NBA 2K15

NBA 2K15 is like a starting lineup with Kobe Bryant, CP3, Blake Griffin, LeBron James and Dwight Howard. Unbeatable, dazzling, spectacular, sexy as hell and blessed with just some minor defects. Best sports game of 2015, period.

This is the great, solid experience we played last year, but improved in many ways. One of the best basketball games we've ever played.

2k makes the difference once again on the Next-Gen NBA games, all their promises have been delivered and basketball fans receive the game that they deserve.

Gripping even to those with no interest in the world of hoops and dunks. [Christmas 2014, p.89]

A runaway three-peat for the undisputed king of the court. [Christmas 2014, p80]

Another step closer to the perfect basketball game, and this year the beards are so life like, you really will want to stroke them.

NBA 2K15 is a slam dunk on the PlayStation 4.

NBA 2K15 is beautiful, atmospheric and oozes class that's worthy of the best league in the world.

Overall, NBA 2K15 has come on leaps and bounds from the previous year’s game, really fleshing out all the game modes.

Despite the disappointing online issues and insane load times, NBA 2K15 is still a very impressive video game. It does so many things correctly and builds upon pre-existing features in all the right ways.

Despite a lack of massive changes, NBA 2K15 is still the premier basketball experience that I don’t see being unseated any time soon. The gameplay is as satisfying and fun as ever, and when combined with the TV style presentation it is amazingly realistic.

It may have some online problems at the moment, but it's still the best sports game around. Period. With impressive graphics and a sharp gameplay, NBA 2K15 is still the king of the court.

The best-looking sports game in existence today manages to improve on its predecessor in a significant way.

NBA 2K15 offers nearly perfect gameplay and thankfully the realistic graphics of NBA 2K are here to stay. Lots of improvement on the different modes as well. NBA 2K15 is a basketball game to love, but the servers are not making the relationship go smoothly.

NBA 2K15 is a big step forward for the series, but servers have to improve to make the game perfect.

We thought NBA 2K14 had hit the limits of what a basketball game can be, that nobody could do better, but the new brew manages to do even better. NBA 2K15 improves the gameplay even more for an impressive result, and only the loading times and the facial scan feature might disappoint you.

An excellent basketball game. It does not have any radical changes. Even minor corrections maintain it as the unrivaled king of the genre.

NBA 2K15's scope and ambition as a sports sim is admirable; and though its execution doesn't always match its vision, it's still an altogether polished and impressive package. Even if you don't care much about basketball, it's worth checking out for its highly entertaining MyPlayer mode alone. Once again, Visual Concepts has nailed what makes the NBA so appealing to a wide swath of people.

No need to say more, this is the best basketball videogame of all time.

Battling for space and effectively using a screen to set up a wide-open jumper is superbly satisfying, and while it can be a struggle to keep up on defense, the interaction between all 10 men on the court at any time has never looked or felt this real.

The best NBA sim and one of the best sports simulators available for almost all platforms.

Early server issues were a real worry, but it's hard to stay mad at such a supreme sports package. [Christmas 2014, p.61]

12 months after NBA 2K14, Visual Concepts gives us another great basketball game, with the only flaw of being too dependent on online experience limited by 2K’s chronic connectivity issues.

NBA 2K15 has an awe-inspiring amount of customization that makes the game accessible for new players, and finely tuned for veterans. Each mode has addressed and improved upon criticisms from previous years and despite a slight misstep on defense, offense has never felt better.

The latest rendition of the series does not introduce many changes to the gameplay, but offers so much content, that it’s almost impossible to play it all. [13/2014, p.72]

NBA 2K15 is an astounding title full of modes that should see hoop heads playing compulsively until the next one in a year's time.

This year brings a nice upgrade and meets the new visual standard of virtual sports. Sure, there are a few bugs and errors. Yes, the problem with the face mapping is a thing, but it’s hilarious. I hope to see some scary faces out there, and it would be great if 2K had some sort of contest like who can make the scariest face. If the team can just spin this small set-back in a positive way, who cares if one small part of the game doesn’t work that well? Everything else is rock-solid and super fun.

