This year, NBA 2K is about the twelfth I’ve played, and at the same time, my fourth review. And just like with sports games, every player has a favorite for many reasons. Often 2K09, 2K17 or, for example, 2K14 and 2K19 appear in my case. The last title mentioned even got a very high score of 9 out of 10. However, the following parts received a slightly above average score from me, mostly due to dissatisfaction with the story or fraudulent microtransactions and ads. This year’s series is very similar. Although he corrected some of the mistakes from the previous episode, on the other hand, he changed the working aspects of the game so that the game could earn a few more dollars.. On this I have to agree with the community, which is already so fed up with the 2K approach that it prefers to go back to older work, which can be seen in part in the sales of the latest edition.
I hope this somewhat bitter introduction makes it clear how disappointed I am with this year’s release. Not even that it’s not such a bad name, but some changes make you so frustrated that you can’t even really enjoy the game even though it offers a near-perfect gameplay. For me, the NBA has always been one of the best games on the market in terms of its handling, but we can’t escape the greed of “tie lovers” who just want to get more and more out of the online modes. Of course, there are players who mindlessly spend their money every year not only on the legendary edition, but also on possible microtransactions, but there is also a second camp of players. These are casual games or those who do not play online modes. Both the previous and current versions had around 2 million active online players at the time of release. But 2Q22 sold less than a million copies in its first month. This pace did not stop, and within six months the game sold over 10 million copies. But this year’s forecasts suggest that interest in 2K23 is so low that sales are slowing down. At the same time, Michael Jordan’s favorite tests are returning to the players, whereas a year ago, apart from minor improvements, the game did not offer anything new. Add to this the angry posts on Reddit, and we have a clear indication of the dissatisfaction of the fans.
But what is it? Mostly microtransactions. While this sounds like an ever-repeating tale of studio greed, it’s appropriate to recall a situation from last year when the NBA wasn’t all that bad. The game also made money from ads, so after watching it, you got a wheel of fortune or a deck for free. On the other hand, their number was slightly higher. Although I condemned the advertising in the review, on the other hand I praised that even without investing money, you can attract very solid players to online modes. But this year it’s completely different. After the welcome package, I waited a long time for other free rewards. And when I got them, it wasn’t good enough to use them. It doesn’t matter if it was a player or something cosmetic. The rewards were so meager that I couldn’t appreciate them at all. But the reason for this is very simple. The fewer rewards a player gets, especially the lucrative ones, the more they will want to buy premium packs to take on stronger opponents in My Team and My Career modes. But this is not only my personal feeling. Both players and critics point to this problem in the new part. But still, the game gets above-average ratings, which can help sales later on. But why such ratings?
The game is actually not that bad. Objectively, in terms of gameplay, this is one of the best parts of the series. I could talk for hours about the excellent audio-visual processing that is quite decent even on PC and older consoles where the game is still running on the original engine. But on next-gen consoles, it’s a really great sports experience. In addition to new opening demos and halftime action, lighting has been improved to further highlight the beautifully detailed models, realistic jersey behavior, and player animations. New ones have also been added this year, which you will notice mostly while playing when everything seems to be much more fluid. Players learned new moves., which will not be nearly the same for all players, and the same can be said for passing, shooting or defending. Although most basketball players behaved differently during the game, they often had almost the same animation in the aforementioned moments of the game.
But this year, the game is one step closer to reality, making everything feel more realistic and unique again. One area, however, where NBA 2K23 didn’t take a step forward and went straight two-stroke artificial intelligence of judges. Every year I have highlighted how commentators react to what is happening on the field like no one else, but the same cannot be said for the referees, who were often very hard on computers. But this year they are wrong and on his side, or help you, even if the enemy did nothing wrong. No more will you scream in anger “How the hell could he see that?!”, even though the referee was on the other side of the field. Nowhere was it clear whether the developers intentionally added a human error factor, or fouls are removed directly from the field of view of the judges. In any case, everything works very well, thanks to this the game has become more fluid, believable and fair even on higher difficulty.
Due to the heavy microtransactions, I spent less time on the online modes than I did last year, as they were otherwise completely unchanged. I had even more hopes for the MyCareer story mode. And the world is amazed – like last year, this is a great misfortune. Like last year, the game does not contain well-developed demos and a dramatic plot. You just run into someone who tells you with bad animation and lip sync what you need to try and after a few minutes you are trapped. Town. This is the center of the city, from where you can get to clothing stores, training and matches. And just like last year, this world doesn’t offer anything interesting. Yes, you can ride a skateboard, but the animations are really terrible, as are the controls. Due to the lack of ambient sounds or NPCs, the city seems empty and artificial.
That’s how the game feels below average. At the same time, the gameplay itself is absolutely excellent. But the sauce around it tastes like greasy porridge from the school cafeteria. The only thing that saves him from going back to the checkout is michael jordan challenge mode. They appeared in NBA 2K11 and your goal was to complete specific tasks in ten legendary games of this basketball player. This year, those games are back with 5 new additions, such as the 1997 game against Los Angeles or Jordan’s most recent game. I hope that every year NBA 2K focuses on such a basketball player, because I would like to relive the best moments of the career of Abdul-Jabbar, Chamberlain or Magic.
Playing NBA 2K23 is really bittersweet. We have an improvement on a completely different game mechanic that, for me, no sports game has been able to beat, be it in terms of delivery, audiovisual processing, or difficulty. On the other hand, ditching some modes to focus more on microtransactions makes the game “just another year”, as is the case with the FIFA, PGA or Madden series. Therefore, we can only recommend the game for the Indiana team with 6 points out of 10., which is one point less than last year. If this continues, the referral rate will decrease every year. Neither the creators nor the community want this. At the same time, some aspect that players complain about improves almost every year. So maybe next year it will be online modes or story.
Verdict
Playing NBA 2K23 is really bittersweet. We have an improvement on a completely different game mechanic that no sports game has been able to beat. On the other hand, ditching some of the modes to focus more on microtransactions makes the game “just another vintage”. Thus, we can recommend the game to the Indiana team with only 6 points out of 10, which is one point less than last year.
Source :Indian TV
