NBA 2K18

 Xbox One
User Score
1.8

Overwhelming dislike- based on 191 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 15 out of 191
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 191
  3. Negative: 155 out of 191
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  1. blimbou
    Sep 27, 2017
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. 2K did another great game. Stunning visuals, fluid gameplay and perfect feeling of a real match going on your tv. It is a real improvement of its previous game… Expand
  2. kcsimms
    Sep 15, 2017
    9
    2K has done it again! This is one of the most impressive sports games that I've ever played. The gameplay is phenomenal, and the graphics aren't too shabby either. Even though this feels like a fine-tuned version of 2K17, it's still worth the buy. There will be a lot of negative reviews about the myplayer features because it seems like 2K is taking advantage of the ever-so-popular game2K has done it again! This is one of the most impressive sports games that I've ever played. The gameplay is phenomenal, and the graphics aren't too shabby either. Even though this feels like a fine-tuned version of 2K17, it's still worth the buy. There will be a lot of negative reviews about the myplayer features because it seems like 2K is taking advantage of the ever-so-popular game mode; charging money for hair cuts and inducing you to spend actual money in the game. I have yet to explore everything that 2K has to offer, but I like what I see so far.… Expand
  3. NotoriouzWun
    Oct 9, 2017
    7
    Lets be honest, game play wise this game is off the charts. Any other way?

    * Not so much. Team Pro-Am is broke you cant enter a squad game unless you do some sort of magical voodoo and say a prayer to your god of choice. * VC Rules everything Around You CREAM Dolla Dolla bills yall. * The neighborhood you are in doesnt really connect to the park. If you are trying to figure add    Lets be honest, game play wise this game is off the charts. Any other way?

    * Not so much. Team Pro-Am is broke you cant enter a squad game unless you do some sort of magical voodoo and say a prayer to your god of choice.

    * VC Rules everything Around You CREAM Dolla Dolla bills yall.

    * The neighborhood you are in doesnt really connect to the park. If you are trying to figure add someone to your squad and you are in the same neighborhood, they dont show up if they are in the park associated with that neighborhood. Its weird.

    * The incredible expanding and shrinking man. In the MyCareer your guy is average height in every cut scene, even if he is 7'3 in the game.

    * LAG! LAG! LAG! There is a reason 2K put in my career the option to tell Ronnie2K to fix the servers when he calls you . They know they're trash and no they don't plan to make them better. This is why they can poke fun at it.

    If you want a good gameplay experience and don't care about Pro-Am or The Park then NBA2k18 is for you. If you want a good online experience with mediocre game play then hit up NBA Live. Less of a grind, just as much fun, and way better servers.    … Expand
  4. camo1902
    Sep 17, 2017
    6
    Still the king. The gameplay and graphics are great, and commentary is brilliant. They manage to make you feel like you're in a proper game.

    I have however rated this down significantly (would normally give it an 8 or higher) because they've completely ruined MyCareer which was my favourite mode in previous versions. The grind is far too much for us guys who can't commit multiple hours    Still the king. The gameplay and graphics are great, and commentary is brilliant. They manage to make you feel like you're in a proper game.

    I have however rated this down significantly (would normally give it an 8 or higher) because they've completely ruined MyCareer which was my favourite mode in previous versions. The grind is far too much for us guys who can't commit multiple hours each day. And the focus on VC to truly customise a character is bad. 2k18 just favours those who are willing (and able) to spend more real money to advance, rather than awarding more skillful players. This is a shame, because taking my character into online play was my favourite part of video games every single year and that's now gone as I can't commit the grinding time needed and I won't commit more money purchasing VC.

    Finally the wait to actually play a MyCareer game is epic, and I'm not talking about load times. The frequent cut scenes are not needed. Just let us play!    … Expand
  5. riverkev95
    Sep 26, 2017
    6
    Gran juego de baloncesto, pero peca del uso de las políticas abusivas que tienen la facilidad de cargarse una saga entera. Pésima decisión por parte de los de Take Two con este juego.
  6. Leesumd32
    Sep 30, 2017
    6
    What’s Hot
    + Decent Graphics
    + Good SoundTrack + Same 2K Controls we grew to enjoy over the last few years + Decent voice acting + Presentation + Facial Scan via Android or iOS phone or tablet What’s Not - Painful load times… - Microtransactions is cancer and this game is riddled with it. - Game lag during online play - Can’t see what who your opponent is choosing during    What’s Hot
    + Decent Graphics
    + Good SoundTrack
    + Same 2K Controls we grew to enjoy over the last few years
    + Decent voice acting
    + Presentation
    + Facial Scan via Android or iOS phone or tablet

    What’s Not
    - Painful load times…
    - Microtransactions is cancer and this game is riddled with it.
    - Game lag during online play
    - Can’t see what who your opponent is choosing during online play (Play Now).
    - Can’t skip meaningless cut-scenes during in MyCareer.
    - Significant editing of the soundtrack

    Why 2K, Why?
    * Did you make the MyCareer mode so tough this year? Serious don’t expect to score more
    than 8 points a game until you rating is over 70.
    * Why does the MyCareer look like it came out last gen systems. I purchased the Xbox One version because I wanted to enjoy a basketball game looking its best (and play against my friends online). Now I’m regretting not getting the Nintendo Switch version… The Xbox One, and PS4 versions don’t look that much better.

    Graphics:
    Honestly speaking, I am not impressed here. It is actually kinda sad being that 2K is known for having the best looking games. Don’t get me wrong if you mostly play Online or in the Play Now mode this game looks great. Presentation also is top-notch like you would expect form 2k. The game just turns ugly when you play in the MyCareer Mode. Seriously everything look like it came right out of 2013 on last gen consoles. I wish they took more time to develop the My Career modes visuals, that's where you will be spending much of your time.

