Its that time of year when we get to unpack all of the exciting gameplay enhancements and new features coming your way with NBA 2K22! Theres a new shot meter with a dynamically resizing make window. So expect to see a lot more variety when you hit the virtual streets of the City this year. The major emphasis for shooting success this year is Shot IQ. All of which were going to tackle in todays blog. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts.
Hitting the court with your favorite team in NBA 2K22is what the iconic basketball sim is all about. (side note: you can force bounce pass alleys this year!) The Atlanta Hawks are led by All-Star shooting specialist Trey Young. Those are the main features I wanted to highlight for this years Gameplay Courtside report. The combination of all these systems in NBA 2K22 makes it our most significant defensive effort to date. Shifts, launches, stops, and cuts all feel much tighter, and with even more new gen foot-planting improvements, youll see a lot less sliding on both ends of the floor. The communitys passion for 2K is what drives us, and many of our features come directly from you. Dribbling is something I personally spend a lot of time working on and am extremely passionate about and can say, without a doubt, that playmakers are going to have a field day with this years game! So if youre a player who plans to play both, you wont have to learn two different systems like last year. This is a great team to play is if you want to go all-out on offense it doesnt matter how many points the other team has if you have more, right? The amount of badge points at your disposal has been increased significantly giving you more options for how you badge out your MyPLAYER. Press J to jump to the feed. Now a little treat for the bigs. These are modifiers that you can unlock and equip to strengthen your existing Takeover abilities! Hello, 2K fans! If you want to play as a team where any player can dominate, the Lakers are the team for you. Theres a lot of great combinations and fakes once youve mastered the controls. NBA Finals MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo leads this squad backed by scoring machines Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday. The shot contest and blocking systems were completely rebuilt, leading to several new snatch blocks and volleyball spikes that never happened before. Season 8: Shaquille ONeal shattered backboards and expectations on his way to becoming an all-time great. If youre too early or late, youll either smoke the finish or miss the catch completely.
We now have the ability to have both single and double rotations to take away the first or second passing lanes once help defense is triggered. Booker can hit shot after shot after shot with ease, making the Suns a great choice if you want to run plays for shots behind the arc. Also be prepared to see more layup/dunk strips from high-rated stealers when slashers try to force their way to the rim in a crowd. Fast Twitch - Ability to get off the floor quicker for standing layups and dunks, Grace Under Pressure - Ability to convert standing layups more effectively, Limitless Takeoff - Ability to soar from further away on driving dunk attempts, Mouse in the House - Ability for bigs to finish over shorter players more efficiently, Unstrippable - Ability to secure the ball better when gathering for a layup/dunk in traffic, Chef - Ability to knock down Steph-like off-dribble deep 3s, Limitless Spot-up - Ability to hit logo-range 3s off a catch and shoot, Lucky #7 - Boosts your ability to score when shooting early in the clock, Mismatch Expert - Ability to successfully shoot over taller defenders on a switch, Glue Hands - Ability to make difficult catches and quicker branch out to a shot or dribble, Hyperdrive - Boosts the speed and effectiveness of moving dribble moves, Quick Chain - Boosts the ability to quickly chain dribble moves together, Post Playmaker - Boosts the effectiveness of both shots and moves when playing in the post, Triple Threat Juke - Increases the effectiveness of triple threat fakes, jabs, and go moves, Ball Stripper - Ability to strip layup and dunk attempts more effectively, Hustler - Ability to get to those scrappy 50/50 balls quicker than opponents, Menace - Significantly drops the offensive ratings of opponents when you smother them. Chris Paul is getting up there in years on the court but is still one of the best point guards in the league. This has been resolved for NBA 2K22 to ensure that smaller players are no longer lagging behind. The Phoenix Suns fell in the NBA finals this past year, but the playoff run has definitely lit a fire in star shooting guard Devin Booker. I feel like Ive been typing too long already, but theres so much more that goes into the nuts and bolts of 2Ks gameplay and this blog barely scrapes the surface. 2K, T2, related logos, and Take-Two Interactive Software, are all trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. All rights reserved. In a nutshell, quickly sending multiple Pro Stick commands and/or attempting to move in various directions with the left stick just after performing a dribble move will open up a world of new combos that will stifle even the best defenders! For floor defenders, body-up rides and bumps feel much more rewarding as the motion team has dramatically improved the feel of on-ball defensive movement. The Brooklyn Nets mightve underperformed in the playoffs last season due to injuries, but theyre coming for the championship this year and itll be tough to stop them. This window will expand when youre taking high-quality shots with good shooters, but will shrink when heavily contested, shooting with a low-rated shooter, or fatigued. Even though the future of Ben Simmons is still up the air, the 76ers are still a force to be reckoned with in the East. Shot timing still plays a major role in the skill gap (and yes, you still get an additional boost for turning the meter off), but will only take you so far if youre taking bad shots. 