NBA 2K26 by developer Visual Concepts and publisher 2K Games—Sony PlayStation 5 preview written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated Reading Time: 13 minutes
Showing posts with label basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label basketball. Show all posts
NBA 2K26 – PlayStation 5 Review
NBA 2K25 - Xbox Review
NBA 2K25 by developer Visual Concepts and publisher 2K Games—Xbox Series X review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
I can almost hear the naysayers with this latest release of NBA 2K25: “Another year, another sports title update, another roster update with nothing substantial added”. Well guess what? They’re very, very wrong. NBA 2K25 is the best annual update the series has seen in some time. I’d go so far as to say NBA 2K25 is the best sports video game release we have seen in years.
I wouldn’t want the unenviable job of trying to develop new features, while trying to figure out what worked from last year’s game and keep it going, while balancing that against wanting to freshen things up, all on a limited timeframe because of the yearly cycle of major sports leagues. It’s a tightrope act that can often earn more jeers than cheers from fans who lament the cycle as a roster update cash grab.
NBA 2K25 doesn’t completely reinvent the wheel here, but it doesn’t have to. This is a franchise that didn’t get exclusive NBA rights like Madden did with the NFL; they simply put out the best basketball game year after year until the would-be competition picked its ball up and went home. Since then the series has been good, but seldom great. Last season was a bit of a bust in my opinion, so I was unsure what to expect from this year’s release. And right off of the bat? I had a somewhat odd feeling because things felt off. Different. Uneven. Loose. There were a lot of descriptors going through my head as I figured up a quick match and just wanted to get a feel for the game itself without working through the tutorial.
The thing is, what started off feeling sloppy actually grew on me as I realized it was simply more fluid. The feeling of loose controls was flexibility in movement and control options. The more I ran up and down the court, the more I began to appreciate that this game I knew so well and had been playing for well over a decade now finally felt like it had shaken some of its on-rails stiffness. There have always been exciting, flashy plays in NBA 2K, but many times things felt scripted. A specific set of animations triggered to go off in a very specific way. That may still well be the case behind the scenes, but the engine used in this year’s game feels like it has hit a new level.
Shots don’t just swish or bank in, they roll around the rim, ricocheting off of the backboard in unexpected ways. An errant pass doesn’t just sail out of bounds, but sometimes bounces off of a foot or a hand. One time it bounced off of the back of a player’s head, only to be snatched out of the air by a nearby defender who put the ball on the floor to advance, making contact with a teammate, nearly losing their balance before pressing on up the court. Such a simple set of events, but this is by far the most realistic representation of player movement I’ve seen yet.
Sure, this engine looks great in general. Well-known players look like themselves. The really great ones don’t just look like themselves, but are animated to move like themselves. Little nuances from free throw form, to how they handle a crossover to how they chew on their mouth guard. There’s a level of authenticity here that NBA diehards are bound to eat up, and all of it translates to the best basketball playing experience I’ve had yet.
The presentation doesn’t stop there, as there’s an excellent soundtrack of music that plays in the background, tons of voiced dialogue in the MyCAREER mode, tons of authentic filters and commentary both for the modern game and some of the older eras for those throwback games. There’s still times where I recognize bits of audio commentary that’s been used in the last game or two, but the repetition’s down this year, with more audio than ever it seems like. There’s still room to expand – maybe have some more commentators or something, similar to Madden introducing more teams this year, but I know that’s likely a lot of work and a few bucks to bring those crews in – but it’s an area that could be improved.
Speaking of improvement, there’s aspects of the UI that I don’t love. Maybe I’m just being an old fuddy, but I preferred the last couple of shot meters to the ones presented here. It was a bit of a surprise to see what it looked like this year when I pulled up for my first shot. It bricked. There’s something about navigating the MyTEAM mode that took more time to get used to than usual as well. Just something about the menu UI didn’t click with me for a while.
Last but not least, since I’m airing grievances? I might as well bring up how much I have Virtual Currency. The microtransactions are strong with this series, and they have been for many years. They want too much of the VC (virtual currency) for the packs in MyTEAM, which is a sort of fantasy sports meets card collection mode that wants you to open your wallet. Still, you can choose to spend or not, and outside of the VC I start with for the version of the game I reviewed, I never buy any more. I’m just not a big microtransaction person in any game, so I tend to grind in games to avoid paying more. The good news is, compared to last year’s NBA 2K24? This year’s MyCAREER didn’t feel nearly as grindy. In fact I was earning VC at a good rate and enjoying my time doing so far better.
That being said – I do have a request 2K: Could we stop with the pop-up windows when the game starts? Instead of defaulting to having them open, maybe have a banner with a button to be pressed to bring them up. It’s annoying to fire up the game (which takes a bit to load in the first place), then see a menu and attempt to pick your game mode only to have a window pop up trying to get you to upgrade your purchase. And sometimes if you close that, a second window with a different offer pops up. It’s annoying, and it keeps me from getting right into the action.
There’s plenty of other modes to be had here outside of MyCAREER and MyTEAM as well. MyNBA is all about running a franchise. I love that there are different eras represented here (including the new ‘Curry Era’. I went back to the 80s to live out the early and later stages of my Detroit Pistons Bad Boys era in two different franchise files. There’s a ton to sink your teeth into here, and I lost a lot of hours to it. There’s also a MyGM mode that’s more of an RPG-lite management experience set with the current era as you also take the reigns of a franchise, but with a bit more story behind it. The story’s writing feels a bit stilted at times, but it’s still a lot of fun.
I was really happy to see The W get more love this year as well. Whether you follow the WNBA or not, it’s impossible to be more aware of the league with the arrival of some of this year’s top rookies, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese. But it’s more about these new faces to the league. There’s more of an effort to make this mode more fully fleshed out than years past, including some storyline elements that don’t quite make it equal with MyCAREER, but a worthwhile endeavor all the same. And it’s worth noting that you get a set amount of VC for completing games in these other modes. I’ve seen some people grumbling that the requirement for ‘always connected’ could one day render these offline modes unplayable, but in reality I like that I’m getting VC for playing games, regardless of where (though MyTEAM does have a second currency in there. Frankly I think they should do away with that and just unify everything through VC.
