NBA 2K18 player ratings continue to drip from the game’s official Twitter account, and they’re getting progressively higher each time. Check out the player models for Celtics forward Gordon Hayward and Wizards point guard John Wall.
While the last batch of ratings gave us D’Angelo Russell and Lonzo Ball at 80, it seems we’ve now graduated closer to the elusive 90-overall club. Hayward will start out at 88 overall, while Wall has worked his way to a flat 90. That’s especially appropriate considering Hayward had an all-star caliber year with the Jazz, scoring an average of 22 points-per-game. Wall was essential in helping the Wizards take down the Hawks too. Both of these athletes lit it up on offense when it was most necessary. These performances pushed both players beyond 2K17’s 86 rating.
In terms of model design, Wall’s changes are a lot more subtle with slightly more definition in his hair and biceps. For Hayward the adjustment is much more substantial. In contrast to the Slenderman-like preset from last game, Gordon looks a lot more human and has been given much greater care in his facial capture. His beard is fairly detailed and we see more definition lines that make him more unique and less of a generic skin.
Obviously some player model refreshes are going to be more dramatic than others, but something that could be worthwhile for everyone is NBA 2K18’s first substantial gameplay trailer. Not only are content creators like AnnoyingTV teasing developments will happen “real soon,” but we can see evidence of that from 2K Digital Marketing Director Ronnie Singh. Over the last handful of hours, his Instagram timeline has showcased short videos of private NBA 2k18 gameplay sessions with testers. The clips offer a few closeups of players on the bench and cheerleader performances between quarters.
With only a handful of weeks to go before NBA 2K18’s final release date, it’s admittedly odd that we’ve seen so little of this game in action. Clearly its developers at Visual Concepts are working toward a level of polish that may take until the very last minute to fully realize. However, as player ratings slowly start to emerge, we suspect it won’t be too long until we see something big.
That being said, this wait on the final round of polish seems to be a running trend with NBA 2K18. On Thursday we reported that the game’s physical Switch version won’t release on the same day as PS4 and Xbox One. In that article we posited that 2K may be waiting to offer some additional polish before going forward with a wide retail release. Given the apparent lack of developments on the console builds as well, we’re getting a similar sense here.
What we do know about NBA 2K18 is that it features cover stars Kyrie Irving and Shaquille O’Neal depending on the edition. It’s also got a totally reworked MyGM mode that essentially serves as a full-scale narrative experience. The game’s complete soundtrack can be listened to on Spotify as well.
NBA 2K18 releases Sept. 19 on PS4, PS3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Nintendo Switch and PC.
What do you think of these new player ratings? Are you looking forward to a complete gameplay reveal? Tell us in the comments section!