Strong gameplay and good visuals: the things that make NBA2K awesome, are still here. NBA 2K15 adds more gameplay modes and the MyCareer mode is more dynamic. Too bad the online servers are giving us such a hard time.

NBA 2K15 brings a milestone performance with enhanced presentation across the board. Only server lag and long loading screens keep 2K15 from a spot on the sports-game dream team.

There’s no other sports game that comes even close to the drama and direction the revamped career is offering. Plus you’ll get a plethora of on- and offline modes. But when it comes to core mechanics the differences to last years’ version are only subtle.

It's accomplished, accurate and fun, but there are a few underlying problems. Still, purely as a basketball game, there isn't anything out there that's better than this. [Issue#250, p.58]

NBA 2K15 is an excellent basketball game, but it suffers from some technical problems, such as the laggy multiplayer. [Nov 2014]

Offline play is especially satisfying. [Issue#154, p.113]

The inclusion of real clips from sideline interviews is a revelation.

NBA 2K15 builds on the foundations laid down by its predecessors, providing an all-star basketball experience marred only by online issues.

Fortunately, the small changes do improve the overall package – and Visual Concepts already had an outstanding basis to work from. Basketball fans will find everything that they want and more here.

I wish that NBA 2K15 didn’t have the netcode issues it has. Without them this would be a (pardon the pun) slamdunk purchase for all basketball fans.

NBA 2K15 retains the title of best basketball video game, but it's a far less impressive title this year.

NBA 2K15 is an absolutely stunning basketball game. The graphics and the gameplay just won't stop to amaze us year after year, but unfortunately the game suffers from some serious issues in the multiplayer modes and its servers.

The NBA 2K series continues to deliver the best professional basketball experience available on consoles and PCs. Though some strange visual bugs might rub a bit of shine off of an otherwise excellent package, there’s no denying how well NBA 2K15 plays.

When it works, NBA 2K15 offers a triple double worth of compelling content, from its accessible but deep gameplay to the deep MyGM and dramatic MyCareer modes. Unfortunately, the connectivity issues continue to box out players from its engaging experiences.

Feels like a new-gen experience that 2K isn’t quite ready for. It’s an absolutely beautiful game to look at, and its controls are as tight as they’ve ever been. Some features are vastly improved from last year, and fortunately most of those continue to work when the servers don’t. It’s a shame that the best game modes won’t always be accessible, because this could’ve been an amazing basketball game.

I enjoyed the revamped MyCareer and MyGM modes, but in the end I really just wanted to spend more time online. The online suite is nice, of course, but the gameplay simply hasn’t changed much. Basically NBA 2K15 is an expansion pack for NBA 2K14, and it’s a good one!

Developer Visual Concepts added a few new things to NBA 2K15, but seem to be relying mostly on a fanbase that they hope is content with what they brought out with 2K13 and 2K14.

Online issues and forced connectivity for single player modes keep NBA2K15 from being the year's best sports game. Impressive visuals and rock-solid core mechanics however, make it a necessary addition to any NBA fan's library.

On the court NBA 2K15 delivers an engrossing and more realistic game than any other sports game out on the market. Scoring baskets, dribbling and even the playing the defense feels rewarding and challenging. However the online experience is uneven and the lack of a true training mode is very unfortunate.

Its best modes are too often hobbled by reliance on 2K's junky servers, and bugs and design flaws are too prevalent to ignore. NBA 2K15 still offers the most realistic version of the game of basketball you'll find on any platform this year. It's just a shame that players will have to struggle against its shoddy infrastructure in order to get the most out of that experience.

If the guts of the game are available, NBA 2K15 is the best sports title of the year, by a New York mile. The design choices at its edges — either needlessly making offline features dependent on online access, or insufficiently supporting the dedicated online modes — stain what is otherwise a role model for all sports video games.