NBA 2k21 Review PS4

When I sit down with 2K's new basketball game every year, I normally only take the time to review the MyCareer mode, as that's the part I'm most interested in. But this year I blew through it so fast that I could play the rest of the game too, so surprise, we're getting a review of the entire NBA 2K21. It turned out to be quite easy to do, given that so little has changed since 2K20.

I'm not saying that on a "hurh durh sports games are just roster updates", I mean it in the most literal sense. In case you couldn't already tell from Madden 21's lackluster reviews or the fact that PES 2021 isn't even coming out as a standalone release, 2020 is going to be a really bad year for sports video games.

It would always stay that way, because every time we make the jump to a new console generation, it's the same story. Developers like 2K and EA Sports, who were normally anxious to develop one game a year, suddenly had to release two, a last-gen version where all the money is, and a next-gen edition where all the headlines are in. .

Getting both games out the door often involves cutting corners, creating shortcuts, and anywhere a 3D model or a menu or even a game mode can be easily recycled, rather than made or even refined, you bet it will have been recycled.

That would be the case if 2020 were to proceed normally. And it is far from normal! Imagine all of it being accountable, only now the developers also have to work from home in the midst of a global pandemic. So when I spend this review saying that NBA 2K21 is full of resettled content, I'm saying that with a slightly heavier heart than usual, because the fact that we're releasing new games at all in 2020 is a boon given the development, economic and logistics hassle involved.

But also, this is a full-priced game with the beating heart of a mobile free-to-play scam, so my sympathy only extends so far.

NBA 2K21 has brought today's 2K experience to a logical end, seen through the eyes of an exhausted fan base. It's a reflection on sports games, an experiment where a publisher sees how little they can offer players while still maximizing their winnings. This game is the least of upgrades, in some cases a downgrade from what came before, and yet you are still forced to spend real money on trinkets and upgrades every step of the way, even in single player modes, despite this already being is a full game. -price retail game.

It's fitting, then, that the only real upgrades to be found in 2K21 outside of a redesigned Neighborhood hub world, in MyTeam, are 2K's version of EA's Ultimate Team, also known as the game mode where you can spend real money on card packs that players. , and more often than not ... not. It's gotten a whole new coat of paint, replacing the incredibly gross casino theme, and the progression system rebuilt, so if this is what you're spending your time on - and a lot of people do, even if they know what they're getting into ! - you may be happier on 2K21 than I am. Especially when we get to the part of the review when I talk about how this really plays out.

MyLeague and MyGM are virtually unchanged, however. That's particularly worthless for MyGM, which I quietly hoped would be the second best of the 2K series for years to come. The NBA, with its tiny rosters, big personalities, and constant drama, would be the perfect setting for a more elaborate, theatrical management mode - basically bringing MyCareer's cutscenes to the backroom - and it's a shame 2K continues to neglect it.

On the subject of neglect, let's turn our attention to MyCareer. Previously the game's flagship mode and the game's # 1 selling point, and long my sole focus here at Kotaku (this will be the seventh straight year I've reviewed it), MyCareer has been one of the most innovative single-player campaigns in all of the computer games. Combining sports game action with dramatic cutscenes and RPG-esque character progression was like a dream come true for many fans, and for a while each New Year promised to be the year when 2K finally smoothed MyCareer's kinks and the perfect single player sports provided gaming experience.

Only they never really succeeded. It felt like the harder 2K tried, the more expensive the outside help they brought in, the further they got to it. Whether it was Spike Lee's or Lebron James' behind-the-scenes production company, there would always be something wrong with MyCareer, from 'Poochie' supporting characters to painful dialogues and clichéd storylines.

And that's before we even get close to the mode's biggest problem, which is the gradual intrusion of microtransactions. In a single player mode.

It's so frustrating! Every year they would do one good, then screw up the other. Two years later, that part would be great, but something else would break. 2K could never bring it all together the way EA Sports did with FIFA's The Journey, which has since surpassed MyCareer as the pinnacle of single-player sports narrative. Sure, there were some years when most things came together - 2K17 was probably the most beautiful place - but then that would be followed by 2K18, which was a total disaster.

I say all of this to lead 2K21 to learn very little from it, eventually becoming one of the most forgettable chapters in an increasingly forgettable saga. It's just a grab bag of themes and beats already used in previous submissions, and it's plagued by these weird irritants, like background characters who appear to be dressed up by a random wardrobe generator, seeing the game's two leading women looked incredibly the same, to the point where I spent most of the story wondering if it was an extremely poorly signposted turn for them to be sisters.

The conclusion NBA 2k21 could have been so much better if they just took out the micro trade. The game looks great, it plays good old-fashioned, but having micro transactions in single player mode is really a breaking point for us. Hence it only gets a 7.