Things are really heating up in the NBA as the season enters a crucial stage. Teams are battling it out for those all-important wins needed to ensure they extend their season to the playoffs and beyond.
In one of the most competitive NBA seasons in recent memory, sports fans are left guessing which team will come out on top. The best of seven finals will be played between July 8 and 22. At this stage, it’s anyone’s guess who the winning team will be. Unfortunately for sports gamblers, The NBA finals betting is giving nothing away.
While the teams battle for supremacy on the court, we thought we’d revisit an old argument for an updated list of the best basketball video games. This one usually sparks a debate, forcing some readers to contact us with their picks or grievances on why a popular title missed the cut. Let’s get started.
Gold medal – NBA 2K11
We will start at the top with our basketball video game champion. NBA 2K11 hit the shelves just in time for Christmas 2010, and it was no surprise to see it sell in record numbers. Despite being over a decade old now, it is still well-played and well-loved by gamers.
Not the most spectacular gameplay by today’s standard, but we judged it in 2011, and it created plenty of hype. The main reason for that is Michael Jordan’s comeback. The all-time-great is as famous and talented on the digital court as he was on the professional basketball court. NBA 2K11 was developed by Visual Concepts and available to play on PlayStation 2 and 3.
“NBA2K11” by 2Ksports is licensed under CC BY 3.0
Silver medal – NBA Street Vol 2
Don’t bother showing this one to the youthful gamers of today. They just won’t be able to appreciate just how beautiful this game was. Yes, it’s fast approaching 20 years old, and yes, we love it. Do we make any apologies for slipping it in at number two? Absolutely not.
NBA Street had it all from a basketball fans’ point of view. The soundtrack was immense, and the special moves, which were easy enough to learn, were utterly impressive. You could spend hours enjoying this game and, back in the day, many millions of us did. Again, it would be unfair to judge NBA Street 2 on today’s gameplay standards. The title was released by EA Canada in 2003 and was available on PlayStation 2.
Bronze medal – NBA 2K17
OK, so we’re in danger of scaring off some of our younger players, but we make this list a touch more modern with NBA 2K17 that comes in at number three on our list of the best basketball video games for PlayStation. Just about all the 2K games were running for the prominent places of this article, but our team thought 2K17 was something just a little special. Not as good as our winner 2K11, but still very good.
This game will be remembered as a massive improvement on the previous year’s offer, and we just don’t see that any more. Yes, games improve all the time, but they are rarely miles better than the previous. 2K17 was miles better than the last and played a part in dragging the 2K series up to speed with what’s possible. Since playing 2k17, gamers have a new level of what to expect from sports titles. It became available in the summer of 2016 and was met with much fanfare. Available on PlayStation 3 and 4, we know many readers still have this game in their collection and enjoy taking a stroll down memory lane often.
“NBA2K17” by 2Ksports is licensed under CC BY 3.0
Games that hit the rim
OK, so there you have it. Our official top three basketball video games. A list that can and will be debated by our readers, but we know all too well you can’t please all of the people some of the time. Hopefully, you enjoyed reading our top three, as that’s all that matters.
If you have any of the games listed above lying around at home, dust them off and have a play. If you haven’t played these basketball titles before, we promise you are in for a treat when you insert the disk into your PlayStation.