You’ll notice a couple tweaks to the gameplay formula. Defensive A.I. has been improved. You have more options off the rebound. You’ll even notice a couple team specific plays, and smoother blocks. However, all of these are encountered with a subdued “huh… neat” as they don’t change the way the game is played in any way, shape or form. They are just small improvements to what is essentially the same game we played last year. Unlike last year, which focused on a rivalry between you and a fictional player named Jackson Ellis, NBA 2K16 tries to give you a glimpse at the life of a real NBA player by increasing your interactions with coaches and players.

 

The NBA 2K16 assistant coach teaches you the Xs and Os of hoops during halftime breaks and film sessions. If you're not executing properly, he lets you know. No matter which team you play for, another player takes you under his wing and show you the ropes. The idea of interacting with a real player on a regular basis is thrilling, but the experience can be interesting or horrible depending on the performance. Some players, like Al Horford, sound convincing. But others, like DeMarcus Cousins and Markieff Morris, sound like they were just going through the motions during the voiceover sessions. Their monotone, stunted performances are bad to the point of being comical, sometimes pausing mid-sentence before resuming the reading of their lines.

 

The revamped scouting system in NBA 2K16 gives you various mock drafts from 2K Sports, Draft Express, and NBA.com. The more you scout a player; the more you learn about them. Except, if your scout is the type to cut corners or doesn't have a great understanding of certain aspects of scouting, you can end up with a real dud. Players have wingspans and go through the draft combine to give you all of the measurements you'd study in real life to glean whether or not a player is worth it. You'll have guys be injury problems in their career. You'll have players be better or worse than your scout suggests, so make sure you've hired the correct scout with the strengths you desire.

 

The player Upgrade system in NBA 2K16 is also another great aspect of the MyCareer mode. As you play the game, across all modes, you’ll earn Virtual Currency (VC). This currency can be used to upgrade your player’s attributes across every aspect of his game. Jump shots, speed, defense, rebounds. If you really want your player to be one of the elite NBA ballers, these attributes are the key to success. You’ll have to earn a ton of VC in order to reach the max in each category, but you’ll notice the upgrades in-game once you’ve purchased them.VC can be earned playing a quick game as well, so playing quick games or daily match-ups are a great way to help your player reach the next level.

 

It’s also not quite as much fun to play as it should be due to control issues and game crashes. The former is a big reason why console sports games often have a hard time moving to phones or tablets, and this one chooses to tackle controls with the dreaded virtual stick and button combo. The stick simply isn’t responsive enough, especially on defense, where you constantly feel like you’re scrambling around. Ironically, the game’s resemblance to real life basketball actually makes this problem work, because you need to hustle on D, and the controls simply won’t allow it. Gamepad support is nice, but it shouldn’t be mandatory, and that’s the way it feels.

 

NBA 2K16 is chock full of modes so not only will you find the mode that best suits you and the kind of game you want to play, but each mode is customizable to even fit into your busy schedule. What’s more, if I had reviewed this game at the time of launch I would be complaining about the online servers, which were in short…a mess. After last year’s unstable online issues all I thought in the beginning was, here we go again, but alas, thanks to some tweaking, fine tuning, and a patch here and there, the game is now like butter online. No matter if you are doing “The Park” mode or any of the other numerous online options, you can rest assured you are bound to finally experience that portion of the game as it was meant to be… which is fun as hell.

 

Sadly, the online components have been a bit shaky since launch, but 2K Sports insists that it’s working on rectifying the server issues. Other than that, the soundtrack is as great as it usually is, and this year tends to feature more basketball appropriate tunes such as Afrika Bambaataa and more recent hits. Those of you expecting NBA 2K16 to be a revolutionary basketball simulation may be a bit disappointed that this is more of a refinement. Fortunately, the small changes do improve the overall package - and Visual Concepts already had an outstanding basis to work from. Basketball fans will find everything that they want and more here.