NBA 2K23 Review

It’s so easy to pass a yearly sports title off as the same game as last year but with updated teams. NBA 2K23 however, is so much more than that. Boasting a wide variety of modes, an incredible true-to-life presentation, and a slew of settings to cater to all players, this is perhaps one of the most complete packages in sports videogames in years.

There are genuinely so many different modes packed into 2K23 that it’s difficult to know where to begin. Do you want to dive straight in and create your own character to hit the city in MyCareer? Perhaps you want to tackle The Jordan Challenge and relieve some of the most memorable career highlights of Michael Jordan? How about shooting some hoops with your favourite WNBA team, or building your dream starting line-up in MyTeam? There is such a selection of different game modes that it’s hard not to be impressed.

Initially I fired up MyTeam, and whilst it was fun to jump into a few offline games, trying to complete specific challenges to unlock new cards or gear, the process was a tad grindy. It remains largely unchanged from last year except for a few tweaks that improve the mode; no more contracts tied to permanent players, and Clutch Mode is now playable offline. Apart from that it’s the same old MyTeam, where it’s best to stay away from the online match ups unless you’re willing to partake in spending real-world money to get semi-decent cards.

For one of the more atmospheric modes, The Jordan Challenge is potentially the best narrative driven experience in a sports title up there with the likes of the WWE 2K series (which usually focuses on the best matches in a single wrestler's career). You’ll start out as Jordan during his college years in the 1980s, complete with television filters and classic broadcast graphics to make it feel like you’re watching the original games. With 15 matches to go through, this was a surprising addition to NBA 2K23 and will be the best place to start for any fans of the bygone era of basketball.

Staying on the topic of fans of past eras, the MyNBA Eras mode will be music to the ears of anyone that has ever wondered “What if this player had been signed to this team?”. Selecting one of four eras (Magic vs Bird Era, Jordan Era, Kobe Era, and Modern Era) and a slew of customisable options — such as enabling a fantasy draft or disabling certain rules — you can really make this mode your own. Each era has its own specific set of features like teams joining the league, or rule alterations being added; whilst it may take a while to get used to all of the stats, menus, and other off-court activities, it was perhaps my favourite mode of the game, and certainly the most in-depth.

One mode that did disappoint me, unfortunately, was MyCareer. Whilst the freedom to create your own player is as satisfying as ever, and the rivalry-based story was serviceable, it was hard to avoid those devilish microtransactions. It isn’t an exaggeration to say that if you forgo spending your real money to boost your player’s attributes to at least a half-decent level, you’re going to be grinding away until the inevitable sequel. Similar to MyTeam, it was easier to stay away from any online components, as many players will absolutely wreck you with characters they must have spent a lot of money on.

I also wasn’t a fan of the rinse and repeat optional missions, playing like some sort of stripped back MMO as I zipped around the city on my skateboard (what is this, a Tony Hawk game?). The new Leadership system changes things up slightly from last year, with you and your team earning temporary buffs should you complete an objective whilst in a match. Is it a game charger? No, but at least some new mechanics have been added to shake things up a little.

It’s worth noting that the WNBA sees a bigger presence this year; with a MyWNBA mode similar to the male version included, as well as a career mode that plays similar to how they did before the inclusion of the City and other free roam areas in MyCareer. Here’s hoping next year a fully fledged career mode is implemented for WNBA, but this time around all the extra modes are a great addition.

A quick glance at NBA 2K23 shows just how accurately 2K have captured the look and feel of the game. Not only that, but the way players control whilst on the court feels so natural, it’s easy to forget you’re playing a videogame and not watching the real thing. Everything has weight to it, even down to the basketball itself. Things such as pivoting and getting into space, even when it’s AI controlled, is just spot on. There are still the occasional moments where it feels like your teammates have gone into standby mode whilst on defence, but with the huge amount of customisable options to play around with, it becomes easy enough to switch to another defender to take charge or have the AI create plays for you.

Gameplay has also seen an improvement in some smaller areas. Things such as the adrenaline boosts — a limited resource that regenerates whilst a player is off the ball — stops the spamming of certain skill moves and puts a bigger emphasis on teamwork. No more charging down the court for a slam dunk over and over again! Smaller tweaks to how things like defence works, whilst not as big as the changes implemented in previous iterations, do help to further the game into a genuinely realistic simulator.

It’s hard not to love NBA 2K23 as a fan of basketball. Whilst the heavy inclusion of microtransactions is, quite frankly, atrocious, there are still so many game modes that don’t rely on these pay-to-win features. If you’ve got the time and patience, MyCareer can be enjoyed without even touching them; just don’t expect to be able to touch anyone online who has forked out the cash to boost their way to the top.