    Gameplay:
    Your usual NBA2K stuff here, though the kicked up the difficulty or should I say frustration meter way up in MyCareer mode. Putting everything behind a paywall kinda hamper the gameplay a bit to. While VC points aren’t difficult to obtain but I hate having to spend them on Hair cuts i have already purchased… Playing online is a bit annoying as well. I’m not sure What 2K was thinking but I would like to see what team my opponent is picking so I don’t choose the same one. There is nothing worse than playing against the same team i chose 4 times in a row… Load times are almost unbearable in MyCareer mode. You load to get into the hub over-world, you load to get into the practice gym, and you load to get out of it. You load to get into game, You load for the locker room, and you load after the game. Then you load again to go back to the hub over-world. It's all pretty awful, especially knowing that you have to do this for every f’n game. This much loading in a 2017 game that has a 45GB+ install footprint is ridiculous. Oh and you can’t skip cut-scenes… Even the ones that don’t require your decisions.

    Sound:
    2K normally gets this right yearly so there are no surprises here. You get a decent mix of today’s and yesteryears Hip Hop with a few other hype tracks. Voice acting is good and the announcers are pretty much spot on.

    Value:
    I’m sorry by this game especially in its current condition is no way worth the price of admission. “Save your money folks (in Donald Trump Voice)” the game will drop in price in the next few months. I can almost guarantee you can buy this for $40 or $50 around black Friday. I feel sorry for the people who brought the legend's edition for $150.

    Around The Web:
    First off I’m gonna say it is bizarre how Gaming Journalist and Consumer are on the opposite sides of the richter scale when it comes to this game. On MetaCritic the game is getting an 8.5 or 85 from professionals but only a 1.6 or 16 from consumers. Also, on Amazon the Game currently has a 2.1 or a 42. This tell us a few things. One gaming news outlets need to start being more transparent. If they are being strong armed to produce positive reviews they need to stop doing them and misleading consumer for a dollar. Two 2K needs to revamp their NBA 2K team because i can see consumers looking elsewhere next year if this keeps up.

    Thoughts:
    Realtalk, i am so disappointed. I was looking forward to jumping back into the sports game genre with the latest and greatest basketball game being that basketball is my favorite sport. And then i ended up with this… An unpolished basketball sim with issues i find hard to look past. I feel this game is best used for playing locally with friends until some bugs and annoyances are addressed. Don’t get me wrong, the game isn’t bad it just isn’t what i was hoping for. 2K Sports let their greed take control this time and it shows. You shouldn’t have to pay extra to enjoy a game and, that's what 2K wants you to do here. It also doesn't do much for their character being it appears they corrupted the media into giving out good scores.

    Recommendation
    Just wait for a price drop. This game as is, isn’t worth the price of admission.    … Expand
  7. CenkAlp
    Jan 2, 2018
    6
    Hikaye = 7
    Oynanış = 8
    Grafikler = 8
    Sesler = 6
    Keyif = 6
    Atmosfer = 6
    Süre = 5
  8. GioGiorno
    Jun 28, 2020
    5
    Primeiro jogo da série NBA 2K que joguei, mas não me impressionei muito. A defesa é bem fraca e chega a ser um pouco chato de defender já que o jogo parece não ter dado muita importância as mecânicas de defesa. Na ofensiva, a movimentação é um pouco travada e o arremesso é bem confuso.
  9. kingofgames
    Sep 15, 2017
    4
    I expecting a better sequel installment to NBA 2k16 and 17. Sure the shooting system is good, the overall graphic is bit better, the face scan feature is a huge imporvement and myGM mode is pretty good. However, the developer did not learn their mistake and not to improve the gameplay experience, yet somehow they make it even worse than previous games. The weighty character movement isI expecting a better sequel installment to NBA 2k16 and 17. Sure the shooting system is good, the overall graphic is bit better, the face scan feature is a huge imporvement and myGM mode is pretty good. However, the developer did not learn their mistake and not to improve the gameplay experience, yet somehow they make it even worse than previous games. The weighty character movement is completely slow the pace of the game down too much, the character customization are bad and the progression are just an another exhausting grinding task becasue 2K think it is good idea to ditch out the difficulty bonus. There are also many issues never addressed. For example,the screens is still broken, the AI is laughably bad, and the players animation are far worse than NBA 2k16/17 in comparision (how is this even possible!?) In the end, I cannot recommand this game for any long time fan of the series and I'll stay away from the is franchise for a while . But then again, If you are an newcomer or just a causal NBA fan. I recommend you to try it up. You probably might end up liking it.… Expand
  10. jay_caspian
    Nov 3, 2017
    4
    The game is flawed inside and out. The game hinders itself by making every little choice a micro transaction. They reduced how much virtual currency you earn in games significantly, and raised the cost of every attribute. Trying to play the game without spending $20 on virtual currency is impossible since they built it into the fundamentals of the game.

    Apart from this, they took away    The game is flawed inside and out. The game hinders itself by making every little choice a micro transaction. They reduced how much virtual currency you earn in games significantly, and raised the cost of every attribute. Trying to play the game without spending $20 on virtual currency is impossible since they built it into the fundamentals of the game.

    Apart from this, they took away features from las year. You can't play MyCareer without having Xbox Live Gold, MyGM does not have the league expansion feature we had last year, And MyCareer's story is not only embarrassingly pathetic, but you cannot exit out of cut scenes, most of which are 3-10 minutes long (note: there are cut scenes before/after almost every game your rookie year). I couldn't possibly be more disappointed.

