NBA 2K21 - Review

With the dawn of the next generation of consoles upon us and in a year where everything in the world as we know it seems to be getting turned upside down (thanks Covid) it seems that nothing can get in the way of the mighty juggernaut and money-making machine that is the NBA. With the NBA playoffs currently being played out in a bubble at off all places Walt Disney World in Florida, we see the arrival of 2K Sports yearly edition of their NBA franchise. This will be the last edition in the franchise made exclusively for current-gen consoles (next-gen will be releasing later) will NBA 2K21 be a slam dunk? Or does it put up bricks?

The centrepiece of the NBA 2K series is definitely the my player/story mode and this year is no exception. This year you take control of Junior, a young high school basketball player haunted by the loss of his father. The story sees you take Junior through his high school and college career with a goal of being drafted to the NBA, as you go through story mode you play through games earning VC in order to be able to update your player, this is one of the reasons this franchise excels over story modes in game such as Madden, the story actually gives you a reason to play it as you are progressing your player by doing so. The story this year is acceptable but it does feel very rushed and there are so many loose ends and questions begging to be answered especially regarding the death of your father but these are never tied up. The story just seems to end abruptly and you are at the NBA draft.

Once you reach the NBA the story is basically over apart from a few special mentions from the commentators about your personal journey to the NBA. This is a stark contrast to last years game where the story continued even when you were in the NBA, sure they were only minor moments but it did help to add continuity from the story into the regular game. As usual, once you make it into the NBA you play games in order to accumulate VC in order to upgrade your players attributes and also in order to buy moves and clothes so you can sport the latest drip as you roam around the neighborhood. This years neighborhood (which serves as a kind of in-game hub for players to be able to launch other activities) has been redesigned as a beach side area and it actually looks great, especially the ferris wheel and its eye catching neon lighting. Apart from the visual changes to the park though not much else has changed and essentially this area just offers a gateway to other areas such as training facilities, pro-am games and street court basketball.

My team once again makes a return and basically revolves around building a team through opening packs of cards (similar to Maddens MUT mode, only more competently executed) and then taking your team through various online games and offline and online challenges in order to earn tokens, my team points and more packs of cards to open in order to improve your team. One of the main editions to the mode this year is the ability to collect “badge cards” that you can attach to other player cards that give them extra abilities, I think this is an absolutely fantastic edition and only further goes to diversify peoples teams. All the other modes from last season return such as franchise and GM mode but there are really no major changes to these modes, including the rosters (this is an unusual year for sports due to the plague so NBA free agency hasn’t even taken place yet, making it a bit hard to provide updated rosters) the franchise mode has always been really solid so there are no major disappointments here especially since a lot of it was out of 2K’s hands.

The major change to this years game comes through the shooting and dribbling mechanics, though these are entirely optional and you can revert back to the previous control scheme if you wish. The shooting this year has given a major overhaul and shots now rely on both timing and aiming, in the past you nailed a shot by hitting the shoot button (or stick) exactly when a meter filled up beside your player this would then give you a “green release” that was guaranteed to go in the bucket, this year using the shot stick you need to pull back and then push forward into a predetermined point on the shot meter thus aiming the shot in the direction you want it to go, with timing adding an extra bonus to your chance of it going in.

This is a massive change and I found it extremely hard to get used to so I reverted back to the button shooting that I am used to from last gen, other people seemed to have adapted to the new shot aiming mechanic in no time at all though, so it is really up to personal preference and what suits you best, the changes provide two different ways to pay the game and there is no harm in having a choice, so I think this is a good edition to the game and is hopefully refined in future editions.

The 2K series has for a long time been the king of presentation in the sports game world and this year is no exception, the sounds are on point, the stadiums look great and the commentators have so many lines recorded that even though you will hear lines repeated, sometimes fairly frequently, the commentary still never seems to get annoying. Unfortunately though there have been omissions this year especially in My Player mode and inexplicably there are now no after game interviews of your player and there are no press conferences and also no locker room scenes after the games. I know a lot of other people disliked the repetitiveness of these cutscenes but I found they added depth to the game and in some cases allowed you to role play your player making you feel more immersed in the story.

It really is a shame that these little touches that added so much to the games atmosphere have been totally removed from the game, another removal that has me scratching my head is the ability to be able to select from a teams throwback and alternative jerseys before the game, this year you seem to be stuck with only the teams current home and away jerseys and that is it. These might be minor nitpicks to some people but to me they were one of the integral parts of the experienced.

NBA2K21 is a competent edition in this long running series, but I can’t help but feel that this really should of just been an upgrade or DLC to last years version and perhaps been labelled as NBA2K20.5, there are not enough additions this year to justify a full priced purchase of the new game and I can’t help but feel the majority of development time has been put into the upcoming next-gen versions of the game. If you don’t own last year’s game then this is a solid purchase, if you do then I would steer clear and wait for the next-gen version to come out.

The Score

6.5

Review code provided by 2K

The Pros

+New shooting mechanics provide options for different players

+New beach neighborhood is well designed

+Still an excellent representation of the NBA with loads of different and varying modes

The Cons

-Story mode feels rushed and incomplete

-Many features missing from last years version\

-Not enough additions to justify the purchase price