NBA 2K22 Reviews

NBA 2K22 is a sound step forward for the series. While it doesn’t always hit the mark thanks to the grindy MyCAREER mode and microtransaction-heavy MyTEAM, the gameplay and presentation is still second to none.

For the last few years, the NBA 2K series has had a bit of a rough up and down. The highlights continue to be that the NBA 2K series is the absolute best basket

NBA 2K22 may have the best basketball gameplay in the series’ history but continues to be plagued by a massive microtransaction focus and persistent technical issues.

I can’t do it anymore. This is the year that NBA 2K has turned me into the Joker.

As solid as it’s ever been on the court, NBA 2K22 is still an astonishingly good sports game, but its continued reliance on cynical microtransactions in MyCareer and MyTeam leave a sour taste.

The changes that were implemented for NBA 2K22 are for the better. Changing The City to a quest-based system that can get your player more quickly into action is a positive, albeit the experience is sluggish and slow while navigating The City. Tons of product placement and a quest mission featuring Jake from State Farm is pretty cringey. Playing online with your player still amounts to input lag delays and player spamming threes from the perimeter. MySTAFF being added into MyNBA is a cool new metric that can provide boosts to your teams, along with the ability to do season with the WNBA, adds a bit more to the Franchise/Owner mode. The shining spot for this year's game is the defensive gameplay and the ability to truly challenge shots and defenders, especially in the paint. It's extremely satisfying. While a bit of the game remains, NBA 2K22 still offers the closest television experience in a sports video game to date. However, that shot meter is still frustrating as the game remains geared toward its hardcore community who prefer grinding.

In the NBA storyline of MyCareer, players will have to navigate the world of modern sports, deciding whether to keep their hand down about internal team issues or air them out on social media. This goes along with new features for building a brand off the court, from establishing a rap career to hanging out with Jake from State Farm to create an oddly immersive sim. The amount of product placement with NBA 2K has always been substantial, and 2K22 has so much it's comical at times. Oddly enough, though, this feels even more naturally reflective of the league today. Professional sports are filled with pre-game shows sponsored by one company, half-time shows sponsored by another, and post-game shows by a completely different one. It feels weirdly on-brand to have an NBA video game with the same treatment, though it would still be better without.

All in all, NBA 2K22 on next-gen systems is the best NBA 2K game to release in years. The gameplay receives a much-needed revamp, leading to a fun experience for everyone, regardless of whether you are playing as a primary scorer or defensive anchor. MyNBA gives players an in-depth and customizable franchise mode with some sweet additions like the new staff system. It may be overbearing at times but, MyNBA is a franchise mode worth trying out. Sadly, even with all of these intriguing changes, such as the new additions to MyCareer, NBA 2K22 is brought down a bit by some blatant advertisements and annoying microtransactions.

While there isn’t enough new content in NBA 2K22 to justify a full-priced upgrade, its online component is a marked improvement over its predecessor.

NBA 2K22 provides something for everybody, from intense local matches with friends, to an immersive franchise mode, to an integrated online community.

NBA 2K22 is an excellent next-gen addition to the franchise on Xbox Series X, delivering revamped gameplay that feels better than ever before on the court, smoother transitions between modes and all manner of graphical bells and whistles to boot. My Career's new City area has been well implemented and could well be a huge timesink for those who are into that mode and, although there's no other major changes to speak of, what's here is undoubtedly still the slickest basketball ticket in town right now.

I try to see myself as a hopeless optimist, but with the NBA 2K games, I have to act as a realist. I know Take-Two won’t stop adding a crap ton of microtransactions and annoying amounts of product placement into their flagship sports title. They don’t care about the bad publicity, as there is no competition. With NBA 2K22, I wanted to see how well the game transitioned to a brand new generation of consoles. I wanted to see if the DualSense’s features were going to be used in some way, s...

Typically when the NBA season comes around, players have the choice of picking between either NBA 2K or NBA Live for their digital basketball fix. However, this year sees Electronic Arts’ title releasing later in the year after a recent delay, so NBA 2K20 is the only game on the market if you want a new title. Thankfully for fans, the up-and-down series has largely been a slam dunk this year as its consistently great gameplay is aided by a fantastic story mode and less invasive microtransactions.