Even after they shut down the servers and most of the game modes don't work anymore they're still trying to sell this game for $60.

It took me a while to write this review. I wanted to give the game ample time to get fun before I offered a knee-jerk reaction based on unreasonable expectations. My assessment: NBA 2k17 is a supermodel. Looks very good on the surface, but still the same dumb blonde underneath. The most frustrating part about the game is that it comes so close to being a genuine basketball simulation, but then it decides "nah, I'd rather act like a video game." There are moments when you pull of a great play and it works the way you intended and you pump your fist like it's a real basketball game. Sadly, there are too many moments when the computer (on Superstar or higher) will simply not allow you to score and won't allow you to stop the other team when it decides "let's make the game close so we can build a false sense of suspense, because 2K fans are too stupid to notice that we make them struggle to score in EVERY 2nd and 3rd quarter, then we flip a switch and they hit everything and they feel excited when they come back. Cool, right?" No 2K, not cool. Let me blow out teams that I should blow out based on my skill level and the level of talent on my team rather than making severely overmatched teams like Brooklyn and Philly play like the Spurs because you think I want to be challenged. It defeats the purpose of trading and roster moves and training if my guys are going to play down to their opponent every game. Also, we notice when the AI-controlled teammates in both My GM and My Player decide their going to stand in the lane and play off deadly shooters just so the CPU can get easy baskets. We tell the guy to play him tight, and our teammates play off anyway, cause....suspense. We pick the guy to stop that from happening and hope our PGs can contain enough to stop the other teams PG. They fall asleep. We get the PG on the Pick and Roll and our center runs in place as is man rolls and gets layup after layup. It's not fun for those of us who like defense.

The presentation of this game is beautiful--the menus, the pregame, the stat tracking--and it was a smart move to take away the silly MyPlayer angles that made that mode convoluted. But again, the AI is too stupid for this game to pretend it's a simulator. It could possibly trick a casual fan who sees LeBron looks just like LeBron and says its the greatest game ever, but for us die-hard hoop fans, it's like watching that beautiful supermodel stumble off the runway right before she pulls off a perfect turn.

NEW PLAYERS: Overall, one of the best basketball games in the market, but can be hard to pick up. If you do, you're in for a treat. (See below)

FEATURES:
- High quality visuals for a basketball game (or any game, really)
- Very immersive MyCAREER mode
- MyPARK: a game mode where your MyPLAYER can play pick up games with others online
- 2K PRO-AM: create and customize teams and play online
- MyTEAM: the ultimate basketball card game; build your team (of current and former players) and play against others online on the hardwood
- MyLEAGUE / MyGM: if you prefer controlling a team from the top-down (+ new features!)
- CREATE A PLAYER: in-depth player creation with several new categories
- SHOES: give your players some sexy sneaks. Available for MyPLAYER as well

[From here it's more in-depth.]

RETURNING PLAYERS: See below.

MyPROS:
- MyCAREER immersion is the best in NBA 2K history
- Handles feel great
- Face scanning available for PC players now
- Better AI + more control over them
- Kobe and Michael B. Jordan welcome you to MyCAREER, not Spike Lee
- MyNBA2K17 mobile app hooks you up with easy VC
- Much cleaner UI
- Amazing soundtrack (if you're into rap, especially)
- Lot more player customization (animations, attributes)
- No Spike Lee
- Faster MyTEAM unpacking animations
- Dynamic Duo / Orange Juice mechanic is a free stat boost
- Very natural dribbling in between plays
- Arms are actually tangible; you touch the ball, it's out of their / your hands
- Ball isn't on a string; higher mechanics now used for offense
- Harambe logos
- Better, race-neutral MyPLAYER voice compared to the past (never mattered to me though)
- Better player celebrations
- Pres is a decent nickname, but what isn't compared to Frequency Vibrations
- No freqin' and vibin'

MyTRIGGERS:
- Questionable player ratings (as of 9/20/16)
- Occasional FPS drops
- You start MyCAREER with a really low rating (as usual)
- Justice Young has better ratings than you
- MyPARK is just 3 ghost towns
- Sound is glitchy (e.g. player interview with PA going off)
- You can't make the player you want with the categorization of playstyles
- If you're a lower draft pick, you can't skip to yours in MyCAREER
- Your MyPLAYER has unforgiving attribute caps (e.g. low free throw and stamina ratings)
- The '+1 stat' you SHOULD be rewarded disappears
- No yeezys?
- Unskippable cutscenes
- Many players' faces are completely off
- Not the most hacker-proof game out there (as usual)
- You can still select 'Freq' as a nickname
- Lots of attributes for MyCAREER aren't recorded or saved
- Can be difficult to master the mechanics, especially for newer / returning players
- Spike Lee

MyTIPS:
- For face scanning, use an iPhone front camera while right in front of really bright white light
* Turn slowly, and per angle.
- Lower the difficulty to:
* Rookie if you're getting crushed or are fairly new
* Pro if you're fine at the level the game puts you at initially
* All-Star if you're ready to play at a respectable level
* Superstar if you need a challenge
* Hall of Fame if you want to find out how hard of a punch your monitor can handle

MyREVIEW:
- The latest installment to the NBA 2K series, NBA 2K17, is one of the better basketball games on the market ever--by default. It has a deep career mode, unlike any other game in its genre, but has once again failed to make it the best through acclaim. Its career mode--arguably the most anticipated part of the series now--tends to make critical errors annually. If you want to have the best career, then go buy 2K11. If you want to have the most IMMERSIVE career, then take this game.

