With the recent release of the newest installment in the NBA 2K franchise, it has a lot of people talking about the state of sports games as a whole, and whether or not the genre is ready to turn itself around and bring genuinely better products, geared toward providing good experiences for the players. Everyone is well aware of the common criticisms regarding most sports game franchises, and how they supposedly do not bring nearly enough improvements to their games to make them worth a yearly price tag of 70 USD. Below, we will be exploring how well this criticism holds up for NBA 2K25 in particular, and whether or not it is taking the series in a better direction through timely and effective changes.
A Look At What NBA 2K25 Truly Brings to the Franchise
Core Gameplay
It is no surprise that the release and the life-cycle of 2k24 was a rough one, as it was not only popularly deemed the worst in the franchise by the embers of the community, but also, even outside of the said community, it was one of the lowest rated steam games on the platform. With this in mind, it goes without saying that the developers needed to deliver to regain the trust of their fan base.
One of the marketed improvements was regarding the core gameplay and the overall feel/flow of the games. In this department, we do see a couple of great improvements. Player movement feels faster, and accompanied by better models and more accurate sizes for the said players, as well as the expected updates for graphics, animations, and overall presentation, the experience is better.
A significant mechanical change comes in the form of the shot meter, which now has 5 different selections, all impacting the meter’s behavior in unique ways. For example, the simplest impact would be how forgiving the timing is. Of course, if you do choose a specific meter with greater timing windows, for the games to be fair and balanced it is also going to affect the probability of the shot going in. Along with the motion/input change of the shot, this is a welcome addition for most.
Another significant aspect is the ball handling and the changes to the fatigue meter. Previous installments are infamous for allowing dribble move spamming and easy blow-bys, so changes in this department had to come. The fatigue meter is a lot less forgiving on the dribble moves this time around, forcing players to play a bit more carefully and strategically, as opposed to only relying on speed and player dribbling. It would be interesting to observe how these changes affect the competitive scene, which has been rather quiet for the last 2k. Perhaps the changes to the core gameplay can bring about the progression of this specific section of the title.
Regardless, the 2k league is still going to be an esports league, giving the best players a chance to shine. It already had plenty of support from different establishments. As a prime example, esports betting at Bovada offers prop bets for entire tournaments and series for the league, allowing bettors to pick which team will win a championship, advance to the finals, or make it to the next round, ultimately, wagering on their potential.
With such diverse wagering options, the advanced player manages to engage deeply with the NBA 2K League, leveraging a broader range of betting choices. However, for the casual player, the most interesting aspect of the game remains the input of the pros on the core mechanics, and how well they are implemented this time around.
What Stays the Same
While the previous section was positive, now we have to discuss the negatives. Game modes are about the same as they were last time and a lot of the criticisms about the microtransaction dependencies for VC still hold up.
For example, in MyCareer, you start at the now traditional 60 overall, and to get to an 85, you will need to spend around 200k VC or around 40-50 USD. Normally, this would not be so bad, but considering how slow the grind for currencies is, as well as how unsatisfying it is to play as a slow, clunky 60 overall player, you do start feeling that incentive to spend extra. But hey, to be fair there are a couple more gateways to earn said VC than in 2k24.
As for other modes, MyTeam is better than last year, but the battle pass is still a thing, immediately raising some red flags from many players. The WNBA mode is pretty good though, and that is largely due to the core gameplay being solid. It feels different compared to the normal NBA with male players, and that is certainly the goal. In the same boat is the online head-to-head mode, which is going to work better than last year, due to the core of 2k25 being more fun.
Other modes are interesting to play around with, such as the MyGM, and MyNBA, based on decision-making and team constructions behind the scenes. The latter of the two allows a unique, fresh feature, and the ability to create a player, similar to MyCareer, but also play with them in different eras, which is a welcome addition.
Overall, while NBA 2k25 will likely turn out better than the last 5-6 releases from the franchise, it certainly is not without its flaws. Due to the nature of the game being in the sports genre, most do agree that in terms of change, it does decently well when it comes to mechanics and how the play flows, and that is especially valid when compared to some of the other, more heavily criticized game sports franchises.
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