The NBA 2K franchise has lost its way over the years. From clunky gameplay, to greedy VC credits, some fans have become disillusioned with the direction of the once great basketball video game franchise.
Now, when I sat down to play NBA 2K25, I tempered my expectations. Online match play had a whole host of issues in the past year's version as timing up the jump shot meter became impossible with even the smallest amount of lag.
With the highest internet speeds available in my area, there should have been ample bandwidth and connection to produce a quality online experience.
So, when I cracked into NBA 2k25, I was somewhat surprised that the gameplay and shot meter had changed a bit. At first blush, I thought that this was an improvement to the shooting mechanics of the game.
Upon closer examination, I was able to determine that this year's gameplay is actually even more difficult to produce a quality jump shot that is timed properly. Even making moves to the basket, including euros and step throughs are even more difficult with a combination of using the right thumbstick and left thumbstick.
There is no tutorial on the new gameplay features and tweaks, it just leaves you up to practice mode to kind of experiment with what works and what doesn't.
Overall, despite a mini-overhaul of gameplay and shooting mechanics, this year's version is actually worse than 2k24 and its predecessors.
As far as the Eras Play is concerned, other than the fact at playing as New Jersey Nets I saw a fan with a, "I ❤️ Brooklyn sign" in the stands behind the basket, it was quite enjoyable to hop into a time machine.
The My GM mode within Eras Play is worth the price of admission. Every minute detail is controllable and building a legitimate contender year in and year out comes with the very realistic obstacles and hurdles of salary cap restrictions, disgruntled players and pressure from ownership and coaching staff to make it work.
There was some redundancy in star players asking about being involved in personnel decisions as they envisioned a role after their playing career was over to join a team's front office or ownership group.
In four seasons in MY GM mode and starting with the current Nets roster, I was able to through trade to win two championships in that span. Both times, the team snuck in as the final play-in team and breezed through relatively easily to a title. Perhaps some of the deadline moves that I made turned the tide of what were two lost seasons, including my most recent season where the star player asked out and the team started 7-25.
Unless you relented and allowed that star player some roster input, it resulted in either a disgruntled player or a trade request. I guess in today's NBA it is not that far from the truth, but there was not a lot of different dialogue or interactions with players, coaches, and the chairman that I remember.
I don't think there were ever press questions or press conferences as in past years where you would answer the media's inquiries.
Overall, the game is quite enjoyable, but It's better managing games through my GM and simulation then actually jumping in and playing them.
Gameplay: 6️⃣.8️⃣
MY GM: 8️⃣.8️⃣
Overall score: 7️⃣.6️⃣