Even with all of these modes? The vast majority of my time is spent with MyCAREER mode. I went with a different build than recent years for my first one, and I’m having a blast with it. The actual storyline’s not as interesting as a some of the prior years have been, but the voice acting is solid and the progression elements have been a lot of fun. I’ve been up entirely too late at night since installing NBA 2K25, and it’s usually because of this roleplay-lite mode.
Simply put, NBA 2K25 is the best release this series has
seen in years, and it’s probably my favorite sports game right now. This series
has a knack for being my guilty pleasure, in that I play it more than almost
anything else each year, and that’s very likely to be the case here once again.
The package isn’t a flawless one, but there’s undeniable progress throughout NBA
2K25, and fans of the NBA owe it to themselves to play it.
Score: 8.75 / 10
Double Dribble - Retro Reflections
Double Dribble by developer and publisher Konami—Nintendo Entertainment System retro reflection written by Nick.
Estimated reading time: 4 minutesDouble Dribble represents the first basketball video game I ever played. It was an incredibly basic title too, which is what you’d probably expect from a sports game from the 80’s. As a product of its time, Double Dribble is a serviceable take on the game. It’s traditional five versus five gameplay where you pass, shoot, steal, block and rebound. It covers all of the basics, even if it has few of the frills found in the more modern basketball games.
Now I remember this game incredibly fondly. It was a gift from two of my grandparents the year I got my NES (also a Christmas gift). I guess that would make this a holiday edition of Retro Reflections. Now, I’ve talked about a few of the other games I got to play right off of the bat that year, having received Elevator Action and Dragon Power from my parents as well. I was only just starting to get into sports around this time, most notably basketball and football, and I enjoyed some snowy days off of school learning my way around Double Dribble.
For one, it’s not a licensed product. That leaves us with four teams that are meant to resemble their real-life counterparts without running afoul of the actual NBA. The Double Dribble teams are the Chicago Ox, Los Angeles Breakers, Boston Frogs and New York Eagles. These fictional teams leverage the colors of their real-life counterparts (green for Boston and red for Chicago), but that’s really about as close as we get to the real thing. There’s no recognizable players here, you’re not getting Larry Bird from the Boston team for example. In fact, your players don’t show any distinctive traits at all, and you have no roster or substitution control here.
The gameplay is similarly simple. That makes it easy to pick up, but the lack of nuance can make things feel a bit finicky as well. You only have two buttons on the old NES controllers, so Konami did what they could with the game. Fouls happen early and often as I figured things out, but once I got the hang of things, I was able to keep that to a minimum. Your AI teammates are pretty erratic as they move around, with little to no rhyme or reason to their on-court movement. But, like the fouling, I learned my way around it and was able to win far more often than not, even at the higher levels of difficulty once I got a feel for things.
The game starts off well enough, with some garbled ‘Double Dribble’ spoken, fans filing into the stadium and a quickly shown anthem to set the stage. From there though, the presentation gets dramatically more spartan. There’s no in-game music, just the sound of a repeatedly bouncing ball and some squeaking sneakers creating a sort of repetitive backdrop that does very little to excite after the first five minutes or so.
The visuals aren’t a whole lot better, with one exception. The characters look fine given their age, but the arenas are pretty dull and lifeless. Perhaps the worst part of the presentation is that the NES was not known for being able to handle tons of sprites on the screen at once and by having ten total players on the screen, there was a lot of flickering that occurred. The only time Double Dribble’s visuals really come to life is in the sort of close-up cutscene-like dunking animations when you jump close enough to the hoop to trigger one. These look pretty great and add a cinematic touch, though with only a few variations to play out, they can lose their luster after a handful of games.
Despite all of these flaws, there’s an undeniable charm to Double Dribble. Does it hold up to more modern basketball games? No, not in the least. However, I have some rosy tinted holiday glasses I can put on and comfortably enjoy this title despite it’s flaws. Heck, flaws doesn’t really feel fair to say – but limitations. Double Dribble is a product of its time, and I spent a lot of hours enjoying it. Even if that first night, while the family was gathered around in the living room as I played it, I recall them asking me to turn it off or at least turn down the sound because the sound effects were kind of driving everyone bonkers. I opted to turn down the sound, at least until they all left. Then I turned it back up and went back to enjoying my first sports video game.
NBA 2K24 Review
NBA 2K24 by developer Visual Concepts and publisher 2K Games—Microsoft Xbox Series X review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated reading time: 11
minutes
NBA 2K24 in many ways represents the best of sports video
gaming. However, NBA 2K24 also represents some of the worst aspects of the
video game industry as well. It is a shame, because NBA 2K24 is a fantastic
game when you take into account its presentation and the fun to be had in playing
the title itself. However, the gaming industry’s need to squeeze as much money
out of its customers as possible rears its head here in a way that is impossible
to completely ignore as well, which is unfortunate.
As a lifelong fan of the NBA who has been playing the 2K
basketball franchise since it first released on the Dreamcast just before the
turn of the century, I am the target audience for this release. I love
basketball. I have been playing it since I was a kid, I grew up watching the
Detroit Bad Boys era and have numerous collectibles spanning decades of fandom.
I’ve experienced the growth and change in the 2K series over its 25 years, from
a more fast-paced, arcade style of play to the more deliberate, simulation
style of play that the series has become known for over the last several years.
I say all of this to explain why I love this series, and was
able to enjoy so much of what NBA 2K24 brings to the table this year. The
presentation is better than it has ever been. This is in some part simply due
to the evolution of technology and time as developers continue to improve upon
their craft and find new ways to leverage hardware. One of the most notable
aspects of this is in the new PROPlay technology that Visual Concepts has
rolled out. For quite some time now, this series used motion capture on a
handful of specific players to help create authentic gameplay movements. NBA
2K24 is now leveraging this new technology to incorporate actual game footage
instead, opening up a wealth of shots, dribble moves and realistic collisions
to make the on-court gameplay look and feel more authentic than ever.
