NBA 2K23 (2022)

If you have the patience to wait for a discount, what you'll find here is a great NBA game, with some cool modes that transport you to the past of the organization, with chief among them a meaty tribute to Michael Jordan.

Predictably, NBA 2K23 is the best NBA video game to date. While it sounds like a misnomer, and a little bit of an exaggeration, there is simply no other way to put it. Fans of the franchise will find the most fun and the best quality of life updates in this version, while fans who have held out for a few years might find a refreshingly updated experience awaiting them. The game is by no means breaking any new grounds, and it will take Visual Concepts a heck of a lot more effort to make the game feel like it stands above all the others, but it is one of the standout experiences in terms of annual sports titles in 2022.

Witnessing such an exceptional level of content in an annual sports game is truly remarkable. It must be acknowledged that 2K has adequately validated the $70 price of their game. Although there are a few minor issues that prevent it from receiving a perfect score, the mere fact that an annual sports game has been able to achieve such an exemplary standard is an extraordinary accomplishment.

Perhaps it’s time I stopped rewarding 2K every year for simply putting out another game. While I still have fun with the same modes I’ve been playing for twenty years, I don’t need a new version of this game to do so, and neither do you. The core gameplay is still very good, albeit stuck several years in the past, but everything around it is awful. The modes I still enjoy feel like they’re buried further in the menus every year. It feels like the only way to enjoy NBA 2K23 in a nonexploitive way is to avoid all the parts of it that its creators want you to play. I don’t see this strange dynamic ending soon, so players will continue to have to decide if being the only basketball game around is enough reason to pick it up each year.

NBA 2K23 offers fun content by adding new modes to the series. In addition to the 10+ hour Jordan Challenge mode, it is also a pleasure to play NBA seasons in different eras.