NBA 2K23 Review: Stuck In The Past

Every year I tell myself this is the last time I’m going to get the newest NBA 2K game, and every year I end up getting drawn back in. I’ve played every game in the series since the first entry on the Dreamcast, at this point, it’s simply a yearly ritual. While I played last year’s NBA 2K22 on the PS5 though, this year I checked out NBA 2K23 on PC thanks to having a Steam Deck. I thought being able to move between my main PC and Valve’s handheld would be a cool experience. It is, but it also highlights how far behind the last-generation version of this game has fallen.

That’s right, I said last generation. NBA 2K23 continues the trend of having two completely separate versions of their yearly release. The next generation version on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S gets a lot of flashy gameplay upgrades and modes. Meanwhile, the last generation version on PS4 and Xbox One is left behind with roster updates and minor tweaks but little in the way of real change. This has been 2K’s process over multiple console generations, but it’s jarring that with this being year three of releasing an updated next-generation version of the game, the PC still isn’t being included in the best version of this game.

A Strong Core

Players who have yet to check out a next-generation version of NBA 2K likely won’t notice. The on-court product here is still fairly strong, as this is a series that has always offered strong fundamentals. Controls are tight, the presentation looks great, player AI is solid, and I can absolutely slip into a game of basketball and have a great time. The modes I’ve always enjoyed in this series, like franchise mode and basic exhibitions, are still available and still enjoyable. Running a franchise has become a go-to activity at night in bed on my Steam Deck, and I have a great time with it, as I’ve been having a great time doing that for over twenty years.

If I just wanted to do the same thing I’ve been doing for twenty years, though, I don’t need a new game. Neither do you frankly, you can get a copy of a version from a year or two ago for practically nothing. Fan-made roster updates even allow you to enjoy versions of the newer players, albeit imperfect ones. The question with any yearly update is what’s new, and the answer here is strikingly little. PC players can at least enjoy the Jordan Challenge, something first introduced in NBA 2K11, perhaps the best game in the series. This lets you take on a set of games that recreate the most important games in Michael Jordan’s career. It’s very cool, and they’ve been expanded since 2K11. While this won’t last you forever, I’m glad it’s here, as that’s more than last-generation players have gotten in some years.

Missing In Action

What’s not here, however, is an awfully long list. The new ears mode, which is similar to the Jordan challenge but for a larger portion of the NBA, isn’t included. Neither are the tons of gameplay improvements the next-generation versions of the game have seen in recent years, such as improved post-play and defense and a new shot meter. Jumping into 2K23 on PC felt like going back in time to a several-year-old version of this game, and while that doesn’t leave things bad or broken, in a series which is all about those small jumps forward with each installment, it does leave me questioning the value.

Players on PC also won’t have access to the Neighborhood, the open world for players to explore and base their My Player career around. Last year’s version, even on the new consoles, was bad, with poor optimization, tons of lag, and open areas with nothing to do, but it has potential. Like last year’s last-generation version, this version of NBA 2K23 offers a far scaled down version of this set on a boat. It’s a strange choice, and while it might be less awful just because of how poorly that mode was implemented in last year’s next-generation version, it’s still bad. There’s an attempt at a story here, but it’s completely uninteresting. Long cutscenes stretch out between games, and I couldn’t skip them fast enough. The voice acting is bad, the direction is bad, and there’s nothing redeemable here.

Sorting Through A Nightmare

Don’t worry, though, skipping out on the open world doesn’t mean skipping out on all the product placement. It’s here in droves, begging you at every turn to buy something, either indirectly in the form of advertisements or directly as the game practically begs you to buy virtual currency to level up your player. The pace of improvement, if you don’t spend real money, feels slower than ever, and the idea that you have to spend additional real-life money, after already paying to buy the game, in order to progress in a single-player game is simply absurd. Please, do not buy this currency.

That’s before even getting into the nightmare that is My Team, which continues to be perhaps the most exploitative mode in all of video games. It’s simply gambling to build the best team, with the game pushing you to spend real money and refusing to let you progress without it. Once again, please do not reward this behavior.

Conclusion

Perhaps it’s time I stopped rewarding 2K every year for simply putting out another game. While I still have fun with the same modes I’ve been playing for twenty years, I don’t need a new version of this game to do so, and neither do you. The core gameplay is still very good, albeit stuck several years in the past, but everything around it is awful. The modes I still enjoy feel like they’re buried further in the menus every year. It feels like the only way to enjoy NBA 2K23 in a nonexploitive way is to avoid all the parts of it that its creators want you to play. I don’t see this strange dynamic ending soon, so players will continue to have to decide if being the only basketball game around is enough reason to pick it up each year.

Final Verdict: 3/5

Available on: PC (Reviewed), PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, iOS; Publisher: 2K Games; Developer: Visual Concepts; Players: 4; Released: September 8th, 2022; ESRB: E for Everyone; MSRP: $59.99

Full disclosure: This review is based on a retail copy of NBA 2K23.