NBA 2K24

In the end, NBA 2K24 might be the finest sports videogame I’ve ever resented. The butter-smooth gameplay, extensive core modes, and pristine visuals will deliver months upon months of top-tier digital hoops, which is reflected in the final score. However, those interested in character and team advancement will likely find the reliance on microtransactions to be too demanding and expensive to realistically pursue.

NBA 2K24 is two games in one: it's a basketball manual full of love and a video game full of microtransactions. But you only notice the latter when you try to win in the City playground, the rest of the game is a solid experience and the best basketball game yet.

For better or worse, NBA 2K continues to get its way and this year's installment is no exception. If you are an NBA fan looking for a traditional gaming experience to take your favorite team to the top. However, you should know that the full enjoyment of everything that NBA 2K24 offers is limited by its already traditional, and not at all pleasant, transactions.

NBA 2K24 is a video game that convinces but falls short on microtransactions in the career mode, improving little, offering an interesting city to explore and in which to make choices. The progress made is notable, especially in the most requested ways, but it could have aimed for something more.

Missing legend aside, NBA2K24 is a worthwhile upgrade for fans of 2K23. 2K’s yearly package is full to the brim with options and modes.

With amazing visuals and presentation, brilliant gameplay, and a wide variety of modes, NBA 2K24 is one of the best sports games of the year and a standout in the NBA 2K series as a whole. However, innovations to its monetization have just made its microtransaction problem even more profound.

With Kobe Bryant's memory still fresh, Visual Concepts delivers NBA 2K24, a new entry with few innovations where microtransactions have stood their ground.

NBA 2K24 brings back the excellent on-court experience the series has accustomed us to, with major improvements in player animations thanks to the new ProPLAY technology. There is, however, a need for stronger new features and, above all, it is plagued by obnoxious microtransactions even in modes that shouldn't have them, such as MyCareer.

NBA 2K24 offers a largely similar experience to the previous instalment, with minimal changes to the gameplay and a persistent focus on microtransactions.

Despite some issues and a weaker entry than last year, there's still plenty to enjoy in NBA 2K24. The gameplay continues to be refined with smart tweaks, and the visuals are among the best in the genre. However, the continued push of microtransactions continues to leave a sour taste, and MyCareer is a disappointment this time out.

NBA 2K24 is a great game that features some of the best features the franchise has had in years. A streamlined MyCareer mode, additions to MyNBA Eras, and more should make this a classic. However, microtransactions litter nearly every meaningful mode, ruining what would be a stellar entry.

Impressively well produced and extremely playable, but there are few changes from last year and the microtransactions are still obnoxious.

It’s a real shame that the reputation of this franchise has evolved over the last 5 years from the standard of the best of what sports games can offer to a shining example of its worst excesses. Comparing this game to MLB The Show, another game that offers microtransactions, only increases how egregiously 2K exploits players through rigging everything from the on-court gameplay to traversal from quest to quest to encourage additional spending despite already having collected the cost of a full priced game up front (plus that sweet State Farm money). While several of the changes present in this years game are disappointing (including the inexplicable decision to dumb down MyCareer) there are some good things here. Unfortunately (to paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson, a first I believe for this site) the ever-present feeling that I’m being milked for every dime I can spare speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what any of the improvements say.

While interesting iterative improvements can sometimes be greater than the sum of their parts, the in-game economy hampers much of the goodwill that may derive from elsewhere in the game. I shouldn't have to talk about money this much in a basketball game. But in this series, it's become unavoidable. NBA 2K24 feels like a game made by details-obsessed basketball experts unfortunately hamstrung by bottom-line-obsessed executives.

What could have been a perfect sports game instead becomes a begging little brother that always seems to need more money.

NBA 2K24 continues the series’ strong basketball simulation elements, but some egregious monetisation this time around and changes to progression make this entry a little more frustrating than it has to be. Still, the ‘Mamba Moments’ mode is a super cool tribute to an awesome player and for me, quickplay with family is where it’s always at.

What makes NBA 2K24 all the more frustrating is that at its core, it’s a perfectly competent, if not exceptional, sports game. That’s especially true when compared to contemporaries such as FIFA (soon to be EA Sports FC) and Madden. Not only is the open-world adjacent MyCareer mode fun, but new modes such as Mamba Moments and the time-warping myNBA Eras also give you tons of mileage. But to get the absolute most out of it, you’re forced to pay extra. And that’s a hard pill to swallow.

NBA 2K24 scores big with gameplay, but its microtransaction tactics feel like a costly turnover.

There’s still a lot of good basketball in NBA 2K24 but it mostly feels buried in modes the developers are trying hard to keep new players from discovering. The series’ formerly rock-solid gameplay foundation feels like it’s slowly slipping away as well. Minor improvements around the edges don’t offset this slippage and the series’ continued descent into being nearly unplayable without spending a fortune on microtransactions.