NBA 2K25
Review
The toe is over the line, but it still makes the basket
by Jordan Helsley
reviewed on PC
Is This Our Year?
To evaluate an annual sports game is a little akin to scouting college players. You've got to know the history, where the game has come from and where it is now. You've got to know the competition, and how it stacks up. You've got to consider the off-court/field elements, lest you get caught with little more than wasted money. How does it play? Does it have the potential to get even better? Does it fit into our scheme, or can it do what we want?
NBA 2K25 has a bit of an edge: for the first time in this cycle, the PC version is using the "next gen" engine. No longer is this version of the game stuck with the PS4-generation version, an issue that has plagued the community for going on four years now. The other ace up its sleeve, or curse that's befallen it, is that there is no competition, and hasn't been for years.
On-Court Action
Before we get into the abundance of modes to dive into, it is important to know how the game plays. It is a simulation, after all, and you'd be forgiven for feeling like the actual act of simulating (most) sports peaked a while ago, because it pretty much did. Case in point: this "next gen" system. While the game made to things like players' ability to handle the ball more fluidly, move between opposing players more easily, and broadly act more realistically, (a system they're calling Pro Play) and changes are positive, there are still many moments of friction. Everything often feels too slow and too sticky for me. And while I genuinely think there is some merit to prioritizing animation over player control when attempting to emulate some of the best athletes and athletic moves in the world, 2K takes away control far too often, and for too long, for the game to truly feel fluid. I get that triggering a certain dribble move might lock you out of adjusting said move, depending on where the ball is, for a second or two, but it's too easy to feel like you made a positioning mistake several seconds ago that the game won't allow you to correct because of some baked-in animation around bumping into another player. It's not pervasive, and it has happened for years, but it remains.
Other elements of the gameplay, adjusted and otherwise, give you the impression that you're embodying these players while still relying on a significant portion of your own skill. Timing and decision making are the most consistent ways the game asks you to pump in your own abilities, and you really make a difference in the outcome. It is tuneable to your desired style as well. If you'd prefer to take your timing out of the equation for shot attempts, you can, instead relying on a player's real-world percentages. It is a pleasant option to have, and a good way to get acquainted with the game, at the very least.
Most of the controls are intuitive, though they have changed little in the last decade-plus. What has changed, and what I like a lot less, is the new shot meter. Plenty of players turn this off, and I might become one of them, because even with tweaks of the indicator timing it initially appears much more ambiguous than necessary. I was more than happy with the old "release when the bar is in the green" method, but 2K felt differently. Even as a relatively experienced player of the series, I had plenty of lame-duck shots in my first few games of NBA 2K25, and that's because I rely on that meter more often than I probably should.
Pick Your Spot
Among the myriad number of ways to play NBA 2K25, it excels in one particular area, which just is my favorite mode: the conventional "franchise" mode, now referred to as MyNBA Eras. Unlike virtually any other sports game (literally any other sports game, probably) 2K shows a true reverence and appreciation for the history of the game of basketball. If you want to pick up a franchise with the 90's Chicago Bulls you can do that, but that of course means that every roster is lovingly crafted with just about every player in the league at that time. And as you progress, you'll get year-appropriate draft classes, too. This year also sees a new era, beginning in 2016, for the younger fans among us, I suppose. If you're a fan of the sport, there's no better place to fool around or reminisce about bygone teams, players, and matchups.
I like to manage a modern team, though, more often than not. Every fan dreams of taking their team all the way. I just prefer to do it from the manager's box, commanding the entire organization, rather than a singular player on the floor. 2K25 has injected more RPG elements into the game than ever before, and they absolutely enhance this experience. The first thing that happened to my general manager was a meeting in the locker room: my star player wanted to ensure that the team was committed to making a run at a championship this year, or else he wanted to be traded. In the real world, my team has championship aspirations, so of course that's what I told him, "conference finals at least." I could have said "sorry, my friend, we're rebuilding, goodbye," and traded him, or not. Consequences and rewards to follow. It transforms the standard "trading for better players and playing the games good" aspect of the mode into something that resembles the real-life position, player management included. There's been a morale system for a while, but it was so often simply tied to playing time, which meant that some players were going to be inherently unhappy. It's not the Baldur's Gate 3 of basketball games, but it is nice to have either way. It is far from perfect, but the mode is a standout for me.