2022 NBA Properties, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The 1-to-1 Basic Size-ups have been removed and replaced by 1-to-1 Signature Size-ups. In the past, the hedge defender's primary focus was their man which led to the AI actively abandoning the ball handler. It seems unfair, but the Los Angeles Lakers keep getting better and better. Steals also received an upgrade with a greater emphasis placed on the steal attribute. Last year, taller players could outpace shorter players with the same Speed with Ball rating. Additionally, you can equip one of 32 unique dribble sequences (which Ive dubbed Signature Combos) as well. If you love playing the point guard position and scoring, you and the Hawks will be the perfect fit. I just tried right now, but this one is for GM-type game, I just wanted a quickplay, New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. When an alley pass is in the air, youll need to press the Shot Button at just the right time to finish off the oop. If you were a great perimeter defender who anticipated well, we wanted you to be able to clamp up the dribbler and force a pass. The Boston Celtics were plagued by injuries and COVID protocols last season, but this is supposed to be the year their young core of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown have real superstar seasons. Im not going to list them out because we want them to be a surprise, but its a great upgrade to the Takeover system that adds a layer of depth and strategy to how you compete online. Da Czar (our resident Xs and Os expert) and the AI team wanted to create a strong foundation to build on for many years to come. The superstar duo of Lebron James and Anthony Davis added point guard Russel Westbrook to the team this summer, so there are three players in the starting line-up that are major offensive threats. Flicking the Pro Stick in various directions last year gave you fairly generic-looking size-ups, while holding up on the stick gave you a nice-looking mo-capped dribble series. The big man can hit shots from anywhere on the court, is an elite rebounder, and knows how to lock up opponents down low. 2022 Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. and its subsidiaries. On the other hand, properly crowding shooters with good contests will result in plenty of bricks and airballs, as they should.
Digital Trends Media Group may earn a commission when you buy through links on our sites. Their feedback was incredibly valuable to us and allowed us to put the finishing touches on gameplay to ensure the best possible launch experience! We also increased help defender logic, controlling movement speeds requested in help situations. Brand new hedge defender logic and behaviors give the catch hedge defender a specific focus for how they react to the ball handler. This year marks the most significant update to the fundamental defensive rotations we have ever done! They lead to much more balanced on-court battles and make the game much more fun to play! There are also new RT/R2 fakes that keep you engaged in post allowing you to chain multiple fakes together without disengaging. Jump into NBA 2K22 Standard edition where the game never stops.
The primary goal for defense was to give gamers the tools to be able to really change the outcome of the game on the floor and at the rim. Our drive help was also built from scratch this year to give our AI help defenders more intelligence in their calculations for when to send help on the drive. The Bucks are a great all-around team and are a great choice if you want to dominate all aspects of the game. This year, the goal was to marry the two together and give each player a unique feel and rhythm when sizing up, while also giving the gamer complete control over how the series plays out. Here are the new badges you can play around with in NBA 2K22: That brings our total badge count to 80 with a number of existing badges also getting some nice upgrades. Officially licensed product of the National Basketball Players Association. Were not saying you should abandon your favorites just give some of the best teams in NBA 2K22a run here or there. Mike Wang, NBA 2K Gameplay Director (@beluba). But with all that behind us, the gameplay team was laser-focused on one goal with NBA 2K22: making a GREAT gameplay experience! The Warriors are a blast to play with and the 3-point scoring capabilities of the stars can swing a game in your favor in just a couple of possessions. This also paved the way to reward basketball IQ much more in our shooting systems. The rest of the roster has no serious specialists but is filled with great all-around players. When it comes to dribble movement, youll notice a significantly faster overall pace and much tighter control over how you navigate the court. On top of that, on new gen, weve added timing meters to both alley-oop and aggressive skill dunk attempts. This helps with the overall flow and spacing on both sides of the ball. Will these teams live up to their launch-day rating as the season gets going? Defense was also a major focus on the new gen AI front. NBA 2K22 and Castlevania are coming to Apple Arcade, How to pre-order NBA 2K23: retailers, editions, and bonuses, NBA 2K23s cover star is #23 himself, Michael Jordan, Pokmon Go developers next project is an AR basketball game, With Tesla bleeding money, Elon Musk initiates hardcore spending review, Elden Ring is far from perfect, and Demons Souls helped me see why, Netflixs ad-supported tier will start with a big drawback, Assassins Creed Infinity: release date, gameplay, and more, How to use Google Sheets: A beginners guide, Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 4: Everything we know about the foldable flip phone, The best monitors under $500 for gaming, work, and entertainment. The ball handler would have an open lane, which in turn would force help to come from the strong side, leaving easy, open jumpers in pick and roll situations. The new detailed builder screen makes it much easier for gamers to identify the available badges, the cost at each tier, and the attribute thresholds required to hit each tier. Deandre Anyton is a beast in the paint and is good for some low-post scoring and elite rebounding. In fact, we had the wonderful opportunity to bring in several respected community members and 2K Pros to beta test gameplay a few weeks ago.
