NBA 2K16

NBA 2K16 is a leap forward in defensive AI, online stability, and overall polish. This is amazing basketball.

NBA 2K16 draws you in with its welcoming personality and expanded game modes. But it still manages to push you away with unexplained intricacies.

NBA 2K 16's strong fundamental basketball smarts, world-class presentation, and multitude of options make it the most ambitious sports game I've ever played.

With several modes worth playing, NBA 2K16 offers the most value you'll find in a sports game

Yet Spike Lee's nuanced plotting and oftentimes poetic phrasing yield a promising beginning for sports game narrative, a beginning so affecting that Lee's last scenes left me staggered. It's a cautionary tale that should be refined to become far more interactive in next year's game.

NBA 2K16 is definitely hurt by Livin Da' Dream, which is problematic in ways that go beyond the scope of this review. It just doesn't work. Once you get past MyCareer, though, NBA 2K16 once again stands out as a top-tier sports sim. Here's hoping this setback won't stop Visual Concepts from continuing to push the envelope with their design decisions, because it continues to be their most admirable quality.

[B]asketball fans will likely have a great time playing NBA 2K16 for hours on end, but there are too many small steps back here that can't be ignored. The good news for fans of sports games is that the first misstep in this great franchise is still a very good game, which speaks to how truly fun its gameplay is.

If you like basketball and the NBA, you’ll love NBA 2K16, available for PS4, Xbox One and PC. This is, truly, a memorable experience for sports games and a welcomed step forward towards the realm of realistic gameplay, realistic graphics and game depth.

The basketball is stunning, the narrative is not

Basketball gamers have never had a better simulator than 2K16. It is a complete improvement in every way over the games that came before it, and has addressed most of the issues that its predecessor suffered from. That being said, there are still plenty of new issues, the main problems being the story mode and the severe issues with online play. The game even used the tagline "Story is everything" in regards to Spike Lee's creation, so the question has to be asked, if the story is very poor and "Story is everything", what does that say about everything else?