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NBA 2K22 Review – Game-eXperience.it Reviews

In the titles dedicated to basketball, the brand NBA 2K he has always assumed the role of dominator. A status achieved not only with the licenses and rights of the big teams, but also due to the annual and constant presence. September on the shelves a new NBA 2K arrives on the shelves, but if on the one hand for fans of the game it means never virtually abandoning the shiny parquet of the basketball court, on the other hand they are well aware that, for the obvious tight timing, we will have in our hands a game that again has very little. Improvements and innovations have always been added (with decidedly fluctuating results and not exempt from criticism), but the feeling of playing a title already widely seen remains.
With the newcomer NBA 2K22 expectations are high, also due to the many promises made during the year. Will the guys from Visual Concepts have succeeded in their intent? Here is our review.

More sweat

Before delving into the various modes present in the game, it is good to deepen the first evident improvement of NBA 2K22: more realism on the pitch. The guys at Visual Concepts have made some major changes to the action on the pitch that make it a more engaging game, especially the way stamina is handled during action. In 2K21, it was easy (too easy) to run towards the opponent, make a Curry Slide and end the action with a three-pointer. In NBA 2K22, we will still be able to adopt this tactic, but everything will be more complicated and counterproductive as the loss of stamina we will suffer from sprinting and dribbling will be made much more significant to balance its effectiveness. As our virtual alter ego gets tired, its shot meter will shrink, making it more difficult to hit, which leads to a game and action that initially seems slower than 2K21, but if we adopt more control and strategy, it will actually be easier to shoot for a field goal.

Star del Basket

Basketball

Greater realism in the action can be found in the various modes present in NBA 2K22. In an aesthetically improved menu we find old acquaintances or MyTeam, Quick Match, My LEAGUE which have not had major changes and the “My Career” mode the only one with real significant additions and improvements. Let’s go, however, in order.
In MyTeam mode, as in previous titles, we will be able to create the team of our dreams and compete both online and in single player matches. The underlying system remains the same: player packs, contracts, card trading, etc. Furthermore, by completing one of the many challenges that the game will offer daily, it will be possible to acquire and obtain new elements for the team and power-ups essential to the strengthening of the players. For fans of the MyTeam brand it does not add anything new compared to the previous chapters, it is overall an excellent mode and the microtransactions fortunately have little influence on the game and on the challenges; certainly we would have expected a greater number of news. On the “Quick Match” and “My League” modes there is little to add, as in the chapters we will be able to face a match in a few seconds both against the CPU and against a friend or an opponent online, or dominate the women’s game in The WNBA.

Of all the possible options, the most interesting of NBA 2K22 is surely ” My career”, in which we will play a novice player who has gained his popularity by showcasing his skills through social media. We will start with the college team and move upwards with the aim of entering the Hall of Fame. The whole path has been revised and corrected by adding interesting new features: first of all the city (The City), which will be the real fulcrum and background for the whole experience (but only in the next gen versions, in the other versions everything will be located in a cruise ship) will have a much larger aspect, a sort of open world, completely littered with missions, even secondary ones. A real living city that will go hand in hand with the advancement and career of our character. We will have to spend a lot of time inside The City since the basketball games that will be part of our path will be scattered on the big map, as well as the competitions with online players. The rest of the space features showcases for character customization, but in general the points of interest are quite spaced from each other. In fact, getting around requires the old-fashioned method: on foot. Other means of transport will be unlocked much, much later and we will have to spend some time even just to be able to buy them. The economic side, in fact, plays an important role because it is the same path of our athlete to impose it: the game will put us in front of some choices that will affect our career and the bank account, following in the game what the players in general of the NBA manage in realities, or real companies. We will therefore have to create an empire obviously starting from nothing and to do so, as mentioned above, we will be forced to dedicate to the exploration of the cities. In addition to being littered with activities to do in the city, there is also inevitably a large number of microtransactions. If with the mode MyTeam we had not encountered this problem, with the “My Career“Things change the moment we enter multiplayer matches on the street or in the gym; in fact, they will begin to be more and more evident and intrusive. It is almost impossible, in fact, to enter without spending money or going through a large amount of hours of play to increase the general level of our player. Fortunately, we are not faced with the classic “pay to win”, but it is very close.
Graphically, however, the city is not satisfying, with blurry textures, constant bugs and extremely fluctuating frame rates. This is most noticeable when there is the transition between the open world, to the real games where the level and the graphical performance rises considerably.

In the field

As we just mentioned, at the level of NBA 2K22 graphics from its best during games, inside the basketball court. On next gen consoles, the potential of new hardware shows an incredible level ever closer to perfection. Everything is made even more evident by the animation of the players, the physics of the ball, by the good (not always perfect) artificial intelligence that manages the movements, which takes NBA 2K22 to a higher step than in previous chapters. The sound sector also does an excellent job that is increasingly realistic.

Available versions: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox serie S/X , PC

Proven version: Xbox Serie S

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