People are going to skip this game for obvious reasons, but they shouldn't. The more I play it, the more it becomes obvious that this is the best basketball game ever made.
First thing you will notice, is you can block shots now. No, really. The coolest thing to do in the game is swatting a breakaway layup from behind. The added a bunch of new block animations, and the game finally has the right amount of balance when it comes to the overall number of blocks.
Floor spacing is improved.
Overall lane play got a makeover. Use a slasher like Iguodala or Kidd-Gilchrist and they will fight through contact and draw fouls instead of getting caught in those animations that always resulted in turnovers or ugly shots that made you scared of driving into traffic. I always found these type of players pretty useless in the game except as finishers on breakaways or with a clear path to the basket. Now, there is a real "toughness" involved that I can't really describe but is obvious when you play.
Offensive rebounds are realistic right out of the box for the first time ever.
You are rewarded for good defense with less of those frustrating money jumpers as the shot clock expires, but you will be punished if you freelance too much on defense and leave guys alone.
When you first fire up the game, it feels like a 2k13 roster update, but the more you play the more you will notice these subtle but important changes. I thought 12 with good sliders was as good as it gets, but this tops it right out of the box.
mg:
