Who goes slow steady wins
Visual Concept guys have chosen a different way for their NBA 2K18 than EA’s for Fifa 18. If the second proposes a unique Switch version, with different gameplay and modes than those seen on other consoles, the NBA 2K18 proposes the same identical experience seen on PS4, Xbox One and PC. The only limitations, as was expected with regard to the console’s portable nature, are in the graphics sector, with the game running at 30 fps compared to the canonics 60 of the other versions.
The result is to watch a game that looks slower with animation, especially in busier situations such as fights under the basket, less fluid than usual and with a slightly slower response. Nothing that makes the title unplayable, indeed: NBA 2K18 on Switch remains widely enjoyable and even in portable mode the game proves to be a little technical miracle.
Of course, some textures are a bit sacrificed, the reflexes of the photographers are not always accurate and the players’ patterns are less defined than the counterparts seen on the other consoles but the ability to play the game without getting too many compromises proves the goodness of the work done by the guys in Visual Concept.
The work on gameplay has always been great in the series. To master the infinity of commands and schemas available, it will take hours and hours of training with CPU CPUs that can step forward over the previous chapters, always pulling the man free and punishing our defensive choices.
The only small criticism, but it’s probably just a matter of picking up a hand, concerns the management of the shot, now based on filling a small marker to the right of the player. In the first games, he has also played live charts by reliable shooters such as Curry and Thompson, with the situation becoming more critical in portable mode due to a really unobtrusive indicator, so it is almost advisable to avoid looking at it and focusing on player movements.
On Nintendo Switch it is possible to play two-player games using Joycon, but much more arcade and simplified experience, advisable only for fast and unpretentious meetings.
The tradition of offering the available modes is very rich, although some important limitations have to be reported. Let’s start right from MyCareer, the player’s career that particularly sucks on the Nintendo Switch. In addition to the problems already encountered in other console versions, such as slow progression of character that will bring you over 250 games before reaching the top or a story under the previous chapters, this Switch version sees the presence of several bugs slightly affect the experience.
During our experiment, we stumbled on frame rate drops while exploring the Quarter, the new mode hub, in sync problems during cut scenes, with dialogs that did not match what was shown on video, and with some bribery of the rescue files.
Despite a first corrective patch, the situation remains far from perfection and all this is added to the inability to play without being connected to a WiFi network to synchronize the bailouts, a choice that greatly limits the handset experience, with the hope of see new solutions for next year’s release.
We also find MyTeam, the equivalent of Fifa’s Ultimate Team, MyGm, a managerial career that inserts the story of a player called to move behind the desk after a terrible accident and MyLeague, much like MyGm but without the storyline accompanying us during the seasons.
Finally, unlike what you see on NBA 2K17, this new chapter sees the loss of Euroleague teams, never really been exploited, and the arrival of NBA All-Time teams: you’ve always dreamed of using the Lakers with Jerry West , Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant? On Nba 2K18 you can finally do this, with some teams that enclose quintets full of legendary players. We close with a small note: Due to the size of the title, the Nintendo Switch requires the use of an external SD to download part of the game,
