On September 4th, 2024, the sports game from developer Visual Concepts and publisher 2K was released worldwide on PC and consoles. You can find out whether it's worth buying this year and what to expect in my review
Lots of game modes
As usual, NBA 2K25 contains a whole range of modes, each of which appeals to a different type of player. However, the game goes one step further, for example by introducing the Steph Era MyNBA mode, the various online courts, a revised MyGM, an expanded MyCareer and of course the MyTeam. 2K has really put in the effort with the MyCareer mode, because after numerous iterations, the impact was a bit gone. This year, the mode is much better and also much slimmer. MP is the main mode (like in NBA 2K23 and NBA 2K24) and you start in an ultimate scenario. It's the 7th game for the World Championship and it goes into overtime. It's up to you to secure victory in those final minutes. It's a kind of future perspective and a goal to work towards. The path to get there is in your own hands. In fact, in addition to regular matches, you can play on all sorts of courts, complete quests and fire MPs in a new "The City".
The MyGM mode and Steph Era feature
The MyGM mode, in which you take on the role of a manager, takes on almost RPG-like forms, where you have to choose a backstory to unlock certain traits. In the MyGM house you can then talk to a number of employees to further the development of the team. This doesn't always work out, because as in real life, idiots can cause trouble and you can lose a star player or be outvoted. Unfortunately, the GM house is a boring mess and after a short time you get pretty bored of it, which is a shame because the potential is there. The new Steph Era feature in the MyNBA mode is also not without its advantages. In this alternate outfit, we'll see the highlights of everyone's favorite GS Warrior, and it's up to you to immortalize the Warriors as the best team of all time, or conversely, the team that just didn't make it.
ProPlay technology further expanded
NBA 2K25 does a lot of things right. It's simply the best basketball game out there. Without competition, it's not great, but even when NBA Live was still out, this was simply the game to get. The gameplay has even improved. ProPlay technology has further expanded, offering a whole host of new dribbles, shots, and iconic gameplay moments. Also a valuable addition is the Pro Stick Rhythm Shooting mechanic, which is a little more forgiving in terms of ball delivery. It requires you to use the right stick in particular to simulate arm movement, allowing you to control the speed and direction of the ball, for example. Using it is not mandatory, but I would encourage everyone to give it a try. Especially because you can customize the pro stick to take more risks in exchange for better rewards.
The Game's Dark Cloud
However, there is one dark cloud that overshadows NBA 2K25's excellent gameplay and innovations. You can probably guess: it's microtransactions, once again. I don't know if it's because I've been playing the game for years, or because it's actually increasing, but the intrusiveness of buying VC is starting to get out of hand. When you start the game, you're immediately confronted with a screen that displays discounts on virtual currency. On top of that, grinding in MyCareer feels endless once you reach 60. That's a shame, because player creation actually added options to create a cool build. So I kept playing with the pro builds, but the endless grinding ruins the experience and makes playing matches almost pointless. The players who buy the VC are actually extremely OP when you have to play against them on one of the many online places.
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