Before you begin MyPark you have to choose a team to be affiliated with, with each team granting different bonuses to your player. The Old Town Flyers focus on playmaking and defensive attributes, while the Rivet City Rough Riders are all about rebounds and athleticism.
The MyPark mode is included within the M圜areer mode, and here you can take your pro to play 3v3 matches of some pick up basketball against other players. In MyLeague you also have a pre-game show with sportscaster Ernie Johnson and basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal, where they chat about the upcoming fixture and players to watch out for. It seriously puts other sports games to shame as the commentary and arena sounds also add to the feeling that you’re watching an actual broadcast. The commentary is once again the best of any sports game with much more passion in the voicework, as well as being educational about various players and what teams have done and are doing. In the MyLeague mode, where you can choose to play as a team through the seasons, it felt like all the passing, defending, and shooting all meshed perfectly, making the game look like an actual NBA broadcast. The players in all the game modes feel much easier to control too, with smoother animations and movement allowing plays to flow better. Whereas if the bar is yellow on the right it means you’ve let the shot go late so it may just bounce off the front rim, or not even reach the basket. If the bar appears on the left then you’ve made the shot a bit too early, meaning it may go a bit too far. In the video you also see the bar turning yellow either left or right of the white line. For example in the video above my player isn’t a good three point shooter, so no bar appears, but he is good at jump shots from mid range. As your player gets into different positions, that bar grows or shrinks showing how much of a chance a particular player has at scoring a shot. This time around, player controlled team mates have a bar appear in their circle indicator, with a white line in the middle. The overall gameplay is much better too, especially the shooting indication system. The soundtrack is much more varied as well compared to previous titles. Cheerleaders also make their debut in NBA 2K15, though they cycle through only a couple of routines. Some of it is a bit hit and miss though, with some performances that really do sound quite monotone.
There’s also voice acting, with the NBA players lending their voices to the game. This allows you to practice any upgrades you may have bought before entering a match environment. This time you can practice in the gym between games too, replacing the travel screen from last year. It’s a much better system as it cuts out quite a lot of the grinding from earlier titles. In NBA 2K15 attributes are now grouped into categories like Athlete or Jump Shooter, and if you choose to spend your points on upgrading one of these categories then quite a few of your attributes will be improved. In previous titles this was proper micro manangement where every single attribute had to be upgraded individually, spreading currency thin.
Once you’ve earned your points/currency through playing games, you can upgrade your player. Thankfully 2K has gone back to 2K13 model where you can get your saves without having to connect to the company’s servers. In last year’s game, if you started a career while connected and then lost that connection, you would lose access to your save. This is a major change from one of the big cons of NBA 2K14. Virtual currency is only attainable if you’re connected to the net, while points are substituted in if your connection goes down. To do this you need to earn points or virtual currency. Luckily it is pretty easy to get signed up, begin the career, and start growing as a player. Fail all the chances you’re given and you’ll have to start the mode again. Fail to reach that goal and you’ll be dropped, having to hunt for another team. Each team has various levels of interest, and different goals for you to achieve. You’re given the option to pick a team to play with on a 10 day contract and if you impress they’ll sign you up. While in previous games you played a rookie match and got drafted to a team, NBA 2K15 shakes up the formula by making you an undrafted player.Īt the beginning of the mode no team selects you and it’s only halfway through the season when your player gets a chance. In M圜areer you create a player to compete in the NBA, but there is a story going on too and how you react to different situations shapes how your team-mates and rivals see you. I’ve spoken about this mode in both my 2K13 and 2K14 reviews, stating how this is basically the closest you can get to a sports RPG. Let’s start with my personal preference which is M圜areer.