NBA 2K21 Reviews
Providing a complete NBA experience, NBA2K21 accurately captures and then places you center stage of everything that makes NBA basketball great. The music, the sounds, the energy, the hype, and most importantly the gameplay, this sports sim provides fans of the game the complete experience. With detailed controls and dynamic gameplay which mimics the game's best players, you, the player, can play out your hoop dreams on the world's biggest stage. Just mind your step on the microtransactions on your path to glory.
NBA 2K21 is a comprehensive simulation that brings the closest accuracy to actual real-world basketball.
A goodbye to a good generation, where the final auction is missing in the "El Barrio" mode
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Had the 2K team decided to pull an eFootball PES move and patch NBA 2K20 to NBA 2K21, I think I'd have felt a little better about the product we currently have. Instead, we were given a slightly improved but underwhelming current-gen game. If you were on the fence about getting NBA 2K21 for current gen and are getting yourself a PS5 or Xbox Series X, wait it out for the extra month and a half and see what the game looks like then.
While NBA 2K remains a top, albeit only, option for basketball simulation, the lack of improvements to previous versions is what holds NBA 2K21 back. While it remains to be strong in visuals and still fun in the gameplay department, it’s missing that special something. Perhaps the arrival of 2K’s next-generation version (which owners of the “Mamba Forever” version will receive upon release) will give the 2K series a rejuvenation it so desperately needs.
NBA 2K21 is a tough game to review. On the court, the game is mostly very good. The passing and dribbling feels excellent and the My Career mode is certainly well-acted. It could easily be a high 8 or 9 if the whole progression system didn’t feel so broken.
NBA 2K21 still manages to capture the art of basketball, but it's largely the same dance as years past.
NBA 2K21 is still a wonderful digital simulation of basketball, with a wealth of modes to enjoy, but the MyCareer story has become stale and the microtransactions far too prevalent. This is not the step forwards that it needed to be to keep the series fresh and engaging. In other words, this title does not provide a compelling argument to upgrade from last year's version.
NBA 2K21 remains, as every year, a great basketball game that has the potential to offer many hours of fun. But, the development team has done even less things this year to freshen up a package that is starting to become stale
Review in Greek | Read full review
Beyond the controversy, NBA 2K21 manages to save itself only because of the special attention that the development team puts on its playability since the game does not offer anything at the moment other than its already known modes, which are beginning to being flagged by the community as old and outdated, as well as an online component that got eaten up by microtransactions
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Aside from the unbalanced AI, there's no doubt Visual Concepts and 2K can create a great basketball simulation, but it suffers from so many issues unrelated to the core gameplay that just ruin a potentially fun game.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
NBA 2K21 is really a good game. It has a lot of good aspects and fun modes. It is disappointing that 2K has put little effort into it. 2K21 looks kinda like a reboot of 2K20. The gameplay is top-notch in NBA 2K21, except for throwing the ball. This has also caused a lot of discontent within the NBA 2K community. With the addition of the new shot meter, scoring points is a lot more difficult. This in turn ensures that you will play the game longer to really get the hang of it.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
Competitive mode, microtransactions and high price point are still among the things to criticize; but NBA 2K21 is still the only alternative if you want to play a basketball game. 2K is taking small steps when it comes to bringing new features, but it's still better than nothing.
Review in Turkish | Read full review
While it doesn’t feel like a big step from last years entry, 2k21 brings it’s own subtle changes, but it doesn’t wildly change the formula to be honest, but it is still the best sports simulator out there.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Overall, I just don’t think the value is there this year. It’s a great game, but wait for the price to drop or hold out for the next-gen version.
Overall, one does not have to be a massive fan of basketball to appreciate this game. Being a fan of basketball only adds to the enjoyment. If you enjoy playing sports games and are looking for a good basketball game NBA 2K 21 is undoubtedly that game to add to your collection.
When you're shooting hoops and playing basketball, NBA 2K21 is rather fun to play. However, it suffers from obtrusive microtransactions and game modes that are made in such a way that they try to nudge you to buy more virtual currency. NBA 2K21's appeal dives even more when you realise very little has changed from NBA 2K20. Hopefully Visual Concepts will come back strong on next-generation consoles with something that feels more than just about making money.
I was rather looking forward to seeing what NBA had to offer – especially with all the buzz of next-generation – hoping for some fresh ideas and a bit more life injected into NBA 2K21. However, this was not to be, as we simply got a familiar refresh of years past – and not that it’s a bad thing, its just a little underwhelming. NBA 2K21 still offers an immensely fun, and impressive, basketball title, with a ton of modes to play through, but its time for NBA 2K to start switching up their plays a little bit.
In the end, the MyCareer in NBA 2K21 is a blast to playthrough! Adding an epic story with some amazing actors just sucks you right in. I highly recommend ballers looking to jump straight into My Neighborhood, please take the time to play through it at least once to experience it, you can tell they put some hard work into building it for us. Like an echo from last year, all sports games should strive to be as great as the NBA 2K series MyCareer mode. Give us a story and let us BE the character.
But if you're like me, playing every year, then know this: NBA 2K21 is the best basketball game around, but it's also the only one. And as any high-level competitor will tell you, that's never a good thing for long.
