As the NBA’s billionaire owners and millionaire players continue to argue over money with no end in sight, the league’s fans are left without any professional basketball to turn to. Though it may seem like a poor consolation prize, NBA 2K12 is still coming out this year for all of the platforms you would expect. This year, 2K has taken their award-winning basketball experience on the go with an iPhone version. Will this portable solution be enough to sooth your desire for an actual NBA season?
NBA 2K12 on the iPhone tries really hard to cram the basketball simulation experience onto a portable platform. If you wanted to, you could play a full 82-game season with 12-minute quarters and take an active role in managing your roster from a GM’s perspective. For me, I just want to play some basketball on the go.
I loved NBA Jam on the iPhone because that game fit the pick-up-and-play nature of the platform. This game, by nature of it being a basketball simulator, doesn’t work as well as a pick-up-and-play type of game. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you’re really craving a more realistic experience, just go into your games knowing that there aren’t many places you can cleanly stop your game.
Having played NBA Live on the iPhone in the past, this is definitely a step up from that. The game does look noticeably better and features far fewer bugs than the EA equivalent. Most notably, the game does force you to play it like a real game of basketball. If you try to rely on your star player and just have them run to the hoop on every single play, the AI will shut you down. For a portable experience, this feels pretty good.
Unfortunately, the package does have a few kinks. There are two control types: one of which gives you on-screen buttons and the other is billed as “one-finger control”. The former has some issues with the button design and layout, as I felt their placement and size made it more difficult to trigger actions than it should be. As for the one-finger controls, they’re virtually useless. They never gave me the sense that I was controlling anything.
There are a few technical hiccups here and there, though none as heinous as the Gatorade mini-game. As someone who works in the advertising industry, I’m usually not one to cry foul about in-game advertising as long as it makes sense within the context of the game. On the surface, Gatorade being involved in a basketball game is kosher in my books. However, during my first game, NBA 2K12 stopped my game at three different points and presented a Gatorade drinking mini-game, which I could not skip. Not only is this a dumb way of forcing consumers to interact with your product, but the mini-game doesn’t even work. On all three occasions, I followed the on-screen instructions and my guy just sat there. I really hope he wasn’t thirsty.
Although NBA 2K12 may be the only basketball simulation available this year on the iPhone, it is at the very least a good one. For the most part, the experience is solid and should appease the basketball purist on the go. Assuming that 2K comes back with a 2013 iteration, I’d love to see a bit more polish and a bit less poorly done in-game advertising.
In Third Person 
I made my decision to buy this game on a console based on that stupid drinking mini game as shown in that last picture. I have heard great things about this franchise and many consider it to be even better than FIFA so naturally, I have to give it a chance. Nicely done review Jett, as always.
I’ve heard the console versions of NBA 2K12 are amazing. For me though, I’m not a huge sports simulation guy, at least not enough to spend $60 on an annual release. Some of the sports games now are fantastic, like NBA 2K, EA’s NHL games or their FIFA games, but in general the genre just isn’t my cup of tea.
Same here but sometimes I may change my mind based on the game’s merits, so no harm in trying. But I hate sports sims more than I hate myself so yeah, I will wait for the game to be dirt cheap before I buy it.
I’ve been playing the console version of the nba 2k12 and it’s a really great game. It’s really a far-cry to the NBA video games we played years ago. Graphics are great and the actions are almost realistic.
The only problem I can see here is the addiction of playing I get. Whenever I play a game, I see to it that I finish it. Thank God there’s only 48 minutes of playing time in the NBA or if this was like an RPG game I would’ve played for 8 hours minimum.
Thanks for the comment Eric!
I’m glad to hear you’re enjoying the console version of NBA 2K12. I’ve heard it’s amazing.
There are several issues with this game.
1] announcers often say the same things multiple times in a row, say things that have no relevance to the game action, and quote stats in the game that aren’t accurate. Also, the PA announcer says “Ray Ray!” when someone makes a shot for whatever reason.
2] No matter what team you play as, they all run the same offense. On that same note, it is difficult to get “your” team to actually begin and run through offense, making the shot clock an issue and therefore difficult to play. There should be a toggle button allowing you to “call” a play in the back court by swiping up/down/left or right, giving you 4 plays to choose from. Each team should run their own 4 plays unique to them. They could even have an area where you can design your own custom plays.
3] Their player ratings are a bit of a mystery. Vince Carter is rated 84. Yeah, maybe 8 years ago. Additionally There are some players that seem to play like all-stars in this game, but in real life, may not be in the NBA very long.
4] The defensive locking is helpful, yet annoying. Rather than a defensive lock, they should have created a section where you can assign matchups [like substitution area] and you can change those matchups even during gameplay. Allow to choose the level of defense you want to play on each matchup [loose, tight, foul] and even allow the choice to switch or not.
5] FG% is unrealistic, as most opponents shoot well over 60% in games a times and i have shot 85% in more than one game.
6] It does not allow you to save mid-game.
7] FT’s take far too long. You should be able to press a button to skip animations whether you are shooting or defending…
8] Timeouts and other animations should be skippable.
Other than that, it is a fun game.