- If you're new though, this game might be a headache. It's not the perfect game, it's just the "best basketball game" created, arguably by default. Lots of fun if you put in the work, but if you're way more casual than a lot of 2K players stick with the games that came out in the past.

- MyTEAM, MyLEAGUE/GM are back again and they've been upgraded. Had no issues with their content before (minus the actual gameplay on the COURT; that's another story), and even made adjustments to make the modes more enjoyable. (See MyPROS.)

- Several new mechanics have been introduced this year, including shot / pass aiming and the dynamic duo system. It certainly increases realism, but the game has too many other holes already for 2K to be working on something like that. (See MyTRIGGERS.) There are many issues that I'm sure you'll read about in the other reviews floating around, but the positives in tandem with them bring me to these opinions:

MyTHOUGHTS:
- FOR HARDCORE 2K FANS: Must buy
- FOR CASUAL 2K FANS: Great game; best 2K since next gen graphics
- FOR NON-2K PLAYERS: Get it on sale
- FOR ALL: No Spike Lee MUST BUY $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I'm going to write an honest review for this game since A LOT of people seem to be very biased.

This is not a perfect game. No 2K basketball game will ever be a perfect game. Does that mean this game is bad? No. Should you hold off on the game for now? Probably.

Let's start with the positives:

- A lot of people seem to gloss over the fact that 2K rehauled a lot of mechanics for this game. Shot meters feel more legitimate, this game is MUCH much more realistic (fouls, shot tendencies, etc...) This game is better and more fluid to control, and the gameplay reflects each players' ratings (defense, shots, etc...) much more accurately.

- Online play seems to be better and more fluid. I've yet to encounter any latency issues online with quick play and the such.

- MyCareer is MUCH better than last years. There is no cheesy story and the cutscenes feel much more integrated into the game. Orange Juice and dynamic duos are a great idea in general. The UI for MyCareer (and the game in general) is so much cleaner and more functional.

- The game is visually beautiful, not much else to say on the matter.

Now, the cons:

- Help defense is broken. It's quite ridiculous that 2K hasn't fixes this lingering issue in such a long time but it's still there. This is a BIG issue in MyCareer and not quite as bad in other modes since you can manually control players.

- Stat allocation is broken. This is a huge issue in MyCareer and has deterred me from playing the mode any more until 2K fixes this issue. Introducing the idea of stats that can only be raised in practice is actually quite a neat idea. However, these boosts are not permanent, even though 2K has stated they are. This is detrimental and demoralizing and discourages players from playing the game more. Limit caps are ridiculously strict as well. 2K NEEDS to fix these issues ASAP.

- Numerous glitches.

- 2K introduced broken mechanics along with the good mechanics. Ankle breakers are now pathetically easy to pull off (using Stephen Curry behind the back moves is a surefire way to have your defender fall). Moving screens are now a thing.

I would hold off on buying this game until 2K patches it. There are just too many issues with the game that prevent it from being a playable game. I like this game. I really do. That's why I'm hoping 2K listens to the community and starts working on the issues at hand immediately.

Big NO to all 2K titles, the fact that NBA 2k17 is priced the same as 2k18,2k19 and 2k20 after 4 years shows the greediness of this company .They want 50 euros for 2k17 when there is no server to even play the game.

Good graphics, a storyline without Spike Lee, and reworked versions of the offline modes make this a more desirable version than its predecessors.

Might want to stay offline though. I heard they have a cheating problem which it seems like 2K WILL NEVER FIX OR EVEN ADDRESS.

But I'm an offline player, so this gets a thumbs-up (also because no Spike Lee).

NBA 2K17 is special for me.
The reason for this is the Kobe Bryant-Edition.

Kobe was my childhood NBA-Hero.
We never forgot you Kobe!

R.I.P Legend! :´(

Kobe Bryant:
"1978-2020"


In German:
NBA 2K17 ist für mich eine sehr spezielle Ausgabe der NBA 2K Reihe.
Der Grund dafür ist die Kobe Bryant Legenden-Editon.

Kobe war mein Kindheits NBA-Held.
Wir werden dich NIE vergessen Kobe!

