Developer: Visual Concepts
Publisher: 2K
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch
Tested on: PS4
NBA 2K20 – Review
There’s no denying that 2K’s NBA series is the trumping basketball simulation series currently available on the market. Every year we see slight improvements in the story mode, the controls, the realism and the graphical prowess of the game. While there are still many items that could still be added to the series, there is a whole truckload of content to explore if you’re into sports simulation games such as this. There’s only one downside of 2K dominating the market, namely that they add more and more content that hides behind paywalls and plenty of microtransactions to give an edge to those who throw real money at the game. The latter is probably one of the biggest reasons this series is somewhat decreasing in likeability.
Story
Stories in sports games are quite uncommon, but even so, 2K’s NBA series does always try to embed a story into the MyCareer mode. This time you’ll take the helm of a young college basketball player, who is slowly, but surely, rising across the ranks from an amateur basketball player to a professional NBA player. Of course, things come at a price, and even one of his longtime friends gets injured in the process, forcing this friend to drop out of playing basketball.
The story is a well-added plus to the game, but for the most part, it’s another scenario where you start off with a low skill level and slowly, but gradually, increase your skills and become one of the best players the sport has ever seen. Overall a fun narrative, but nothing too special.
Graphics
Graphically NBA 2K20 is quite well-done. The game looks really realistic, and while some facial expressions and animations could have been done a bit better, the developers took into account the smallest details. The uniforms look great, the different accessories are detailed, you’ll see the players’ tattoos and other physical features, making the game feel alive. The different ball courts look realistic and everything that surrounds the game has the same realistic look and feel. The performances in-between quarters/halves push the game forward that extra mile, even if some of the half-time performances look a bit cheaper than the rest of the game.
Sound
It’s no surprise that the commentaries of games such as this are getting sharper and more expansive every year, but even so, many lines get repeated over and over, making the commentaries somewhat dull and annoying after a while. Nonetheless, NBA 2K20’s soundtrack makes up for a lot. You’ll be presented with a very upbeat hip hop/pop soundtrack that suits the game perfectly. You’ll be getting jiggy with what your speakers are blasting at every possible time during the game.
Gameplay
NBA 2K20 is a sports simulation title that is pretty much the reigning series when it comes to basketball sim games. This iteration of the game offers a massive amount of different modes, ranging from offline competitions, a career mode, to duking it out online. We can only give huge kudos to the developers for adding the WNBA in this title, possibly winning over female fans as well (or those who just love to watch the women teams in play). Overall this edition trumps the previous edition once again in terms of realism, tight controls and the variety of things to do.
Even though some modes heavily rely on microtransactions, the game does show improvements compared to the previous versions. It does take you a while to get the hang of the massive amount of different dribbles, shots, and passes, but the controls are extremely smooth. You will notice that you’ll get better over time, and this feels like a huge accomplishment when you are playing the game. While the MyCareer mode focuses on the skills of one character, the other modes allow you to control an entire team.
The biggest problem with NBA 2K20 is the fact that the game feels like a gigantic advertisement. At every turn, it feels as if the game wants to sell you extra content, not only to have exclusive items but to speed up things that are otherwise annoying to unlock. There are too much DLCs and extra content on release for the game to feel finished and loved by those who created it. The Legend Edition comes with extra currency to enter events and purchase items for your character, instead of unlocking new modes, special characters and so on, which would make it somewhat ‘legendary’. We hope that the developers take a step back from all these microtransactions in the 2K21 edition and shape the game like they want it to be, rather than creating a big advertisement pamphlet.
Conclusion
Even when you’re being bombarded at every turn to buy additional content or currency for the game, 2K’s series is still the reigning champion of basketball simulation games. You’ll once again get an improved version with better graphics, more realistic controls, a plethora of different game modes and a nice soundtrack to blend it all together. We hope to see the next iteration tone down the microtransactions, but even if they don’t, you probably won’t find a better sim for basketball enthusiasts out there.
Related Items
2 Comments
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
[…] release proves that the sport is very much alive, be it with sports fans and gaming audiences. The 2K20 iteration of the popular sport’s title also included a form of betting inside the very game. You could […]
[…] now it isn’t about the well-known three-stripe brand, it is all about its adversary: Nike. For the NBA 2K20 MyPLAYER Nation Playoffs, Nike has partnered with Visual Concepts and 2K to bring gamers a new set […]