NBA 2K23 is like watching your favorite team lose a game with a wide open dunk. They’ve played much better, with better on-court gameplay than ever before, plus a variety of retro modes that are amazing for basketball history geeks like me, and have been your interest for decades. There are plenty of modes aimed at keeping you…for hours, if not hundreds of hours. So where did we go wrong? The NBA 2K franchise is so focused on pay-to-win microtransactions that its most popular game mode, online MyCareer, feels terribly disappointing from the start. cash. So while NBA 2K23 emulates the game of basketball very well, both in its current form and the NBA’s glorious past, it’s hard to ignore its focus on sucking cash out of your wallet. It’s even more difficult.
A few hours into my MyCareer experience, I had a shocking moment. The virtual currency (VC) quota I earned during that time was enough to buy new pants for my character. Not a particularly special pair of pants, but a pair of black Under Armor sweats similar to what I wear when I shoot hoops. Spend the majority of your VC looking at player attributes in The City, NBA 2K23’s impressively massive hub, MyCareer has it all.
Unfortunately, even my generous start in VC wasn’t enough to compete with real big investors. Half of the players I met on The City already far exceeded my player ratings. Probably because we decided to pay extra cash for attribute buffs. For example, even though I was a rebound-focused center, I was regularly jumped and rebounded by much smaller players. We’ve found that scores are often weighted in favor of teams with higher player attribute ratings. Whether it’s mostly in my head or not, it definitely makes the game feel unenjoyable and unbalanced.
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Yes, with enough practice, you could theoretically reach the same heights as a player who took the laurels on release day, but it turned out to be a deliberately arduous process. A character forced to win the favor of the fan base that drafted him, even playing the MyCareer story mode that featured the story, he found VC’s inventory to be low. My remaining options (including daily login rewards and quests in the City) are unappealing, returning to the City for beatdowns from higher rated players for a small profit each time I lose I was afraid of the thought of
This is made even more frustrating by the fact that underneath all the microtransactions there are really good games that would be a lot of fun if I believed the playing field was level. It’s fun to do, but there are ride options that are harder to control, such as riding a skateboard. Watching other players in an environment where basketball is everywhere you look is an amazing experience. Shopping is also a lot of fun. Worse than that, items like apparel and mobility options like skateboards and scooters often require the same chunks of VC needed to level up the player. The coats are also visually distinct, and my favorite is embedded in the volcanic mountainside.
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Luckily, NBA 2K23 has plenty of other game modes, including two of my favorite modes. First and foremost, Jordan’s challenge is Michael Jordan’s historic basketball his career, starting with his NCAA championship at the University of North Carolina in 1982 and ending with his final championship-winning game against the Jazz in 1998. serves as an interactive timeline for His set of three challenges, often designed to recreate Jordan’s performance at each specific moment. For example, his one challenge in his game at the NCAA Championship is scoring his 16 points, and another challenge is scoring his nine rebounds on Jordan himself. Each of these moments is a real spectacle and comes with retro style graphics and filters. I wasn’t part of many of Jordan’s biggest moments, but I recreated them through documentaries and reruns such as ESPN’s “The Last Dance.” The moment the game washes me away. Landslides were the most fun I had in NBA 2K23.
Similarly, MyNBA (the franchise mode of NBA 2K23) now lets you play through several ‘eras’ such as the Magic and Bird era, the Jordan era, the Kobe era, and of course the Modern era. As an NBA history buff, being able to dive into the different golden eras of the NBA is a real treat. My love of the sport grew in his early 2000s, so I never thought I would need so much to turn back the clock and run the court alongside the reigning Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal. I did.
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Era mode not only replicates most of the roster of the time (e.g. facing off against unknown players like Carlos Boozer, who I almost forgot was really fun), but it also lets you scout later players. increase. NBA Draft. Those familiar with NBA history will recognize that 2003 was the year that future stars like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh were drafted. On top of that, the graphics and retro filters meticulously encapsulate the representation of these bygone eras. Thankfully, though, there’s an option to turn them off if you want to play with the standard, gorgeous NBA 2K23 look and feel.
In that topic, most of the changes to that look and feel are reserved for the various era modes. That said, there is a great deal of emphasis on capturing the atmosphere of the NBA’s former golden age. was talking and I got excited. There’s not much new beyond a retro-era makeover, but that’s forgivable considering the NBA 2K series already offers some of the best graphics in a sports game.
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Of course, the gameplay on the court is so good that retro mode is just this much fun to spend time with. We can say that we are getting closer. This year 2K seems to have spent less time on big new features and more time on many smaller gameplay tweaks, but almost all of them are perfectly welcome.
Most notable among them is an improvement in the feel of weight for everything on the court, from player movement to the basketball itself. Players move and pivot much more realistically than before, and as a result, on-court spacing is finally a satisfying place. Some of the ball movements were better than anything we’ve seen in the franchise so far. It also has a better rhythm, transition plays feel more organic, and off-ball movement creates better passing lanes. This all meshes very well with the improved AI, which is more capable and adaptable to the court. You can no longer throw the ball over and over at elite post players like Joel Embiid. The defense now rotates much faster and double-teams much more effectively than before.
One new behavior I’ve noticed is that the CPU is much more eager to give the ball to the best players, especially in retro-era modes and Jordan Challenge. Especially if those players are successful. For example, in 1982 he had to challenge Patrick twice in the NCAA championship challenge because he couldn’t find a way to stop Ewing (i.e. never could). On every subsequent possession, Ewing’s teammates seemed content to send the ball to him at the post and let him play. This was true for other superstars like Allen Iverson, who led the charge by nearly 40 points against me in one game.
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The AI is still a bit quirky and unable to truly mimic the on-court NBA experience. For example, CPUs struggle with a sense of urgency late in the shot clock, often firing shots well past the 3-point line without attempting to drive or play. Likewise, we don’t always react realistically to being outsmarted. Instead of losing a step to the ball handler, it twists and turns before trying to return to its original position. It just looks weird and doesn’t affect the outcome of the game, but it’s noticeable, especially when everything else feels so real.
They may not think it’s groundbreaking, but there are several gameplay features introduced in NBA 2K23, one of which is the adrenaline boost that grew on me. You have 3 adrenaline boosts per hit, and 1 is consumed each time you make a hard cut or dribble. Initially, I was concerned that Boost lacked nuance and created too much equality between fast players like Stephen Curry and slow, powerful players like Joel Embiid. In reality, the adrenaline boost is designed to stop the player from jumping around the court and abusing his skill moves. Teams enforce his knowledge of play and hero he penalizes anyone who intends to play ball with 1 star.
Features include adrenaline boosts, newly added shot ratings for signature jumpers, and new defensive shading mechanics that make online play more fun than ever. It feels like a strategic battle that determines which player can better manage the team’s strengths and weaknesses. Each possession is like a chess match. Unfortunately, connections can be hit or miss in terms of latency, which can lead to frustrating errors when shooting or passing. Because nothing like the challenge of another human player on a stick.
And like its recent predecessor, NBA 2K23 is chock full of ways to enjoy immersive and memorable gameplay. For example, the WNBA has some modes that rival the NBA, such as Franchise mode with tons of customizable options. It’s a nice change of pace, especially if you like growing and managing your team. It’s definitely possible to get a lot of fun just by playing NBA 2K23, which should essentially ignore half of the content available.
