Brad Miller Passmaster wrote:
2K really needs to work on the incorporation of rookies into its game. The franchise mode has been nice but broken, in a way, for years. I think there needs to be more openness in ability levels of players in the NBA game. By having almost all players rated 75+, you run into a league of supermen after a few seasons with player progression. If they had a wider range of skill ratings (say 0-100), you might see more of a difference between a true superstar and an allstar or a bench warmer and a role player. This would make the game more playable in the long run.
I also don't know if I really like the ability to boost your players skills through drills. Does the CPU simulate doing this for the CPU controlled team?
That said, the gameplay is pretty damn good (although not on par with the last College Hoops game) and it blows Live away so I'll be guaranteed to pick this up when it hits.
Totally agree. You end up in situations where the number one pick in the draft has a rating of 81 (and a potential of 99), but still can't get on the court with his team. They also just generally need to improve the intelligence of the other teams when it comes to the draft. As it is there are just way too many bad picks. As for the ratings in general, I think you're right in that it would be an improvement if they spread it out more throughout the 1-100 scale, but I've always had a a pipe dream that they would ditch that scale altogether.
Are any of you guys familiar with the Football Manager series? It's a soccer sim for the PC, Mac, and PSP. It's huge in Europe, but has a decent following in the states as World Wide Soccer Manager (your average EB Games might order only one copy, if any, but you can get it at Amazon). Anyway, they have the best way of rating players I've seen so far. Each player has a current rating and potential rating from 1-200, and they really do run the gamut, but you can't see that rating unless you actually go into the database editor. What you do see is essentially a spread sheet rating each of his individual skills from 1-20. Here's an example:
There are also a lot of hidden ratings, aside from the Overall and Potential I mentioned before, like how players perform in high pressure situations, how marketable/well regarded they are at the moment, several different personality metrics (though you are given a general idea of what his personality is like, just not as in depth), none of which you ever see. You can only get indications of them through scouting.
This solves a lot of problems, such as having to break down a players ability into a single number, and then ranking them in that order. It also allows/forces more realistic team building, as opposed to the "put the guys with highest overall rating on the floor" system that 2K (and most others) use now. You build teams based on how the players skills compliment the other players, and the play style of them team.
I know it'll never happen, but I've always wished 2K would adopt this type of system for rating players.
