Why are you doing this to us, 2K? Why do you offer us a near-perfect basketball game that so many have wanted for years, and then have extreme pay-to-win methods? Well, let me start with the positives, which is that NBA 2K23 is an incredibly good game. There is a lot of content with important additions to keep players happy both offline and online. We find basketball to be a lot of fun and more polished than I remember from the last (quite a bit) years. And there’s a presentation that’s possibly the best in the world of sports titles. But that’s exactly what happened with the microtransaction approach.
So we better start there to get him out of the way because I really want to talk about everything positive about the game. Because unfortunately, for the masses, the NBA 2K series is what is most associated with having to find those “boy in gold pants” pants in order to be able to afford to play them. And it’s not entirely undeserved, as this is the greediest sports game out there. Nothing else costs so many different things and at pretty outrageous prices too. In MyTeam, the game’s ultimate team, it’s no secret that microtransactions rule. Buy card packs, try to get the best cards, probably fail, always spend a little more. What I really dislike about this year is that they introduced pay-to-win from day one. In the early packs, there was a Steph Curry with an attribute value of 95. Normally, games always start at a slightly lower value to introduce better players. But no, from day one you could try to draw this incredible card that offers an extreme advantage over players who don’t want to spend enough money. Otherwise, the gameplay is structured exactly like last year and looks basically identical. All casino elements such as roulette and pachinko remain.
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Even in My Career mode, which I’ll get to in more detail later, you’ll have to shell out a lot of money to compete against the best in The City’s online mode. Gone are the days when we could only develop our players by playing games, and attributes would increase based on how good we were. Virtual coins are now required for each small dot in the trait tree. And they are not particularly cheap. Sure, it’s possible to get coins by playing matches in career mode, which is basically your salary, but it doesn’t go very far. And when I see players who are 90+, I wonder how much they’ve spent, but then I realize I probably don’t want to know. At the same time I fight with my player who has a skill of 63. Because everyone starts at 60, which could well go up.
Luckily, The City has a great novelty, namely El Teatro. There are four types of special matches that rotate every Friday, and among other things, the first week introduced the option to only play with and against players who have a maximum of 75 total traits. This means that it is at least possible to play online even if you don’t want to spend thousands of dollars. In other types of games, there may be things like a 12-second shot clock and two-on-two where the winners stay. It’s things like this that can keep online mode fresh for anyone who isn’t a hardcore gamer. Career mode is now structured as a story and online hub. Gone are the story modes with a multi-hour cinematic experience and now you can choose how you want to play. If you just want to bet on the story, just go from point a to point b in the city and unlock the next cutscene with different objectives to advance. The story about MP is nothing revolutionary, but interesting enough to play. MP will be moved ahead of the player the vast majority of the city’s fans wanted to see, Shep Owens. This, of course, creates a rivalry with said Shep, who is a real jerk but a good basketball player. Meanwhile, MP must try to convince fans the team did the right thing by picking him, though two-thirds are disappointed or angry. Before and after games, there is an increased focus on the experience of the stadium itself, with photographers waiting in the arena as you arrive from the garage, cheerleaders charging onto the field, and locker rooms and press conferences to be entered. That gives matchdays a special touch, which I really appreciate.
23 is the year, but it also celebrates a very special figure in basketball and of course the most famous number 23 in history, Michael Jordan. One of the new game modes that is guaranteed to be exclusive this year is the Jordan Challenge, in which we can recreate many moments from his career. It begins with a college game between Jordan’s North Carolina and Georgetown with one Patrick Ewing. He then goes through his entire career with the Bulls. In each game, certain missions must be completed, e.g. B. scoring a certain number of points or grabbing a certain number of rebounds. In addition, there is a filter that makes it look like you are watching a TV show from the same moment. It’s fun for a while, but gets really annoying after a while, so it’s fortunate that you can disable the filter from the menu. It’s a well-crafted game mode that fans of basketball history will enjoy.
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Speaking of basketball history, I NBA (Franchise Mode) has received one of the best additions in years and days. It’s now called My NBA Eras and you can play the franchise mode in four different decades, from the 80’s to today. These four decades, or eras, can be played using all of the era’s teams (like the Seattle Supersonics) and the rules. Before we begin there is a brief introduction showing what applies as in the 80’s some new teams are added and harder games are allowed. While the content of the game mode itself remains the same, this makes My NBA Eras the most deserved franchise mode regardless of the new sports game.
And despite its greed, NBA 2K23 is really worth playing. It’s incredibly fun on the pitch and flows really well. For the first time in a long time, it seems that you can have fun here without spending any money. Especially when the game looks so good, how much content it has and the best presentation in the world of sports games. Mix that with a well-thought-out career mode, new animations, and various tweaks, and NBA 2K23 is a winner after all.