    Also, beware of the other reviews out there marking it a 10/10. Some are obviously paid reviews from people who don't speak English and don't actually play the game.

    Edit from original review:

    The game is still terribly flawed from microtransactions with little being done from 2K’s position to indicate that they care at all about user complaints. The inability to skip the poorly-written storyline is another frustrating feature, however after your rookie year, most cut scenes seem to disappear. However bad the storyline is in MyCareer, it's fantastic in comparison to MyGM's storyline that is embarrassingly bad. (Spoiler: Your decisions don't matter because the boss and his son will do whatever they want anyway and overrule your decision). MyGM, something I usually replay every year at least two or three times, is unplayable.

    MyLeague is by far the best and most complete mode. The customizations for new teams and league option changes continue to solidify it as the best single mode of any sports game, period. The AI for other GMs is pretty interesting and nothing out of this world has over-taken any team, as was a problem in previous iterations.    … Expand
  11. rando24
    Sep 26, 2017
    4
    This game is really disappointing. It is riddled with the same bugs that have been in the previous games. Some of these bugs would be very simple to fix. The overall gameplay is pretty good, but the bugs are very annoying. It also just feels like they only put this game out to earn money of of microtransactions. They do everything they can to make you buy VC, which I refuse to do. YourThis game is really disappointing. It is riddled with the same bugs that have been in the previous games. Some of these bugs would be very simple to fix. The overall gameplay is pretty good, but the bugs are very annoying. It also just feels like they only put this game out to earn money of of microtransactions. They do everything they can to make you buy VC, which I refuse to do. Your player starts out terrible and its very hard to enjoy a game mode where you can't even make layups and open jumpers a lot of the time. Microtransactions have been a problem in the past but it is even worse this year. Honestly, this series could be so good if they just put in some effort, but when there is no real competition in the market, they clearly do not feel the need to do anything. I don't mind having to work hard to improve my player, but some of us can't spend 200 hours in a game just to get a player to a role player skill level. They also do not allow you to skip the cut scenes, which are incredible cliche and cringe worthy. These things go on forever and if you could skip them I probably could have gotten at least 5 more games in by now and I haven't even played that much yet.… Expand
  12. amitcohen96
    Apr 14, 2018
    4
    2k dont care about their customer. the only way the succeed in game modes is by bying vc witc real money, the gameplay in a lot of occasions is very unreallistic and cheesy. the servers are awful, there are multiples lags, and a lot of disconnectios. on the myteam mode they barely release new content.
  13. Mbrown13
    Sep 13, 2018
    4
    NBA 2k18 is a good game, it has a lot of amazing features that were not in the previous games. Unfortunately, it still has some things that need to be fixed like the gameplay, servers are not the good, and it’s a multipurchase game.
    The good thing about this game is the new features and animations they added in the game. The main thing they added to this game was the neighborhood. I    NBA 2k18 is a good game, it has a lot of amazing features that were not in the previous games. Unfortunately, it still has some things that need to be fixed like the gameplay, servers are not the good, and it’s a multipurchase game.
    The good thing about this game is the new features and animations they added in the game. The main thing they added to this game was the neighborhood. I personally think it was a cool addition it was smooth and throughout the neighborhood there was minigames you can play with your friends. In the neighborhood you could go to the barbershop for your character, you can go get tattoos, and change your clothes in the NBA shop. It also had this thing you can go to in the neighborhood called park. The park it has 8 courts 6 3v3 courts and 2 2v2 courts. This is where you and your friends can compete with other people that are playing the game at the time.
    Now there was a lot of things that needed to be fixed in this game. For example, when u buy the game you can make your own player and you can play My career mode, but it takes to long for you to be able to upgrade your player. They do this so u can spend money on vc (what you use to upgrade your player) and it costs a lot of real-life money to get more of it. For example, I have a friend that bought the game for $60 but 1 day later spent $100 just on vc because there isn’t enough time to grind on your player to upgrade him. The creators of the game do this, so you must spend more money than you already did on the game.
    The gameplay is not up to par it has some good days and some terrible days. The good days happen rarely this is when the game has great servers and it is running smoothly but it is also when people rarely play the game because of the experience they had before. On its bad days the servers are slow, and you can’t really play with anyone. The bad days is when you have these players where they get these glitches that came out a while ago before they were fixed but, the people that discovered them uses them and you can’t stop what they are doing. They were animation glitches that boosted your handles and dunks/layups.
    In conclusion I’m neutral about the game to be honest because it has good, but it also has a lot of bad. The graphics of the game are fantastic but sometimes the gameplay can be glitchy. For what the game is worth I do not approve the price should be lowered just because you have to spend more money on vc than your do on the actual game.    … Expand
  14. Salmon_Champion
    Sep 21, 2017
    3
    The gameplay is better, but still ultimately the same. Many of the weird plays, and animations frustrate and ruin the experience for some games. Wide open layups bounce out of the basket because of an invisible meter that matters A LOT, ten foot passes going into the fifth row, basketball bouncing off of your foot when anyone gets within three feet of you, these are things that have beenThe gameplay is better, but still ultimately the same. Many of the weird plays, and animations frustrate and ruin the experience for some games. Wide open layups bounce out of the basket because of an invisible meter that matters A LOT, ten foot passes going into the fifth row, basketball bouncing off of your foot when anyone gets within three feet of you, these are things that have been problems for years yet they aren't touched. Let us not forget that the entire game is based upon VC, and VC is a commodity that is more rare than gold. You need VC to pretty much do anything other than boot up the game (Probably being worked on for 2k19) and yet the payout for playing games is so minuscule compared to how much anything costs. The Virtual Currency, however, is available for purchase with real world money for those who do not have the time to spend playing the game 30 hours a week to be able to get to a competitive overall for your myplayer. You can easily spend an extra $50 and get your myplayer to an 85 automatically, and then if you do not you at a sever hindrance at playing online modes such as "Playground" or "ProAM" which is designed to beat people sensless with how horrible their non-bought MyPlayer is until they cave in and purchase a package of Virtual Currency, which seems like some sort of extortion. With a game designed to make the rich richer and the poor poorer it seems as if Take Two Interactive is leaning more towards micro-transactions and how to fit them into the game rather than improve the game or give the fans what they want instead.