Ruhe in Frieden,
Legende! :´(

Kobe Bryant:
"1978-2020"

So after 240 hours in 2k16 and 20 hours in this, I can really say it improved in almost every point. So I am just going to make a quick pro and con list:
pro:
-new handle system is easy to learn but hard to master (you can really create your own combos and make some nasty ankle breakers)
-graphics and sound improved even more
-AI improved by a big margin
-Blacktop now has people watching you play, cheering etc
-the soundtrack is once again amazing
-playing as a team (for me personally) is way more fun in this part
-the story and the cutscenes are amazing and they seem to never stop
-endorsements are awesome (you can sign with a shoe company and get your own shoe for example)
-the dynamic duo system is fun
-the halftime/pause shows
-you can rewind the whole game in instant replay now
-much more which I fail to remember right now but those are enough

cons:
-somewhat underated player ratings (Isaiah Thomas, Dwyane Wade, Damian Lillard..)
-already 90+ ovr players in mypark
-it takes way to long imo to get a new upgrade from working out
-some weird sound and animation bugs but they aren't a big contra

All in all I'd give this game a 9/10, it's so much fun and even more fun with friends. Everything looks and sounds so good that I just don't want to stop playing.

*Update: Now, after lots of changes and patches, I think some online modes have changed for worse. For Park, you really have to make a certain type of player because of glitches, stats etc. that everyone else seems to use. Also the servers lag really bad, really often now. I don't know what they did, but it just doesn't feel right. Shooting has become worse too, even though I don't really shoot so I don't know how worse it became. Right now, I'd still give the singleplayer mode a 9/10 and the competetive online modes a 6/10

Really didn't plan on reviewing, but noticed a lot of people asking if this is worth $15 on sale. Short version - definitely yes. Now onto specifics...

Offline modes are very much improved. Expansion teams for MyGM/MyLeague, with expansion draft of course, and customization options for those are really cool, for example if you're looking to create a legitimate historic team court and things, you can actually get pretty close using just in-game editor. Only bad part is that you can only create 2 custom jerseys (home and away) per team. MyCareer is a vast improvement over last year, specifically due to absence of the Spike Lee story. There's a new "story" so to speak, it irks some people, but it's not too bad and you still have control over the entire season. One downside is due to new player archetypes, you're effectively reduced to a role player even when you reach your maximum. Personally I can still hit triple-double average on Hall of Fame difficulty with my primary player, but the new stat caps severely limit the player potential. Ironically, you can't at all play some of the iconic player archetypes such as true all-around, 3 and D, or Dunker/Defensive Specialist.

Online modes on PC are... disgusting. First off there's a smaller player base, so you're bound to run into some queue times, or a completely dead queue very late in the night. Also, the game is susceptible to cheats, for example, only couple of months ago they blocked one particular cheat from MyTeam auction house, which was blatantly obvious and apparent and had very bad impact on economy. I won't go into details here as I don't want to be seen as advertising cheating, but I think it's very obvious they are weak on the ban hammer side, and the game itself is weak on protection. Also there is the unavoidable server lag for online modes, couple of sources close to the company explained that all servers are in Virginia, US, even the EU or Asian servers.

Gameplay is improved over the last year, primary addition being various types of Pick and Roll defenses, you can literally see different teams using different defenses and things like that. However I feel it's important to note that stock difficulty settings are sorely lacking in realism/simulation aspect. They are all very much arcade. However, there are lot of simulation slider settings listed at OperationSports for example, and once you tweak them, the game really shines. Of course, there are still couple of bad animations that can't be completely avoided, but custom sliders help out a lot in this regard. I should note that by default MyCareer doesn't allow custom slider settings, but there's a mod tool that can be used to accomplish this.

Graphics of course you can easily see in any random gameplay video - they are obviously improved over last year(s). One part that sort of falls into this category that is dramatically worse are the replays. About 50% of the time, the replay will use the silly rim camera, and you won't be able to see the play at all.

In summary, as you can probably tell from the hours I played, I find this to be a great game, not like we really have a choice on PC when it comes to basketball. After thoroughly playing most of the game modes (except Play Now Online & All Star Team-Up), I'd easily recommend this to any basketball fan. However, keep in mind that online modes can be very frustrating, and if that's your primary reason for purchasing, it might be wise to wait and see how 2k18 turns out in that regard.

The game have same problems year after year, people are tired of same sh*t. Graphics stay the same, only rosters and some movement change every year. Except this year 2k removed some new dribbling moves. But that is the same as playing 2k16, and older ones 2k games, just with different music, rosters and interface.
But the biggest problem (stay the same every year) - worst servers in game history + error codes (that you need to spend more time finding out how to fix it than playing the game).
Next year will be the same year, and i'm not buying it again. We will hear bunch of lies before 2k18 release, and yeah, it will be all lies, like every year.