This year NBA 2K23 gets bigger and bolder, promising fans even more next-gen basketball on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
The slick presentation of the game starts on the menu page. A new season of NBA 2KTV is playing the moment you load the game. The game’s real-life episodic TV show offers fans tips and tricks and showcases new features. There are also guest superstars from the NBA world making their appearance. It’s a good introduction to the new game that’s worth checking out before diving deeper.
As you would expect, NBA 2K23 is packed with an almost overwhelming number of game modes and features. From MyCareer’s campaign to the customizable franchise mode, MyNBA Eras, or even a quick match via PlayNow, you can play the game the way you want.
Before navigating the menus, I pressed PlayNow, the most accessible of all the modes, which allowed me to go to court without messing around. I just chose my team and my opponent and played the ball. But in addition to a fast-paced offline game, PlayNow also offers online matchmaking for a single game against an online opponent. From here you can also play real NBA games, or the NBA Street inspired fast paced basketball game, Blacktop, in 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 and 5v5. This is also the place to go for the 2KU, which is packed with tutorials and exercises essential to getting the most out of this quite complex game.
The flesh of NBA 2K23 is MyCareer mode. This tells the now familiar story of a rookie player who starts at the bottom and works his way up to NBA greatness. This time you jump in at the NBA draft level, with the story flashing back to college basketball.
The game keeps the narrative elements to a minimum, while still heavily incorporating the game’s highly detailed online city environment. This mode makes everything close to a role-playing game with quests across the massive city that can be completed to improve your player and propel your NBA career. The city also acts as a social hub where you can meet and interact with other players. It is really the central part of NBA 2K23. You can dribble a ball or even skate as you explore the hidden locations between the streets.
Women’s NBA returns as almost a whole game unto itself. You can play with a custom player via TheW, as a team boss with MyWNBA, and jump right in via quickplay.
NBA 2Ks fantasy NBA/collectible trading card game, MyTeam, offers a fun extension to the action on the field. Here, fans can build their top team from the legendary roster of NBA players. As with many sports titles in these modes, it’s overshadowed by microtransactions, and you’re likely to play to win, but by playing MyTeam, you’ll earn the money to buy card packs without necessarily giving up real money. . While the menu is a bit of a mess, I found MyTeam easier to navigate than similar modes in other sports titles.
MyNBA Eras allows you to select your favorite teams and play the NBA league, but with a difference. In addition to the modern era, fans can also relive the Magic vs Bird era of the 1980s, the Jordan era of the 1990s, and the Kobe era of the early 2000s. As a bonus, each historical era has a visual filter that reflects the appearance of the unreliable NTSC TV broadcast quality of the time. I found this lower resolution look, complete with scan lines, very cool, it’s optional and can be turned off if it’s not for you.
Finally, Jordan Challenge takes players through the career highlights of one of the greatest basketball players of all time. From his college days in North Carolina to NBA stardom, you can relive fifteen games that defined the legendary player’s career. And just like MyNBA Eras, the historical games have the same look as the TV broadcasts of that time.
NBA 2K23s presentation is breathtaking. The gameplay on the field mimics a TV broadcast and is complemented by detailed commentary, information graphics, replays and halftime shows. The game has been polished to a glossy shine.
On the pitch, player likeness seems better than ever. The detail of the court environments is also quite amazing. I do feel that the lighting can make the images look a bit flat at times. This is probably due to the NBA players looking and moving excessively, otherwise so realistic in such a lifelike way.
With the “next-gen” consoles, the developers have been able to pack in even more animations that are seamlessly stitched together. This gives fans even more control over the players. 2K’s NBA games are easy to play, but hard to master.
However, the basics of marking, blocking and shooting are quite easy to master. You can feel the pressure of blocks, especially with PlayStation 5 and the DualSense’s dynamic adaptive triggers and haptic feedback.
2K’s NBA games are one of the few franchises that I always feel the need to revisit the tutorials after I’ve been away for a while. The 2KU has an extensive tutorial system that covers both the simple and the more complex elements of the game.
NBA 2K23 is another entry in the series that pushes the technology forward to give us a fantastic basketball sports sim. It looks and plays better than ever, it’s an arduous task for the uninitiated, but well worth the effort if you crack it. MyCareer’s massive city environment adds a great social component to the game, but MyNBA still offers the traditional league mode for those who want to play exactly like their favorite NBA team. This is a deep, sophisticated basketball game that everyone can enjoy.
verdict: 8/10
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