That is no small accomplishment. Unlike hockey or football
where players have a lot of bulky equipment to sort of mask their body physics,
the NBA has players out there in shirts and shorts jockeying for post position,
colliding into one another mid-air and diving across the floor for loose balls.
The types of tangled interactions are virtually endless and the 2K series has
done a remarkable job capturing the athleticism and physicality found in the
NBA. If the gameplay is the most important part of most video games (and I
believe it is), then updates like this help to make the experience better. This title looks and sounds the part.
This translates into a thoroughly entertaining representation
of basketball through a variety of modes such as MyCareer (create a player and
put them through this hybrid single-player / online experience), MyTeam (think
fantasy basketball mixed with card collecting), MyNBA (basically, a franchise
mode where you run a team, not just a single player), MyWNBA (basically a stripped
down version of MyCareer, but with a focus on the WNBA). Last year also saw the
reintroduction of Jordan Challenges, and this year swapped in Mamba Moments. This
is focused on highlights of Kobe Bryant’s career, where you try to emulate them
through some targeted challenges. All in all, it’s a nice celebration of Kobe’s
career for the 25th anniversary of the NBA 2K series.
There are some notable changes in other areas as well. The
interface is easier to get around, with more information in it than previous
years. I like that the Seasons that occur every so many weeks are now shared
across the MyTEAM and MyCAREER modes as opposed to being separate and making me
feel like I have to budget how I spend my time between those two most popular
modes of play. The AI has seen improvements as well, especially on the
defensive side of the ball. I loved playing the three-on-three mode in MyTEAM and
no longer seeing the opposing team abuse backdoor cuts on almost every other
possession. I didn’t realize how twitchy that part of the gameplay had made me
until I caught myself needlessly shading my defender that way out of habit from
last year’s release, but instead found myself pleasantly surprised to see my
defenders preventing that and some other relatively cheap tactics / angles taken
to the hoop.
Of the aforementioned modes, the MyWNBA has received a few
small tweaks to the formula they have been using the last couple of years, but
nothing substantial. It makes sense that this is not where the devs would put
most of their time as it’s been a nice inclusion for fans of the game, but I’m
sure there’s data somewhere that shows that this mode is not as heavily played
as some of the other ones. I appreciate that the MyNBA mode has received a ‘Lite’
mode that strips out some of the more complicated systems for those who want to
run a franchise, but desire more time on the court and less in the menus
micromanaging things between games. I for one really enjoy the depth of this
franchise mode and don’t feel like I get much out of the ‘Lite’ option – but at
the same time, I think it’s a nice design choice for those who don’t feel the
same way. In addition to this streamlined functionality, we see the return of
the ‘Eras’ option we saw last year, with an additional one representing Lebron’s
time in the league. These five eras are fun to play with, though I’d like to
see even older ones get represented at some point, and create a fun alternative
to simply rolling out a franchise set in the current time.
However, the two modes fans are most likely to spend their
time with are the MyTEAM and MyCAREER ones, and that is where the business
practices of 2K Games starts to get in the way of the fun. MyTEAM is the best
version of this ‘pack of cards’ collection modes we see in other sports titles
like Madden, WWE, The Show and more. Additional options such as a more restrictive
but rewarding Salary Cap Mode to help keep games a bit more balanced between
players, or the addition of an option to buy specific cards you are looking for
to complete collections are welcome. The core gameplay loop of complete tasks,
gain cards and currency, then add to your collection and build out new teams to
tackle new challenges is actually pretty fun most of the time, and largely
unchanged from prior years.
That being said, the gameplay loop can be pretty grindy,
with the rewards for completing tasks and playing games being fairly
incremental. That is fine in and of itself I suppose, if it was a level playing
field for all and this was just sort of ‘padding’ to keep people playing longer
to reach their goals as opposed to feeling like they have nothing more to do.
The issue is that you can spend real money on VC (Virtual Currency) that allows
players to buy more packs or specific players. This gives those who purchase these
funds an obvious advantage over those who spend time grinding for these same
rewards. If that pace of progression wasn’t disconcerting enough, the new ‘buy
whomever you want’ shop feels like a grab at getting players to spend more
currency as well. On top of that, there is now a battle pass in the mix. That’s
right, if you spend more money during the ‘seasons’, you can get more virtual
rewards for the time you put in.
This same problem rears its head in the primary mode, MyCAREER.
For the record, none of this is new. This has been standard operating procedure
for the NBA 2K24 series for years now, and it’s often been viewed as a sort of
gross set of microtransactions. However, something about it seems every more
pronounced this year than the last few. Progress in MyCAREER just feels very
slow. With my review copy, I got a 100,000 VC head start that got my player
into… the mid 70’s in terms of their overall score. A dozen hours or so later,
I was in the low 80’s. Again, I get wanting to set a pace that is somewhat
slow, so players are still enjoying the game weeks or even months from now, but
for those willing to spend potentially hundreds of dollars to skip the grin and
suddenly have the best stats? Well, the actual experience is likely to be far
less frustrating.
There is certainly an element of ‘get good’ here, as an
incredibly skilled player can likely make up the difference between a character
who is a 75 overall and a 90 overall. However, the vast majority of people will
simply be doomed to lose against those higher-rated opponents. Of course, no
one makes you play the multiplayer component, but MyCAREER certainly wants you
to do so, as well as explore the new beachfront city it has established this
year. The setting is more enjoyable than last year’s more cluttered, less
visually appealing city, but with shops around every corner and numerous reminders
that your character could be more competitive if only they had a better rating,
there’s a stronger sense that NBA 2K24 is more reliant on VC than ever before.
