NBA 2K23 has just hit the streets; time to grab the old digital b-ball and head out to the fantasy court to shoot some hoops. As with all yearly updates, each NBA 2K game comes with the perils of annual fatigue.
Sometimes the game doesn’t get pushed forward enough for fans. Or on the other hand, devs go too far, alienating fans with sweeping changes to a game they love.
In NBA 2K23, it’s very much a case of business as usual, but with a few core tweaks around the edges to move it along a little from 2K22.
The NBA 2K23 Headliner
NBA 2K23 has a lot of modes to get stuck into with the headliner being the Michael Jordan-focused ‘Jordan Challenge’ mode. This tracks the bona fide legend’s career from his college days playing for North Carolina in the early 1980s.
The mode then follows his stellar rise through the game. You get to play a select number of standout games that are seen as key points in the titan’s career.
When you are playing older games in the mode, the game adds a number of screen filters to age the gameplay to look like classic TV broadcasts. These games also use more retro camera angles and on-screen graphics to mirror the limitations of the time. The attention to detail here adds much to the mode.
You also get a cool video clip before each game. These are mostly interviews with players and coaches, giving you insights into each match and give the mode a real interactive museum vibe.
Period Perfect
My NBA mode also keeps the time travel vibe going, letting you play as a number of teams from across different eras; like the 80’s,90’s and 00’s. You start a league, and you then draft players from that era.
And as time moves on the core rules will change to mirror what happened in the real sport. The overall mode really shows the love the developers have for basketball and the NBA as a whole.
Return Pass
Several modes return, like My Player and My Team. These are probably the two main ones you’ll spend your time in.
My Player once again sees you creating a budding superstar, then taking them through the ranks on the court. Previous My Player modes took themselves a bit too seriously at times in the past. But this year the mode has downed a shot of humour and is the better for it.
Off court, you’ll be let loose in an open world city again to run around. This city is populated with a mix of NPCs and other players, and has a bit of an MMO vibe to it. You’ll spend most of your time here doing side missions and quests. There’s a bit of an RPG undertone to things.
My Team is as money-hungry as always. There is a real push on microtransactions if you intend to have the very best players. NBA 2K23‘s My Team remains the ultimate ‘pay-to-win’ mode in sports sims.
Court Focus
On the court, a few interesting tweaks have refined the gameplay just a little bit. The ball seems to have a real weight to it and knowledge of how the game is played seems more useful.
AI has been tweaked to be more reactive and more fluid. NBA 2K23 also feels less like its AI is cheating to get the perfect shot. As if the AI can now do the legwork to set themselves up.
Visually, the game is stunning at times with an almost photorealism with the court never looking as shiny. The odd flubbed animation can break the immersion at times and can make reading other players moves a bit harder.
It’s also worth pointing out that this is a BIG game, 161GB right out the trap. Dwarfing almost every other game I have installed on my Series X. And if you’re playing on the Xbox, you’ll need to run the game on your internal memory. It will not play from an external device.
Forward but Flawed
NBA 2K23 refines what it does but is still haunted by microtransactions in some modes. Something the NBA 2K series could easily fix if the developer or publisher wanted to.
NBA 2K23 is ultimately a move forward for the series and a real treat for fans of the GOAT.