It is becoming more and more difficult for me to be in charge of the analysis of this saga, since in recent years little has changed and I feel that I repeat myself over and over again. But that’s how it is. NBA 2K23 is once again the undisputed king of basketball in video games, with (small) improvements that make it a sports title of the highest level, incorporating modalities that honor the fantastic history of the sport and with which you can enjoy for hundreds and hundreds of hours. But all of that remains overshadowed by one of the most aggressive micropayment systems that can be found throughout the industry.
NBA 2K23, just like last year’s game, incorporates few important novelties in regards to its playability and its visual section. It’s complicated, obviously, when the level of polish reaches such high levels, and I will not be the one to deny the greater one. Playing the new installment of the saga is a pleasure for any basketball lover and its superiority over other products (including other sports) is overwhelming. But that’s why the problems are approached from different perspectives, and it’s normal to wonder if it’s really necessary to pay for a new complete version of the game that incorporates so few new features and that still requires you to pay extra money if you want to fully enjoy its star modes.
The answer is probably no. If you are a big fan of the sport and the franchise, you will already have NBA 2K23 on your shelf, so what I can tell you is worthless. You are their audience, and I’m glad, because other players can’t say the same when it comes to the quality of their annual sports saga. But for the rest, to undertake a new payment for the new modality focused on the history and career of Michael Jordan along with the obvious template updates, It gets harder and harder to justify.
And it does so even more these days, where we are used to seeing how many products reach the video game industry with the clear intention of becoming perpetual projects, which are supported by a community of players and the constant arrival of updates and expansions. NBA 2K23 looks more like that big NBA 2K22 update that is necessary to keep up to date and that, in addition, incorporates small interesting novelties. But the truth is that this update arrives, and forgive me for insisting again, at a full price and with an excessive focus on microtransactions.
The Jordan Challenge is the real icing on the cake and, for me, the best mode built into NBA 2K23. It is a kind of story mode in which you will go through and try to emulate the best moments of Michael Jordan’s career, all of this sprinkled as a documentary with comments from other legends or basketball figures worldwide and archive images . But not only that, but the entire game adapts to each challenge so that the game you play has the same aesthetics, the same visual filters, the same kits and the same essence as the game in its real time. This makes it an emotional, fun and faithful review not only of the player’s career, but of the entire history of the NBA. Without a doubt, a gift for any sports lover.
Its about systematic Iswhich in addition to being present in the Jordan Challenge is present in the My NBA mode, something that I have greatly appreciated and, without a doubt, the most remarkable point of NBA 2K23 with absolute difference.
But what happens when you have already completed the Jordan Challenge or want to experience the most modern NBA? Well, NBA 2K23 will continue to launch you into the same modes as always, My Career and My Team, which are coincidentally the ones that introduce the most micropayments. And, as has happened in recent years, extra payments become something necessary to be able to fully enjoy your proposal, something that should not be or contemplated in a game that reaches the market with these prices. You can choose to buy some of the more expensive editions, which already incorporate some extra free coins, but good luck if you get to buy something more than a pair of pants or pieces of clothing.
Micropayments in NBA 2K23 offer unfair advantages and unbalance the game as a whole. They are necessary to really improve your player and to enjoy creating your team in My Team. There is no possible justification for it. Of course you can play without spending a single euro and the game’s fantastic gameplay encourages you to grind like crazy for an insane amount of hours, absolutely necessary if you don’t want to checkout (again).
I have enjoyed NBA 2K23, like every year that I face a new installment of the saga. The Jordan Challenge and the retro proposals are fantastic and, without a doubt, what makes me not completely angry with this year’s proposal. But, on the other hand, the playable and visual improvements are increasingly difficult to perceive, along with such an aggressive system of micropayments which make it absolutely impossible for me to enjoy the other modes.
