With NBA 2K21, 2K Sports has ushered in the sports genre for the next generation of consoles. The name is the same as the version released in September, but the changes in the announcement, both in visual and gameplay, suggest that this is a real new game. Tabula rasa, therefore, for this analysis that I wrote when I first entered the series.
Before I got this title, I had played virtually nothing in basketball video games, so this text is different from the expert rating of NBA 2K21 for PS4 and Xbox One. But everything Visual Concepts has said so far has looked so good that I decided to give it a try. Especially to see how those eye-catching graphics play out and what the physical interactions with PlayStation 5’s DualSense offer. This series has a lot of followers, but some of you are certainly in my situation.
First of all, the most important thing: with DualSense, the games are different from the ones you’ve played before, virtual basketball or other sports. The combination of haptic vibration with the adaptive triggers of the control will from now on be a benchmark for the simulation of effort and contact. As the creators promised, the more tired the player is, the harder the triggers get, which makes you part of their endeavor. As the shock of your body hits your skin through localized vibration, your connection to what’s happening on the screen increases.
Most stories start with a tutorial, but not here. NBA 2K21 puts you right on the menu, in front of an overwhelming sea of game options, configurations and the attack on all kinds of promotions and items that you can buy with VC, the virtual currency that you make or that you make with a lot of effort and hours buy with real money.
To keep things tidy, I chose MiCarrera, a story mode where you control a player throughout their career. I was hoping to get some sequences or lessons on how to throw, pass, dribble, or a tactic. But no, you are alone in the face of danger and you must learn by yourself, using the many information and examples that the title gives you in some and other places. Learning the hard way has never made so much sense because they were very bad.
The story has its crumb and puts you in the shoes of a boy who follows in the footsteps of his father, a basketball legend. What happened is that you didn’t go to American football as a kid. Something happened during puberty that caused this transition and there is even a love affair with a girl involved.
Since I’m not a basketball expert, I find it difficult to judge the tactical accuracy of the simulation. But I have come to the conclusion that it depicts the athletes’ movements and actions very realistically, with the exception of some turns in the opposite direction to the input. Nothing serious compared to this display of perfectly coordinated full body animation. Even when you meet the players, you can see the great resemblance to their photos and the naturalness of their bodies.
Because NBA 2K21 is a pure next-gen in terms of graphics and sound. The sound of the ball hitting the floor again and again or the grinding of rubber soles on the parquet will bring you inside a square. Even the comments seem to be exactly in sync with what is happening on the track (NDT: mention of the Spanish version, it has the same package as the already released version and is a bit dated and out of tune).
What I miss is the ability to miss timeouts and as many interruptions in this mode as with fast games. For those of us who don’t follow this sport and are unable to follow this strategic component, there are too many, especially at the end of a game. It’s very hard to lose those 15 seconds every two by three, and animation shows like cheerleaders don’t pay off.
I wanted to try another of the big novelties of this edition like La Ciudad. Those who have followed the previous ones will know El Barrio, an open space to move through with a character who plays a lot more than just games: you can talk to people, go shopping, go to the hair salon, pachangas play … well that area has expanded and now it’s a whole city so it has the potential to be a real social simulator where you can lose hours and hours while developing your player. I say this as an assumption because my little skills in controls made it impossible for me to unlock it in my hours of play.
So far comes this other analysis that focuses on those who are looking for a sports game on their new generation console and have seen NBA 2K21 as a very attractive option but don’t know whether to start or not because they don’t have the series know. For a newbie like you, NBA 2K21 is a game with a great aspect that is very playable but doesn’t offer any didactics or help so that first contact isn’t that difficult. It intervenes so that you can improve yourself, even if it overwhelms you with its immensity of options and possibilities. That says a lot about how fun it is.
