With the 2022-2023 NBA season starting to appear on the horizon, we have the return of the most robust basketball sim series ever made. 2K’s NBA 2K series returns with NBA 2K23, and makes a run for the c’hip. Let’s have a closer look.
There is currently no annual sports series that I dive into every year, although I used to do so with the NBA and NHL 2K games back in the mid and late 00’s. I still have my PS3 copy of NBA 2K11 on my shelf that featured a Michael Jordan Challenge mode where you got to play through ten career moments of his. And it’s the very return of a Jordan Challenge mode that got me out of retirement, so to speak, to try out NBA 2K again this year.
NBA 2K23 has an all new Jordan Challenge mode with fifteen of the GOAT’s greatest games. I went straight into this mode and really enjoyed playing through some of MJ’s best moments, beginning with the 1982 NCAA Championship. Each Challenge has three criteria that you are assigned to try to achieve as you play. Every game in this mode features a richly detailed presentation that mimics the broadcast TV presentation of what the games looked and sounded like originally. VC even brought in Mike Fratello, aka The Czar, for commentary, in the Jordan mode, and Ray Clay, the PA announcer from the ’90s. Plus, ‘Sirius’ by The Alan Parsons Project sets the tone with that oh-so-memorable starting line-up tune. Now, granted, you can turn these unique presentation features off and stick with the modern 2K23 look, but I really appreciated the effort by Visual Concepts to nail the presentation for what it was originally.
There’s a lot more than just a fancy presentation for fifteen games with a few criteria, though. VC went as far as to study the rules and playstyles of basketball from the 80s and 90s, emphasizing the slower pace of those times, as well as the increased physicality that that era was known for. There are more details here than I could note myself, but for a full report, check out a dedicated page that 2K has posted.
I have been really enjoying the Jordan Challenges, but I also find myself diving into the MyNBA Eras mode, which features four key eras from the NBA and is packed with nostalgic content that lets players relive some of the game’s greatest moments. The eras are the Magic vs Bird Era, Jordan Era, Kobe Era, and the Modern Era (formerly known as MyNBA). The coaching and playstyles, commentary, rules, uniforms, relocations and expansions (Grizzlies/Raptors), court designs, all that stuff is accurately piled into these robust eras making them a gold mine for NBA aficionados to explore. A whole can of worms of ‘what if’ opens up in these eras as you can alter draft and trade history. Maybe Shaq doesn’t go to the Magic in the ’92 draft, for example — there’s a treasure trove of content here for NBA historians and those that like to ponder those tantalizing ‘what if’ scenarios.
Honestly, these two modes, plus your standard season/practice/exhibition/local and online multiplayer modes would have really been enough to satisfy me, but of course one of the biggest draws to the annual 2K series is the MyCareer mode. Now, these modes have never been my cup of tea — they’re simply more involved and require more time than I care to commit to a sports game. This year, the MyCareer mode is bigger than ever, with a massive storyline and plenty of distractions. Not only are you tasked with building your career in the NBA, but sponsorships through clothing and music is also included. One major sticking point for this mode that you’re sure to hear about is the push for microtransactions. From what I have experienced as well as watched and read, this mode is a total time sink if you’re looking to unlock goods and advance in-game compared to just paying real money on the PS Store for the virtual currency. I wonder that even the most passionate players won’t be worn out by the grind required to unlock points without paying extra money. The points that you have are also split between upgrades in MyCareer as well as The City, and these modes just feel nerfed because everything seems to cost so much time and/or money. I won’t go as far as to call it a scam, but I will say that left a sour taste with me and that this kind of design just is not appealing. I get the option to allow people to just pay real money if they want to, but to make it so agonizing and time consuming to progress without paying extra is asinine.
Other modes 2K23 offers up are the WNBA, aka The W, The City, and MyTeam. These modes further offer the potential for dozens of hours of play that I only briefly dabbled in and likely won’t go back — it’s just too much basketball for me when I’d rather be playing a modern season, the Eras, or the Jordan Challenge. Still, as 2K does year to year, there is a metric ton of content available here for basketball enthusiasts, from the casual and curious player perspective (who I feel I am more aligned with) to the ultra hardcore who will delve deep into the career and online team modes. Plus, every six weeks, new content is due out in the seasonal updates that the 2K series is also known for.
Regardless of which mode you play, you can expect to an intricately deep and rich simulation experience of NBA basketball for the given era that you’re playing in. Visual Concepts have the passion, the funding, the skills, and the time, year to year, to push their product to new levels of detail and depth. The differences in the raw gameplay aren’t massive this year, but they didn’t need to be. However, the Jordan Challenge and the Eras modes make this an especially standout release in this long-running series. Frankly, I don’t find any fault with VC and 2K are doing other than the push for microtransactions, it just feels slimey; call me old school, I guess. Still, if you’re looking for your NBA videogame fix, you can’t go wrong with NBA 2K23. Lace’em up.
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