October 23, 2006 - When EA Sports bought the exclusive rights to the NFL license, many gamers felt they had lost a home. While both the Madden and NFL 2K franchises were great for various reasons, they were also different enough to warrant separate purchases. A month into the 2005 football season, I needed my 2K fix and bad. So I waited for the 360 launch and picked up NBA 2K6. While I didn't know a whole lot about the sport of basketball at the time, the game sill felt like home to me. From the menus to the presentation right on down to the crib tally points, the air hockey table and the setup for my Sixers' franchise, everything felt like a homecoming. In the process I also learned to appreciate and love basketball as well as anticipate the eventual release of NBA2K7. While I've always learned to expect something different from Visual Concepts (first person football, the shot stick, etc) I never really expected what they eventually delivered in NBA 2K7: simply the most authentic videogame sport representation ever made. While I still jones for my NFL 2K fix, I'll happily wait out the licensing agreement playing NBA 2K7 and that's saying a lot.

While the actual game of basketball hasn't changed in years, the way we've played it on consoles has. From intuitive controls which imitate real-life gestures to the lifelike visuals, the fundamental has still remained about striking the prefect balance between challenge, authenticity and fun. While NBA 2K6 was amazing in its own right and while it was fun to take a rebound unchallenged, time and time again to your opponent's net, it was unrealistic, a little shallow and slightly anti-climactic. It seems that A.I. players were following the ball and not really playing their positions. NBA 2K7 fixes this and above all else, this is what makes it an infinitely better game.

This time around, it's not that the difficulty has been tweaked; it's simply that the A.I. doesn't lie down while you run around it. Every player, while on offense or defense, seems to stick to their positions. This means that dunking is work. This also means that every basket is a hard fought victory and that require patience, planning and teamwork. Now, add the fact that every player not only plays his position, but that they also behave like their real-life counter-parts. People play using their skill and size and the A.I. seems to react accordingly. If you want to see this in action, just watch the A.I. defend against Shaq or Kobe or Iverson. It seems different for each because each one poses a different treat. This is great news for your own defense, but it makes playing offense that much harder too.

The controls for NBA 2K7 will mostly seem familiar to anyone who's played 2K6. The basic moves are still the same except that dual-player control (which takes a long time to get used to anyway) has been remapped from the Y button (last year) to the directional pad (where it belongs) and the Y button now has a Hop Step which actually comes in quite handy from time to time when playing stingy defenses. The majority of the game still controls using the triggers and the sticks, with the right thumbstick still being used as the shot stick (which controls your various shot types). The left thumbstick, while still controlling player movement, also doubles as the isomotion stick when the aggressive modifier (trigger) is pressed. This adds an entirely new depth to the offense and makes picking the defense apart a lot more fun. While the A.I. is definitely better this year, many might feel like the controls have taken a step back. It seems harder to perform certain shots (and free throws), but the truth is simply that the game has been tweaked and every shot simply requires more precision. On free throws especially (where every player also seems to have his own rhythm and cadence) it's easy to miss unless you know exactly where a specific player's throw apex is. Also, if you use Shaq, you'll just miss over and over again. The needed precision is rewarding and mimics the NBA player's skills perfectly. While a 3-pointer with Iverson should almost be a given, there are many players with which you should just not attempt such a move.

Finally, NBA 2K7 also features progressive fatigue (per game, per week, per month and per franchise year) that is authentic and which can't be overlooked. In the same breath, the CPU is great at managing timeouts, substitutions and player trades. It's nice to see a sport title manage the clock properly as well, especially in the last minutes of each half. The CPU will also take your growing momentum into account and always try to use the appropriate tactics to slow you down. And while there are several levels of difficulty to NBA 2K7 (and plenty of sliders to tweak) the game never feels too easy, even on the easiest setting, or cheap on the hardest.

Where modes of play are concerned, NBA 2K7 (like every other 2K sports title) offers more than anyone else on the market. From the single game options, street ball matches, Association (franchise) and 24/7 modes, NBA 2K7 never leaves you without something different to try. Add to this the returning VIP profiles (why doesn't every sport title do this), the crib tally (although sadly, you no longer collect point to buy things - you simply pick a team theme now and collect trophies only) and the amazing online modes (including VIP sharing, online leagues, tournaments and stat tracking) and there is almost no room left for improvement. The Association mode is as deep as ever (with 3-way trades now) but may overwhelm newcomers (or non-basketball aficionados) with its training aspects and team management requirements. For the rest of use though, it's pure bliss.