The NBA and NBA member team identifications are the intellectual property of NBA Properties, Inc. and the respective NBA member teams. Great defense may not always be featured in real-life highlights, but all of these improvements are what Im most excited about for NBA 2K22. This system helps to fill in defensive gaps and sends help anytime a player has a clear path to the rim. We had an ambitious feature list that we wanted to tackle this year: faster-paced gameplay, tighter and more responsive movement, more skill-based offense, and big changes to the player builder. Season 6: Zero Gravity is taking you on an intergalactic journey through the cosmos, pitting you against otherworldly stars for dazzling new rewards. Each of the 28 unique dribble styles received a nice refresh with new content that accentuates the signature style of its given player. Unwanted bump steals and snatchy body ups have been reduced in favor of giving both the ball handler and on-ball defender more freedom of movement and respected input. The teams that work for open looks and take smart shots are going to see much more success than the teams that force up bad shots. Weve also added four new WNBA dribble styles: Seimone Augustus, Chelsea Gray, Arike Ogunbowale, and Gabby Williams. The shot contest rewrite removed the ghost contests that many complained about, and this year being out of position or not getting a hand in the shooters face will lead to some easy buckets for the offense. These are the top-rated teams in NBA 2K22divided up by conference. This along with motion improvements allowed us to tighten up general defensive positioning, which means gamers will feel more defensive pressure on-ball than was present in last years game. Theres nothing like controlling your hometown heroes as they hit the hardwood. But your go-to team might not be the most fun to play with if theyre at the bottom of the league like the Detroit Pistons or Houston Rockets. So flicking the stick quickly results in quicker dribbles while slower flicks give you more rhythmic ones. Last, but certainly not least, weve ported ALL 80 badges to current gen, a massive upgrade for our fan base! There are around 50 unique signature size-up packages to choose from, each with its own distinct advantages. Weve made a lot of adjustments to the system to create more balanced builds and give incentives for creating all different types of players. Developer-supported and community-run. As an elite team, the Clippers are another team thats great for all-around play. Our engineers were determined to achieve those goals, and were extremely happy with the results! We also made a strong push to get more of a skill gap into finishing at the rim. Big man Joel Embiid has been in the MVP conversation for the past few years and makes the 76ers the best team to play with if you want a dominant presence in the paint. This helps AI defenders take the proper route around screens to put themselves in a better position to navigate and avoid screen contact. Reddit's home for anything and everything related to the NBA 2K series. We also made a strong push to ensure that we were delivering the same quality gameplay upgrades on both current and new gen systems. The first year developing on new consoles always brings new challenges, such as major code rewrites, new technical hurdles, and systems getting rebuilt. But the one major focus for the team that we wanted to be priority one, was DEFENSE. Big thanks to those guys and we look forward to hosting more of those types of events in the future! This enables a much less jittery defender who knows where they want to be in all phases of defensive positioning.
Hes also the best big passer in the league, so full-court outlet passes on fast breaks will be your bread and butter. One which we fully intend to build on for years to come.