It’s a shame really, because the actual career mode is still
the strongest part of the overall experience for me. Admittedly, I miss the
slightly more structured narrative focused on some sort of a plucky underdog or
resilient comeback story like we’ve seen in prior games. Here you are seen as
the next great player, perhaps even capable of becoming the GOAT (Greatest of all
Time). There is still a story here, but it feels heavily stripped down in favor
of getting the player into the game and not the ‘extra stuff’. That’s going to
be hit and miss depending on the audience. I have a couple of friends who just
like to roll out and play, and NBA 2K24 makes it easier to do that than years
prior. However, I’ve generally enjoyed these narratives and missed some of that
storytelling found in years past.
I will say that I thought one particularly cool new idea is
in how NBA 2K24 approaches your career arc. Instead of feeling like you have to
play each and every game in a season to get your stats up and instead gives you
the option to play ‘key games’. This can be your first game as a pro, or
against a key all-star at your position, or a pivotal matchup with another
great team also vying for the championship. These games ‘mean’ more in terms of
developing your character, and you can simulate the game in-between, and the
system does a really nice job of keeping those simulated results in-line with
how you played during actual games. The idea is to get you deeper into your
career, more seasons into the career arc, so you can experience more of that
rise to greatness.
Frankly, I think the above is a great idea. I’m someone who
probably spends dozens (if not 100+) hours a year with every installment of the
NBA 2K series and almost never make it more than one or two seasons into my
career. By skipping the more mundane or ‘filler’ games along the way, I got to
delve deeper into my created character’s career than ever before. This is
especially cool, as I tend to make two or three different kinds of characters
each year, just to try out the different playstyles available. There is still
plenty to do between games, with numerous quests and objectives that give this
beachfront city a sort of MMO-type vibe that works nicely with the RPG elements
in character progression.
So where do I stand on NBA 2K24? This is one of the hardest
reviews I’ve had to write in some time. I love the game itself, and have spent
a ton of time with it so far and have no doubt that I will continue to this
year. It’s still the best sports game out there. However, there is an
ever-present grindy-ness to this year’s iteration that gave me the feeling I
was swatting 2K’s hand away from my wallet as well. Will I still be playing in
a couple of months, like I usually do, because I want to reach great heights
with my characters? Or will the microtransaction-heavy nature of 2K’s business
practices wear me down and cause me to move onto something else sooner than normal?
It’s tough to say right now, but that’s the mixed nature of this year’s
release in a nutshell.
NBA 2K24 Introduces New Updates to MyNBA and The W for PlayStation 5 & Xbox Series X|S
2K today unveiled the details and changes coming to MyNBA* and The W* in NBA 2K24 for PlayStation® 5 (PS5™) and Xbox Series X|S. MyNBA welcomes fans to the new LeBron MyNBA Era and introduces a streamlined option to get in the game faster with MyNBA Lite. In addition, new updates in The W allow players even more control as they pick their path to WNBA greatness.
MyNBA Welcomes a New Era
Last year, MyNBA debuted Eras, allowing players to experience some of the most iconic eras in basketball history. This year, players can rewrite history and step onto the court in the LeBron Era, where they can play through the 2010s and join forces with the all-time leading scorer in NBA history, LeBron James.
“We’re excited for fans of MyNBA to play the all-new experiences this game has to offer this year,” said Erick Boenisch, VP of NBA Development at 2K and Visual Concepts. “MyNBA Eras continues to put players in control of the NBA’s future and past, now including a vital part of NBA history with the LeBron Era. We also made the mode more accessible with MyNBA Lite, making it quicker and easier to jump into MyNBA than ever before.”
- MyNBA Lite: Empowering new players to get in the game faster, MyNBA Lite delivers a pick-up-and-play approach to the beloved franchise mode. Casual players will find the streamlined experience more approachable and intuitive, providing the perfect entry point for those looking to explore MyNBA. MyNBA Lite gives players the freedom and flexibility to quickly make the moves they need to win a title, such as making trades without CBA restrictions, extending contracts, having visibility on upcoming draft classes and more.
- The LeBron Era: Players can relive or rewrite the 2010s basketball era that saw LeBron James join forces with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh to create the ‘Heatles’ superteam. As fans progress from the 2010s into the Modern Era, select players will undergo an automatic aging transformation, a new feature that is present in all of the historic Eras.
- 2023 Collective Bargaining Agreement: To account for the new CBA that the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association agreed on this past year, NBA 2K24 is implementing new features like a luxury tax brackets scale with the salary cap, cap smoothing, increased value from the Mid-Level Exceptions (MLEs) and more.
MyLEAGUE returns in NBA 2K24 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. Players can make executive decisions as a General Manager and lead their franchise to championship glory or elevate the league’s status as the Commissioner of the NBA.
Pursue Greatness in The W
The W also comes back in NBA 2K24 for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. This year, The W introduces new ways for players to control how their WNBA unfolds, compete in casual 3v3 street games, chase new prizes and more.
“Elevating The W in NBA 2K is always an exciting part of our work every year,” said Felicia Steenhouse, Senior Producer at Visual Concepts. “We look forward to seeing how players choose to unfold their career in The W while pursuing greatness on the court.”
The W will also add a variety of new features for the women’s game, including:
- Choose Your Path: Players can choose their path towards WNBA stardom with two options: to enter the league as a college hoops sensation or an up-and-coming player with valuable international experience. It’s up to the player to decide how their WNBA career unfolds;
- In Pursuit of Greatness: An all-new feature - “In Pursuit of Greatness” - will be added to The W this year, where players can be pitted against some of the WNBA’s most gifted stars to see how they compare to their rival;
- Pick-Up Games: Instead of last year's Contact Challenges, this year, players can earn exciting badge perks by competing against a veteran from their own team, a star player they’re in a position battle with, and historic legends;
- The W Rewards: New rewards and content will be available in The W and The W Online, earned by winning games and completing challenges to unlock updated 2K Breakthrough Skins, MyTEAM Jersey Cards, and player-enhancing MyTEAM Shoe Cards and more exciting rewards.
