NBA 2K18 has a brand new gameplay trailer, and it features the league’s best players being fooled by some seriously awesome moves. What cooler way could there be to groove out to “Shook Ones” by Mobb Deep?
While this trailer focuses mostly on very specific gameplay animations as opposed to what players will see in real-time, the graphics on show here are fairly impressive. Superstars like Kevin Durant and LeBron James look more realistic than ever, and some aesthetic love was even thrown to some unlikely players like Malik Monk and Kemba Walker of the Charlotte Hornets. 2K still has tons of love for D'Angelo Russell of the Brooklyn Nets and,mo of course, Lakers newcomer Lonzo Ball.
The purpose of this particular trailer is all about showing NBA 2K18’s fluidity in motion. The game’s development team at Visual Concepts has done significant work to make movement feel and appear realistic. Dunks from the likes of Demarcus Cousins carry tons of weight, and the soft touch of Isaiah Thomas is well documented here.
Yet there are some obvious mocap weaknesses too. In both hairstyle and body definition, Kawhi Leonard of the Spurs looks more like he did in his rookie season than the pro he is today. Not every model can be perfect and sometimes scheduling makes it hard to fit in a proper mocap session, but in such a sim-oriented game, that’s a serious miss.
This trailer launches amidst an onslaught of player ratings that have been flowing from athletes and the 2K Twitter account over the past few days. It’s evident that this game is nearing completion just before its Sept. 19 release date, but at this point we’d really like to see some natural gameplay sequences instead of a montage. Recent developer diaries offered glimpses of what’s being done to make 2K18 look great, but it’s high time we got a truly honest example of that. Stylized trailers are cool, but they’re not always representative of the final game.
NBA 2K18 launches Sept. 19 on PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch and PC. A Prelude demo comes to PS4 and Xbox One Sept. 9.
What do you think of the “Get Shook” NBA 2K18 gameplay trailer? Do these jazzy animations impress you? Tell us in the comments section!
- Great basketball mechanics
- Easy for new players to learn
- MyGM's story content is a great starting point for the future.
- The Neighborhood social hub feels empty and pointless
- Microtransactions ruin what would otherwise be a fun experience
- MyCareer story is a bit dull
