more core-oriented and can bring significant changes to the experience of core players, but for many light players, these changes are irrelevant or even difficult to adapt. Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why everyone calls "NBA 2K21" a "skin change" game.

As a fan of the "NBA 2K" series for more than ten years, I have complained about the problems of the game like many players. However, considering the development environment in which the VC team is located, the huge annual licensing fees, and the increasingly inadequate functions of the host platform of this generation, it seems that it is not difficult to understand the discussion and discussion triggered by "NBA 2K21" as the endorsement of this generation. dispute.

There is still a period of time before the release of the next-generation console platform. It is not realistic to expect all players to buy it in the first time. Therefore, it is necessary for 2K to use a work to fill in the gap. This is not only an answer for fans, but also a safe way for 2K to continue to maintain sales to cover the huge licensing fee.

When the next generation version of "NBA 2K21" is released, if you can make significant progress like "NBA 2K14", it is sure that players will soon forget the controversy and criticism of this generation version of "NBA 2K21". However, ignoring the good development environment and abundant resources of the next generation version seems to be a bit unfair to the current generation version.

Recalling that more than ten years ago, "NBA 2K" did not sink into it after EA took away the copyright of ESPN. Instead, it used the top production standards and attitude to keep its basketball game at the top of the industry, step by step. It defeated the more resource-rich "NBA Live" series and became the leader in basketball games. This process is achieved by the VC team relying on a solid work. Although this generation version of "NBA 2K21" cannot satisfy all fans, it is foreseeable that the mechanism adjustments and some content innovations in this work , Will become an important part of the future "NBA 2K" series.

Conclusion:

Today, the best basketball game in the world is undergoing criticism from players. This is certainly not a bad thing. The current "NBA 2K" lacking competitors needs spurs from other sources to make its own quality better and better. However, considering the current situation of the game, assuming that the game’s development environment, licensing costs and its sales model limit itself, it is not difficult for us to understand why the "NBA 2K" series has to be "skinned" to the public. .

But 2K is 2K after all, and the basketball game they created is still unmatched by other manufacturers. Even professional players praised this series. So let us look at the next generation while also enjoying the charm of the best basketball game of the moment.

If you enjoyed this article "NBA 2K21: The Current Generation's Essay Writing In The Cracks" leave us a comment and tell us what you thought.