    This game gets a 3 for the good in the gameplay, on every other aspect it gets a 0. Unless we added "extortion" and "greed" then Take Two definitely gets a 10 in both of those areas.    … Expand
  15. TimeOfTheChimps
    Dec 22, 2017
    2
    The on-court action has never been better, but with 2K's greed infecting everything but MyLeague, it's safe to go back to playing previous (better) games and skip this and future iterations of the franchise.
  16. sunnysmooth
    Sep 22, 2017
    2
    I am an older gamer, had a Dreamcast including that first NBA2k game with Iverson on the cover. NBA2k has been the one game through out the years I had dedicated a ton of my time to (which I do not have a lot of due to kids, and a career). When the Legend edition was announced, there was no doubt that I was going to purchase that edition as I did the Kobe Legend edition for 2k17.

    Upon    I am an older gamer, had a Dreamcast including that first NBA2k game with Iverson on the cover. NBA2k has been the one game through out the years I had dedicated a ton of my time to (which I do not have a lot of due to kids, and a career). When the Legend edition was announced, there was no doubt that I was going to purchase that edition as I did the Kobe Legend edition for 2k17.

    Upon playing the MyCareer in 2018 it was devastating to me how much they changed the game. I did not want to play an RPG running around without a map or navigation trying to find where Mycloset was, and waiting and waiting on load times. I had to turn to YouTube just to figure out where My Court was. It was frustrating running around and not knowing where to go or what to do, and as such I have a bad condition of motion sickness. I was ecstatic of the improved face scan, however the hair cut did not match mine, so after watching YouTube videos, I figured out where the barber was. Then I was confused why getting a haircut required VC which 2k17 didn't require. I was like fine, it's only 1,500 and I only needed one haircut. A few hours later after my motion sickness went away, the network connection was disconnected, restarted my Xboxone, and I came to realize the my My Career file I had from Prelude was gone. So no problem I will just create another myplayer file, but now all the Legend edition Shaq digital items were gone also. I submitted a ticket with 2k technical support and awaiting their response. Another important aspect of playing this game is the difficulty levels. I do not play online with other players, and strictly just play mycareer and WOW this game is incredibly HARD. I understand I am only a 60 rated player but I would miss open shots and layups, and ridiculously cannot play any defense on the computer. The game ultimately is frustrating and just not FUN anymore. Literally a huge step backwards from an amazing NBA2k17 game.    … Expand
  17. Skylines94
    Apr 9, 2018
    2
    Too much emphasis placed on VC. One big problem is people deciding to just spend guap on vc instead of actually trying to improve at the game as their character levels up. This changes it from a basketball simulation to an pseudo-arcade style basketball game. Case in point, i see a lot of 80 Ratings playing a lot better than the "holy 90 something". The reason why is because they grindedToo much emphasis placed on VC. One big problem is people deciding to just spend guap on vc instead of actually trying to improve at the game as their character levels up. This changes it from a basketball simulation to an pseudo-arcade style basketball game. Case in point, i see a lot of 80 Ratings playing a lot better than the "holy 90 something". The reason why is because they grinded and actually at the game rather than just boosting random stats with money. Your overall 3 point shooting could be a 99 while mine is a 86, but if you randomly jack up shots as opposed to me only shooting when I'm open then what does that tell you?

    Another Gripe is the multitude of patches. I have no problem with patches BUT when there is literally a patch everytime I log into the game, then I actually expect them to be really necessary, yet I fail to see the impact of most of them aside from a few new minigames and endorsements in MyCareer. If NBA Live were to get their animations in order and offer a revamped franchise mode then they would definitely be on top like it 2009 lol.    … Expand
  18. cpierce23
    May 30, 2018
    2
    There are a series of imperfections in this game that can make it very unpleasant to play. What is saddening is how easily fixable most of these errors are, yet they never are dealt with, even with the large amounts of user feedback the game has gotten. The lack of user satisfaction is something that has been reoccurring annually for the past few years, some say as a result of a lack ofThere are a series of imperfections in this game that can make it very unpleasant to play. What is saddening is how easily fixable most of these errors are, yet they never are dealt with, even with the large amounts of user feedback the game has gotten. The lack of user satisfaction is something that has been reoccurring annually for the past few years, some say as a result of a lack of competition in the NBA video game industry. Nevertheless, with the growing popularity of basketball and the NBA, I think this game has huge potential... but it starts with pleasing the buyers!