And on the dunking side, holding Sprint and pulling straight down on the Pro Stick will trigger the aggressive skill dunks. Superstar Steph Curry had one of his best scoring seasons on record last year, and now sharpshooter Klay Thompson is coming off an injury and ready to roll. From the outset, our goal was to create fun and competitive gameplay and I think you all will agree when you get your hands on the sticks that the team has delivered that in spades. Player builds is another hot topic when it comes to 2K. Let us know in modmail if it's been more than 30 minutes. But what exactly does that mean?
If you were a rim protector, we wanted to give you the ability to send away weak shot attempts at will. In NBA 2K21, we debuted a brand new player builder on new gen that allowed you to set up your attribute caps however you saw fit. All other marks are property of their respective owners. There are a ton of other new combos, cancels, and move chains you can pull off this year drag dribble hesis and spin stepbacks being my personal favorites. As with any new big developments, there are always growing pains. Lets take a look at the best teams in NBA 2K22 right now. Reigning MVP Nikola Jokic might not be the most exciting player to take control of in 2K22, but hes one of the best. Weve also added dunk celebrations into the game this year that work very similarly to the green release jump shot landing celebrations. The speed stick that we introduced on new gen last year also returns. So, have a great time with NBA 2K22, and we cant wait to read your feedback, watch your videos/streams, and continue to work with you to mold the best basketball game on the planet! And if your opponent is honed in on those two starts, Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris Sr. are always good with the hot hand in stretches. Theres a lot to choose from and many ways to impact the game, so the Loadout feature is a welcomed addition. So lets get started. Smalls will see distinct advantages over bigs and vice versa. Prove to the world that the Bucks are still on top. The AI will no longer send a defender to double a standing offensive player thirty feet from the basket when a user requests drive help in the defensive settings. Lastly, we also added a brand new cutter help defensive system. Season 7: Return of Heroes welcomes back household names, and marks the dawn of a new era with burgeoning superstars paving a path of their own. A lot of legacy issues were addressed through complete and thorough rewrites of almost all of the major defensive systems in the game. One final MyPLAYER upgrade I wanted to call out is a new gen exclusive called Takeover Perks. When the AI properly detects these situations the off-ball defender can now go into what we call, chase behavior. Clint Capela and John Collins man the low-post for the Hawks, meaning plenty of offensive rebounds that can get back into the hands of you dominate shooters. Andrew Wiggins can be a little streaky but is a great scoring option when the star players are being targeted. As beautiful as our motion-captured dunks are, it was a shame that once you saw one fire off, you basically knew it was an automatic two points. You can also see how those numbers change in real-time as you adjust your attribute caps. Make sure to give all of them a try to find out which one best suits the rhythm of how you like to play. Both Paul George and Kawhi Leonard can score from anywhere on the court and are tough match-ups for any other team. These allow you to quickly and easily toggle what badges you have equipped based on how youre playing on a given day or even based on the matchups stepping up to the Got Next spots. The rest of the team is filled up with 3-point and scoring specialists Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr., and Aaron Gordon are all players who can drop buckets from all over. Hello, last 2k I played was 2k14 where I create my own team I wanted to do it on my 2k22 but I don't know how and can't seem to find it, I want a custom team playable on quickplay, thanks! Post not showing up? Its that time of year when we get to unpack all of the exciting gameplay enhancements and new features coming your way with NBA 2K22! Now its your turn to chase perfection and glory in Season 8. This creates more opportunities for a second or third pass to find the open shooter. So no matter which version you choose to go with this year, youre going to get a brand new experience. Another nice upgrade to dribble movement is height compensation. But Im not going to go into detail on each of these right now to save you from reading a novel on dribbling. Huge shout out to each of the gameplay devs who work tirelessly each year to build the best sports gaming experience on the market! Coming off an NBA championship, the Milwaukee Bucks are looking to repeat this season. Similar to face-up ball handling, many of the new moves are cancels and aborts. The Celtics are a great all-around team and fit pretty much any playstyle. New on-ball defensive positioning logic gives defenders more consistency in their positioning regardless of their distance from the basket. When you have a defender standing underneath the rim, using the aggressive skill dunk feature will let you basically force a dunk attempt on-demand as long as you have a strong dunker and you have a bit of a runway. Low-rated stealers get sluggish animations that punish them when they reach, while high-rated stealers (with good timing and opportunity) will be able to pick pockets at a much higher rate. The supporting cast on this team is nothing to shake your head at either. With the revamped blocking system, were now giving rim protectors more tools to make great stops at the rim.