Flashy, polished, technical and challenging, NBA 2K11 puts you in control of a great roster of basketball teams for some adrenaline-packed gaming. Start your own career, creating your dream player from scratch and rising to the top, play as legendary NBA teams, and hone your skills in hours’ worth of game modes. This title looks gorgeous, plays great and provides a lot of entertainment for the price you’ll pay for it.

The game offers a high level of technicality. You need precision and perfect timing to nail plays, passes and shots in NBA 2K11. This is both a great strength of the game and a bit of a setback. Once you are comfortable with the controls, are able to pull off the basic moves and understand what it takes to win, this game offers so many options you can play again and again and still feel like a champion every time you sink a basket. On the flipside, the game has a steep learning curve. It just takes a while, wading through menus and menus of options, the 24 teams and the many game modes. There are tutorials to help you, and once you’ve taken the time to master the gameplay, you’re in for hours of entertainment.

Another huge bonus in this game is the amount of game modes. Your average game these days provides a couple of hours’ worth of exciting story and gameplay but often has little to offer once you’ve played it through the first time. NBA 2K11 stands out from the crowd here. Not only does it take a substantial amount of time to complete any given game mode, but there are so many you’ll spend hours upon hours with this game. There is the “Quick Game” feature, allowing for instant action, the “Michael Jordan Challenge,” which chronicles his career, and many more, from practice mode and playoff lineups to online play.

Another game mode, “My Player,” was perhaps my favorite — and the most valuable to learning to play the game well. This mode allows you to create a custom b-ball player, giving them everything from a name and appearance to a playing style. Not only does this give a massive amount of customization, but it allows you to create your own career, playing from rookie to all-star. This is a great opportunity to learn how to play, as well as great practice for the other game modes. This is more or less the “career mode” of the game, following your rise to stardom.

The visuals in NBA 2K11 are crisp, vivid and look very smooth during gameplay. The variety of courts and players lend enough visual variety to keep things interesting. The character facial expressions are good, helping you to feel the emotion in the game. The camera angles also really let the graphics shine. The Sprite Slam Cam is a special top-down camera angle used every time a player makes a dunk and showcases the move in slow motion from above the action. All kinds of transitions and graphic banners and such are overlaid on top of the game, just as if you are watching basketball on TV. This game gives the feel that you’re watching a real NBA game — and controlling the outcome.

The sound design in this game adds great depth to it, particularly the sports commentators. The three characters who narrate each match are one of the great additions to NBA 2K11. They keep up a constant volley of verbal banter, from giving details on each player’s history, to critiquing the plays made in the game. If you play poorly, they talk about how your team is having trouble. If you make a good play, they praise your effort. The conversations are dynamic and change based on everything you do right — or don’t do right. The extent to which the dialogue varies with the flow of the game amazed me and truly adds to the experience.

Let’s not forget how NBA 2K11 plays. The controls are tight and almost always responsive. The AI is fairly intelligent and complements your moves nicely, trying to move into position to help you score. The opponents are challenging (almost too much so at first) and ensure you’ll have no easy time rising to the top. Passing, shooting and executing plays all require a high degree of precision and timing, as well as a good deal of memorization of controls. The only downfall of this game’s control scheme is the sheer volume of moves you can execute. Remembering them all and making use of them takes a lot of dedication. That aside, this game delivers accurate and action-packed gameplay that makes for intense matches.

Overall, NBA 2K11 provides some incredible console basketball action. Beautiful visuals and great sound design show off the action. The amount of time you can spend and things you can do within the game mean many hours with your controller in hand, and a lot of fun, too. I would recommend NBA 2K11 to any basketball fan, veteran of sports games or anyone else willing to put in a lot of time to master the game. My only caution is it takes a bit of dedication to get the game off the ground and start enjoying it instead of losing every game. However, this title is well worth purchasing. NBA 2K11 aims for excellence, and it makes a slam dunk.