The most anticipated basketball video game of the year is finally out. NBA 2K16 hit the stores on Sept. 29, 2015 and sold over four million copies in the first week. So obviously the 2K Sports advertisements worked, which leaned heavily on their career mode’s slogan for this year, “Be the story,” and it being a “Spike Lee joint.” Yes, Spike Lee, the famous actor, director, producer, screenwriter and, more importantly, avid sports fan, was called to the scene to write and direct NBA 2K16’s “My Career” game mode. After playing and experiencing the game for a while, I found some good, some bad, and some ugly parts of this game throughout my playthrough. Let’s break the game down.

BE THE STORY?
Whose story is it again? You’d think with an iconic figure in cinematography such as Spike Lee working directly on the storyline of My Career it would take this game to a whole new level, right? Wrong; this is the ugly part I was talking about. Allow me to explain, Spike Lee’s story, “Livin’ Da Dream,” as it’s called, is a clichéd, boring and honestly terrible thought-out storyline. First, the game gives the illusion of decision-making when you only make two decisions which in reality won’t even make a difference at the end of “your” story. Secondly, no matter what your avatar looks like, what your name is or what you choose those two times, your story is the exact same as everyone else’s who plays the game. You’re given a name, background, friends, family, partner and agent without you choosing anything. Basically, the player’s appearance changes, but the story stays the same. Lastly, the story in itself is stale and redundant, filled with corny lines, terrible writing and awful voice acting. It ruined what the franchise tried so hard to sell. However, we are just talking about the story behind this game mode.

GRAPHICS AND GAMEPLAY:
The gameplay of this game is very similar to previous releases. The game runs smoothly without too many problems. This applies to: shooting, passing, dunking, executing a pick and roll, ankle-breaking crossovers and everything else a player could do on the court. NBA 2K16 excels in bringing a real life experience to a video game. To date, NBA 2K is the best basketball simulator on the market. As for the graphics, NBA 2K16 went above and beyond, using face and body scans to capture the unique features of NBA players. This game puts to shame similar sports game which by comparison could be in the Stone Age.

CONCLUSION:
At the end of the day, NBA 2K16 is a terrific game, and in most people’s eyes,- A Spike Lee Joint? currently the best all-around basketball game out there. On a scale from 1-10 I’d give it an 8. All the other game modes such as My GM, My League, My Team, My Park, 2k Pro-am, and online matches each bring their own unique features that everyone can enjoy. Whether you are a basketball fan or not, NBA 2k16 is an excellent game and I would recommend it to everyone.