It was inevitable.
The moment the first NBA 2K21 next-gen screenshot was released, we’d see a comparison photo of the player featured. Since it’s next-gen, Standard Edition cover athlete Zion Williamson, his is the first to get the side-by-side treatment.
I tried to get the current-gen Williamson in a facial expression that was closest to the one captured in the game, and this is what I came up with before making this photo.
Here is an even better one from JJ Creates on Twitter. His image is from Xbox One:
Originally, when I looked at the next-gen screenshot, I thought the folks at 2K could have chosen a better image to serve as the first look at next-gen’s power. I still feel that way. However, when I put these two pics next to each other, the differences are obvious.
As good as the current-gen version looks, it is far more cartoonish and frankly looks less like Williamson than the spot-on render on the right from next-gen. This is a promising preview especially when you consider, a total view of the game will feature 10 players on the court, referees, officials, cheerleaders, and fans likely rendered with the same sort of fidelity.
If this is married with realistic body types, the sort of smooth animations and real-life sound that I’m expecting, then we could be looking at something that will re-shape what sports video games look like.
I’ve seen the faces of players for FIFA, and if we’re using that as a barometer for what to expect from Madden’s facial renders, I’d say the early edge goes to 2K as it relates to player models.
We’ll see if that holds up as we begin to get more extended looks at the next-gen sports titles.