All twelve WNBA teams return to PLAY NOW in NBA 2K24 on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC.
For full details on the new updates coming to NBA 2K24 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles, check out the latest MyNBA and The W Courtside Reports. Stay tuned for additional information in the coming weeks to reveal even more of what’s new in NBA 2K24.
NBA 2K24 is currently scheduled for release on September 8 for PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC platforms. For more information, please visit the NBA 2K24 official website.
Developed by Visual Concepts, NBA 2K24 is rated E for Everyone from the ESRB.
Follow NBA 2K24 on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook for the latest news.
Visual Concepts is a 2K studio. 2K is a wholly owned publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).
*The W and MyNBA are only available on the new-generation version of NBA 2K24 for PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X|S.
Article by: Susan N.
NBA 2K23
NBA 2K23 by developer Visual Concepts and publisher 2K Games—Microsoft Xbox Series X|S review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated Reading Time: 15 minutes.
NBA 2K23 delivers a ton of game modes, a variety of improvements to how it plays and will undoubtedly be one of the most heavily played games in my library over the next year. With Michael Jordan and the past NBA eras a heavy focus in this year’s release, there’s a great deal of love for the history of the NBA while still pushing this gaming franchise forward into the future.
For those who sometimes complain that yearly sports title releases are a quick money grab, I have to say that they usually aren’t looking closely enough. That’s not to say that every annual release is great – in fact many have had a rough time of it, but the 2K series generally gets more right than wrong, and they’ve made the transition to the new generation of consoles more effectively than any of the other sports franchises have.
We’ll begin with a look at this year’s big addition: The Jordan Challenge. When it comes to an NBA game, anything involving Michael Jordan just has a way of catching fans’ attention. Like him or hate him (I am a lifelong Detroit Pistons fan, and I loathed Jordan even as I respected how he was able to take over games in a way few could), he’s arguably the biggest name in basketball. This mode sees you take on fifteen of Jordan’s most notable games, starting with his college career as a North Carolina Tar Heel all of the way through the end of his career. It’s a fascinating approach that might introduce a younger generation to Jordan in a way they only ever saw in blurry YouTube videos, but for me it was a hit of nostalgia having grown up watching many of these games live as they occurred.
This is not the first time that we’ve seen this in the 2K franchise, but it has been several years now and this iteration of the mode adds five more games to the mix. There is a great set of presentational features at play here too, like the filters that get applied depending on the game. The first time I saw the slightly fuzzier, true-to-life look of TV from back then complete with classic broadcast graphics in the lower right corner of the screen… it just hit different. They even recaptured many of the sounds of that era with the commentators and interviews that occur during and around the game and just really took me back in time.
There’s another mode that feels related-ish, called MyNBA Eras. You’re creating a single season play with teams both past and present, and it allows you to really just create interesting scenarios that let you play around with NBA history. What if X player had played for Y team? That there’s an upload / download aspect to this fantasy mode gives it some legs with the 2K community as well. I’d love to see this expanded on in later years to create a more fantastical version of the more heavily nuanced GM / Franchise modes that already exist in the 2K series. And let me tell you – these franchise modes are deep. There’s a ton to do in there, and is compelling for people like me that love the progress and strategy of building up a team in sports games.
It's not just the men’s league getting love this year either though, as the WNBA continues to get a steadily improved offering. That league was first introduced a couple of years ago, and that structure has steadily seen more and more attention. It’s a more fundamentals-based league than athletically exciting. You’re not pulling off crazy high-flying dunks in traffic, but crisp passing and shooting are the focuses here and that’s fine by me. Player progression continues to get more nuanced and while it lacks the overall meat of the MyCareer mode, it’s still a fun diversion.
For those who don’t care for microtransactions, you may want to close your eyes from here on out, because this is where we get to what has become an expected staple of the series. It continues to be one of the most controversial aspects of sports games in general, and NBA 2K in particular. First we have the MyTeam mode, which is a sort of fantasy sports card collecting mashup that has seen some solid improvements over the last few years, but this year it looks pretty similar to last in my eyes. The premise has been unchanged for years: collect cards through packs and game rewards. Use said cards to field the best team you can. Or try to meet certain goals that earn you more cards and currency used to continue upgrading your system. It’s an effective if intentionally grindy gameplay loop, due in large part to the developer’s desire to have you purchase Virtual Currency that you can spend to buy new packs of cards.
The MyTeam mode has seen several improvements over the last few years, with Evolution cards that allow you to upgrade certain players, to shoes and badges that can be applied to players to improve their stats, to a greater variety of modes and objectives to try and keep variety up. Still, outside of the offline version of Clutch, there’s not a lot of shiny new features here this year. I prefer the offline modes to the competitive multiplayer ones that lag and cheap gameplay styles lower my enjoyment of.
Last but hardly least, we have the MyCareer mode. It seems like forever ago that 2K introduced this option, and it’s been far and away the most popular mode for most players, myself included. You create a player with a skillset from five different skill buckets: inside scoring, outside shooting, ball handling, defense and physical attributes. This freedom of creativity has always been one of my favorite aspects of the 2K games, though this will play into a grumble of mine in a few minutes. There is a storyline that you then take part of, and these have varied over the years.
While they are seldom amazing narratives, I do appreciate what goes into them and look forward to playing out the story each year. This year’s is a bit different. Most seasons you’re some sort of prodigy fighting to be the top player in the draft. You might have some high school or college games that help you hone your skills, build some stats and see where you get selected in the draft. This year’s spin is a bit different as your player is seen as a high floor / lower ceiling type of recruit that gets drafted by the team you choose and… everyone seems to hate you. Why? Because there was a flashier player on the board with an exciting skillset but questionable maturity that most fans of your team wanted more, setting up a great rivalry with that player and a bit of a ‘prove it’ arc with the fan base.
