NBA 2K21 is the new chapter of the brand dedicated to basketball released on 4 September 2020, published by 2K and developed by Visual concepts. This year, however, the title will have to carry a weight that is anything but indifferent, not because it has many more features, but because it will be a real test for next generation consoles. Yes, NBA 2K21 will also be released on PlayStation 5 e Xbox Series X. Of course, before getting to next-gen consoles, the developers decided to release it for all available platforms currently: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia and PC. And how does it perform on current-gen consoles?
Get rid of the father's shadow
As always, in NBA 2K21 there are three main modes: Quick Match, My Team and My Career. The latter turned out really interesting and much longer than seen in the past. If in NBA 2K20 you were already in college, in this new iteration you will start from high school, and then get to the NBA draft. In case you don't know what the Draft is, it's the time when the most important league teams in basketball they provide a contract for young recruits. The beginning of My career it is very standard, but with eighties touches. The presence of Jesse Williams (known for Grey's Anatomy and Detroit: Become Human) e Djimon Hounsou (The Gladiator), who will have two prominent roles within the title storyline. Our protagonist, Junior, will decide to pursue a career as a basketball player almost unwillingly, since his father, a famous basketball player, is now dead. This forces the young man to live constantly under its shadow, at least until he can get rid of it. We will thus live the tragedies of a teenager who will have to fight tooth and nail to become young man and then NBA prodigy.
As for the famous choices it puts before you My career, are far fewer than its predecessor. Very often we thought there had to be a choice, but instead the protagonist chose for himself, and this is a bit sorry for us, as it is almost felt as a lack. But otherwise, My NBA 2K21 career has remained the same to that proposed by the predecessor, and this is certainly not an element against the production since, at the end of the fair, everything is identified as a great base where to start. Obviously, there is no lack of Neighborhood mode, where you can play online together with other real players and have fun customizing your basketball player.
The mode My team allows all players to create a team of basketball players that combines past, present and future, or just one of them. For those accustomed to sports titles, we could compare it to FUT by FIFA. But this is where one of the biggest returns in all of NBA 2K21 comes in: My Unlimited Team. A tournament where 250 thousand dollars are up for grabs is back for the third time inside NBA 2K. Every day and every week there will be challenges to complete and this element, as it happens in battle royale or game as a service, increases its playability, as users will feel compelled to launch the software just to "see what challenges there are today". It will be possible to play this mode solo or in multiplayer.
A wrong change?
But now we come to one of the highlights of this review: how it is NBA 2K21 pad in hand? Wonderful, animations are smoother and the physics of the ball have been slightly improved. So, as already written in the preview, the rebounds (whether they are offensive or defensive) will be really vital, and not something "random". One of the largest implementations of this new iteration of NBA 2K was, without a doubt, the new shooting system. In previous titles, you had to push down the right stick (or press the Square / X button) and release when the bar above the pulling player's head is filled to one hundred percent, so that a "perfect shot" is executed.
Now this system has been replaced by one that disadvantages online lag. What changes? Instead of having to wait for it to fill up, a yellow mark will appear, and we will have to release when a small black bar is in that area. The problem with this again shooting system is that the margin of error of the various basketball players is very high e it spoils the feeling of realism given by everything else. There is also another way to shoot, though. Push the stick towards the direction you want the ball to go, then first down and before the black bar enters the yellow zone, release giving position. Said like this, it may seem very difficult, and indeed it is, but for a simple matter of precision that it must be to the millimeter. Obviously, this second system is for XNUMX% imitate a player's hand of basketball. As for everything else, the title has remained almost the same as the predecessor.
Next-gen graphics?
As we all know, NBA 2K21 will also be released for next generation console (PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X). Does this mean that the current-gen version has had a huge graphical change? The answer is, in the case of this title, absolutely not. There have been some small improvements, the lights on the shiny parquet and the floor itself are wonderful, but the patterns have remained identical to the NBA 2K20 version, the change is very minimal; but you cannot request next-gen on current-gen. The animations of the players and everything that is mobile have been improved and made much smoother. In fact, it will be much easier to connect and render our actions are alive and dynamic, while in the last iteration it was really complicated, it was perceived how the various links that made up the animation chain were connected to each other, making everything almost cumbersome.
One noteworthy aspect are the uploads, whether hidden or not, which they are much faster, at least on PlayStation 4. While as regards the sound aspect, the sounds used appear almost the same, but the audience has much more "voice", making the environment full of energy. The developers of Visual concepts they managed to make it every warm match, at least thanks to the spectators, who can be considered the sixth player on the pitch. Too bad, however, for the sound effects used for the basketball players, which have remained the same, perhaps only one or two have been added, even if it is necessary appreciate cheerleader girls, which precisely accompany the actions of the players, encouraging them to score in the attack phase and to be careful during the defense. The soundtrack is obviously very rap / hip-hop oriented, and they are all really existing tracks, so in that case it will be your taste to decide, but we really liked it a lot.
So here we are at the most important moment for our wallet: it's worth it buy NBA 2K21? Yes, even if you are new to the genre or the sport. We will find ourselves in front of hours and hours of fun, especially playing with friends. And in case no one is following the NBA, there is a great career mode, along with the League, waiting for you, not to mention that My Team can also be played solo. Obviously, if you already follow the sport, you are in front of the title designed especially for you.
