Three-time NBA MVP Lebron James was unstoppable against the Oklahoma City Thunder. James had 11 points and 5 rebounds in the final five minutes of the game to help the Miami Heat defeat the Thunder 15-10, in the a really low scoring game of NBA 2K 13. Dwayne Wade added 4 points including a last second buzzer beater.
The NBA 2K 13 demo features a one-quarter rematch of the 2012 NBA Finals and allows gamers to chose between either the Miami Heat or the Oklahoma City Thunder. The demo features no commentators, but features the sounds of the court executed to near perfection.
American rapper, songwriter, record producer and entrepreneur Jay-Z's influence is made painfully obvious through the menu screens and in game during pregame cut scenes. There is basically a Jay-Z track every other song. This and the player models are my only gripes with the demo. Previous NBA 2K games' soundtracks had more variety. Only reason I'm mentioning this is because it was very publicized addition to this year's game. Hopefully, the full-retail release will offer more variety.
The player models still look kind of awkward. James, Wade and Durant resemble their real-life counterparts, but could still be a whole lot better. Other wise jerseys sway, player sweat and move realistically.
The biggest change in the game is the updated controls; the demo begins with a small demonstration of the new controls. I felt like the control system automatically felt natural. I did have a few moments under the basket where I pressed wrong button combination and turned the ball over. I got acclimated to it very quickly and soon bounce passes, stutter steps, and rim-shacking jams were a plenty.
I played 15 quarters of the game and had the lead at the end of eight of those quarters. Whenever I was successful it was because my team's rebounding and defense. Russell Westbrook was a speed demon, running past Mario Chalmers on almost every fast-break opportunity. I found myself using the Kinect voice command to double team Durant on these fast-break openings and using the combination of Lebron and Wade to guard Westbrook. The Kinect worked better than I thought it would, but was still far from perfect.
The computer still has issues with boundary awareness and there are a few times where the computer controlled player stepped out of bounds for no reason. The computer also seemed capable of hitting almost every-single shot, but this could be because of the quality of the teams available in the demo.
NBA 2K12 was the best basketball game of all-times, but I think this year's edition may have improved enough to dethrone it as long as they new modes work as well as planned. I give the demo of NBA 2K13 a 9-out-of-10. Check out the game's new control trailer here and the MyTeam mode video here. You can also check out our list of the best five basketball video games here. Also read our review of EA Sports' NHL '13 here.