NBA 2K21 – game review and opinion [PS4, XONE, PC]

Although the product we receive is to a large extent only an evolution (and not very fast, which should not be surprising, after all, the evolution takes countless eons), and not a revolution, I am waiting for new editions of the game and I get excited when I manage to put on them paws. However, I will not hide that it will probably change after this year, and I will vent my disappointment in the following review.

(No) for everyone … something nice

When a game is released every year and you have to pay for it PeeLeNy’s hard-earned game, the player has reason to expect big changes, ones that will justify the high price and make you spend long hours at the console. And in this year’s edition of NBA 2K there are many changes – the problem is that these are not necessarily changes for the better. On the one hand, whoever stands still, retreats, on the other hand, what is not broken should not be repaired, otherwise we are faced with the paradox that happened to us in the case of this game.

Don’t get me wrong – NBA 2K21 is a phenomenal basketball simulation, in which persistent and seasoned players will classically spend hundreds of hours maxing out their bull’s statistics, preparing it for online fights, while listening to Intercontinental Bajers in the background. Worse, much worse are Sunday players, casual players, or even non-players – just those who cannot spend 20 hours a day at the console every day. Not only are they deleted from the very beginning in any fight with the former, because (without a financial contribution, more on that later) they will not be able to make up the gap between their players and those who grind day and night gamers with their full mouth, it’s still a game it is simply eminently uncomfortable and inaccessible to them.

You have something on your face … IT WAS Pain!

At the beginning we are greeted by a clear menu, nothing special, but we won’t spend enough time here that we care. The game looks beautiful – it must be admitted that the greatest stars of the discipline are reproduced really well. But the most important thing is meat, gameplay and what do we have here? As I said, a perfect representation of basketball, simulation at a really high level. There is no one key aspect for me. Having fun. NBA 2K21 seems to be a game designed for professional players, a group that, of course, is growing in strength and volume year by year, but in my opinion it should not be the basis for forgetting and neglecting players who just want to start the game, play two matches and have as much fun as possible from it. The game is difficult, tedious, the entry threshold is really high, playing online is pointless as long as you don’t have the ambition and time to exhaust yourself and learn to play as the game expects you to play. The word “overwork” is not accidental here – there is really no fun to play there. I’ve been interested in basketball all my life, I have played too young and I know that this is what this sport is like – a lot of scuffles, tough and relentless defensive game, rarely the game looks like the highlights from the NBA …

However, when something cool happens, this beautiful throw falls, the dribbling will succeed – there are emotions, there is joy, there is great satisfaction. IN NBA 2K21 there is simply not enough of it, and when it is already, a person does not enjoy this batch or the open three as he should. It seems like a challenge to present such an exciting sport in such a frustrating way, but it is the reality. Someone will say: “Mordo, you’re just lame and you have to learn to play.” Well, yes. But with this particular product in front of me, I just don’t want to, and after all, I’ve been playing each edition year after year for over a decade. And something tells me that people who do not have so much patience, passion for basketball and experience with the previous parts can burn themselves and tell from the beginning. And rightly so.

NBA 2K21 – Show me the money

An extremely annoying and more and more common phenomenon (I know, the boomer woke up years later) are additional fees, which ultimately lead to the pay-to-win phenomenon. Unfortunately, this edition of the game shows more than ever before. For the developers of the game, it’s easy money. For those who don’t have the time or feel like grinding, this is a fun option. For players who just want to play, but have a sense of some progress in their player’s or team’s actions in MyTeam … a total undercut of wings. I fired up my favorite mode, above. MyTeam and even before playing the first match, I realized that hey, it’s cool that they give you so many hundreds of hours of tasks to complete and obstacles to overcome, only that it is impossible to jump for ordinary players. Unless they empty the pouch of denarii.

This year, the difficulty level in NBA 2K21 this is probably some sort of organized action to disgust people with virtual basketball – the fact that you will run into thugs online is one thing, but in single player mode you will not go crazy either. The Domination mode in MyTeam has been so terribly hampered that I can only imagine how players seeing the mandatory Hall of Fame level to grab the most interesting items order a supply of patches to have something to bind their fingers to. There are a lot of challenges, if someone misses a few, it is backwards. A hill is created that is impossible to grasp later, and with time you simply give up, because you don’t see any point in chasing rivals who are already light years away from him.

We were not told to throw, brick by brick in NBA 2K21!

One of the most important changes to gameplay this year is the new way to cast. Described as an attempt to render even closer to realism in throwing to the basket, it is another contribution to increasing the contrast between professional players and casuals. Hitting the basket has never been so difficult – especially considering that players have different throwing animations, pace, etc. For realism – great, for love and joy drawn from NBA 2K21 – another shot in the knee.

In my own example, after spending a long time training throws, working out timing and broadly understood threading … I no longer had the strength (or maybe I wanted?) To move to stakes matches. The whole thing is a frustrating experience, the game is not worth the candle, because the satisfaction of the (few) spectacular moments is disproportionate to the annoyance of laboriously working on them.

A spoon of honey to a barrel of tar

I am reading and reading this review and it is very bitter, that’s a fact. Therefore, I would like to devote the last paragraph to the positive aspects, because they are in NBA 2K21 and should be mentioned. One of the most important things that attracts people to the NBA is the spectacular setting, the presentation and here NBA 2K has been giving advice at the highest level for years. The inserts are a pleasure to watch even one time, and the whole thing is very interesting, it’s a living organism.

MyTeam has great depth and if you have unlimited time, patience and are (just a little bit) a masochist it will give you a lot of fun. And most of all, what I emphasized as a disadvantage throughout the review may be an advantage for you – if you are a professional player or aspire to it, NBA 2K21 is a game designed for you. In other words, if you want to play basketball and have fun with it, take the saw and go buo – you don’t have to sit at home anymore 🙂 And if you want to show noobs where they belong in the line and prove that you are the biggest thief in the world of virtual basketball – NBA 2K21 Invites!

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