NBA 2K22, let's discover some of the main news of the game

NBA 2K22

In recent days we had the opportunity to participate in a round table with Visual Concept in which some key elements of the NBA 2K22 play experience were presented. The presentation did not allow us to see the game in motion, but above all it allowed us to understand the heart of the innovations that Visual Concept intends to introduce in the next appointment with the series. Like the previous year, the new chapter of the franchise will be released for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S and Nintendo Switch and will present two versions, namely a Standard Edition and an Edition dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the NBA . But now let's find out what Visual Concept told us about NBA 2K22.

News on parquet

NBA 2K22: Dirk Nowitzki Listening to the guys from Visual Concept, the focus that emerged can be divided into two macro areas: experience in the field and playful experience with MyTeam and MyCareer, the main modes of the game. Starting from the first point, the main concept reaffirmed by the team was the desire to create two separate but equally unique experiences, as regards the new generation version and that for the past generation (which, like it or not, will also include the version PC). The idea was to continue along the lines of what was done in the previous edition given the excellent responses from the public. The tangibility of the progress in terms of gameplay is clear that they will be felt more on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S / X, but during the presentation the developers have promised interesting news and ideas compared to the past even for those who intend to play the game on the others. platforms. The speech focused more on two aspects: the ever deeper and more detailed feeling of physicality, defense and shooting.

The three aspects are extremely connected, as the idea is to offer a different feeling based on the player used and his physicality, to be combined with a revised system regarding the shot, the block in defense but also animation to steal the ball. Especially following the feedback received with NBA 2K21, the intention is to review different systems (especially those related to shooting) in order to give more space to the player's ability. On the real parquet there is often talk of "high IQ games", and the idea of ​​Visual Concept is to try to gratify a player who tries to risk relying on his skill, and not on a sort of "Russian roulette" as in some cases might seem like years gone by. These innovations are strictly linked to a more in-depth work done on animations, and were made possible also thanks to a strong motion-capture work that the development team had already planned for the past edition but which has been postponed to cause of the 2020 pandemic.

The main modalities

NBA 2K22: space for women too After the game on the pitch, the discussion moved on to the modalities. The first point touched on concerns the MyTeam, and in this case the beating heart of the experience concerns the Seasons. For Visual Concept, the feedback received with NBA 2K21 served to propose a deeper and more dynamic season system this year, with the result that - the team promises - the approach to the game will drastically change over the seasons, offering a an experience that could be diametrically opposite between the first and last season, but also between the first and the third for example.

The most striking quote also concerns the recent ninth season of NBA 2K21 dedicated to Space Jam. From the rewards to the ways to play, passing through the contents, the word repeated several times by the developers was precisely "evolution". To represent this concept, a new entry in the MyTeam content roster was used, that is a draft mode in which to create your own formation by choosing from a predetermined pool of players. This pool will be updated and modified over time and the variety offered over the seasons should always ensure new incentives to return to play.

NBA 2K22: space also for one of the cover stars Once the news of MyTeam has been told, we have entered the last point of the presentation, namely the MyCareer mode. Here the idea of ​​Visual Concept was to propose an experience that was more immersive than the previous one and that guaranteed greater control over the player's own alter ego's career. To do this, the concepts of City and career have been combined, creating a social space in which each player can express his personality but also his progress in his career. The desire was to make the city a meeting point not between cold avatars, but between athletes with a history and a wealth of experience: in short, a way to make the social hub more lively, interesting and personal.

We often know that the personality of an NBA athlete is also reflected outside the basketball court, and for this reason Visual Concept has decided to introduce the possibility of managing the player's career also from the point of view of off-court ambitions. . We still don't know how this will happen, but in the meantime it was the world of luxury, fashion and music that were mentioned. And it is here, however, that we will see one of the main rifts between the next-gen version and that for past consoles, as the City and its innovations will be an exclusive of the PS5 and Series S / X versions, while on the other platforms the players will have a new version of The Neighborhood set on a cruise ship traveling between different locations. Also with regard to the City, the additions in the choices of 1v1 and 3v3 are interesting, which will now offer both games against other players and against the AI.

Although brief, the presentation allowed us to understand the basic idea behind the path taken by Visual Concept with NBA 2K22. The intention to focus on the player's ability as well as on the possibility of having 360 degree control over the life of one's alter ego are choices that may not seem revolutionary but that undoubtedly allow the series to take new steps towards the idea of ​​simulation total.

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