NBA 2K11 vs NBA Elite 11

NBA 2K11 vs NBA Elite 11

The battle of the franchises has changed slightly this year with EA switching the name of the franchise from live to Elite but still same opponents same battle. I’ve had a chance to play both games and I will to show how these two games compare with each other.

Graphics

There is not much to separate the two franchises in terms of graphics with 2K11 being the winner only by a slight margin on my huge 120” projector screen but on my 26” TV there were almost no differences in terms of graphics

Teams

Both franchises as you would have expected bring all NBA teams however 2k11 pulled of a nice trick by signing up Michael Jordan for the franchise and so you will have another 18 classic teams to choose from! A big point goes to 2K11 for that.

Gameplay

This is where these two games are completely different NBA 2k11 offers a more realistic gameplay which at times feels almost impossible to master on the other hand the NBA elite 11 offers a simpler gameplay which is more enjoyable for the first games. 

When I played both games by myself NBA 2k11 was the obvious winner with a much more realistic gameplay although the passing system was not particularly good. NBA elite however offered an easier passing system and it felt more natural to play, however even at the highest difficulty it felt non-challenging after a few games since the AI of your opponents was the same and frankly disappointing the only thing that got more difficult is the players you are not controlling mistakes.

However when I played both games with friends who haven’t played any of the games before NBA 2k11 felt a bit too difficult for them to master since they haven’t played it before and we quickly switched back to NBA Elite which felt more enjoyable. NBA 2k11 might however be more enjoyable if both players are experts in the game.

NBA 2k11 also supports the PS move controllers on the PS3 which is a small plus. I didn’t find the move controller being nice or fun to play and the reason for that was that the movement of the player has to be made through the SIXAXIS controller and you can’t use the navigation accessory which would be more convenient.

Become legendary vs My player

The two franchises offer completely different experience in their Become legendary (Elite) and my player (2k11).  The NBA Elite as with the whole game is almost too easy to play. From the first game my player became a star joined the Celtics and got a shot as a regular and even became the star of the Celtics! On the other hand the NBA 2k11 was a lot more challenging penalisizing your every mistake, your teammates do not pass to you unless they think it is the right thing to do etc. Also in 2k11 you have a mentor that tells if you played well or bad, how you are supposed to play against your next opponent and what you should fix in your game style.

I believe NBA 2k11 My player has more to offer in the long run as I don’t expect it to get easier or boring easily, so my point goes to NBA 2k11.

Which is better?

NBA 2k11 is clearly the best out of the two with a much more realistic gameplay. However if you want an easy fun game to play every once in a while against your friends you may prefer NBA elite 11 as it’s easier to play. Personally I will keep on playing NBA 2k11 out of the two and I will buy NBA Jam as my fun basketball game when it gets released to play with my friends.