NBA 2K24 Reviews
NBA 2K24 scores big with gameplay, but its microtransaction tactics feel like a costly turnover.
Following the innovative and pleasantly surprising NBA 2K23, I expected Visual Concepts to build upon its success and introduce even more improvements with its latest entry in the long-running basketball series. But instead of mirroring the Black Mamba's gradual rise to permanent relevancy, NBA 2K24 sadly feels like a stop-gap – a quick hit to temporarily satisfy diehard fans. If this continues, the series could veer closer to a forgettable imitation of Kobe's signature move: a fadeaway into obscurity.
Visual Concepts continues to provide the most authentic simulation in sports gaming, but the in-game economy is on a fast break to the bottom.
After the large strides last year, the minimal announcements for updates to this year's game raised a red flag.
NBA 2K24 is less a continuation of what made the series good on Switch and more a downgrade of what has come before it. Even with how smoothly this one plays on the console, with some clean animations and a sprinkling of improvements to MyTeam being the real MVPs, all of this is overshadowed by just how watered-down this year's entry feels. With none of the new game modes making the jump to Switch apart from the disappointing Mamba Moments, a severely lessened MyCareer and a model that continues to be plagued by microtransactions and long load times, the 2K franchise on Switch has never needed more of a boost. If you are after a basketball game on the go, last year's offering is a much better option.
NBA 2K24 is fantastic to play on the court, but Virtual Currency stops your everyday player from seeing any proper progression for hours.
Impressively well produced and extremely playable, but there are few changes from last year and the microtransactions are still obnoxious.
Regardless of what this review says, NBA 2K24 will sell millions of copies, and generate millions of dollars through VC. That is because basketball fans who want to play a basketball game have nowhere else to go. The on court action is really good, but without competition to keep them honest, 2K's monetisation has got out of hand and made modes like MyCareer near unplayable without extra investment from players.
NBA 2K24 is a shot on the board, a shot for sure that you know is going to go in, but we preferred to see a clean three-pointer from the corner. The basketball simulation returns one more year with a lukewarm tribute to the Mamba, without too much ambition and seasoned with micropayments, but with a playable invoice and brilliant technique.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
NBA 2K24 offers an extremely polished experience, given its unrivaled on-court feel and a few welcome additions, but questionable decisions and an uncanny push toward microtransactions hurt what could otherwise be considered a natural step forward for the franchise.
NBA 2K24 is a great game that features some of the best features the franchise has had in years. A streamlined MyCareer mode, additions to MyNBA Eras, and more should make this a classic. However, microtransactions litter nearly every meaningful mode, ruining what would be a stellar entry.
It’s a real shame that the reputation of this franchise has evolved over the last 5 years from the standard of the best of what sports games can offer to a shining example of its worst excesses. Comparing this game to MLB The Show, another game that offers microtransactions, only increases how egregiously 2K exploits players through rigging everything from the on-court gameplay to traversal from quest to quest to encourage additional spending despite already having collected the cost of a full priced game up front (plus that sweet State Farm money). While several of the changes present in this years game are disappointing (including the inexplicable decision to dumb down MyCareer) there are some good things here. Unfortunately (to paraphrase Ralph Waldo Emerson, a first I believe for this site) the ever-present feeling that I’m being milked for every dime I can spare speaks so loudly, I cannot hear what any of the improvements say.
NBA 2K24 continues to dominate the paint when it comes to mainstream success. It also looks to dominate the wallets of fans each year. The game is undoubtedly fun to play along with its great gameplay and graphics, but the gutting of MyCAREER and increased incorporation of virtual currency does leave a bad taste at times.
Ultimately, what makes NBA 2K24 wonderful ends up being negatively overshadowed by the level of pay-to-win that the game has. There are many cosmetic items for styling MyPlayer with fun clothing or having fancy new hoverboards and animations that all would have been plenty valuable as microtransactions, adding in the ability to improve actual game skills by paying money was an unnecessary and distracting feature. The game itself is fun, realistic, and addictive, and could easily be a must-play for any basketball fan if the in-game purchases can be overlooked.
In NBA 2K24, some thoughtful additions to gameplay visuals and mechanics get deeply overshadowed by some minute growing pains with ProPlay, some major hurtles dodging gacha pop-ups, and plenty presentation hindrances that keep you from playing the actual game. Behind all that is still a fantastic basketball game, even if it doesn't feel different enough from last year to merit a must-buy status, even for basketball fans.
NBA 2K24 doesn’t feel like the work of a team that’s hungry as a majority of the game’s modes and features aren’t much of a step up over last year. It’s a shame, because the on-court action, brought to new life by innovative ProPlay animation tech, is more accomplished than ever and MyCareer actually makes some welcome changes amid all the microtransactions. NBA 2K24 delivers plenty of polished roundball fun, but some of the choices the game’s developers made following last year’s excellent entry make me question their coaching.
NBA 2K24 is a video game that convinces but falls short on microtransactions in the career mode, improving little, offering an interesting city to explore and in which to make choices. The progress made is notable, especially in the most requested ways, but it could have aimed for something more.
Review in Italian | Read full review
There's no doubt NBA 2K24 is the best presented sports game on the market, and it's also arguably the most complete, with a dizzying selection of modes and features to accommodate all playstyles and tastes. But an insidious overreliance on microtransactions and player retention yet again detracts from the MyCAREER mode, which to its credit feels much more focused this year. There's still a lot to like about this game, and depending on which modes you enjoy, you may never have to interact with the nefarious aspects at all. But it does sour what is otherwise an enjoyable game.
NBA 2K24 delivers the most authentic on-court gameplay in the series' history thanks to the new ProPLAY technology. Gameplay feels less scripted, animations feel less canned, and modern players perform closer to their real counterparts than ever before. Some modes and features still feel largely untouched from years past, while MyCAREER caters to veteran and pay-to-win players, but I guess we can't have it all.
It's hard to be picky when you love basketball and the NBA, and are a regular on NBA 2K's virtual floor. This new edition maintains the same rhythm as its predecessors, with a taste for the demanding and the realistic, reinforced by a few good new features, such as the simplified mode for My NBA, the arrival of the salary cap in MyTeam and significant gameplay improvements.
Review in French | Read full review