Fashion and music were both introduced in prior games as major factors in your player’s development, and I appreciate that the related mechanics are still here, if slightly tweaked, but less in-my-face than it was last season. The sprawling city on the newer generation console has plenty to do, with a wide open world that encourages some exploration and has a very World of Warcraft-like quest system where most of the NPC’s wandering about are just flavor for the city. But those with icons over their heads can be interacted with for a wide variety of quests that yield rewards from currency, clothing and more.
Progression loop is again key here, because you earn the Virtual Currency I mentioned earlier, but it is a bit of a grind. Which again plays into the microtransaction aspect of the game. You spend this on your attribute points, which start cheap but increase in price as your stats go up. Also what you do on the court matters as it plays into a new leadership system that can grant you and your teammates additional temporary bonuses once in-game conditions are met. And they are holding your opponent to under six points for two minutes, or grabbing four consecutive rebounds without a turnover. The badge system is less flexible than years past, forcing badges into three tiers. Tier 1 badges are the cheapest and easiest to meet the requirements for, and those requirements escalate through the next two tiers. I am a big fan of the leadership mechanic, not as sure yet about the badge one. I know it’s meant to provide greater balance as some of the badges are simply more useful than others, but this feels like it grinds everything down to an even slower pace.
This mode is then interwoven with some online modes where you can play against other players in park or special event games. There is a ton to do here, and I can safely say I spent more time on NBA 2K22’s MyCareer mode than any other video game last year, and I suspect that will be the case again this year as well. It’s addicting and it’s a fun way to interact with my other friends who play NBA 2K23. Other sports have tried to copy this recipe with varying degrees of success. With basketball having the least number of players required to play a game, you can really offer a lot of matchup possibilities. You can’t play 1-on-1 baseball, hockey or football in any meaningful way, so MyCareer just seems to work better with the NBA than anything else.
Unfortunately, this mode also is where some of my bigger concerns come into play. Connectivity is always rough around launch, and that’s the case here again this year. It feels like the demands on the fast internet speeds grow every season, even with some of the single player modes. The game is constantly checking in with the game servers, which can lead to midsession disconnect. It can also lead to some things acting weirdly. There was an instance where I had played a game and gone to Brickley’s gym to level up a badge and earned a bunch of leadership points. The game then suddenly disconnected me and when I went back in, it registered that I had played the game and done the Brickley drills, but my points for both were just gone – like they had saved that I completed them but not the stats themselves to my character. A quick search online showed numerous Reddit posts about this issue.
Another Reddit search showed a lot of traffic on the topic of a particularly badly designed quest in the MyCareer mode. Earlier I mentioned that you can craft a player in a variety of ways – but there’s no single perfect build. In order to be really great at one thing, you tend to be deficient in other areas. While I tend to create two or three different builds each season, my favorite has long been what’s often described as a ‘Shaq Build’. Give me a big, bruising, backdown player with a focus on close scoring and some specific defensive and athletic stats and ignore shooting and ballhandling. By no means the most popular build, but a legitimate one based on a Hall of Fame player. This build sacrifices shooting. That seems fine since during the game, I have little interest in free throws or three pointers with this character.
I am used to some of the daily or weekly quest objectives being something unattainable to a build. Your Shaq Build is not going to get you ten three pointers. Your tiny ballhandling point guard is not going to nab you double digit rebounds. That is just the nature of the game. However, someone got the bright idea this season to gate a major storyline goal behind a game of shooting accuracy. In order to continue a major story point, you have to knock down five consecutive free throws. Then if you do that, you need to win a game of ‘free throw golf’ which again, requires good shooting. Last but not least if you beat both of those, you then have to play a game of HORSE, which obviously favors shooting it outside of five feet.
Seriously, whoever decided that was a good idea should probably be in a different line of work that involves torturing people. It took me forty minutes to hit those five free throws. It took almost another forty to win the game of disc golf. I gave up on HORSE and then later read online that those few players with builds like mine who did progress were able to cheese the system with hook shots, many of them reporting that they spent three-plus hours trying to get past this one simple quest. Oh, and if any point you fail to win one of those three stages, you start all over again. I hate to harp on a single thing in a game, and it is clear that some people have managed to get through it, but why in the world someone would put in a required quest that only caters to a specific type of player to advance? Terrible, terrible game design and I hope that quest gets patched or updated in some way down the road. Those kinds of inflexible quests make absolutely no sense in a game that encourages you to try different builds. Have a quest that optionally focuses on rebounding or assists or something, but the way this was set up was truly annoying. I will create another character, and I will get past it with that character, but I feel as though I’ve lost over a dozen of hours of gameplay due to what many people in the 2K community agree is terrible game design.
It is a shame to have to spend so much space on a handful of concerns, because the NBA 2K23 package is an excellent one overall. Beyond those modes and presentation values I discussed earlier, the game itself plays better than ever. It’s not perfect yet, but it’s getting pretty close. Basketball is kind of a crazy sport to replicate. Player models are not as obscured as in sports like the NFL or NHL. They collide with one another (often mid-air) in ways you don’t see in baseball. There is footwork, jostling, bodies banging up against one another – the only other sport that immediately comes to mind as comparable is soccer, and even that lacks the vertical element of the NBA game. It’s easy to learn the controls and start playing, but there is enough nuance in the mechanics to quickly separate a seasoned player from a rookie.
This review is focused on the latest generation of consoles, but NBA 2K23 lives on in the last generation as well, and the publisher provided me with a chance to play that as well. I have not spent as much time with it as the Xbox Series X version, but the Xbox One version of the game is still fun to play. It’s a narrower experience, with a more streamlined approach – likely largely due to hardware limitations and not wanting to invest a ton of development time into a system that is probably going to be mothballed in the near future.
