Video Game Review: NBA 2K22

Developer: Visual Concepts

Publisher: 2K Games

Genre: Sports

PlayStation 4

As is tradition every year, a new NBA 2K has made its way onto our consoles just before the NBA season starts. This year, Visual Concepts is aiming to continue to build 2K’s strong reputation as a basketball franchise with some refinements in MyTeam, MyCareer, and the big debut of the new City and Neighborhood modes. While the new modes don’t offer too many new ways to play 2K, there are tons of visual and gameplay improvements that continue to make this franchise the king of basketball.

I’ll first start with the new. The City and The Neighborhood are each little quest modes designed from the ground up for the PlayStation 5 generation and the PlayStation 4 generation respectively. They each offer quests to earn currency for other modes, though The City is a little more robust. Neither offer much for those who don’t care about modes that don’t use the currency, but they are a nice touch.

There have been a few tweaks to the gameplay to make NBA 2K22 more enjoyable, whether that’s playing with friends or the AI. The biggest changes are on defense, with an emphases on rebuilding the ability to block shots from the ground up. It’s now a lot harder to finish contested layups and dunks. The offense can no longer just take over in the paint, and it feels good. The shot meter is also refined, with the sweet spot for a clean shot being a bigger size based on the skill of the shooter and how contested the shot is.

There are some minor tweaks to the dribbling controls in this 2K, but most of the changes are present on the current generation consoles. There are new skill based layups and dunks on the PlayStation 5 that aren’t on the PlayStation 4. These give more control to more polished players, but players on the previous generation won’t feel like they are missing too much in this entry.

MyCareer doesn’t have too much new to offer besides a new narrative. PlayStation 5 users will notice that the mode is intertwined with The City, but otherwise this mode is more of the same. Growing your player is heavily based on the coins earned throughout the game which is still somewhat frustrating. It would be nice to be able to just enjoy the mode on any difficulty and not be held back by the limitations of the game’s microtransaction model. My Team is still my favorite mode, offering a solid simulation for couch GMs. There aren’t too many new additions aside from some new ways for the community to tweak the draft, but its still enjoyable.

All in all, NBA 2K22 is another solid basketball sim. The microtransactions hold the experience back a bit, but those who just want to use Play Now and MyTeam won’t even notice. The gameplay additions feel good and reward players of higher skill levels. Those who need a basketball game to scratch an itch can’t do better than this one.