Frustrating ‘NBA 2K11’ no fun

Now that football season is over, it's time for basketball. Or it should be. I would sooner spend $60 on mauve throw pillows than on "NBA 2K11."

I'm going to be a little harsh here, because I love basketball games, and I so want to play a fun one, but "NBA 2K11" is, to me, a catastrophe.

The controls are so unresponsive that when I pass the ball to a teammate who needs to move toward the basket, my ball handler sometimes actually takes a step backward away from the lane.

Then there's the usual idiotic basketball-game lunacy (by the computer against the player) called rubber-banding.

Rubber-banding is this: When your team is ahead in a sports game, the computer cheats against you to make the game closer by making your players unable to score points. At the same time, the computer's players go on Hall of Fame runs to make the game tighter.

Rubber-banding works well in many games -- to help gamers when they're behind -- in car racing especially. But "NBA 2K11" leans heavily on beating you, and for that, this game can polish my leather.

I was playing one game as top-tier Miami against lowly Cleveland. Should be a blowout, right? Yeah, well, Cleveland made a trio of three-pointers in a row to send the game to overtime and keep it close to the end.

Cleveland. Against Miami. Hit a trio of threes. Yeah, uh-huh.

After five quarters, I won with an anemic, high school-sounding score of 44-41.

I kept playing Miami against Cleveland to see if that game was a fluke. Any team can have a good game, Cleveland included.

But Cleveland (controlled by the cheating computer) kept making late runs, improbable threes, unlikely steals.

My best Miami victory against Cleveland was 42-31. I consider that a great accomplishment contextually, and no fun.

Wait, there's more frustration ahead.

Each team -- yours and the computer's -- are constantly fouling, effectively turning "NBA 2K11" into a game of whistles and waiting.

And even though basketball players look and move similar to their real-life counterparts, these virtual basketballers are plagued by sudden stumbles due to I-don't-know-what.

I've seen "2K11's" Dwyane Wade miss 4-foot jumpers while going 2-for-10 from the field. I've seen Chris Bosh turn the ball over frequently, even though he's barely getting touched.

Now, obviously, Wade and Bosh aren't perfect in real life, so they shouldn't be flawless in virtual form, either. But this is just unrealistic, silly. Some of the things I've dealt with in "2K11" have led me to question if basketball games will ever be good again.

And why does it have to be like this? So game makers can prove they can craft a basketball video game that stumps me continually with un-suave movements? OK then, they win. I'm stumped. I won't play "2K11" anymore.

One last thing. This game has sold 4 million copies already and received great reviews. To those who like this game, I say: Good for you. But don't you remember what it used to be like to play fun, easy-flowing basketball games in the old days, two or three years ago?

("NBA 2K11" by 2K Sports retails for $40 for Xbox 360 and Wii; $20 for PC and PSP -- Plays very un-fun. Looks great. Very challenging. Rated "E 10+" for mild violence. One star out of four.)

Contact Doug Elfman at delfman@reviewjournal.com. He blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.