NBA 2K14

NBA 2K14 arrived on Wii U as a continuation of the basketball series from Visual Concepts, a year after the launch title 2K13, bringing an improved range of game modes and updated player rosters reflecting the current NBA season, including recently transferred stars. The game again offers a career mode, a full league season, and the option to play as historical teams from various decades of basketball history, while the Wii U gamepad served as a clear second screen with tactics, lineups, and quick match statistics without needing to open a menu on the television during the game.

The foundation of the gameplay remains the elaborate system of dribbling, screening, and defensive duels, which the series had long built as its main strength over competing basketball games on the market, of which there were noticeably fewer at the time. The presentation tries to faithfully imitate a television broadcast of the match, including commentary, indicator graphics, and arena atmosphere, and even on Wii U the game looked visually compact, albeit without some of the effects available on the more powerful hardware of other consoles of that generation. The career mode also placed greater emphasis on building relationships with the team and the gradual development of one's own player across seasons.

Contemporary criticism rated 2K14 as a solid, though not revolutionary, step forward compared to the previous installment, and the Wii U version was seen as a decent, but not technologically leading, platform for the series compared to other releases on competing hardware. Today the game is mainly interesting to basketball fans as a period snapshot of the state of the NBA in that season, and a reminder that the major sports brands still supported Wii U with their annual installments shortly after launch, before their interest in the platform gradually faded. For console owners, it was at the time one of the last opportunities to play the current basketball season directly on Nintendo hardware without having to catch up on content retroactively.

Why play: For basketball fans, it's a period snapshot of the NBA season and a reminder that major sports brands still supported Wii U shortly after launch, even though the game itself was not the series' technologically leading version.