The NBA 2k8 manual is a travesty...

As far as the game sucking... Fudge is out of his mind. This is probably the greatest basketball game I've ever seen. In much the same way that Sammy Sosa's High Heat 2001 managed to capture the SOUL of baseball this is the closest I've seen a game come to re-creating the atmosphere of a basketball stadium (and I was right there in both Chicago Stadium and "The House that Jordan Built" for most of His Airness' run.)

But this manual is a damned shame. The last basketball game I "owned" was NBA 2k6... which was, most unfortunately, purchased just before I bought an HDTV and a 360... so it was never really played... so I have NO IDEA what all the icons and what-not mean. The instruction manuel does little more than repeat what's on the back of the box. They tell you what the new features are... but they don't really explain how you're supposed to execute them.

And since this is the first 2k game I've played since NBA 2k1 on the dreamcast... I'm more than a little lost.

This is the first helpful thing I've seen online. I'll keep posting 'em:

When playing NBA 2K8, you might notice a small icon underneath a player's feet, one that looks suspiciously like cell phone reception bars. No, NBA 2K8 won't have LeBron asking if you can hear him now; instead, the cell icon represents your player's shot tendencies in the game and throughout different areas of the court. Deriving data from actual NBA games, the team at 2K has devised a system that will illustrate when a player is close to his hot spots on the floor, as well as whether that player is on a hot streak or not. When a player gets close to a hot spot on the floor, the cell phone bars increase; if he moves away from it, the bars will deplete. Hot or cold streaks are noted by the color of the bars in the icon. If you're lighting up J's from all over the floor, you can be sure your cell icon will be bright red before too long.

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Just in case there are still any doubts:

Remember the NBA Jam fire and ice icons? Pretty much the same thing, if all the cell phone bars are lit and it is red then there is a 99% chance you're going to hit that shot. If they're all blue then there is a 99% chance you're going to miss that shot. If they're yellow then the more bars lit the better chance of hitting the shot.

There is also the sneaker icon (fast player), lock icon (good defender), 3 icon (duh).....

After having the game (rented) for 2 weeks, I may have been a bit harsh on it but I still think they pulled an EA here with worse graphics and gameplay plus a couple of gimmicks and TERRIBLE menus. I have 2K6 and like it MUCH better.

I still need to rent LIVE 08

FudgeNuggets said:

Remember the NBA Jam fire and ice icons? Pretty much the same thing, if all the cell phone bars are lit and it is red then there is a 99% chance you're going to hit that shot. If they're all blue then there is a 99% chance you're going to miss that shot. If they're yellow then the more bars lit the better chance of hitting the shot.

There is also the sneaker icon (fast player), lock icon (good defender), 3 icon (duh).....

After having the game (rented) for 2 weeks, I may have been a bit harsh on it but I still think they pulled an EA here with worse graphics and gameplay plus a couple of gimmicks and TERRIBLE menus. I have 2K6 and like it MUCH better.

I still need to rent LIVE 08

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Thanks fudge. I was completely lost.

The graphics didn't get worse actually. Especially when you're doing instant replays. The character models were bigger in 2007 and they had a light cell shading... but the overall design is much better this year. And the stadiums, crowds and overall presentation... there's no contest 2k8 looks better. Play 2k7 and then 2k8 back to back and you'll see what I mean.

I was comparing to 2K6. 2K8 looks better as far as on court action goes but when it comes to freethrows and replays 2k6 kicks it's *** handily.

FudgeNuggets said:

I was comparing to 2K6. 2K8 looks better as far as on court action goes but when it comes to freethrows and replays 2k6 kicks it's *** handily.

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Really? I might have to check out 2k6 then. It's only like 5 bucks now. 2k7 is ten.

You should if just for those two things I mentioned. When LeBron or Shaq are at the freethrow line or on a replay (or any other player for that matter) you can see them breathing, sweaty jerseys, sweat trickling off of their forehead and arms. Pretty impressive, kind of like the replays in Fight Night Round 3.

I got 2k8 coming this week. Can't wait, I played 2k7 and it was very very real. But yes the manuals are abysmal..

ancalime said:

I got 2k8 coming this week. Can't wait, I played 2k7 and it was very very real. But yes the manuals are abysmal..

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Oh so the manual sucked for 2k7 too? I was going to get that just because it's cheaper than the Prima Strategy guide

I'm surprised no one's written an FAQ for any of those games. I'm discovering a lot just by playing though.

EDIT: Just played through a couple of games... This game is awesome. You can edit your own highlight reel by putting together replays. They have all the sweat and everything you said they had in NBA2k6 fudge... that just isn't the default camera anymore. Sometimes they have it but it's pretty random. You can choose whatever camera you want for editing replays though. It's not very intuitive but if you play around with it there's a lot to do. There's also an achievement for editing your own playlist