    Pros
    -good graphics
    -customizeable, detailed game modes
    -some realistic aspects

    Cons
    -many unrealistic aspects
    -very reliant on micro-transactions
    -overwhelming number of simple errors/inconveniences    … Expand
  19. Caltx55
    Aug 15, 2018
    2
    Gamers, do not be afraid to rip this game and the developers a new one. This game is an example of what happens when ignorance and greed invade the minds of video game developers. We shouldn't have to put up with abominations like NBA 2K18. I will start with the MyCareer and MyTeam modes, and then continue with gameplay and animations, then finish with the little things.
    MyCareer and    Gamers, do not be afraid to rip this game and the developers a new one. This game is an example of what happens when ignorance and greed invade the minds of video game developers. We shouldn't have to put up with abominations like NBA 2K18. I will start with the MyCareer and MyTeam modes, and then continue with gameplay and animations, then finish with the little things.
    MyCareer and MyTeam are pay to win modes. At the start of MyCareer, you can fork over money to instantly become an 85 overall. Rather than base progression on skill, it is based on how much virtual currency you spend. What I find humorous is that those who cough up money to progress are punished as well. The progression bar takes hours upon hours to fill, especially when you reach higher overalls. There is no doubt that 2K implemented these features to encourage new players to pay for VC. This would allow players to skip some of the grind to become a higher overall. MyTeam is even worse, as the edition of 99 overall Pink Diamonds has completely ruined the mode. Why learn your team's strengths and weaknesses and get better as you play when you can just chuck the ball to any one of your Pink Diamond players sitting on the perimeter and get a green release with anyone behind the arc? Or you could just blindly drive and dunk with Antetokounmpo. Several players that were and are not known for shooting 3's can suddenly make them consistently. They have even put out a LeBron James Card and Michael Jordan card with 99 on everything. I understand that these two are basically the greatest players to step on a court. But no card in any Fantasy Team should have these stats. And you may ask how you get these card?. Sure you could use MyTeam points that take hours to get, or you could fork over cash to buy packs to maybe get a Pink Diamond. If you don't have these cards and your opponent does, chances are it's not going to be a fun experience. These two modes are worse than ever before and they have transformed from pay or suffer to pay and suffer.
    Anyone who says game play has improved needs to go play the game a little longer. This game should be called NBA 2K: The snatchback edition. Literally, all I see players do is snatchback and chuck the ball up. The problem is that this cheap way of getting open is actually effective. No skill players are able to score basket after basket. Another cheap way of getting baskets is driving base line. As long as you don't push the thumb stick directly towards the baseline, you will be able to slip past a defender. Animations are terrible and unrealistic, though one in particular stands out. The first game I played of 2K18, Paul George lost gripped of the ball while dribbling, so he picked it up and continued dribbling. I may not be the most knowledgeable basketball player in the world, but if you pick up the ball and dribble it again, that's a double dribble. This animation happened at least once a game for me. One of the biggest problems with NBA 2K18 is missing wide open layups. For those of you who don't know, these layups are not contested floater or complicated layups that are a few steps away. These layups are so simple that a 3 year old could make them.
    If you noticed that I didn't include too much about online play, that's because online play is unplayable. Response time for actions can take more than a second, which is unacceptable in any game. This happens in any online mode. Maybe this happens because I have an average internet connection, but I know people who have the best internet possible, and this still happens. To put it simply, when I press the shoot button, it takes a second to process it, and by the time I release the ball, a defender comes flying in to get an easy block. To put it simply, online mode in NBA 2K18 is simply unplayable to myself and several other players.
    Finally, 2K refuses to put innovation in every edition of 2K for the new console generation. There are several small things that just ruin the experience when added up. To show what I am talking about, take the halftime show in MyCareer. It is the same thing every time. The commentary is the same repeated dialouge that has been used for nearly a decade. Also, to prove that 2K lacks innovation of any kind. They didn't make an award ceremony for the MyCareer awards, which are now how real NBA awards are given. All of these things add up to make what is one of the worst sports games ever.
    These game developers should not be rewarded for releasing this horrible excuse for a sports game. No matter how many public events they have, and no matter how many times Rachel shows up and puts on that fake smile on 2KTV, it doesn't even come close to excuse how bad this game is. Everyone has the right to give their opinion, but critics who say this game is innovating and improving are just plain wrong. It gets a 2 from me; one point for working offline, and another for being able to play basketball. This game is an abomination.    … Expand
  20. Makaveli
    Sep 23, 2017
    1
    Those review sites that gave this game a good score have been paid off and have lost all credibility..

    How can you give a game a good score when it's clearly downgraded just to force people in spending more money... BTW the game should be rated M for mature because no kids have credit cards to buy VC.. This crap should be illegal, same with loot crates (gambling) and all micro    Those review sites that gave this game a good score have been paid off and have lost all credibility..

    How can you give a game a good score when it's clearly downgraded just to force people in spending more money...

    BTW the game should be rated M for mature because no kids have credit cards to buy VC..

    This crap should be illegal, same with loot crates (gambling) and all micro transactions in paid games. Dont give us that crap where games cost much more to make because the budgets for these games remain pretty much the same since 1997 not to mention games sell a lot more than they did back then too..

    I will never buy another 2k,activision,EA or any other game with loot crates,microtransactions etc... It's time to stop this garbage, gaming sucks now because it is no longer about passion and creativity but full of corporate a-holes .

    I remember when I was a kid and was excited for a new generation to come out, now I get worried because it seems like every new gen means a new way to screw us over... How about we all just link our bank accounts to 2ks, then that way they can just take money as they please, not enough money for 2k. Seems like every-time we buy a game these days we are getting raped, I dont like being touched that way 2k. You may foolin everyone else, but you aint foolin me, you may look like a sexy woman but we all know you're a fat hairy slob in disguise, so take your halloween costume off, you look ridiculous.. Just say " give us your money"
    People shouldn't have to take out a 2nd morgage to play games...

