14 DAY TRIAL // 
Many believe the world of sports videogames is a niche that’s losing ground, but on the other hand, super-popular titles like EA’s FIFA are a clear indication they’re not.
On the other hand, what seems to be harder and harder is coming up with something that makes every new title feel fresh without losing the essential factors that helped build a gamer base for each franchise.
In the case of NBA 2K22, this year’s release comes with a long list of promises, but on the other hand, it goes without saying some people are still skeptical about the massively overhauled gaming experience 2K says you should end up getting your hands on.
If you’ve played 2K21 before, there’s no doubt you’re already familiar with the game, but even if you didn’t, it’s all just a matter of time until you find your way into it.
NBA 2K22 feels like a game that kind of grows on you, and while this is a statement that would rather fit the conclusion, it’s an absolutely essentially tidbit that everyone must be aware of when launching it for the first time. In other words, don’t rush to any conclusions and give it enough time, and in the end, you could end up impressed.
It goes without saying the graphics have evolved substantially from their predecessor, but this is also thanks to the power bundled with new-gen devices like the PlayStation 5. Honestly, I think 2K doesn’t talk about the graphics as much as this department deserves, though it’s pretty clear from the first minutes of playing the game that it helps add to the overall realism offered to every player.
From this perspective, I was really impressed with The City, though, on the other hand, it highlights a problem that I’ll talk about later (it’s the monetization that 2K has been obsessed with and which at the end of the day, could end up ruining the whole fun; but more on this in a few paragraphs).
From a gameplay perspective, NBA 2K22 has a little something for everybody. So it doesn’t even matter if you want to play MyTeam or compete in MyNBA, the game is ready to impress, letting you discover all kinds of new things as you progress in the mode you’ve picked.
But without a doubt, the star of the show remains the MyCareer mode and which lets you explore the aforementioned City in all its glory. Just like before, the purpose of the career is to allow you to turn regular players into superstars that everybody is talking about, and needless to say, this wouldn’t be easy.
It all depends on how much time you end up playing the game because eventually, everything comes down to the Virtual Currency available in NBA 2K22. Depending on how much money you earn after each game, your progress can be faster or slower, and without a doubt, the whole idea here is to encourage you to play more.
But on the other hand, there’s the ugly side of the story. The multiplayer mode shows the part where 2K hopes people will eventually step in: spending real money to improve your players’ ratings.
At some level, the whole thing makes perfect sense, as ways to monetize certain features have become a common part of so many popular franchises these days. But on the other hand, playing a multiplayer game is insanely hard without having a high rating, with the final score at the end of each match showing exactly why spending real money might be the only way to go.
The matchmaking also seems to need further polishing, as despite having a low rating, somewhere close to 60, I still ended up playing against other people with a rating over 90. And you could easily figure out what happened next.
The multiplayer mode can still be fun and challenging when playing against somebody with a similar rating, but every now and then, it just feels like the whole idea it’s based on is to encourage you to spend money and therefore be better than other people brave enough to take their teams online.
As for the gameplay itself, I’ve seen plenty of players claiming the current-gen version was better, but really now, you can’t ignore the new-gen graphics. And the gameplay overall fees much more polished, more fluid, and overall more realistic.
2K has finally made the stamina of each player really matter during a match. The more you sprint, the faster the stamina decreases, and at the end of the day, this perfectly makes sense. Everybody needs to use the available stamina more efficiently, because eventually, every player, no matter if we’re talking about LeBron James, Antetokounmpo, or Embiid, will feel slower. Indeed, this makes the overall pace slower too, but nobody can deny it’s something that adds to the level of realism.
It’s basketball after all, and really know, you can’t expect to continue sprinting forever. This would only make the game feel more arcade-ish, and nobody likes that.
The loss of stamina also has an impact on how your player handles the ball, so in some cases, it could end up becoming clumsy even when trying out the simplest dribble.
The gameplay comes with both good news and bad news, and probably the first thing you’re going to notice is that the defense has been substantially improved in NBA 2K22. It’s not easy to master the skills of perfect defense, and just when you thought you were doing good, someone online proves you wrong.
But the defense overall feels more rewarding, sometimes even more than the offense itself. The pick-and-roll is something that works at random times, though I’ve seen people claiming the AI eventually learns from your approach in every match. This didn’t necessarily happen during my matches, though it happened on quite a lot of occasions for the AI to intercept my passes and guess where the ball is heading to next, especially on higher difficulty levels.
The gameplay, however, is not only rewarding but also more involving, and just like in the story mode, the more you play, the more you discover new things in the game. And this is why NBA 2K22 feels such an impressive step forward from the previous title – there’s always something new to do, and if you’re into quests and challenges, there’s no doubt you’ll be busy for a long time.
The Good
- Improve The City mode
- Awesome graphics
- AI seems to learn from you
- The more you progress, the more you can do
- Stamina is finally playing a key role
The Bad
- Multiplayer is built on monetization
- Matchmaking not really refined
- Offline better for newbies
- Microtransactions now essential
Conclusion
Pretty much everybody who steps into the world of multiplayer seems to be some kind of Kyrie Irving playing videogames, and to be honest, I couldn’t even win a single match in some 10 attempts in the last few days. This shows not only that I need to spend more time learning to play but also that the matchmaking itself needs to be further refined.
Overall, it feels like 2K is looking into ways to convince people to spend real money in the game, and this is something that many players might not be willing to do, especially after spending dollars on purchasing the game itself in the first place.
So my advice is to play as much as possible in offline mode, as there are plenty of modes to keep you busy. The City comes with a massive overhaul, and without a doubt, it’s pretty rewarding too, especially as you progress with your players.
And at the same time, playing offline gives you more time to learn all the tricks and figure out what’s working and what doesn’t, though you should always keep in mind that all of these are entirely different when you play against an actual human being.
So at the end of the day, NBA 2K22 feels like it comes with two separate modes: offline for those who just want to have fun and aren’t necessarily NBA superstars and multiplayer for people willing to spend real money and get their high-rated players overnight.
Review code provided by the publisher.
