by:	January 15, 2008

NBA 2k7 is the best basketball game ever made. When I say that, I’m talking regular, realistic basketball. I’m not even going to try comparing the Jams, Streets and Ballers to this title but if you’re looking for a pure basketball title, you can’t do any better than NBA 2k7 on the Xbox 360. 2k Sports did a fantastic job this year of updating the game so that it actually feels next gen.

When NBA 2k6 launched with the Xbox 360, I picked it up. I was still playing it almost a year later. True, it didn’t feel overly next generation. It didn’t show off my 360s power like some of the other games I had did. But I had a good time with it whenever I popped it in. The gameplay was extremely solid and everything was just enjoyable. I’m a long time fan of the series and was pleased. But this year’s version of the game makes last year’s version look years old.

The big addition this year is signature shots. Basically, 2k Sports has made each player in the NBA play like themselves. They move like they do, they shoot like they do…everything is unique. Your release with each player is different from the others. This can be hard to just jump into a team and start playing, but once you get used to a team it can make you unstoppable. Even when you’re new to a team, you pick it up fairly quickly.

All of the modes of past titles return, including a personal favorite, Association. Basically the Franchise mode, you take a team and guide it through the years, signing players, watching rookies, playing games, winning championships. It’s a ton of fun. You can have fun in this mode never playing an actual game - I’ve made Associations where I simulated all of the games and simply managed my team. I’ve had a blast doing so. There’s also 24/7 mode which this year has been updated to include a story and play more like a combination of the 2k games and NBA Street. It’s way more fun than before, and it was already a good time.

If you’re looking for faults, there are a few. Passing feels a bit too loose and some of the signature free throws are just absurd. Also, online play can as always be ruined by cheesers who exploit the game to their advantage. No one wants to face a guy who passes the ball to Kobe every single time then makes most of his shots with him even when you’re double and triple teaming the man. But there’s also plenty of good opponents out there to play. If you choose to auto-draft a team, some good players for some reason always stick around longer than they should. Believe me, if you look at people’s fantasy drafted teams, you’ll see David West there far too often. He’s an 82 player who always seems to stick around way past all the other 80s. But these are minor complaints.

Graphically, 2k7 is a big step into the next generation. Many of the players look fantastic, even better than last year. And unlike last year, the arenas, cheerleaders and crowds actually look good this time around. It’s also amazing to see things around you adapt so well, like the mascot coming out at time out and getting the crowd up, and the crowd thinning out during a time out…these are the kinds of things that are impressive in 2k7. There are a few problems though, mainly with the character models. For every character which looks perfect, such as Elton Brand, there’s one that looks all wrong, like Devin Harris. Also, the hair in this game needs some serious work. Almost every slightly long haired character has horrible looking hair. Steve Nash’s is the best - it actually moves. But Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Kaman look horrible because of their hair.

The announcers this year are as stale as ever and it isn’t that I don’t like the pair that they have doing it; I’m a big fan of Kenny Smith’s commentary in real life (let’s get Charles Barkley to team up with him for next year’s game), but his dialogue is just so stale. It gets old really, really fast. I do love his new half time picks though.

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I started off my review by saying it and I might as well reiterate. This is the best basketball simulation that I have ever played. There’s so much to do, the gameplay is so tight and everything is so well done that I have a hard time imagining it leaving my gaming rotation anytime soon. There are a few flaws here and there but they’re all minor things that you quickly forget about as you get into the game. Any basketball fan should pick this game up; you might even enjoy it if you aren’t a fan of sports games.

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