    Not really a review, more of a rant... but w.e.

    screw this game, screw 2k and screw any publisher/dev who accepts these practices...    … Expand
  21. jordyjuice
    Sep 19, 2017
    1
    A cash-grab. It's all about VC and micro-transactions and on top of that I think this is a much poorer game than 2k17 in terms of gameplay anyways. I have a feeling these 9 / 10 reviews that professional reviewers are giving it are because of the hype or because they're being paid. No attention is being given to the greed of the game producers.
    In terms of MyCareer it actually reminds me    A cash-grab. It's all about VC and micro-transactions and on top of that I think this is a much poorer game than 2k17 in terms of gameplay anyways. I have a feeling these 9 / 10 reviews that professional reviewers are giving it are because of the hype or because they're being paid. No attention is being given to the greed of the game producers.
    In terms of MyCareer it actually reminds me of Tony Hawks American Wasteland. It's laughable.    … Expand
  22. AngryShark92
    Aug 4, 2018
    1
    My previous review for this game was removed, and I have no idea why... I believe I gave this game a 3 if I can remember correctly. That was not an attempt at "review bombing", that was legitimately what I believed the game to be worth at the time of writing the review.

    I believe review bombing can sometimes be unethical, but in the case of NBA 2K18, this was more of an attempt to    My previous review for this game was removed, and I have no idea why... I believe I gave this game a 3 if I can remember correctly. That was not an attempt at "review bombing", that was legitimately what I believed the game to be worth at the time of writing the review.

    I believe review bombing can sometimes be unethical, but in the case of NBA 2K18, this was more of an attempt to forewarn buyers to the ridiculous attempts made by 2k to promote the purchase of VC and microtransactions as a practice.

    The amount of grinding necessary to make a competent player for MyCareer was ridiculous due to the nerfed VC gain from endorsements, game to game performance, and the removal of the difficulty multiplier. It was clear that there was an egregious attempt to push the player towards spending real money to achieve any sort of success or to compete on a level playing field... This sort of practice is not good for the consumer at all and needs to be highlighted.

    Alongside this, there are numerous game mechanics that have not been fixed for a few entries now, like these random turnovers that occur on any sort of physical contact, players clipping into one another, awful character models that resemble ugly plastic zombies, cringe-worthy story characters and plot setup, recycled game audio cues and commentary, and worst of all, a terrible server system with numerous latency issues for a vast majority of players.

    I cannot even remember a positive thing I would have said previously or could say now to help the score rise above zero. It is a shame my original review was removed.

    It is not difficult to tell why this game was rated so terribly by the community, and this was never an attempt to troll or waste anybody's time. It was to point out that this game was, for lack of a better term, just awful, and those that gave this game a high score are not being honest with consumers who were potential buyers of this product. Please do not start removing reviews because they have low scores, it is an attempt for fans to have their dissatisfaction with a franchise they are passionate about, heard and appreciated so that the next product can be improved upon.

    I would not make a review if I did not care about the direction in which a franchise is heading, good games deserve praise, bad games deserve critique, but please do better with your weeding out of troll reviews and unethical review bombing.    … Expand
  23. UltimateGuy
    Sep 16, 2017
    1
    2k has really messed up being greeding with VC. Not only that but I don't see very many improvements other than subsitutions being a lot easier. Too many microtransactions, too few improvements. Quite frankly, NBA live is a better game (never thought I would say that).
  24. Uozor
    Sep 24, 2017
    1
    This game is literally VC world. Not only is the game difficult to a fault, but everything costs VC. Everything. Even hair. Why does hair cost money? My pure 3-point shooter can't make an open shot in practice. Not in the game, but in practice. WTF? 2k18 is a disappointment and I can tell that they just want money. They won't be getting mine.
  25. BigTurd
    Sep 25, 2017
    1
    Just play the previous version. You'll enjoy it more and won't be stuck in VC hell! I'm willing to grind in a free to play game to earn currencies, but not in a full AAA title!!
  26. Jay008
    Sep 25, 2017
    1
    Greed kills. VC has ruined this game and in the process the developers haven't done anything but make the gameplay worse.
    Lots of broken aspects and modes, also there's a scripted rubber band effect in place that makes the losing team catch up even if it's human vs human. DO NOT BUY.
  27. M_L_
    Jan 4, 2018
    1
    In a highly anticipated and potentially revolutionary idea in the sports gaming community, NBA 2k18 took a swing-and-a-miss among consumers. While having stunningly realistic graphics and great mechanics at first glance, the games critical flaws were magnified while being present in every aspect of the game. A strong reliance on micro-transactions, or 'recurrent consumer spending' said inIn a highly anticipated and potentially revolutionary idea in the sports gaming community, NBA 2k18 took a swing-and-a-miss among consumers. While having stunningly realistic graphics and great mechanics at first glance, the games critical flaws were magnified while being present in every aspect of the game. A strong reliance on micro-transactions, or 'recurrent consumer spending' said in the words of the Take-Two Interactive's - the publisher of 2k games - CEO, makes the games almost unplayable to the average player. This problem also leeches itself into players who are willing to spend money buy hitting them with roadblocks in every game mode. An initial purchase of $50-$75 is needed to just play casually on arguably the games biggest mode, "The Playground", an online pickup park. While this is a huge purchase after already buying the game for $60 dollars, you find yourself having to buy more VC, virtual currency, or put in days or time into the game, just to buy some normal clothes or change your hair… Expand
  28. Agent_Pixels
    Jul 19, 2018
    1
    This game is a very well created game to the untrained eye. However, with a closer look, you will find many crucial flaws that are critical to good gameplay. As a starter, in order to play this game with its full potential, you have to cough up 50 dollars to get your MyPlayer to a level where he may or may not make wide open shots. If you prefer not to spend your hard earned money on aThis game is a very well created game to the untrained eye. However, with a closer look, you will find many crucial flaws that are critical to good gameplay. As a starter, in order to play this game with its full potential, you have to cough up 50 dollars to get your MyPlayer to a level where he may or may not make wide open shots. If you prefer not to spend your hard earned money on a game that wasn't ready to be released, then I'm afraid you will have to spend your time grinding MyCareer games and park games until you have 190,000 VC so you can upgrade your player to his max. Of course, you will have to be doing this with a player that is incapable of doing anything so be prepared to ruin your win-loss ratio. Oh, did I mention the fact that when I timed the creation of a player it ended up being an hour and a half when I was speed running it? The creation process is slow because you cant skip the completely dry cutscenes that 2k offers as their attempt at a storyline. If you just so happen to get through the hell that it is to listen to B Fresh talk for more than five seconds and you suffered through the grueling hours of grinding for VC, congratulations, you now have to go on the wild goose chase of finding a good jump shot that goes in consistently. Good luck with this task as I have around 770 hours on this game and I still have yet to find a decent jump shot. This is mainly because 2k regularly changes the make percentage of popular jump shots so that they aren't "overpowered". I have no idea why they even bother with this and personally, I think they should make the consistency of jump shots the same across the board, but obviously, 2k would never consider this idea because the words "community feedback" aren't in the company dictionary. The fact that jump shot animations basically define if you make shots or not obviously is a terrible idea and infuriates the people that try to be good.