The result is a game that plays very similarly to the last year or two. The gameplay and character models are good, but nothing has much changed from last year’s release. Instead of a sprawling city, you’re on a ship (like last year) with a much narrower focus, broken up into sections as opposed to being one large, living entity. There are still quests to find, but they are more streamlined and many of them simply spoon-fed into your character or without a lot of travel. Story scenes just play out, versus the Series X version where most of the time, you have to complete a specific goal and go to a predetermined location to trigger them. It works for what the limitations are, and it’s still a good time, if nowhere near as impressive technically and doesn't factor into my score below. I just wanted to share a few words about that version.
Summary
NBA 2K23 gets so many things right, that I hate that there are a handful of small and one (at least to me) large issue that tarnish an otherwise fantastic package. I will move past those issues, and still continue to play the game heavily however, which is an indication of how good I think it is overall.
Hopefully those other wrinkles get ironed out and NBA 2K23 can fully realize its potential, because it is hands-down the best sports game on the market and one that I know I’ll sink dozens (if not hundreds) of hours into over the next year.
Score 8.25 / 102K Announces the Limited NBA 2K23 Championship Edition with Michael Jordan!
A player who needs no introduction - Michael Jordan - returns to grace the cover of the NBA 2K23 Michael Jordan Edition and the limited NBA 2K23 Championship Edition
2K today announced that 14-time NBA All-Star, five-time Kia NBA Most Valuable Player, six-time NBA World Champion, and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer, Michael Jordan, will appear on both covers of the NBA® 2K23 Michael Jordan Edition and the ultra-premium NBA®2K23 Championship Edition.
Jordan’s career transformed the NBA into a global phenomenon, making him a household name and leaving an undeniable impact on the basketball world. For the 24th year of NBA 2K, Jordan is the perfect embodiment of this year’s campaign theme: Answer the Call. As an athlete who always rose to the occasion, Jordan returns to star on two NBA 2K23 covers, giving an opportunity for old and new fans alike to celebrate a talent who left the world in awe throughout his career.
“After making 23 the most recognizable number in sports, it was only fitting that for NBA 2K23 we introduce the Michael Jordan Edition," said Alfie Brody, Vice President of Global Marketing Strategy for NBA 2K. “Additionally, we’re thrilled to introduce a brand new premium edition of the game with the NBA 2K23 Championship Edition, as no other player embodies the word ‘champion’ like Jordan. This limited-edition version will also offer players the opportunity to catch on-court action throughout the season with a 12-month subscription to NBA League Pass* included. We look forward to celebrating this game with the community when it’s released on September 9.”
Along with Michael Jordan returning to grace the covers of NBA 2K23 this year, the game will also reintroduce The Jordan Challenge, which encourages players to recreate 15 iconic moments from Jordan’s illustrious career. All ten of the original Challenges from NBA 2K11 have been completely rebuilt from the ground up and will make their return this year - alongside five new iconic Jordan moments - for an entire new generation of players to experience. These Challenges take advantage of more than a decade of technological leaps to provide a completely new way to play through Jordan’s accomplishments - all housed within its own game mode.
The Jordan Challenge also elevates an array of spellbinding performances across Jordan’s college, NBA, and Team USA Basketball careers that players can experience across all 15 Challenges and includes unique video vignettes that come with special commentary from an array of NBA luminaries: Jordan’s teammates, opponents, and other sports personalities, who saw him do it live and can bring to life his legacy to a younger generation of NBA fans. More details on The Jordan Challenge in NBA 2K23 will be released later this summer.
Michael Jordan is one of the most decorated athletes in the NBA and NBA 2K history, and the NBA 2K23 Michael Jordan Edition and NBA 2K23 Championship Edition collectively mark his fourth time headlining an NBA 2K cover. He was previously on the cover for NBA 2K11, NBA 2K12, and the NBA 2K16 Special Edition. Stay tuned for more cover athlete reveals in the next two days and pricing when pre-orders go live on July 7.
Follow NBA 2K on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook for the latest NBA 2K23 news.
Visual Concepts is a 2K studio. 2K is a wholly owned publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).
*Offer only available with purchases of the NBA 2K23 Championship Edition. Championship Edition (Digital) only available for pre-order. The Championship Edition (Physical) will be available in select regions and select retailers while stocks last. Pre-order to guarantee a copy. Not available on Nintendo Switch. NBA League Pass code will be delivered to the email address associated with the NBA 2K Account with which the Championship Edition Bonus Content was redeemed within 5 days of redemption (but no earlier than September 27, 2022) and must be redeemed by December 31, 2022. NBA League Pass is valid for 12 months from redemption and auto-renews monthly unless canceled prior to renewal date at the then-current published MSRP for NBA League Pass in your territory Availability restrictions apply. See nba.2k.com/2K23/league-pass for full terms, availability, redemption, and cancellation instructions.
Article by: Susan N.
NBA 2K22 - PS5 Review
NBA 2K22 by developer Visual Concepts and publisher 2K—Sony PlayStation 5 review written by Nick with a copy provided by the publisher.
Estimated reading time: 13 minutes
A new year, a new sports game. Last year was a strange year for the world, and it was reflected in both the sporting and video game world. The good news is, just like in sports, every new year brings new hope and promise. By and large, NBA 2K22 capitalizes on that, delivering a robust, entertaining brand of basketball that may well be my favorite in the series over the last few years.
As I mentioned, 2021 was an odd year, and it hurt the NBA 2K21 franchise. Development teams were still trying to cope with the pandemic, three was a new generation of consoles coming out, and that led to a weird end result. NBA 2K21 on the prior generation of consoles felt underwhelming, and the comparatively later release of the game on the new generation of consoles combined with the weird real life schedule of the NBA season just made for a strange, jarring overall experience.
Let’s start with the overall framework of this year’s game. We are reviewing this for the PlayStation 5, and the hardware improvements feel better than ever. Games and scenes load with far more snap than the last generation, and while the 2K games have always had excellent presentations, the visuals in this year’s game continue to impress. The face scans are always just a little hit and miss as there are a ton of players to try and get right, but by and large they are plenty good, with players immediately recognizable. As a sport that doesn’t use helmets or face masks of any kind, and a lower number of players on the court when compared to other sports, that individuality is key to the visuals and NBA 2K22 gets it right the majority of the time.