Take The Court
Now for some contention: the MyPlayer mode. Creating your own player and taking the floor for your favourite team has obvious appeal for fans, and the mode delivers in the same way it has for years. The RPG elements are light, but they're there, and they make you feel like more of a human, rather than just a basketball player. Off-court conversations and actions, sponsorship deals, there's plenty here to keep you invested. The problem, as any player with 2K experience knows, lies in the microtransactions. I often ignore microtransaction conversations. If I don't like them, I don't buy them. NBA 2K25, as with its predecessors, lives near the low-end of scummy with them, though. It's not true that they are required to play or even enjoy the game and these modes, but what is true is that the game feels excessively tuned in a way to push you, shove you, towards buying their digital currency. A challenge can be fun, and a balance between too easy and too difficult is hard to strike, but these are annual games. We don't need a grind that could last multiple years. Your NBA player is virtually useless on the court against the competition when you start, and the ramp up to becoming something more than a bench-warmer makes it feel like you'll get there by your player's mid 30s. Even if you do work yourself up to a respectable level, your skills regress in a way that tries to paint an additional coat of desire on the virtual currency. I hope you've a long career planned.
Hit The Streets
This mode ties into what is probably NBA 2K25's most under-considered multiplayer option: The City. Here, in this glorified mall with some basketball courts, your player can get up to some shopping. Buy some new clothes, or get a hoverboard or a go-kart to cruise around in. You know, like NBA players do. Grind out the currency or buy it, you're going to need a lot to dress up your sports person just how you like.
On the other side of The City are street ball courts, where you can engage in some pick up, 3-on-3 basketball with other players, provided you've got the right fit. That's right, players will decline to play with you if you don't look cool enough, let alone if you don't have the right stats. This early in the game's life, the only way to get the look and skills is to spend the money. There are plenty of things to like about the MyPlayer mode, and The City, but they’re overshadowed by a monetization system that feels predatory, at best, and that's before considering MyTeam.
Surprisingly, the card-based mode where you collect players to build a fantasy team is less wallet-dependent. They brought back the auction house, allowing players to sell off cards they don't want/need for a reasonable price, so building my initial squad was about as painless as it gets. All I had to do was play the tutorial and spend a reasonable amount of currency that I already had, and I had a team I will deem "competent." It's not a mode I'll engage with much, but I'll take my pleasant surprises when I get them.
A Shot At The Buzzer
NBA 2K25 loves the history, and game, of basketball almost as much as it loves money. That much is clear. Just about every mode is dripping in reverence for one or the other, and it serves to enhance the experience. Despite its flaws, the gameplay is the best it has ever been, and the somewhat basic RPG additions to several modes make them feel more alive, even if they're still set in mostly barren buildings and cities. It also looks the part. The players look like themselves, in stills and in motion, and simply watching the game breaks the realism barrier at times. It's a looker, even on a modest PC, and I appreciated the inclusion of a dedicated Steam Deck graphics present too, which would make the grind a little more manageable, I guess. The day NBA 2K loses its microtransactions is the day it loses its identity, but it's also the day we have a chance at a near-perfect basketball sim. Until then, we're stuck with a game filled with increasingly promising modes bogged down by an insistence that you pay or treat it like another job. Depending on your desired way to play, that can break the deal.
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7.0
fun score
Pros
“Pro Play” updates to the on-court action make the game feel and look realistic, for the most part, and the updates to gameplay modes are almost exclusively positive.
Cons
Virtual Currency is still the bane of NBA 2K, Player animations occasionally take control away from the player for too long