    Now we will delve into the depths of the MyTeam game mode. This game mode consists of people who run 5 out with an extremely tall point guard such as Ben Simmons, Giannis Antetokounmpo, or Magic Johnson. There are some obvious problems with how this is consistently the only way to play and win the game but of course, the almighty game developers at 2k sports interactive don't have the slightest clue how to fix this. People also use the off-ball tactic on defense which basically lets the user take a backseat to the computer's obviously superior defense. Additionally, the entire basis of this game mode is to spend as much money as you can until you have all the best cards. This is extremely not fun, especially if you don't spend money on the game. This also further increases the number of micro-transactions in the game to an absurd amount. They actually advertise their VC sales in the game. Additionally, they over exaggerate the ratings of many players. I understand how this could be for fun and definitely adds to the value of the game mode, but when you give Ben Simmons and Giannis Antetokounmpo a 90 three-point rating, that ruins the game. Essentially what you have created is a game mode that is completely non-accepting of people that don't spend money on the game. This is unacceptable as everyone should have an equal chance to compete especially in this game mode.

    Now we will go over some general problems that affect all game modes. As a starter, we will talk about the introduction of blow-by and snatchback animations. These completely ruin the experience of defense. The blow-bys are completely based on weight and height of a character. This means that a 55 overall player that is 7'3 and max weight will get a blow-by animation the majority of the time against a 99 7 foot lockdown defender that is medium weight. The obvious solution to this is to max out the weight on every character you create. Unfortunately, this is far from a solution because of the concept of snatchback animations. A snatchback essentially forces the defender to give the offensive player enough space to shoot. This effect is accentuated when the defender is a greater weight than the offensive player. This overall ruins defense and makes the offense a constant spam of the same moves over and over until you either get a blow-by or snatchback. Another issue is the absence of a good connection to 2k sports servers. I have an 80 MB upload and download and an ethernet cable plugged into my Xbox. There is absolutely no reason that I should be lagging in the game and getting kicked out with a message being displayed saying that there is an issue with my connection. This is absurd and the fact that it isn't even close to their agenda of problems to fix is terrible as it literally makes you unable to play the game. I am sorry to admit that the only reason that I play this game anymore is that it is the only semi-playable basketball game on the market. Overall I think my message here is DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. You simply will ruin your mental health.    … Expand
  29. Bufredi
    Oct 1, 2018
    1
    Jogo apresenta um conceito e uma mecânica muito interessante, principalmente para quem já praticou o esporte. Porem falha na execução desse ideal.

    Em relação à mecânica o jogo se perde, pois existe uma grande dessincronizarão com os dribles e o caminhar dos jogadores, quando estamos marcados, driblamos para um lado e tentamos correr para o mesmo lado do drible, mesmo com o caminho livre    Jogo apresenta um conceito e uma mecânica muito interessante, principalmente para quem já praticou o esporte. Porem falha na execução desse ideal.

    Em relação à mecânica o jogo se perde, pois existe uma grande dessincronizarão com os dribles e o caminhar dos jogadores, quando estamos marcados, driblamos para um lado e tentamos correr para o mesmo lado do drible, mesmo com o caminho livre é possível sentir um bloqueio, talvez da própria animação impedindo o seu avanço. Isso piora ainda mais quando jogamos on line.

    Um ponto importante é a defesa do seu time ou personagem quando se esta controlando, ela parece simplesmente não existir, a 2K parece um time q se importa apenas com o ataque dos jogadores, o q já percebemos q não fazem muito bem, do que com as defesas algo não torna menos brilhando outras franquias de simulação do esporte q se importam com essa mecânica.

    O sistema de arremesso, parece ainda ser uma indecisão enorme para a 2K , pois a cada ano o jogo muda o padrão de mecânica, apresentando uma barra q se preenche conforme o tempo q se pressiona o botão tento q se chegar ao um determinado limite para ter 100% de acerto do seu arremesso, porem este limite parece ser o principal problema pois a cada ano ele esta em uma determinada altura da barra ora ele fica no meio ora no fim. Mesmo assim indiferente da sua familiaridade com o conceito de arremesso ele nem sempre representa a porcentagem de acerto do personagem, pois muitas vezes mesmo estando cheio o jogador erra o arremesso isso tudo se agrava ainda mais quando falamos de jogo on line, pois apresenta um delay infinito no medidor do arremesso em qualquer velocidade de conexão ou modo de jogo online.