Sure, there are still some odd collisions and moments out there with the graphics, but there are far more impressive ‘wow’ moments too. I recall one dunk in particular early on that I pulled off where there was mid-air contact, with the defender’s body hitting the deck and my player finishing with authority. It just looked and felt good. The one semi-consistent hiccup on the graphics front comes with wandering the city, where the framerate can dip pretty hard due to all of the players and activities taking place. It’s to be expected given the size of the City, but I find myself hoping that this gets polished up as the developers begin to make better use of the hardware in future years.
It helps that the haptic feedback on the PlayStation 5 just feels good in my hands and also seems a bit more refined than last season. The feedback through the triggers really brings full-bodied defense or collisions to the forefront. All of this is capped off with a strong soundtrack and the usual polish of the commentary. Certainly when you play a title like this as often as I do (I mean, you will play about 100 games in a season with playoffs and such), there will be repetition in the audio and even many of the player animations, but the whole things has an impressive layer of polish to it.
However, all of the bells and whistles in the world wouldn’t mean much if the gameplay itself doesn’t back it up. The usual bevy of modes are here with the card collecting MyTeam, another round of even more detailed WNBA options and of course the primary mode – MyCareer. This is where the 2K titles have been hanging their hat for years now, and the 2021 iteration continues to deliver on that front. It’s got plenty of lightweight RPG elements such as progressing your stats, making decisions and interacting with people. Last year on the new generation of consoles this mode introduced the City versus the prior, smaller neighborhoods of the prior generation of consoles. I do think there’s room to grow the WNBA options further, maybe even into a career mode that parallels the men but with a different set of options along the way.
The idea of the City was an interesting one last year, but it felt a bit rough around the edges. There were numerous things to do, but it still felt very empty at times and it was so large that getting around was rather cumbersome. But the potential was there, and dwhile I don’t think it’s completely realized yet in NBA 2K22, it’s a lot closer. I would appreciate more fast travel options (right now you simply have one – to zip back to your apartment), and if your internet is not strong it can lead to some frustration (I’m up at my cabin where my connection speeds can be a bit sketchy at times and there are certain events like skateboard races that can glitch our or outright disconnect you as a result), but the numerous quests and things to do certainly make the experience more interesting than last year. I do wish however, that quests were a bit cleaner.
Often you’re presented with two options to choose from, but it’s not always clear where those are at. You see two quest makers, but they don’t show up any differently on your screen. In one instance, I took the option I was not planning to, simply because I walked into the wrong building and it triggered that as my choice. But there was no indicator as to which person I was visiting before that. Either tagging the name of the person on the marker icons, or perhaps putting the distance you are in the upper left corner of the screen where your options were listed would provide some much-appreciated clarity on that front.
This all ties into the story in MyCareer as well. It feels considerably less linear, as you kick off with your best friend Ricky in your apartment and make decisions about your future. Sure, you can play your next college / G-League / NBA game or… you can go play some pick-up ball at a variety of different venues. Or you can go skateboard around the city doing timed trials or taking pictures. The way your character progresses is a bit different too, and ties into the story nicely as there is a great focus on a reality of our world today that many people either love or hate: social media.
Your story is less about some tough upbringing or living in your father’s shadow or standing up to your college coach, but more about how you and your best friend are also interested in being social influencers. Your character’s gotten popular via social media for their abilities, and it plus a successful high school career open the door to a variety of opportunities. You still earn VC (the virtual currency that is the backbone of the NBA 2K series, for better or for worse – as you use it for things like buying packs of cards in MyTeam or improving your stats in MyCareer. As one would expect, it’s a microtransaction currency that can be earned through gameplay – but also purchased as an accelerator) by playing games, and your play on the court enables you to unlock badges and other perks along the way, but your style of play trickles into some categories of your player as well.
Admittedly, I wish this was a bit better explained, but it feels like something that could be fleshed out in the years to come to really have an impact on things like conversations, or even on-court interactions with other players. There is some very cool RPG-like potential to this system, though currently it’s primary focus is a means of gatekeeping endorsement opportunities for things like shoe companies. Simply put: the progression was a lot of fun this year, though the grind is real for those who don’t want to spend real life money on VC.
The actual gameplay itself has gotten a kick in the pants this year too. I enjoyed the PS5 version of NBA 2K21, but the AI was incredibly sketchy at times – especially in pick and roll scenarios. I was easily abusing the AI time and time again. Shooting never quite felt right to me either. Also an over-reliance on sprinting had me in the old Madden mindset where you hold the sprint trigger far more often than I should have been. A lot of that is cleaned up this year.
For one, the AI is definitely peskier on defense. Also relying on sprinting too much has a notable impact on things like shot accuracy and your ability to handle the ball. This slows the pace down from last year’s game, but I am okay with it. I tend to lean towards two builds – a three point ace / slick passing point guard and a rugged defensive player with no shooting range but dunking ability for days around the rim. I’ve been building out these two archetypes for a few years now, and did so again this year. I would say that my athletic big man performs similarly to last year, but the gameplay for my point guard is certainly different and requires me to be more thoughtful and strategic than in recent memory. I was happy to see that some of the little tricks I had developed in years past that felt less authentic but more effective are subtly getting worked out of the game.
Summary
NBA 2K22 is a successful return to form for the series. An extra year on the hardware has certainly helped, and the developers continue to blend lightweight RPG elements with action-packed basketball for an end result that I have sunk a ton of time into already, and will no doubt continue to play throughout the rest of the year. The focus is still on the Career mode, with minor tweaks to Franchise, WNBA and MyTeam, but that’s okay by me – MyCareer is where I’m usually at. There’s still room to improve, but this year’s iteration of the series is worth playing for hoops fans.
Score: 8.25 / 10
