They were right, you know, when the guys on the Happy Hour said NBA 2K12 was a hard game. They weren’t kidding. But, luckily, I already had the game and so was committed.

I played a few games on Exhibition but hurriedly realised I was way out of depth, I went through some of the training and got some improvements and, before you know it, I’m creating My Player and am stepping in to the Rookie Showcase. Awesome, right?

I’m not a huge NBA guy, I can’t tell you each players stats and names etc.. But have always had a fascination with these sim style games that seem so hardcore that they scare a lot of people away. I suck at this game and the game doesn’t beat around the bush when it tells me such. Every game I’m getting a C grade average and the post performance tells me I’m performing poorly; I’m playing the sixth man as a Centre who gets around five minutes court time per match, averaging a steal a match, 10 points a game and making some stupid, awful turnovers and defensive mistakes. As I said - I suck. But, you know what? I’m a Rookie in my first four games in the NBA with the New York Nicks. I’m not supposed to be amazing.

Most games will either send me insane with anger or I’ll absolutely become devoted too. This, obviously, I’m devoted too. Much like NHL ‘09 I’m driven to do better for my team each game, I’m spending time between games practicing and doing drills and, while out of the game, I’m Googling the job of a Centre to understand what it wants me to do. NBA 2K12 has a way of pushing me to be better than I am.

So, I thought I’d ask a few bits I’m hoping people can help me with and I wanted to begin documenting my players progression for myself and everyone around me. Playing on Steam I’ve some screenshots I’m going to upload at some point too.

• Any defensive advice you can give would be excellent - I'm often making stupid mistakes and allowing my player to skip past me and dominate the bucket all game.
• Offensively, I'm pushing through and trying to get close to the basket, it's a struggle with and All-Around Centre that is only 6'9 but again, advice welcome!
• Drills - I had three and now they're gone - Anything I need to do to get them back? Is that tied in to the pay day system?
• General Advice for someone completely new to the franchise and, on the large part, basketball. As a UK player a lot of the stuff goes a little over my head!

I tried to pick up NBA 2K11 last year after not playing a sim basketball game since NBA 2K2 on the Dreamcast, and I quickly realized that I was in way over my head.

People give a lot of grief to games like Street Fighter and Starcraft for being impenetrable to new players, but I have to say that my short time with NBA 2K11 was far more frustrating than getting into SFIV or Starcraft 2. These sports games seem to be entirely focused on just milking the same dedicated fanbase that has been following them for years and provide little respite for newcomers. There's a certain assumption made that either you already know how to play the game, have close friends with enough patience to teach you the mechanics, or are a big enough fan of the sport being portrayed that you'll slam your face into a wall until you get it.

I'm looking to get in to some sports games, might get this when it gets cheaper. Or just 2K11

@Hizang: The PC version is only $30 but don't expect the online play to ever work properly. I assume they will eventually fix the console versions if they haven't already. As far as I know 2k doesn't really support any kind of online for their console versions. 2k11 was broken as far as online play went and I don't believe they ever fixed that. If you just want to play solo though and price is the issue I'd just get the PC version and play with a controller.

For defensive advice when playing My Player is to go into training/ scrimmages, choose the player-lock cam and pick a team with a player that has similiar stats to your My Player. Try to call different defenses and make sure you know your assignment in them. In zones, stick to them and constantly follow the ball, because that affects it. When playing man-to-man try to keep your guy from going away from the help. Always shade them away from the baseline and towards to center or PF so they can help out. Don't fall for pump fakes, because that is common in this years game.

Read the offense and attempt to play the lanes for the easy steal. It's harder this year because the plays have different branches, so the ball can go to a number of players, but you will get a hang of it when you see the CPU setting up for the screens. If you still don't get a hang of it, lower the difficult level until you upgrade your player then raise it.

I still use my 99 rated player in 2k11, but I haven't started a My Player this year because of the bugs that I see when I play offline against the CPU. Plus, I'm waiting until the lockout so I can start the draft with actual NBA rookies.

@Stealthoneill: Youtube is your friend for picking up some good skills. I found these links to really help with some of the post play.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f44nCH-qWMw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHkTfC2qbQk

The game is definitely tough but I think Coonce and I have had a pretty similar experience with it as newcomers to the 2k franchise. Personally I had dabbled with it as rentals here and there over the years but this is the first time I actually bought the game and have committed to it. There is a learning curve but I think once you start to make some really good moves work for you it just makes it that much more satisfying. You can easily tell from the TNT video what things I am relying on a lot right now. Calling for a post up play, and then simply spinning around my defender with the Y button and then a simple hook move. Using one of the guards to drive across the paint and then hold right stick away from the basket for a simple float fade shot.

