I'm an RPG guy. What's great about that is I can continue games at my pace, pause when I need to, save and exit when I want and engage in wonderfully crafted stories.
My Online Game Brings All The Boys To The Yard
Enter: NBA 2K23. I now have FOMO on gaining an chance to improve my shot, play basketball on a freaking trampoline or shoot WAY back behind the arc for a 4 point score.
My friends play this game and at first we started as a "ah maybe a few days for the review" type go. But now. NOW. It is ON. We fully stink up the Rec games. We stink up theater games. We stink up every single court we touch. And we cannot get enough.
Pay Me To Play Me
NBA 2K23 is fun. Absolutely. The fun DOES come at a price though. For full transparency, I received the Michael Jordan Edition of the game (Thanks 2K!) to review. This came with 100,000 VC (2K's virtual currency) to spend on my character. I did such a thing. My character was overall 80. I thought I could be competitive. I was so wrong. Not only do I lack the dead-eye precision skill that most online players have. But fighting the latency, skill gap and the ever so GRIND to get your character's stats up to be able to compete has hindered all ability to just jump in and have a good time.
You can play the career/story mode and you get a decent chunk of VC to beef your character up, but it never feels like enough. The career mode itself is pretty decent as well.
While playing with the crew can have its moments, most of the time we get crushed because we need to spend around 40-50 real dollars to make our characters move a little faster or be able to shoot.
Finding a game can be a tad odd as well since there are no clear matchmaking rules to set up. For example: There are 3 in my group who want to play together. With all hopes crushed by waiting in one of the city's parks just to maybe score one time, then having to wait and do it again, we are limited to the Theater Courts. These are gimmicky-type courts that you can play through a weekly rotation. Game modes like Trampoline cages, games to 11 (1s and 2s only) and games that include free throws. There is no standard 3 v 3 modes unless you create a team and play in the WAY too sweaty Pro-Am circuit. I just want to join a lobby, hit search match and play with my friends. It is a little tedious.
Shooting the ball has also become difficult this year as well as you have to hit a perfect release around 98% of the time to be successful. Unless you live in the paint and then you're good.
With all the difficulties and weird pay to win mechanics aside, I do find myself wanting to play the other modes way more. I don't. But I want to.
What Modes Are Good For Casual?
The Jordan Challenge is back and better than ever. Reliving Jordan's moments is something any basketball fan can enjoy and 2K23 is no different. Complete challenges throughout Jordan's historic career and experience this in the best gameplay 2K has yet to offer.
The WNBA is back and from what I have played is relatively the same as '22. Nothing to write home about here as the W is limited to it's online mode. It IS fun but not much to offer in terms of advancement to the series.
Can you believe that there is more to the game than MyCareer? Well there is.
You can create your own online franchise with friends, play for packs in MyTeam (still a money pit but it IS a good time), or play the brand new MyNBA mode. This is a franchise mode that you can now experience through different ERAs of the NBA.
Revisit the 70s/80s/90s/early 2000s and the present. All with their own distinct visual styles and commentary. It's a lot of fun. You can even have a custom franchise and enable players from all eras into one. This is the best version of the game by far and I HIGHLY recommend it.
But How Does The Game Feel?
Look, I am not here to talk your head off about the extensive modes and online anger issues this game has brought to me. I'm here to let you know if it is a good time and feels good.
Yes.
Yes yes yes.
NBA 2K23 is by far the best that 2K has put out and there are noticeable improvements across the board. A.I. reacts better in your MyCareer/Play Now modes. The movement doesn't feel stifled by animations (most of the time) and when you actually do hit that illusive GREEN perfect release, boy does it feel good.
I really do feel that games like NBA 2K need two years between releases so we have time to fully experience everything and each new entry can be different.
This is definitely an improvement to last year and if you are a basketball fan, I say pick it up and play. And unless you're a God Tier shot online or have friends who can carry you, I'd stick to the much more fun, play at your own pace modes.
I would say NBA 2K23 is an 8/10
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