The developers of Visual Concepts set again new standards with NBA 2K15. Whit this game you get the whole basketball-package right into your face.

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Hot cheerleader, a bawling audience, also the intros where we see how the players enter the stadion contributes to the awesome atmosphere.

Upgraded graphics, new animations and improved textures give you the feeling you are looking a live broadcast. Highly detailed faces, animated hairs, scrapes, just terrific how this game looks like. The developer added supposedly more than 5.000 new movements. That sounds plausible, because we were surprised about the great motion sequences. Many of the known ‘Signature Moves‘ were taken from the real life players and the dribblings are more varied.

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But there are more great things to say about NBA 2K15. First you should play some street or warm-up-games in the training mode. You have to know everything useful about the controls and movements of your favorite players. This is very important especially for beginners. Since the strengths and weaknesses of individual players are now more noticeable, you should focus first only on one team. The new ‘Jumpshot‘-display gives you immediately feedback about the hit chances of your pitch.

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One of the most popular game modes of the last game was the career mode, called ‘MyCareer‘. This mode has been improved for NBA 2K15. Create a custom player and guide him through the NBA, from being a promising rookie to a superstar player. During their career, players court sponsors and use social media to grow their crowd. After building your MyPLAYER on the court during your MyCAREER, you will be able to take him online to compete on the Park. You get virtual money for successful actions in the upcoming matches. You can invest this money into skills. The mood in the team is also very important. It is affected by the matches and your behavior compared to other players.

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Like in the last game you can play the MyGM-Mode again. You then shift into the role of a General Manager, who runs everything behind the scenes. And everything means everything, from contract negotiations to food prices in the stadium, all that is in your hands. To create your team you get Trading Cards.

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The new MyLeague-Mode lets you experience what it is to run a NBA franchise. In this mode, nearly everything is customizable in your hands from things like salary caps, team roster, and even season lengths are up to you.

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The multiplayer matches run very smoothly and without problems. And that is good, because the online leagues return to NBA 2K15 where you and your friends can take over control of your favorite teams and compete online against other users.

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MyTeam is NBA 2K15’s collectible card game-within-a-game. You buy virtual packs of cards containing players, coaches, uniforms, and more in order to build an unbeatable team. Offering both offline and online game modes within MyTEAM, you can go head-to-head with other players or complete challenges and tournaments. Unwanted cards can be auctioned off to other players at the brand new Auction House. Accessible from MyCAREER Mode, MyPARK lets you take your MyPLAYER character online and join one of three MyPARK communities: Rivet City, Old Town and Sunset Beach. Each community has their own special ability boost. Additionally, joining a community will allow you to compete against other communities on Rival days where you can earn special perks like earning a 25% VC bump. Within these parks, you can play with others in 2-on-2, 3-on-3, or 5-on-5 games. This year, we allow users to “squad up” to play with other friends as well as introduce teammate grades to the park that allow you to be ranked on your performance, and rank up through our new rep system. Park games will reflect a street-ball style of basketball with games going to 16 this year.

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When you are traveling through the various Parks, you can enter the “Rec Hall” where users can compete in 4-quarter, NBA simulation games with referees and NBA rules in the most competitive 5-on-5 games with your MyPLAYERs. You can also squad up here, claiming your stake as a squad and hold down the court against other users. This will take place in an indoor Jordan-brand gym.

If you want to go competitive, enter the Stage from the MyCAREER menu and ante up against others online in VC wager matches.

 In the Crew-Mode you can take your MyPLAYER character and form a Crew (complete with custom jersey and logo), which you can use to play a variety of street basketball games against other players. This mode allows you to unlock playable NBA stars in exchange for Virtual Currency.

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2K Games hired Hip-Hop-Star and Hit-Producer Pharrell Williams. You can hear the full soundtrack for free on Spotify. Take a look at the list:

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A Tribe Called Quest: Scenario

Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force: Planet Rock

Basement Jaxx: Hot ‘n Cold

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club: River Styx

Busta Rhymes: Dangerous

Clipse: Grindin’

Death from Above 1979: Romantic Rights

Depeche Mode: Personal Jesus

Junior: Mama Used to Say

Lauryn Hill: Doo Wop (That Thing)

Lorde: Team

Major Lazer featuring Pharrell Williams: Aerosol Can

Missy Elliott: On & On

No Doubt: Spiderwebs

OneRepublic: Love Runs Out

Pharrell Williams: Hunter

Pharrell Williams: Can I Have It Like That

Pharrell Williams: How Does It Feel?

Public Enemy: Shut ‘Em Down (Pete Rock Remix)

Ratatat: Seventeen Years

Red Hot Chili Peppers: Suck My Kiss

Santigold: Creator

Snoop Dogg: Drop It Like It’s Hot

Strafe: Set It Off

The Black Keys: Everlasting Light

The Rapture: House of Jealous Lovers

The Strokes: Under Cover of Darkness

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It looks like 2K Games listened to the large fan base and implemented the stuff people wanted to have in the game. They turned the right wheels and improved the great forerunner. We love the great running playability and the career-mode. We can feel that the developers love this kind of sport with all its show-elements and that they want to create a game-experience as authentic as possible. Thanks to the numerous gamemodes and exciting online-matches it will takes a long time until this game gets boring.

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NBA 2K15 is a must-have.

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Tested and written by Pascal van der Meer & Marcel Krafczyk

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