    Um dos diferenciais da serie é a possibilidade de colocar seu rosto no jogador do modo carreira, com a opção face scan, algo muito interessante que também se perde no caminho, sendo extremamente difícil realizar um escaneamento próximo dos traços do seu rosto. Mesmo quando vc consegue, em momentos da historia do jogo (no modo carreira) é possível ver bugs no seu rosto com pálpebras fora do lugar ou sua boca mexendo de forma estranha.

    O modo carreira é algo q talvez salve o jogo, pois apresenta uma historia um tanto quanto interessante, criando uma curva de aprendizado interessante, além de dois quarteirões de exploração bairro onde alguns eventos acontecem e novas perspectivas vão sendo observadas, mesmo q maçante, pois a repetição é o faz vc crescer dentro do jogo isso se vc não quiser recorrer as microtransações. Ainda nesse modo a 2K optou por excluir a dificuldade Rookie o q ajudava os mais novos na mecânica do jogo a se familiarizar com a franquia, isso torna o jogo cada vez mais frustrante, pois a demora para evoluir o personagem é muito grande e é muito difícil se para se acostumar com a jogabilidade.

    As microtransações são um caso a parte, pois como disse a repetição é o que faz vc crescer, ou seja, quanto mais jogos vc jogar mais VC (moeda do jogo), vai ganhar algo q muda pouco mesmo com os contratos q vc assina no jogo, porem para se ganhar habilidades e desenvolve-las precisa-se de um tempo de partida maior, ou seja, vc tem q escolher entre habilidade ou dinheiro, mas pode-se evoluir mais rápido se vc comprar VC, algo absurdo neste jogo, pois tudo é cobrado, desde roupas, tênis, acessórios e até o corte de cabelo do seu personagem custa muito caro.

    Ainda no modo carreira o jogo te obriga a jogar on line para atingir os 100% do seu personagem, esse processo se torna massante quanto temos q esperar muito tempo para jogar, com uma mecanica cheia de lag e delay, alem disso a 2k prioriza apenas os jogadores q formam panelinhas dentro das quadras o q torna dificil um jogador mediano evoluir ou persistir no modo ou no titulo.

    Os outros modos de jogo seguem o mesmo padrão sendo tudo bem caro em modas do jogo ou denotando muito tempo para se alcançar um simples objetivo.

    Os grafico são bons dentro do padrão q a 2k vem apresentando.    … Expand
  30. yxckson
    Dec 7, 2020
    1
    Words cannot describe the utter disappointment I felt on Christmas morning when I put this absolute atrocity in my Xbox. I didn't even buy the game myself, yet I felt offended that I even made someone buy me this game. I played the living hell outta 2K17 all year long, but for some reason I dropped playing 2K18 for several months after only playing this game FOR A SINGLE WEEK. I was a easyWords cannot describe the utter disappointment I felt on Christmas morning when I put this absolute atrocity in my Xbox. I didn't even buy the game myself, yet I felt offended that I even made someone buy me this game. I played the living hell outta 2K17 all year long, but for some reason I dropped playing 2K18 for several months after only playing this game FOR A SINGLE WEEK. I was a easy to please kid when it came to video games back then, and just damn I felt angry when I saw bs like having to PAY VC FOR A HAIRCUT. If that doesn't convince you that this game might not be a good 2K, lets just say this:

    - The brand-new "Neighborhood" was utterly boring from its looks, to atmosphere, to overall design.

    - If you wanted to score, you got any player on the floor, set them up on the perimeter, and drove to the basket. Blow-by's single handedly destroyed any competition this game was trying to make an attempt at, because almost ANY PLAYER COULD BLOW-BY EVEN THE BEST OF DEFENDERS.

    - Open missed layups. Do I need to say more? Somehow they managed to make blow-by's to the basket to score overpowered, but also made it extremely difficult to make open layups at times? This is why slashers became so overpowered, because if you got a dunk animation, you rarely had to worry about missing.

    - Microtransactions absolutely INFEST this game from start to finish.

    - MyTEAM was so pay-to-win it was actually hilarious.

    - Oh yeah, so was MyCAREER, because VC was nearly impossible to get in 2K18.

    - The MyCAREER story is horrendous, I'm not even gonna get started on that and you know who.

    - and much, much, much, much, more that I don't even feel like touching on, because I would actually have to think about this game again.

    So is NBA 2K18 a bad game?

    No, that would be giving a compliment to this game, which I refuse to do.

    It is BY-FAR the worst video game I have ever played.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

18
#18 Best Xbox One Game of 2017
23
#23 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2017
25
#25 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
85

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. TheXboxHub
    Nov 9, 2017
    80
    NBA 2K18 succeeds in delivering truly addictive gameplay that is pretty easy to pick up for newcomers, while long-time players will enjoy mastering the advanced techniques.
    Read full review
  2. XboxAddict
    Oct 18, 2017
    82
    There is some hits and misses in NBA 2K18 with some amazing graphics, stellar controls and a decent online experience that holds the core of the game together. However, there needs to be some work done in the custom experiences along with some coaching for the sportscasters to sound a lot more realistic and sincere rather than reading from a script. In the end though the core gameplay experience is superb and I can see why this series has been the go-to basketball game for quite sometime. NBA 2K18 will no doubt entertain and delight basketball fans and sports fans alike.
    Read full review
  3. 4P.de
    Oct 18, 2017
    81
    Visual Concepts has to be very careful not to overdo it. And I am not talking about the almost flawless mechanics that haven’t changed over the last few years or the modes that have been only marginally tweaked. With all its mechanical brilliance it is a pity that this years’ prime basketball game is merely a vehicle for an abundance of microtransactions that are borderline pay-to-win.
    Read full review
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