My advice would be to watch some videos of the game in action and then do the training circuit. Then immediately go into practice mode and repeat those moves you just learned. It really helps to get repetitive with one move and then just make it yours. Pick someone like Kobe and really figure out the fade shot. You'll be glad you did when you use Jordan in the legends games and you can just kill people with his fade over and over again.

@alexisg:

I'm really debating about picking this game up. The classic teams from the 90's is what is definitely drawing me in. I tried out last years game for all the Michael Jordan stuff (I'm from Chicago) and found myself completely overwhelmed. I withdrew back to NBA Jam.

I really want to give this series another shot...I'll try some of the tips you suggested Alex.

Thanks!

this kind of stuff is really interesting as someone who's been playing consistently since 2k8. as alexis said i recommend a lot of practice, start with jumper practice put on the shot feedback, go into post move practice work on that etc.

@GetWhatYagive: watch some videos, and then play the demo. If you can at least copy a few of the moves you see in the videos in the demo, I think you'll get a good idea about the feel and learning curve for the game.

Wow, thanks for the tips guys!

I actually restarted and picked an easier position and am now playing SG for the Phoenix Suns and am enjoying the game so much more. I did some research before creating my player so knew what I was getting in to and definitely had a handle on the basics. I've played around 13 hours now and am about 25-30 games in to my Sun's career. I'm starting to feel things work and am putting points in to the weakness' in my game (Namely, 3-Points and Block/Steal with a little in ball handling). I'm putting some great moves on here and there and that, above all else, keeps me going. I played against Kobe recently and managed to keep him at bay for a lot of the match, every time I block his shot I was absolutely ecstatic and the tip about driving them inside for a double team is perfect.

I'm still making stupid mistakes which keeps my Team Score down but after the game I'm usually rated as Fair or Good so seeing some progress and that is providing me with some drive to keep going. I also got picked as Rookie of the Month and have just been promoted to the starting line up. All in all excellent!

@alexisg: Best advice ever. I actually did the same before seeing this but, yeah, watch how it's supposed to be done, rinse and repeat until it's second nature and things get far easier. Still struggling with my shooting and keep picking the wrong shots or going through long drought periods but I suppose that's all part of the learning progress!

@YoungBuck: I've spent so much time in the Scrimmage menu it's unreal. Just keep flogging away at the different drills to see if I can perfect things. I actually learned to use the screen move correctly their!

I tried the demo because I thought it looked cool, I almost destroyed my controller in frustration, I have no clue how to play fucking defense (I'm european, I don't even know the damn rules) they could just walk right through me, and since I hate losing, it wasn't a fun experience.. Really wish they would put a tutorial in these demos, now I know how people might feel when trying to play Madden or Fifa for the first time. Really wanted to love it, don't think I have the patience for it.

I would pick this game up if there is an NBA season but 2K11 is good enough for me. Multiplayer, play with people next to you. Online is great an all but feels weird. The shooting is messed up.

First off, turn the difficulty down, this goes to you @Chaser324: if you don't know the game of basketball, you are gonna have a hard time with it. Turn down the difficulty and you can play like the first 2k games. Now, you actually need to know how the team you use plays and who is good at what and bad at what.

Defense is the hardest thing to get good at but try out the different schemes but again it is about knowing how each works. What I do is go to half-court traps or presses. The press is like man on man but you get on defense further up the court. Stick with one guy on defense, don't switch around. Stay with the guy who makes it easy to guard the guy. I use the Lakers a lot and most teams will not have a guy as good as Kobe unless I play the Heat, Celtics... Or I use gasol and he is pretty good at blocking shots. Half-court traps are harder to use in d. you get more turnovers but you gotta be good because it relies on lots of double teams and you could mess up and a guy would get past me because I didn't get back on time. Just practice using one or two guys on D and rely on your team to help you out.

Offense, just play team ball. I usually like to use Kobe to get hot in the beginning and the cpu starts to react by double teaming him and this opens up the other guys for easy shots from 3 or someone like Gasol will be driving to the basket and you get an easy layup or dunk. This can still work if you are not hot with one guy and just pass as they drive to the basket.

Don't play My Player, is mostly my advice.

I love these NBA 2k games. Love, love, love them. But I can't enjoy myself in the slightest in the My Player modes.