By: Terik Priest

It’s that time of year, folks. No, I’m not talking about the beginning of the school year. I’m talking about the time to get the latest installment of NBA 2K. Or is it? For over 8 years, EA Sports and their game NBA LIVE has provided no type of competition for 2K Sports and their blockbuster franchise NBA 2K. Since 2010, EA Sports has canceled or simply not produced an annual edition to their NBA LIVE line for 4 years. The atrocity that was the NBA Elite 11 demo, (EA Sports tried to rebrand their LIVE to ELITE) was almost the death of their game. EA didn’t release another NBA game until November 2013 with NBA LIVE 14, which was quite possibly the worst sports game ever created. Not the best outcome for a company that took three entire years off from releasing basketball games. EA continued to release mediocre basketball games for the next two years before canceling LIVE 17. With another year off, the expectations for LIVE 18 are pretty high.

NBA 2K quite literally could release the exact same game every year and still outsell NBA LIVE. Why is this? Well, because 2K is just that good of a basketball simulation. Even with last year’s disappointing 2K17, the game was still better than anything LIVE has ever come close to releasing this decade. Now, with the edition of NBA LIVE 18’s “The One” mode, things can possibly get interesting. “The One” is a career mode where the player can scan their own face into the game and plays the story of a promising player who suffered multiple knee injuries and has to battle his way back into the spotlight to be drafted by an NBA team. EA introduced multiple real life basketball courts and summer leagues, including New York’s Rucker Park and Los Angeles’ Drew League. With these additions, 2K should be sweating, right?

Wrong. 2K shook the sports gaming community when they introduced “#RunTheNeighborhood”. This year’s edition includes an actual in-game neighborhood that multiple gamers across the world can interact with each other, can go to Foot Locker and buy shoes with virtual currency, go to the barber shop, tattoo parlor, NBA Store, play one on one, two on two, three on three. The game basically sprinkled a little bit of Grand Theft Auto into NBA 2K. NBA Live will sell its copies, but 2K will blow it out the water. I’ve played both of these games, I can tell you without a shred of doubt that 2K is still miles ahead. LIVE is making progress, but this year is another win for 2K.

        Don’t have them yet? Go buy them now.

NBA 2K18              NBA LIVE 18